The Memo: Trump sparks political fight as Los Angeles wildfires rage

President-elect Trump has sparked a political battle over the wildfires ravaging Los Angeles even as those fires are still far from contained.

Any suggestion that the disaster — which has already killed two people, destroyed about 1,000 structures and caused 70,000 people to be placed under an evacuation order — would lead to a moment of national unity was in vain.

Instead Trump has taken verbal potshots at California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and President Biden, suggesting their actions are to blame for the failure to contain the fires.

The purpose, aside from Trump’s general taste for political combat, seems to be to paint the current president and the California governor as weak leaders who have enfeebled a nation that the president-elect will soon return to the right track.

Trump's detractors view such tactics with disdain.

Trump took to Truth Social on Wednesday, using his derogatory nickname for the California governor to assert that the response to the wildfires was being hampered by Newsom’s environmental policies.

“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.”

Trump continued assailing Newsom before concluding, “He is the [sic] blame for this. On top of it all, no water for fire hydrants, not firefighting planes. A true disaster!”

Newsom’s office pushed back on the president-elect’s claim, contending it was “pure fiction” and that “no such document” as the one Trump had alluded to exists.

Newsom has been a longtime Trump foe, and speculation is rife that he could seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028.

Later Wednesday, Trump said in another social media post: “NO WATER IN THE FIRE HYDRANTS, NO MONEY IN FEMA. THIS IS WHAT JOE BIDEN IS LEAVING ME. THANKS JOE!”

In fact, Biden had by that stage already put in place measures that will enable the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to reimburse California for its firefighting costs.

Authorities in Los Angeles say the water supplies had been strained by levels of demand about four times greater than normal over a period of many hours.

Of course, those points may not mollify endangered Los Angeles residents. Shocking images of the fires — and the failure to contain them — have dominated television screens across the nation.

Trump tripled down Wednesday with yet another post accusing “the Biden/Newscum Duo” of “gross incompetence and mismanagement.”

Meanwhile, Trump’s billionaire ally Elon Musk has amplified criticisms of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D), who has been overseas in Ghana during the fires. 

Bass, who traveled to the West African nation as part of a delegation attending a presidential inauguration, was reported to be on her way back to Los Angeles on Wednesday.

Musk reposted a social media post in which Rick Caruso, who was defeated by Bass in the 2022 mayoral election, told a local TV station that there was “an absolute mismanagement” underway.

“We’ve got a mayor that is out of the country and we’ve got a city that’s burning and there’s no resources to put out fires. … It looks like we’re in a third-world country here.”

When it comes to Biden and Trump, however, even this initial phase of the wildfire response has placed the political approaches taken by the two men in the starkest of contrasts.

Biden, who happened to be in the Los Angeles area for unrelated reasons — including the birth of his first great-grandchild — responded along conventional lines, receiving a briefing and delivering brief remarks about the fire.

Speaking at a Santa Monica fire station, Biden said what was happening was “astounding.”

The president also noted that “we’re doing anything and everything and as long as it takes to contain these fires.” But he added it was “going to be a hell of a long way. It’s going to take time” before normalcy was restored.

The White House later released a summary of its response to the disaster, noting Biden had approved a Major Disaster declaration for California; that federal efforts to support local firefighting included the provision of five U.S. Forest Service tankers and 10 firefighting helicopters in addition to dozens of fire engines; and that the administration had been “in constant communication” with Newsom and Bass.

The wildfires create a peculiar moment with less than two weeks left of the Biden presidency.

For the outgoing, 82-year-old president, the challenge is firstly to manage the federal response and, secondly, to give voice to public sorrow and angst about the events. It may be his last big, if tragic, moment as commander in chief.

On Tuesday, Newsom paid tribute to Biden’s response, saying it didn’t take “more than a text message” to get his help for the state.

“No politics, no hand-wringing, no kissing of the feet,” Newsom told reporters at a news conference. “[The] president of the United States said, 'Yes, what else do you need?'”

Yet, for all that, the wildfires are another front in a political battlefield that is being transformed once again as Trump prepares to return to power Jan. 20.

The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage.