Donald J. Trump on Friday threatened to withhold federal wildfire aid from California, if elected as president, unless Gov. Gavin Newsom agrees to divert more water to farmers rather than allowing it to flow to the ocean.
Mr. Trump, during a news conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., claimed that the state’s devastating wildfires could be prevented by shifts in how California manages its limited water supply.
“If he doesn’t sign those papers, we won’t give him money to put out all his fires,” Mr. Trump said, referring to Mr. Newsom authorizing water diversions to farmers. “And if we don’t give him all the money to put out the fires, he’s got problems.”
In his remarks, Mr. Trump, the former Republican president, repeatedly called the Democratic governor “Newscum.”
Soon after, Governor Newsom posted a clip of Trump’s comments on X and said that every American voter should pay attention.
Mr. Trump “just admitted he will block emergency disaster funds to settle political vendettas,” Governor Newsom said. “Today it’s California’s wildfires. Tomorrow it could be hurricane funding for North Carolina or flooding assistance for homeowners in Pennsylvania. Donald Trump doesn’t care about America — he only cares about himself.”
Most of California’s water is contained in Northern California, thanks to runoff from the Sierra Nevada and heavier precipitation each winter. The state ships much of that water to the Central Valley and Southern California through massive canals. But California also has been required by court decisions to send water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, which eventually heads to San Francisco Bay, to preserve wildlife — most notably a small fish known as the Delta smelt but also salmon and other species.
In 2019, Mr. Trump as president battled with California leaders over how much water should go to farmers rather than through the Delta. Five years later, he seems intent on reviving that fight and using federal aid as leverage should he become president.
California has had a tough fire year, with nearly a million acres torched across the state so far. Three major fires are burning in Southern California that have destroyed dozens of houses and displaced tens of thousands of people from their homes.
Many of the state’s worst fires this year have been in rural and mountainous parts of California that are heavily Republican. Kern, Tehama and Tulare counties have all suffered massive blazes this year, and in the 2020 election all went for Mr. Trump.
Fire experts say that the state’s fire seasons are generally becoming worse because of a century of fire suppression that allowed thick and unchecked growth of vegetation. Those forests and shrubs are especially ready to burn as climate change makes the weather warmer and hotter.
But Mr. Trump erroneously blamed California’s fires on forests becoming desiccated because the state’s water supply has been allowed to flow into the Pacific Ocean. He said that diverting the water to farmers would dampen the land while helping the agricultural industry. Most of California’s fires occur on forest land, on hillsides and in canyons that are not used for farming.
“You’d stop many of these horrible fires that are costing billions and billions of dollars,” Mr. Trump said on Friday. “One thing I’m going to do for California — vote for me, California — I’m going to give you safety. I’m going to give you a great border. I’m going to give you more water than almost anybody has, and the farmers up north are going to be able to use 100 percent of their land, not 1 percent of their land.”
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