DeSantis Tells Media Point-Blank Newsom Would’ve Been ‘Nailed to the Wall’ Over Wildfires If He Was Republican

DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, accused reporters Thursday evening of going easy on California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, over his handling of wildfires in the Los Angeles area.

The area around Los Angeles has been hit with multiple wildfires that rapidly spread through Pasadena and other localities, destroying hundreds of buildings and leaving at least five people dead, prompting criticism of Newsom from President-elect Donald Trump. When reporters asked DeSantis about whether Trump’s comments were appropriate, DeSantis hit back at them over their coverage.

“Is it appropriate for people in your industry to try to create division and to try create narratives anytime these things happen? Now, you’re not as interested in doing that because Newsom is a D,” DeSantis said. “If Newsom was a Republican, you guys would go try to—you would have him nailed to the wall for what they are doing over there. I know, we’ve dealt with it. We just assume in Florida, anytime something happens, it’s going to be politicized by the media. So you guys sitting in judgment of Donald Trump, I mean, excuse me, I think your track record of politicizing these things is very, very bad.”

Trump previously clashed with Newsom over preparations for wildfires, arguing the California governor and potential 2028 candidate for president prioritized protecting the delta smelt, a small, three-inch fish, over allowing water to be used by cities and farmers. DeSantis reminded reporters that The Washington Post tried to blame him over the 2021 collapse of Surfside Towers.

“What I’m telling you is you guys are trying to make an issue of it when I have watched from this seat—in fact, when I got elected governor, I was meeting with some other Republican governors and what they would say is, ‘Hey, if you have a natural disaster, just know media is coming at you, they’re going to do it,’” DeSantis said. “It’s not the same. That mayor of L.A., if that were a Republican mayor, I can only imagine what that would do. I mean, you know fires are a high risk and you try to go to Africa or wherever she was, to go on some type of voyage? You should have been there preparing and doing that. And yet I don’t see a lot of heat being directed in that thing.”

PALISADES FIRE: Complete destruction along PCH @DailyCaller #PalisadesFire | #CaliforniaWildfires pic.twitter.com/VOnV6o4BJM— Hailey Grace Gomez (@haileyggomez) January 10, 2025

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, a Democrat, was in Ghana as part of a delegation attending the inauguration of that country’s president when the wildfires broke out.

“So, you know, I just—I would like to see some balance on how this is done,” DeSantis said. “You criticize the president-elect, but I think you also have to hold these other people accountable, and I’ve not seen that.”

Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation

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