Fire!

Susan Estrich on Jan 11, 2025

What was Donald Trump's reaction to the deadly and devastating wildfires literally burning down a county that didn't vote for him?

This is what he wrote on Truth Social.

"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, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way."

Count on Donald Trump to turn sour a moment that should remind us that what really matters is not a partisan issue, that a president, and a president-elect, works for all Americans, not just the ones who voted for him. Ronald Reagan would have been great at a moment like this. Not the Don.

At a press conference on Thursday, LA officials repeatedly thanked President Joe Biden for his support and commitments for disaster relief as Los Angeles faces an apocalyptic crisis. The elephant in the room was Donald Trump. Would the new president continue to provide the resources and support that California desperately needs? Biden says that he prays he will. That is not exactly reassuring.

There is no such thing as a "water restoration declaration." There is no spigot that Newsom could have turned on that would have filled the hydrants in the Palisades or Altadena, that would have saved lives and homes in this disaster. What Trump is referring to is a fight he had years ago with Newsom about whether California was doing too much to protect fish -- including the "smelt" that you may have heard about -- at the expense of California farmers. It had nothing whatsoever to do with how much water was available this week. The extreme weather conditions that produced this disaster -- an extreme drought the likes of which we haven't seen and extreme wind the likes of which we haven't felt -- overwhelmed the system. Yes, we knew it was coming, and it would have been better if the mayor hadn't gone to Ghana for the week, but it wouldn't have made a difference.

To be sure, Trump wasn't the only one trying to make political hay out of this disaster. My friend Rick Caruso, the billionaire developer from Pacific Palisades who ran against (and lost to) Karen Bass for mayor, called into a local station and complained that the mayor should not have been out of town for such extreme weather and that something had obviously gone wrong leaving firefighters without enough water to fight these blazes. The interview went viral, with the help of Elon Musk, who kept pumping out criticism of the mayor and the governor at a time when people were desperate for reassurance that the Trump administration would be there to support us.

Will they be?

There is, without a doubt, a lot of free-flowing anger out here, looking for a place to land. People want to know how something this terrible could have happened and what can be done to make sure it will never happen again. Who can we blame for this? Some of the loudmouths on the right are blaming the Los Angeles Fire Department, which is ably led by a lesbian chief who implemented a much-needed DEI initiative a few years ago, with Megyn Kelly -- amplified by who else but Elon Musk -- irresponsibly suggesting that the chief "has made not filling the fire hydrants top priority, but diversity." There is absolutely no evidence that diversity has impaired the fire department's ability to fight these fires; it's an attack that is unfair to the men and women who are risking their lives to save ours. Not to mention the fact that it's the Department of Water and Power that is responsible for filling the hydrants, not the fire fighters.

Someone should ask Donald Trump what he plans to do about the extreme weather that causes devastation, not to mention what he plans to do about the disaster we face. Can he say anything to comfort us? Will he be a president for all Americans? Killing the smelts is not an answer.

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To find out more about Susan Estrich and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.