Trump thinks Newsom is at least partly to blame for the California wildfire disaster. He refused to sign a water restoration declaration that had been put in front of him. This would have allowed millions of gallons of water from several sources to flow into many parts of California, including those currently going up in smoke. But the governor wanted to protect a fish and at that, the offered protection didn’t work.
Newsom didn’t want to give Trump credit
Like many Democrats, if Trump did it, it can’t be allowed. The incoming president posted on Truth Social,
“Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way. He wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (it didn’t work!), but didn’t care about the people of California. Now the ultimate price is being paid. I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA! He is the blame for this. On top of it all, no water for fire hydrants, not firefighting planes. A true disaster!”
Trump added that the Los Angeles fires may go down as the worst disaster in the history of the country in terms of dollar amount. He emphasized again that Democrats don’t care about Americans and he was ready to get into office and get to work.
Newsom sued against Trump water rules
He did this in 2020, trying to block new federal water rules. These were designed to bring in 600,000 acre feet of water in an average year from the northern part of the state to the south. Newsom said the Endangered Species Act applied to Salmon and the Delta smelt so the order was unlawful.
Last month the Biden administration sided with Newsom with a rule change. The Los Angeles Times reported that fire fighters were running out of water in the Palisades area.
Former candidate for mayor
Rick Caruso is an L.A. developer. He owns the Palisades shopping center and said the fire hydrants didn’t have any water. The Department of Water and Power put out a statement, “This area is served by water tanks and close coordination is underway to continue supplying the area.”
Caruso had served as commissioner on the city’s board for Water and Power. He ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2022. He said flatly, “They can’t fight a fire without water and the resources that are needed.”
