Days after US President-elect Donald Trump alleged the California Governor for the wildfires destroying Los Angeles, Gavin Newsom on Saturday invited the Republican to witness the destruction and meet the victims. In a piercing letter to Trump, the California governor asked him not to “politicise a human tragedy” and “spread disinformation from the sidelines.”.
Newsom, a Democrat, emphasised the need for unity and collective effort amid the disaster, which has taken at least 11 people’s lives. “As you prepare to assume the presidency once more, I invite you to come to California. The hundreds of thousands of Americans—displaced from their homes and fearful for the future—deserve to see us all working together in their best interests, not politicising a human tragedy and spreading disinformation from the sidelines,” the governor wrote in a letter wrote.
Land have been displaced, and thousands of homes have been destroyed in what is the most devastating blaze in Los Angeles history. It has also shredded homes of several Hollywood celebrities, stimulating them to flee.
In his letter, Newsom reminded Trump of the time when he travelled to California as president to survey the damage after the Paradise fire in 2018 and a spate of wildfires in 2020.
Elaborating on the cause behind the disaster after Trump’s condemnation of his managing the situation, Newsom said, “On January 7, a massive windstorm hit Southern California, with hurricane-force gusts nearing 100 miles per hour in Los Angeles County.
Southern California has seen virtually no rain this winter, and when those winds swept through the parched landscape, tiny ignitions became raging wildfires.”
Trump has expressed his criticism of Newsom since the fires started and accused the governor of the tragedy, even asking for his resignation. He alleged that a lack of water in Southern California led to a shortage for the firefighters.
Referring to Newsom as “Newscum,” Trump said, “The governor denied signing the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snowmelt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a catastrophic way.”
Trump further said, “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.”
