By Throughout 2024, California Governor Gavin Newsom wanted our national politics to be a choice between California and Florida, going so far as to constantly attack Florida Governor Ron DeSantis until the Republican beat him so badly in a debate that Newsom’s wife asked for it to stop.
In the end, Americans chose the man from Florida, and even though Trump has yet to take office, it has already proven to have been a wise choice. While DeSantis and Florida received universal praise, including from Joe Biden, for how they handled two major hurricanes in the fall, the fire raging in Los Angeles has revealed a simple truth: the Democratic Party has a major competency problem.
palisades fire seen from lax flight pic.twitter.com/qXdpdaqyY9
— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) January 8, 2025
The New York Post writes that the Los Angeles Fire Department had its budget cut by a staggering $17.6 million this financial year, records show — as fire crews continue to battle out-of-control blazes ravaging the City of Angels.
The drastic decrease in funding for the fire department was the second-largest cut to come out of embattled Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass‘ 2024-25 fiscal year budget, according to city figures.
Bass had initially wanted to cut the fire department by even more — a staggering $23 million.
The details on Bass’ budget slashing resurfaced as the mayor faced widespread backlash Wednesday after it was revealed she was away in Africa for the Ghana president’s inauguration — even as wind-whipped wildfires turned parts of her city into an apocalyptic hellscape.
The mayor flew to Africa despite warnings from meteorologists that a “recipe for fire” was on track to hit her city, according to The Daily Mail.
The outlet noted that “to make matters worse, a litany of failures by LA city officials appear to be fueling the out-of-control blaze, which has forced tens of thousands of people to flee some of the city’s ritziest enclaves as homes and businesses burn to the ground.
Residents have criticized officials for failing to cut off electricity to power lines, as shocking footage shows how energized cables have fueled fires.
Local people have also blasted Los Angeles County for allegedly refusing to refill the reservoirs, meaning fire hydrants are running dry in some areas and leaving firefighters hobbled in their attempts to extinguish the flames.
Shocking footage from the Pacific Palisades shows sparks firing in all directions as power lines come down amid the smoke-filled wind.”
Rick Caruso, billionaire real estate developer, called into LA local news:
“This is like a third world country… there is no water coming out of the fire hydrants. LA Mayor Karen Bass is on a foreign trip to Ghana.”pic.twitter.com/iOjXPkWcko
— Geiger Capital (@Geiger_Capital) January 8, 2025
Karen Bass cut fire department funding by $17+ million. She was in Ghana when the fires started, even though she knew about them (as we all did), days before. This should have been treated like a CAT 5 Hurricane before it started, but instead it was treated by our current mayor…
— Nick Bilton (@nickbilton) January 8, 2025
Bass is not a random, incompetent municipal official. In 2020, she narrowly missed out on becoming Joe Biden’s vice president and has been a major force in the national Democratic Party.
Newsom is also not without blame, either, and Republicans have pointed out his massive failures on the issue of fire prevention. “President-elect Donald Trump lashed out at Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday, calling the fires “virtually apocalyptic” in a Truth Social post and pointing a finger at state rules protecting endangered species for limiting the amount of water that gets sent south from Northern California.
‘I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA!,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “He is the blame for this,’” wrote Politico.
Four months before the fires, the incoming president predicted a fire would devastate California.
Just 4 months ago in LA County, Trump spoke about the need for California to send more water downstate:
“You have so much water…you could revert water up into the Hills, where you have all the dead forests…the land would be damp—and you’d stop many of these horrible fires.” pic.twitter.com/6dM9MF5V4T
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) January 8, 2025
In 2014, California voters approved a $7.5 billion bond to build more water reservoirs, but Newsom has failed to construct them, and in some cases torn others down after environmentalists claimed it was hurting fish.
CA Governor Gavin Newsom brags about “the largest dam removal in U.S. history” because Native tribes said to save fish pic.twitter.com/0s9v1alpl4
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) January 8, 2025
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