California Governor Gavin Newsom recently accused President Donald Trump of spreading “misinformation” about the state’s water supply problems amid the devastating wildfires. Newsom claimed there is no “spigot” that can be turned to solve the issues with California’s water. Trump and other Republicans have blamed incompetent leadership from California Democrats for the crisis at hand.
As background, shortly after the Palisades Fire, firefighters were unable to utilize hydrants after it was discovered they lacked sufficient water pressure for their hoses. Additionally, the Santa Ynez Reservoir, maintained by the city of Los Angeles, has the capacity to hold 117 million gallons of water but was inoperable due to maintenance.
Trump had previously claimed Southern California had insufficient water supplies because it was unwilling to divert water from up north because it would threaten a species of fish known as the delta smelt. Since the comments, Newsom has pushed back on the president arguing the water issues in California are vastly complex and there is no simple solution.
“It is very damaging when people believe such misinformation. I don’t mean it in a malign sense. Maybe the President just doesn’t know that there’s not a spigot that can be turned to solve all the water problems that he alleges exist, that don’t exist, as it relates to [the] state water system here in California,” Newsom said during a recent interview.
Trump addressed the water crisis in a 2024 episode of The Joe Rogan Experience while discussing the wildfire risk with the podcaster. “They said, ‘We have no water.’ I said, do you have a drought? ‘No, we don’t have a drought.’ I said, why do you have no water? ‘Because the water isn’t allowed to flow down,’” Trump said.
“It’s got a natural flow from Canada all the way up north, more water than they could ever use. And in order to protect a tiny little fish, the water up north gets routed into the Pacific Ocean. Millions and millions of gallons of water gets poured,” he added, referring to the delta smelt. Trump maintained that water from up north could be diverted to Southern California to improve supplies.
He continued, “I could have water for all of that land, water for your forests….You know your forests are dry as a bone.” Trump added that the state needs to do a better job at removing flammable underbrush from its forests, asserting, “They’re not allowed to rake their forests because you’re not allowed to touch it.” He added, “And all they have to do is clean their forest, meaning rake it up, get rid of the leaves, you know, leaves that are sitting there for five years.”
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The Tribune reported on another incident in which Newsom criticized Trump for supposedly politicizing the fires. “I’d want him to visit and understand the magnitude of this scope, what happened to the American people that happened to reside here in California, and that’s with an open hand not a closed fist. I’m not interested in politicizing an event,” Newsom said.
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