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LA wildfire: Trump accuses California governor of wanting to protect 'worthless fish'
President-elect Trump blames California Governor Gavin Newsom for the wildfires, accusing him of neglecting water restoration efforts.
As the city of Los Angeles in the US state of California burns to ashes because of raging wildfires, President-elect Donald Trump has pinned the blame on the state Governor Gavin Newsom for the calamity. Trump accused Governor Newsom of rejecting a water restoration declaration that would have allowed billions of gallons of water to enter the state in a bid to save a fish called a smelt.
In a post on Truth Social, Donald Trump’s social media platform, he said, “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.”
"He wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (it didn't work!), but didn't care about the people of California. Now the ultimate price is being paid. I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA! He is to blame for this. On top of it all, no water for fire hydrants, and no firefighting planes. A true disaster," he added in the post.
In another post, Trump accused Newsom of containing zero percent of the fire and said he could not wait till January 20, the day he will take oath as US’ President. “As of this moment, Gavin Newscum and his Los Angeles crew have contained exactly ZERO percent of the fire. It is burning at levels that even surpass last night. This is not Government. I can’t wait till January 20th!” he said.
In the most recent post, Trump has asked Newsom to resign for failing to contain fire in “One of the best and most beautiful parts of the United States of America” saying that it is “all his fault”.
Governor Gavin Newsom’s Response
In response to Trump’s attacks, Governor Gavin shared a post on his X (formerly Twitter) account, accusing the President-elect of politicising the suffering of the people of LA.
“People are literally fleeing. Kids have lost their schools. Communities have lost their churches. Families have lost their homes. Some have even lost their lives. And the President-Elect’s response is to politicize it. We’ll continue to focus on what matters: saving lives and putting out these unprecedented fires,” he said in the post.
The governor has also shared multiple posts of him being on the ground and monitoring the situation with firefighters. In one of the posts, he thanked President Joe Biden and his administration for providing necessary assistance to the state to fight the fires.
The western coast of the US is facing an irreparable tragedy right now. In LA, over 1,500 structures and homes have been destroyed, vehicles have burnt and over 100,000 people have evacuated. So far, five people have lost their lives in the series of wildfires that have erupted in LA in the last two days.
