As Trump and Newsom's feud intensifies, what does that mean for wildfire aid to Southern California?

Kaitlyn Schallhorn, The Orange County Register on Jun 11, 2025

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The President Donald Trump vs. Gov. Gavin Newsom war of words — or really, social media posts — has only escalated in recent days as demonstrations protesting the federal government’s immigration enforcement operations continue.

The name-calling and trading of barbs is a stark contrast to the seemingly reconciliatory tone the two leaders struck in late January when Trump visited a wildfire-ravaged Southern California. Trump, then, set aside his favorite nickname for California’s Democratic governor, “Newscum,” and the two men shook hands.

But the “Newscum” moniker is back — along with Newsom accusing Trump of abusing his power and escalating tension in L.A.

Meanwhile, Newsom’s nearly $40 billion request in February for federal disaster relief aid for cleanup and recovery efforts following the multiple wildfires that broke out in the L.A. area in January is still just that, a request.

Congress has not yet received a formal disaster aid request from the Trump administration, Athina Lawson, a spokesperson for House Speaker Mike Johnson, said. That means Congress does not have legislation to consider, Lawson said.

When asked about the status of California’s request, a White House spokesperson pointed to the president’s address from the Oval Office on Tuesday, where he said his administration will be “phasing out” the Federal Emergency Management Agency after hurricane season ends in November. Trump said he wants states to “wean off of FEMA” and wants disaster relief efforts to be more state-led.

“The governor should be able to handle it, and frankly, if they can’t handle it, then maybe they shouldn’t be governor,” Trump said.

Questions about California’s wildfire aid request, specifically, went unanswered by the White House.

Newsom, meanwhile, is criticizing — and suing — the Trump administration for federalizing the California National Guard and deploying troops and Marines to Southern California without the request of state and local leaders. Defense officials told Congress it costs an estimated $134 million to send National Guard troops to Los Angeles.

That’s “$134 million that should be going to LA’s fire recovery,” Newsom said in a post on X.

Trump has, though, recently approved disaster declarations for other states, including this week Missouri, a state with a Republican supermajority that has been grappling with the aftermath of devastating tornadoes, storms and flooding in April and May. Altogether, Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe’s request for FEMA’s public assistance funds totaled about $74 million.

But when it comes to California’s $40 billion request, it may be futile to guess how the ongoing back-and-forth between Trump and Newsom may have an impact, said Dan Schnur, who teaches political messaging at USC and UC Berkeley.

“There’s no way to predict Trump’s decisions on things like this, but it’s certainly a possibility” that the feud could change his course on an aid decision, Schnur said.

“In the past, California Republicans have found a way to convince him to help the state in a way that didn’t make him feel like he was helping Newsom,” he added. “But it’s entirely possible that as this state of conflict increases, he could easily decide to use the wildfire money as a weapon in the fight.”

L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said she isn’t aware of a formal response from the federal government regarding the wildfire relief request either.

“That said, the need for sustained federal support remains critical as our communities continue to recover and strengthen wildfire resilience,” Barger said.

Trump has floated tying wildfire aid to California to a voter ID law or changes to the state’s water management. Notably, not all Republicans are on board with attaching conditions to disaster aid, particularly those who represent districts in Southern California.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass placed a curfew on downtown L.A. Tuesday, after several nights of demonstrations, clashes with law enforcement and vandalism. Tuesday was a much calmer night than the ones before.

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