Racist, stupid crap—that’s not unexpected. What we need is a tough local and national Democratic response. To everything.
President-elect Donald Trump speaks to the media before going to view the wildfire damage in the Los Angeles area.(Saul Loeb / AFP via Getty Images)
Copresidents-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk wasted no time racing to the political bottom in the wake of the devastating Los Angeles fires Wednesday, which have so far killed at least five people, injured many more, and destroyed thousands of structures—many if not most of them homes.
No surprise there.
On Truth Social Wednesday, the juvenile Trump denounced California Governor Gavin Newsom as “Newscum” and accused him of “refusing to sign the water restoration declaration…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.”
As local news sources and others quickly noted, that wasn’t true. “State officials along with Republican sources in California’s legislature confirmed to KCRA 3 on Wednesday there was never a ‘water restoration declaration’ placed in front of Newsom,” the local station reported. “Since Newsom has been in office, there has not been legislation that would do what Trump is describing.”
Copresident Musk went Trump one better, as he frequently does. He blamed the disappointing (to everyone—it’s tragic) response to the fire on DEI hires in the fire department. “They prioritized DEI [diversity, equity, inclusion principles] over saving lives and homes,” Musk claimed, ridiculously. At the same time, he seemed to blame it on Jews, cosigning a post by maniac Alex Jones that blamed a “globalist plot to wage economic warfare and deindustrialize the United States before triggering global collapse.”
“True,” Musk replied.
As journalist Ned Resnikoff observed, targeting “a city with a large Jewish population” for destruction would seem counterintuitive, but who really knows.
Right- and left-wing critics of liberal Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass widely claimed that she’d cut the fire department budget, which she did not, as Politico reported. “In fact, the city’s fire budget increased more than $50 million year-over-year compared to the last budget cycle.”
But Politico placed its reporting in a piece headlined that the fire “threatens to end Karen Bass’ extended honeymoon,” extensively quoting her critics.
Personally, I felt some sympathy for Bass, who was blindsided as she got off a plane from Ghana, where she was attending the new president’s inauguration at the request of President Biden. She got the flight on Tuesday, arrived on Wednesday. Bass was baited getting off the plane by a reporter for Sky News, the snooty Brit equivalent of Fox News’s Peter Doocy. He blamed Bass for cutting the fire department budget—as Politico reported, she increased it by $50 million—and cited Musk’s criticism.
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My first reaction was why should she reply to the likes of Musk, with all his racism? But Bass reacted like the proverbial deer in the headlights, a species also known as Democrats, often standing silent. Anyone who didn’t recognize the ideological leanings of Sky News might think she didn’t have an adequate answer to the trolling. Democrats, sadly, need to get into the ring with these vicious, low-IQ demagogues.
Bass regrouped at a press conference later. As Politico reported: “This is going to be an effort of all of us coming together, and we have to resist any effort to pull us apart,” she said, noting that she was on the phone coordinating with officials “every hour” of her flights on both military and commercial aircraft.
Newsom told Trump: “My message to the incoming administration—and I’m not here to play any politics—is please don’t play any politics. There’s a time and place for that…. The precious moments we have to evacuate, we don’t have any time for that mishegoss.”
Sorry, Governor Newsom, Trump has time for nothing but mishegoss. I hope President Biden can release as much FEMA money as possible before he leaves at noon January 20. And I hope Democrats toughen up on defense—and eventually, on offense. The future of Los Angeles depends on it.
Joan WalshTwitterJoan Walsh, a national affairs correspondent for The Nation, is a coproducer of The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts The Tonight Show and the author of What’s the Matter With White People? Finding Our Way in the Next America. Her new book (with Nick Hanauer and Donald Cohen) is Corporate Bullsh*t: Exposing the Lies and Half-Truths That Protect Profit, Power and Wealth In America.