Trump had warned Newsom in the past that California had a 'terrible' wildfire prevention system

During his first administration, President Donald Trump repeatedly warned California Governor Gavin Newsom that the California wildfire prevention system and his management of wildfires were "terrible." Such warnings take on relevance today after the upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood in Los Angeles, was consumed by fire in a massive blaze that forced the evacuation of 30,000 people, destroyed at least 1,000 structures and caused five deaths.

"The Governor of California, @GavinNewsom, has done a terrible job of forest management. I told him from the first day we met that he must ‘clean’ his forest floors regardless of what his bosses, the environmentalists, DEMAND of him. Must also do burns and cut fire stoppers," Trump said on X (formerly Twitter) in 2019.

Then, the president-elect, who will be sworn in in 12 days, criticized the federal government for having to hand over resources to California for mishandling wildfires.

"Every year, as the fire’s rage & California burns, it is the same thing-and then he comes to the Federal Government for $$ help. No more. Get your act together Governor. You don’t see close to the level of burn in other states," Trump said. He wrote the post while the Kincade Fire was occurring, which especially affected Sonoma County between Oct. 23 and Nov. 6, 2019.

At the time, Newsom responded to Trump, telling the Washington Post that California had the situation under control.

"We’re successfully waging war against thousands of fires started across the state in the last few weeks due to extreme weather created by climate change while Trump is conducting a full on assault against the antidotes."

Yet years later, just as Trump is about to assume the presidency again, once again California has been hit hard by the wildfires, with the particularity that, on this occasion, there has been harsh criticism of the Californian authorities for budget cuts to firefighters, the troops deployed and the lack of water for officials to fight the flames.

On the latter point, on Wednesday, Trump questioned Newsom for not agreeing to a deal that he said would have allowed California to be supplied with fresh water.

"Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him 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 in a virtually apocalyptic way," Trump said on Truth Social.

"He wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (it didn’t work!), but didn’t care about the people of California. Now the ultimate price is being paid. I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA! He is the blame for this. On top of it all, no water for fire hydrants, not firefighting planes. A true disaster!"

According to Fox News Digital, a Newsom spokesman accused Trump of playing politics as the fires continue. He claimed the document the president mentioned in his release does not exist.