Donald Trump Could Use Wildfire Aid to Mess With California

When Donald Trump takes office next week, he will inherit one of the most expensive natural disasters in American history: the ongoing Los Angeles wildfires, which have killed at least two dozen people, forced the evacuation of more than 150,000 people, and scorched over 40,000 acres.

And though the incoming president has bemoaned the fact that one of the “best and most beautiful parts of the United States of America is burning to the ground,” there are indications that he may seek to use the crisis as a bargaining chip, potentially conditioning federal aid on political concessions.

As Politico reported, Trump on Sunday held a dinner at Mar-a-Lago with several House Republicans, during which he discussed tying wildfire relief funding to a debt limit increase—something he’s been agitating for since the end of last year, when he called for the debt ceiling to be abolished during a government funding fight. House Speaker Mike Johnson was not present, according to Politico, but several top Republicans were, including some with authority over the appropriations process.

Earlier Sunday, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso predicted to CBS News’ Margaret Brennan that he believes “there will be strings attached to money that is ultimately approved” for fire relief. “It has to do with being ready the next time,” Barasso said Sunday on Meet the Press, “because this was a gross failure this time.” Last week, Ohio Congressman Warren Davidson suggested outright to Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo that aid could be withheld to “put pressure on the California government to change course” in its forest management policy. “If they want the money, then there should be consequences where they have to change their policies,” the Republican said Friday.

Vice President-elect JD Vance played down the potential that aid could be subject to political conditions. “Look, President Trump cares about all Americans,” he said in a Fox News Sunday interview. “He is the president for all Americans.”

But Trump has said directly—just a few months ago—that wildfire aid could be withheld over his long-running feud with California Governor Gavin Newsom. “We won’t give him money to put out all his fires,” Trump said in September. “And if we don’t give him the money to put out his fires, he’s got problems.”

The discussion around wildfire aid reflects Trump’s politicization of national crises, as seen recently in his effort to turn the New Orleans terror attack into an argument for his planned border crackdown and his use of the Los Angeles fires to attack Newsom, outgoing President Joe Biden, and other Democrats. “THIS IS WHAT JOE BIDEN IS LEAVING ME,” Trump posted last week, falsely claiming—as he did while Hurricane Helene ravaged the Gulf Coast last fall—that there was “NO MONEY IN FEMA.” “THANKS JOE!”

The incoming president’s reflexive partisanship and indifference to the facts threaten to complicate an already challenging disaster response. Tying aid to his own political objectives, of course, could make the situation even worse. “He’s been at this for years and years and years,” Newsom told NBC News over the weekend. “We take it seriously, to the extent that in the past it’s taken a little bit more time” to get federal aid.