President Trump will venture into deep-blue California on Friday for a closely-watched visit that could determine disaster aid for the state and how Trump will work with Democratic governors throughout his four years in office.
Trump’s trip to fire-ravaged Los Angeles comes after he traded barbs with California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). The president will also make trips to North Carolina, which was hit hard by Hurricane Helene, and to Nevada, two states he won in November.
The trip to Los Angeles also marks a big moment for Newsom, who has been floated as a potential 2028 contender but who has also come under intense scrutiny for the state response to the fire.
Congress will likely have to consider disaster aid for California ahead of the fast-approaching March 14 government funding deadline. A number of top Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) have called for conditions to be put on federal aid to the state. Last week, Trump floated tying the aid to a future reconciliation bill.
Rep. Young Kim (R-Calif.), whose district neighbors the areas most affected by the blazes, told The Hill that a visit to the region could change Trump’s perspective on conditioning the aid.
“[It’s] the same argument I’ve been making with my colleagues,” Kim said. “If this disaster hit your district, you would think differently and not talk about the conditions because look at my colleagues from North Carolina, look at my colleagues from other disaster areas like Louisiana, and then here in Southern California.”
Before former President Biden handed off the California disaster relief to Trump, he extended the relief for the state to 100 percent for 180 days, which stretches well into Trump’s presidency. Biden said before leaving that Congress will need to provide more aid to the state, where he shares a good relationship with Newsom.
Trump then inherited the disaster and opted to visit California on his first week in office. He said on Wednesday that he hasn’t thought about if he will meet one-on-one with Newsom. He also opted to go to North Carolina after being critical of the federal and local response to the hurricane that hit there in September.
He told Fox News on Wednesday, “I don’t think we should give California anything until they let water flow down into their system.” And he suggested that states should handle their own responses to natural disasters.
“FEMA is a whole nother discussion, because all it does is complicate everything,” Trump said. “FEMA has not done their job for the last four years.”
Trump argued this week that wildfire relief will make conversations over disaster aid “simpler.”
“It’s been in some ways made simpler by Los Angeles because they’re going to need a lot of money,” he said. “Generally speaking, I think you’ll find a lot of Democrats are going to be asking for help so I think maybe that makes it more one-sided. We’re going to take care of Los Angeles.”
Trump visited Southern California in 2018 after a wildfire and toured the damage with Newsom, who was the governor-elect, and then-Gov. Jerry Brown (D). Newsom, at the time, praised Trump, saying, “there are no politics being played here.”
When asked about that visit compared to now, Trump told Newsmax last week, “Well, this is different than 2018.”
For one, Trump has a different team behind him than he did in 2018. His chief of staff Susie Wiles and press secretary Karoline Leavitt are new faces and his Homeland Security secretary nominee Kristi Noem has not yet been approved by the Senate; Benjamine Huffman is serving as acting secretary. Huffman leads Homeland Security’s Federal Law Enforcement Centers, which trains law enforcement officers.
Trump did not designate an acting director for FEMA, which is within Homeland Security, and has not named his nominee yet for the role.
To be sure, Trump and Newsom’s interactions will be closely watched. The two, who are no strangers to sparring with each other, have traded barbs over state and federal emergency responses to the disaster. Despite the back and forth, Newsom invited Trump to visit the state and urged him not to “politicize human tragedy or spread disinformation from the sidelines.”
Newsom took aim at Trump again this week after the president signed a series of executive orders to roll back Biden-era climate initiatives, including a withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement, a freeze on new offshore wind leasing, and expanding oil and gas drilling the Arctic.
“If you don’t believe in science, believe your own damn eyes,” Newsom said in a statement, followed by images of the wildfires.
Trump, in the interview on Wednesday, said Newsom could release water, a comment that comes after Trump has hammered the governor over water shortages. He repeated his claims that California could better combat its fires in Los Angeles if it directed water from the northern part of the state to the southern part.
“Look, Gavin’s got one thing he can do: He can release the water that comes from the north,” Trump said. “There is massive amounts of water, rainwater and mountain water that comes due with the snow, comes down when — it as it melts. There’s so much water. They’re releasing it into the Pacific Ocean. And I told him for — it’s a political thing for the Democrats. I don’t know.”
Some Republicans are hopeful that, despite Trump’s actions in the first week of his return to the White House, the president could be friendly with Newsom if the two come face-to-face.
“If we’ve learned anything from the first 48 hours of Trump 2 is that there’s not much room for nuance and comfort for his opponents,” said C. Stewart Verdery, Jr., former assistant secretary of Homeland Security in the George W. Bush administration. “It is unusual that the location of the wildfire disaster is right at the headquarters of ‘Trump resistance’ in California and SoCal in particular. But I’ll predict that despite the political barbs being thrown at Mayor Bass and Gov. Newsom, Congress is going to do its usual thing and provide aid to the fire victims as soon as the numbers are finalized.”
Republicans say politically there is an opportunity for the president in the blue state to contrast his administration’s leadership with the state’s Democratic leadership.
“Trump has this opportunity to basically not try to screw California but to come to California and say, ‘Hey, these guys that you’ve elected don’t govern well and we’re going to fix California for you,’” said Rob Stutzman, a California political consultant and former aide to former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R).
“But Republicans also point to the sensitivity of the issue, considering Trump’s comments that the wildfires help negotiations.
Trump has already unilaterally stepped in on the situation — on Monday, he signed an executive order directing departments to “route more water” from Northern California to Southern California.
Other Republicans warn that Trump has to “be sensitive” on his visit, after many people in the greater Los Angeles area have lost their homes and businesses from the wildfires.
“This is an important visit for the president given the magnitude of the tragedy and his stated desire to unite the country. However, it is also complicated for him because he has already indicated that he will leverage the situation in order to advance other priorities in Congress,” said former Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.).
Mulvaney, on the other hand, said talks about conditioning aid should have taken place long before the recent natural disasters in North Carolina and California.
“Twenty years ago we should have started talking about conditioning disaster relief money on remedial activities to make sure that the next disaster isn’t as costly,” said Mulvaney, former director of the Office of Management and Budget in Trump’s first administration.
“I’ve never known Donald Trump to shy away from a tough conversation,” he added.
