Trump approved California wildfire aid in 2018 only after reviewing Orange County voter data, former official says

Kaitlyn Schallhorn, The Orange County Register on Oct 3, 2024

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LOS ANGELES — For California, the 2018 wildfire season marked the “deadliest and most destructive” one on record, fire officials say. But then-President Donald Trump reportedly nearly declined to approve federal aid because of the state’s political makeup.

Trump changed his mind, however, after he was shown voter registration data from Orange County where Republicans then had an edge over Democrats, Politico reported.

In a phone call Thursday, Mark Harvey, who served as a special assistant to the president for matters related to domestic crisis at the time, confirmed to The Orange County Register the exchange reported by Politico. The former National Security Council employee is among the more than 100 former Republican national security officials who have backed Vice President Kamala Harris in this election.

In all, nearly 2 million acres burned in California in 2018 and 100 people died, according to Cal Fire. While Northern California was impacted the most, Southern California was hit with the Holy fire in August of that year, burning more than 23,000 acres in Orange and Riverside counties and destroying homes and cabins.

“We went as far as looking up how many votes he got in those impacted areas ... to show him these are people who voted for you,” Harvey told Politico.

In October 2018, 541,665 people (34.72%) in Orange County were registered Republican voters, 523,624 (33.56%) were registered Democrats and 429,675 (27.54%) were no party preference. Statewide, however, nearly 8.6 million (43.45%) registered voters in 2018 were Democrats, 5.4 million (27.52%) no party preference and 4.7 million (24.04%) were Republicans.

As of Sept. 6, registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in Orange County, 37.03% to 33.99%, with 22.77% of voters registered as no party preference. Southern California, and Orange County particularly, is home to multiple tight congressional races this year that will determine which political party controls the House in 2025.

A campaign spokesperson for Trump did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

But last month, while in Southern California for a campaign fundraiser and press conference, Trump threatened to withhold firefighting funds from California if he’s elected to the White House again.

In 2018, he was also highly critical of California and its handling of wildfires.

“I think California ought to get their act together and clean up their forests and manage their forests because it’s disgraceful,” Trump said during an August 2018 Cabinet meeting.

“So I say to the governor or whoever is going to be the governor of California: You better get your act together,” Trump said. “Because California, we’re just not going to continue to pay the kind of money that we’re paying because of fires that should never be to the extent ...”

The Washington Post in 2018 reported that the then-president’s response to disasters was “colored in red and blue,” comparing his trips to the Gulf Coast and North Carolina after hurricanes to his criticism of California post wildfires. The report noted that Trump took to social media to criticize what he called California’s “gross mismanagement of the forests,” only acknowledging the victims 14 hours later.

After initially angering California officials with his social media response to the fires, Trump ultimately approved an expedited disaster declaration request.

U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., called the report about Trump’s initial leanings on disaster relief for California “abhorrent.”

“When Orange County needed help, Donald Trump left us to fend for ourselves,” Porter said on X, formerly Twitter. “Our leaders should look out for every person they represent, not just the people who voted for them.”

In recent days, Trump has repeatedly criticized the Biden administration, including Harris, for its handling of the destruction in the southeast caused by Hurricane Helene.

He has said, without evidence, that the Biden administration and Democratic officials were not helping people in Republican areas. At a rally in Michigan on Thursday, he claimed that the administration had no money to deal with the disaster because it had spent too much on migrants.

President Joe Biden and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, both Democrats, lambasted Trump on Thursday.

“You can’t only help those in need if they voted for you,” Biden said on X. “It’s the most basic part of being president, and this guy knows nothing about it.”

“A glimpse into the future if we elect (Trump),” said an X post from Newsom.

Last month, Trump was critical of both the state and federal governments for their handling of the reactivation of an ancient landslide complex on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Speaking to reporters from his golf course on the cliffs of Ranchos Palos Verdes, Trump said officials were “missing in action” and called California a “mess.”

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