California was getting ready to fight President-elect Donald Trump. Instead, it's fighting raging wildfires and a crisis that risks tarnishing the state's image just as its leaders were positioning it to be a shining example of progressive governance.
A special session of the state Legislature that Gov. Gavin Newsom called shortly after the November election to position California to counter Trump has been overshadowed by the wildfires, the speed of which seemed to catch many officials off guard.
Newsom and other California Democrats have long held the state up as a national leader in addressing environmental issues, social inequality and economic innovation. But the wildfire crisis has exposed vulnerabilities in the state’s infrastructure and governance that critics argue undermine this narrative.
The fires themselves were propelled by an unusual confluence of extremely dry brush and violent winds, which have also grounded the aircraft that are firefighters’ best weapon.
But empty fire hydrants, a dispute about Los Angeles’ fire budget and preparedness, and a statewide insurance crisis (which has the potential to ruin homeowners who could not secure coverage for their destroyed homes) have converged into a political mess in a part of the country conservatives portray as representing everything they see wrong with America.
And the fires are only the latest challenge to occur on the watch of California Democrats, who for more than a decade have controlled every statewide office and have supermajorities in both chambers of the state Legislature. Increased crime, homelessness, droughts, fires, above-average gas and grocery costs and the most expensive housing prices in the contiguous United States have led many residents and businesses to leave a state that for a century saw only in-migration.
Trump wasted no time blaming the fires on Newsom, whom many expect to run for president in 2028, while Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has come under criticism for being out of the country when the fires began.
“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!!!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, using his derogatory monicker for the governor.
In another post, he accused Newsom and Bass of “gross incompetence” and falsely claimed that President Joe Biden “wasted” the budget of the Federal Emergency Management Agency on the “Green New Scam,” referring to a progressive climate proposal that never made it close to being enacted into law.
Newsom has experience as the target of Trump's social media tirades. This time, he and other leaders in California are also facing criticism from angry residents who lost everything, like a woman who chased down Newsom’s motorcade to confront the governor about what he would do for students at her child’s school, which had just burned down.
Officials were grilled at a Friday news conference about apparent missteps, the latest of which was an erroneous evacuation alert that caused panic overnight after being mistakenly sent to the phones of almost 10 million Los Angeles-area residents.
With the fires poised to be potentially the most expensive natural disaster in American history, attention is turning to the state’s ongoing insurance crisis. Insurers say increased disasters driven by climate change have made it impossible for them to offer financially viable policies at current prices to many homeowners in the most populous state in the country.
Fire-prone areas often now have zero private insurance options, and some companies have even refused to renew existing policies. That has forced homeowners to choose between using a state-backed insurer of last resort, which offers limited protection at high prices, or taking the risk of going without coverage.
Newsom and the political leaders in Hollywood’s hometown were likely to become a political target regardless of what they actually do.
Indeed, many of Trump’s claims about Newsom have turned out to be misleading or outright fabrications, such as the president-elect’s claim that Newsom refused to sign a water-sharing agreement that appears not to exist.
The image of empty fire hydrants have gained traction online as an indictment of government preparedness, though the actual cause of the dry hydrants is more mundane: Firefighters have simply exhausted the capacity of a system designed to fight one-off structure fires, not neighborhoodwide conflagrations, especially on days aircraft could not join the fight.
Mike Madrid, a California Republican strategist who has been critical of both Newsom and Trump, noted that “people have been writing California’s obituary since at least the 1990s — and it’s never panned out.”
Indeed, the “California Dream” has survived earthquakes, draughts, fires, riots, mudslides, power outages, rising costs and more. The state’s natural beauty, favorable climate and world-leading economic vitality have kept it desirable.
The state’s population has even begun to recover as people move back to the state after Covid. It still remains below pre-pandemic levels, however. California is projected to lose up to four seats in the House of Representatives after the next census, while Southern red states like Texas and Florida are poised to gain seats as they continue to attract new residents.
Just like the actual recovery on the ground, the political fallout from the wildfire crisis will take time to unfold. One veteran Democratic operative who requested anonymity to speak candidly said that “the California wildfires have finished Newsom.” The operative said the destruction is so vast and the questions around his role in preparedness seemingly so deep, that they didn’t see how Newsom could emerge from the catastrophe as a front-running presidential contender.
Madrid said Trump’s decision to so viciously attack Newsom, even while the fires are still burning and residents evacuate, could also have the unintended consequence of boosting him as a national counterweight to Trump.
“Trump has a really good track record of picking winners in Democratic primaries by attacking them. Ask Adam Schiff,” said Madrid, referring to the state’s new senator, who won a hotly contested Democratic primary last year by positioning himself as Trump’s chief antagonist and the candidate he feared most.
“He’s elevated Gavin Newsom to be the tip of the spear here,” Madrid added.
Newsom's office waved away politics in a statement to NBC News.
"The governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need," said Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gardon.
