President Donald Trump flew to California on Friday to see the wreckage from catastrophic wildfires that decimated many communities in the Los Angeles area earlier this month.
He continued to criticise the state emergency response led by Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, one of Trump’s harshest critics, and expressed concerns that the president may refuse aid due to policies in the liberal state during the visit, which came at the end of his first week back in office.
Trump arrived from North Carolina, where he inspected the damage caused by Hurricane Helene, which shook the western portion of the state in September, and Newsom met him on the airport as he stepped off Air Force One, despite the political rivalry.
Trump’s visit comes as new fires started in southern California, and local officials continue to battle with dry and windy weather conditions that promote fire growth.
“I appreciate the governor coming out and meeting me,” Trump told reporters after shaking hands with Newsom. “We want to get it fixed,” he added, telling Newsom that the aftermath appears “like you got hit by a bomb.” Newsom, whom Trump has nicknamed “Newscum,” thanked Trump for his visit and said, “We’re going to need your support, we’re going to need your help.” “You were there for us during Covid, I don’t forget that, and I have all the expectations that we’ll be able to work together to get this speedy recovery,” Newsom added.
Following a tour of the Pacific Palisades neighborhood’s ruins with his wife Melania, Trump participated in a roundtable conversation with local authorities, including Karen Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles. He promised to issue an executive order that would move water from the state’s northern regions to its southern ones.
After Mayor Bass stated that homeowners must exercise patience as cleanup workers require time to remove “hazardous waste” such poisonous ash from substances like lead, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, and asbestos before they can return to their houses, he got into a brief argument with her.
Hazardous waste: what is it? Trump said, “I just think you have to let the people go on their site and start the process tonight.” “I mean, you’re going to have to define that,” he said.
On Thursday, new fires in the southern California counties of Los Angeles, San Diego, Ventura, and Riverside—named Laguna, Sepulveda, Gibbel, Gilman, and Border 2—erupted.
Since it started on Wednesday and forced tens of thousands of residents to evacuate, firefighters have made progress in controlling the 10,000-acre Hughes Fire in Los Angeles, bringing it down to 79%.
Over the past few weeks, the US state has been ravaged by fires; the Palisades and Eaton fires have burned over 37,000 acres combined and killed at least 28 people. Over 10,000 homes and businesses have been reduced to ashes as a result of the levelling of many communities.
