Florida Governor Ron DeSantis attacked a reporter for mild media coverage of Democratic leaders in Los Angeles’ handling of the ongoing wildfires.
A reporter asked DeSantis if it was “inappropriate” to criticize California Governor Gavin Newsom over California’s water policy as fires burned neighborhoods around LA
The governor quickly fired back, saying, “It’s inappropriate for people in your industry to try to sow division and create narratives when these things happen.”
DeSantis joined Republican governors at Mar-a-Lago, where they met with Trump, who mocked “Gavin Newscum” for his failures during the fire crisis.
“Now you’re not that interested in that because Newsom is a ‘D,’” DeSantis continued. “If Newsom was a Republican, you guys would try.” You’d have him nailed to the wall for what they do there.’
DeSantis, who challenged Trump for the Republican presidential nomination and was briefly floated as a potential defense secretary, said it was an unfair contrast to the Surfside building collapse or the hurricanes he has faced during his time in office.
He said other governors warned him early on that natural disasters would be “politicized.”
“When I was elected governor, I had a meeting with some other Republican governors, and what they said was, hey, if you have a natural disaster, know that the media is coming for you,” he said.
DeSantis then criticized LA Mayor Karen Bass, a Democratic former member of the House of Representatives, for being part of a diplomatic delegation to Ghana when the first one began tearing through her hometown.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis accused the media of “trying to create division” and said Republican officials face a double standard. He also attacked Democrats for their handling of the fires that ripped through Los Angeles
“It’s not the same mayor of LA if it was a Republican mayor, I could only imagine what that would do. I mean, you know, the fires are at high risk, and if you try to go to Africa, or wherever she was, to do some kind of trip, you should have been there to prepare and do,” he said.
“And yet I don’t see much heat being sent into that thing. And so, you know, I’d like to see some balance on how this is, this is being done. You’re criticizing the point. the president-elect, but I think you have to hold these other people accountable as well and I haven’t seen that.”
“Your judgments on Donald Trump – excuse me, I think your record of politicizing these issues is very, very poor,” he said.
President-elect Donald Trump ridiculed California Governor Gavin Newsom as ‘Newscum’ during an angry online post as the fires raged
A staircase remains partially standing in a building in the aftermath of the Palisades fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Friday, January 10, 2025
The question he was answering most likely referred to his host Trump, 78, who attacked Newsom for focusing on delta smelt and other fish in a water dispute, a long-standing feature of politics in California, where farmers and cities battle for precious water sources from the north.
Trump claimed in his first message that Newsom “refused to sign the water recovery declaration presented to him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water from excess rain and snowmelt from the north to flow daily to many parts of California, including the United States. areas that are currently burning in an almost apocalyptic manner.’
Newsom’s office strike backnoting that “no such document exists,” and calling the claim “pure fiction.”
Newsom’s office clashed with the Trump White House over water use plans fact checkers noted.