Trump Calls On Newsom To Resign; Republicans Blame DEI For Inability To Contain Wildfires

Republican President-elect Donald Trump has called on California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat and political foe, to resign as wildfires tear through the Los Angeles area — a once-in-a-generation disaster that’s unleashed a gusher of political attacks and misinformation in its wake.

As historically devastating blazes ravaged LA on Wednesday, Trump blamed Newsom for the fires, which have resulted in at least five deaths and the displacement of more than 100,000 people. Meanwhile, the president-elect’s son Donald Trump Jr. suggested on Thursday that the effort to contain the fires is being hampered by initiatives around diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI — part of a broader push to blame liberal policies for the perception of chaos and lawlessness in blue states like California.

“One of the best and most beautiful parts of the United States of America is burning down to the ground. It’s ashes, and Gavin Newscum should resign. This is all his fault!!!” the elder Trump wrote Wednesday on his Truth Social platform as he used a derogatory nickname for the governor, who is likely to emerge as a major foil for Trump during his second term in the White House.

“Fire is spreading rapidly for 3 days — ZERO CONTAINMENT. Nobody has ever seen such failed numbers before! Gross incompetence by Gavin Newscum and Karen Bass….And Biden’s FEMA has no money — all wasted on the Green New Scam! L.A. is a total wipeout!!!” he added in a post Thursday, referring to LA Mayor Karen Bass (D), Democratic President Joe Biden, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and so-called Green New Deal proposals to address climate change.

The president-elect had also written that the fires “may go down, in dollar amount, as the worst in the History of our Country. In many circles, they’re doubting whether insurance companies will even have enough money to pay for this catastrophe. Let this serve, and be emblematic, of the gross incompetence and mismanagement of the Biden/Newscum Duo.”

In reference to his inauguration date, he added, “January 20th cannot come fast enough!”

Asked to respond to Trump — while standing in front of a blazing fire swallowing a structure — Newsom told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in an interview aired Wednesday: “People are literally fleeing. People have lost their lives. Kids lost their schools, families completely torn asunder. Churches burned down. And this guy wanted to politicize it.”

Trump appears to be wrong that FEMA has no money, according to what the agency itself indicated at the end of 2024. That was even after FEMA’s resources had been stretched by a number of catastrophic disasters last year, including flooding in North Carolina from Hurricane Helene in September — when FEMA was forced to wage a public relations campaign countering incorrect and potentially damaging information about its relief efforts and aid for disaster victims.

Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), a senior House Republican, said it was too soon to discuss if California, like North Carolina, would require federal disaster assistance funding. Trump’s comments raise the prospect that such aid could easily become another partisan battle.

“Until they actually get it [the wildfire disaster] under control and sort of end it and have a chance to assess what the damage is, there’s not much we can do,” said Cole, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee.

On the culture war front, Trump Jr. blamed the fires on “woke virtue signaling” affecting California fire departments as they work to contain the flames amid whipping winds that have made that task virtually impossible.

“Can we rename DEI to DIE since that’s what seems to happen to the people downstream of those who place woke virtue signaling far above competency,” Trump Jr. wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

X owner Elon Musk, an ally to the elder Trump, agreed. “That’s what it is,” Musk wrote in a reply.

Trump Jr. and other Republicans appeared to be referring to a California program that aims to diversify the ranks of professional firefighters, which are overwhelmingly white and male. But there’s no connection between the ability to contain the fires and something like the racial makeup of the department.

Blaming everything but climate change itself, Republicans — who in the past have cited poor forest management for the worsening intensity of West Coast wildfires — have targeted not only DEI initiatives, but the LA mayor’s absence at the start of the fires. (Bass, according to the Los Angeles Times, was on a diplomatic trip to Africa when the blazes broke out.) They have also targeted the appearance of budget cuts to the LA Fire Department that are being presented out of context, even by left-leaning media, as efforts to slash the department’s manpower.

Amid the fires, conservative activist Charlie Kirk revived the forest management argument and seemed to dismiss climate change as a liberal hoax.

“Instead of cleaning the forest floors, removing dead trees, capturing rain runoff, and making sure California has water in the fire hydrants, Democrat politicians will instead deflect responsibly and blame ‘climate change,’” Kirk wrote on X.

Trump similarly claimed that hydrants ran dry at a critical time due to California environmental policy, which diverts water to wetlands for conservation.

“This is a true tragedy, and it’s a mistake of the governor, and you could say the [Biden] administration. They don’t have any water. They didn’t have water in the fire hydrants,” Trump said Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol. “With that being said, I got along well with him when he was governor. We worked together very well, and we would work together. I guess it looks like we’re going to be the one having to rebuild it.”

A hydroclimatologist pushed back on Trump’s water policy claims to the LA Times, calling them “blatantly false, irresponsible and politically self-serving.”

The scientist, Peter Gleick, explained, “There is no water shortage in Southern California — the state’s reservoirs are all at, or above, levels normally expected for this time of year.” The very real problem with dry hydrants is “entirely the result of the massive immediate demands for firefighting water, broken or damaged pipes and pumps, and homeowners leaving hoses and sprinklers running in hopes of saving property,” he said.

Jonathan Nicholson and Jennifer Bendery contributed reporting.