Gavin Newsom of California has long been a leading opponent and target, of President Donald Trump.
But the governor of the most populated state of the nation, one of the leaders of the Democratic Party in the resistance against the second Trump government and a potential competition of the White House in 2028, leaves politics aside while working feverishly for more To get federal help for people and companies destroyed by last month’s deadly forest fires in the metropolitan Los Angeles.
“Thank you, President Trump, for coming to our communities to see this firsthand and meet with me today to continue our joint efforts to support people struck,” ” Said Newsom In a statement on Wednesday evening after his interruption with the President in the White House.
In a video posted on social medial, the Governor said: “So, here in the White House. Just a meeting with President Trump. Had a very successful day on Capitol Hill, met in a dual way with Republican and Democratic Leaders about disaster help and Emergency recovery for people affected by the fires in South California. “
Frenemies: Newsom enters the hand to meet Trump in the White House
Newsom described his meetings with Trump and members of the congress as “the spirit of cooperation and cooperation … defined.”
The governor’s journey was his first to Washington, DC, because Trump is taken over in the White House and is part of his efforts to obtain extra federal financing to help recover a natural fire Destructive Blazes That killed 29 people, destroyed more than 12,000 houses and forced tens of thousands to evacuate.
At the end of last month, the governor approved $ 2.5 billion for fire brigade work, which he hopes will be reimbursed by the federal government.
And the state will probably need much more help from the federal government, because the bill to cover the reconstruction costs is expected to reach out in the dozens of billions of dollars.
The aftermath of a natural fire in Pacific Palisades and along the Pacific coast Highway January 10, 2025 in Los Angeles. (David Hume Kennerly/Getty images)
After his meeting with Trump and his crisscrossing from Capitol Hill, Newsom emphasized that “we continue to cut the bureaucracy to speed up the repair and clean-up efforts, to ensure that survivors have the means and support they need. “
Relations between Newsom and Trump have not always been so harmonious.
Their hostility dates from Trump was chosen as president in 2016, when Newsom was the Lieutenant governor of California.
And although they sometimes sought a common ground during Trump’s first term in the White House, the verbal fireworks resumed over the past two years when Newsom served as a top curogate on the campaign track for former President Joe Biden and former vice -president Kamala Harris, who Biden replaced the standard carrier of the Democrats 2024 last summer.
Newsom regularly criticized Trump, and the former and future president returned the favor in a convenient way and treated Newsom and heavy Blue California as a political boxing bag.
After the convincing election victory of Trump at Harris in November, Newsom moved to “Trump-Prail” his heavy blue state.
“He uses the term ‘Trump-proof’ as a way to stop all the great things that can be done to make ‘California great again’, but I just won the elections overwhelmingly,” Trump replied.
But news followed by and earlier this week, the legislators of California approved $ 25 million in legal financing well proposed by the Democratic Governor to challenge actions of the Trump government. And the legislative power has also assigned another $ 25 million to legal groups to defend immigrants without papers who are confronted with possible deportation due to new efforts of Trump administration.
President Donald Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom Walk to speak with reporters after the president arrived at Air Force One at Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles on January 24, 2025. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)
After the outbreak of the fires at the beginning of last month, Trump repeatedly crisised the crisis. He has accused the governor of wrongly managing forest and water policy and pointing to intense declaration of a observed lack of preparation, news of news to resign.
“Gavin Newscum should resign. This is all his fault !!!” Trump accused in a social media post on January 8 and repeated a different name, he often labels the governor.
Trump also blamed for the deadly forest fires on mayor of Los Angeles Karen Bass, another Democrat, and the policy approved by the state legislators. In an executive order that was issued last month, he described the management of the state’s land and water as a ‘disastrous’.
Newsom pushed back. The Governor disputes Trump and noted that reservoirs in the southern part of California were full when the fires first came to light, and he claimed that no amount of water could tackle any amounts that are fed by wind up to 100 miles per hour .
Newsom also claimed that Trump spread ‘hurricane power winds of mis- and disinformation’.
But when Trump arrived in Los Angeles at the end of last month to investigate the first damage – only four days after his inauguration as President – the governor greeted him at the airport.
“Thank you first that you are here. It means a lot to all of us,” Newsom told Trump as he greeted the president last month upon his arrival in Los Angeles. “We need your support. We need your help.”
The president stated that “we are looking to complete something. And the way you are completing it to work together.”
In anticipation of his stop in Los Angeles, Trump had threatened to remember Nature Brandhulp until certain provisions in California were paid, including changes in water policy and needed an ID to vote.
President Donald Trump talks to California Gov. Gavin Newsom after arriving at Air Force One at Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles January 24, 2025. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)
“It was not discussed and I hope we can continue,” Newsom said on Thursday when he was asked in a CNN interview about all the conditions for federal help that Trump may have required.
“Some of the circumstances that were about it seemed to be a little noise for me, a bit political. We are all in together at the end of the day.”
Newsom has also taken a step back in recent weeks by pushing back against Trump’s Zingers.
After Trump’s orders, the American Army Corps of Engineers opened two dams in Central California last week, leaving approximately 2.2 billion liters of water from reservoirs.
Trump celebrated the move in posts on Truth Social and Sunday and stated: “The water flows in California” and adding the water was “on the way to farmers throughout the state and to Los Angeles.”
But water experts argued that the newly released water will not flow to Los Angeles, and it is wasted by being released during the normally wet winter season of California.
Newsom, apparently the goal of rebuilding the working relationship he had with Trump during the first term of the President in the White House, did not raise any objections to water.
“For Newsom it is not only the last disaster, it is the following. Because when you are Governor of California, you know that there will be more forest fires or floods or earthquakes in the not too distant future, and he will need help From the federal government, “Jack Pitney emphasized, an experienced political scientist in California at Claremont McKenna College.
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Pitney argued that “whatever (newsom) thinks of Trump, he needs the help of the president.”
But looking ahead, he noticed that Newsom “will be mentioned in two years. So once he is no longer governor, he can be as partizan and anti-Trump as he wants. But for now that has to be on hold.”
