Politico: Republicans 'Seize,' Trump and Musk 'Unleash on California Democrats' Over Wildfires

For the media, the story is never about the story — it's about Republicans' reaction to the story. Los Angeles County is going up in flames while Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass attends the inauguration of the president of Ghana. Los Angeles residents roasted her over cutting funding for the fire department by $17.5 million a few months back.

While The Bulwark's Sam Stein tried to shift the blame for the wildfires to President-elect Donald Trump, other liberals were melting down over Trump's post on Truth Social criticizing California Mayor Gavin Newsom for refusing to sign the water restoration declaration that passed over his desk.

Here's Trump just four months ago on the campaign trail talking about it:

Just 4 months ago in LA County, Trump spoke about the need for California to send more water downstate:

"You have so much water...you could revert water up into the Hills, where you have all the dead forests...the land would be damp—and you'd stop many of these horrible fires." pic.twitter.com/6dM9MF5V4T
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) January 8, 2025

If it seems everyone's blaming democrats for poor forest management and a lack of water to the fire hydrants, it's because Democrats control everything in California. Politico took notice that both Trump and Elon Musk were critical of Newsom.

Republicans are blaming Dem policies for the catastrophic wildfires tearing through Los Angeles. 👉 https://t.co/pp7CimBTaI pic.twitter.com/AR97OkuAJq
— POLITICO (@politico) January 9, 2025

Camille Von Kaenel writes:

Republicans are seizing on the catastrophic wildfires that tore through the Los Angeles area early Wednesday, blaming Democratic policies for the deadly, wind-fueled conflagrations that forced tens of thousands to flee their homes.
President-elect Donald Trump lashed out at Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday, calling the fires “virtually apocalyptic” in a Truth Social post and pointing a finger at state rules protecting endangered species for limiting the amount of water that gets sent south from Northern California.
“I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA!,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “He is the blame for this.”
Elon Musk also piled on, retweeting a comment by Libs of TikTok criticizing a delay in building dams and adding: “Crazy.”