Trump Suggests More Fires Could "Accidentally" Start if California Doesn't Meet His Demands
SACRAMENTO, CA - Gov. Gavin Newsom of California told reporters today he got a disturbing call from President Trump that felt like "a not so veiled threat." The President began the call by repeating his demand California require voters to show a photo ID before he releases Federal Disaster Assistance funds. Of course, these funds are desperately needed after two of the worst fires in California’s recorded history destroyed 36,000 acres, along with over 12,000 family homes and businesses.
When Governor Newsom refused to tie aid money to an unrelated voting law, Mr. Trump began talking cryptically about areas of Los Angeles not affected by the fires. Said Trump, "seems like all the homes in Culver City survived. Would be horrible if one of them caught fire, maybe spreading to others that were accidentally doused with some kind of flammable liquid, gasoline for example." When Newsom asked why gasoline would ever be poured on family homes, Mr. Trump said, "just pointing out, a lot of L.A. is still sitting there. And a lot of those houses are made of wood. Old dry wood. That whole Hancock Park area is real nice. I would even call it intact."
"This was clearly a threat," said Newsom, in a news conference organized after the call. The news conference was then shut down when a bus load of recently pardoned Proud Boys arrived and began beating reporters with sticks.
Ironically, California pays more in Federal taxes than any other State. That means a significant portion of funds used for Federal Disaster Relief come from the very place Mr. Trump is threatening. But that didn’t seem to bother Cameron Hamilton, the President’s new acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Said Hamilton, who has no experience managing disasters, “you can talk about irony or what’s fair all you want. Bottom line is, every Friday my guys are going to pay California a visit. And Newsom better have an envelop for us. You miss a Friday, you lose FEMA protection. And next thing you know, ba-bing, a fire or a mudside breaks out and La-La-Land is going the way of Umberto’s Clam House.”
When asked about Mr. Hamilton’s statement, President Trump seemed to laugh it off. “Honestly?” said Trump, “You can forget about aid from FEMA. FEMA is taking a little trip. You won’t be seeing FEMA around here much longer.” Asked if FEMA was shutting down, which would mean firing the 20,000 people currently employed with the agency nationwide, Mr. Trump said, “doing FEMA is time consuming. Let the States do the hard stuff. FEMA just might have a little accident, which may result in the agency ending up in pieces in a garbage bag in my trunk. Right next to his friend, the Department of Education.” When a reporter raised his hand for a follow up, Mr. Trump said, “don’t worry ‘bout it” and left to attend a meeting in the back office of a New Jersey butcher store.
