Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and the CA bureaucracy were utterly destroyed by Trump during the fire press conference last night. Let me tell you, it was a thing of beauty.
President Trump started the day with a trip to North Carolina. A state, along with others such as Georgia, that has been ignored by the federal government since Hurricane Helene dumped metric tons of water on their mountain communities.
Where has FEMA been? Either non-existent, slow-walking inspections to the point where there are still hundreds of homes NOT inspected, and kicking people out of their hotels during the Polar Vortex.
https://twitter.com/matt_vanswol/status/1880065587252195484
Not only that, but they are attempting to declare mountain, yes MOUNTAIN communities as flood plains. Make that make sense.
It’s understandable that, in those circumstances, President Trump would offer the idea that FEMA needs a major overhaul or should be disbanded altogether and let the states manage the recoveries themselves.
I cannot thank Laura Ingraham enough for having us on her show for MONTHS to talk about Western North Carolina.
— Matt Van Swol (@matt_vanswol) January 25, 2025
While Biden spent 4 months ignoring us, Trump spent his first 4 days helping us.
He gave us his OWN microphone and said “tell me your story.”
That’s my president. pic.twitter.com/wxT2uRic6y
The OTHER issue with recoveries from disasters like this is the regulations. And that is where the fire presser that Trump held with Mayor Karen Bass and other California bureaucrats comes in.
First, we’ve had Gavin Hairgel Shimmy Newsom insisting that there has been no lack of water, when the WORLD knows there was a 117 million gallon reservoir sitting up above the Palisades dry as a freaking bone when the fire started. Secondly, Gavin has vetoed major fire mitigation legislation in favor of tiny homes or some such, AND we find out that he ordered a key team of trained fire fighters to be disbanded earlier last year.
https://twitter.com/AndrewKerrNC/status/1882884048328294848
I tell you what, having those guys on site within Day Two of the Palisades fire would’ve made a helluva difference.
Gavin knows his ass is in a sling, which is why he showed up on the tarmac when President Trump and Melania landed in LA yesterday afternoon.
“Most importantly, thank you for being here,” Newsom said, looking toward Mr. Trump. “It means a great deal to all of us — not just the folks in Palisades, the folks in Altadena that were devastated. We’re gonna need your support. We’re gonna need your help. You were there for us during COVID. I don’t forget that. And I have all the expectations that we’ll be able to work together.”
Meanwhile the President and Melania toured some of the neighborhoods and talked with the home and business owners who are looking at nothing but charred rubble.
In a somber scene lighted by an orange Los Angeles sunset, President Trump walked through the ruins of Pacific Palisades on Friday, shaking hands with firefighters and speaking to a handful of residents as he took in the devastation wrought by firestorms that swept through L.A. County this month.
Leveled properties and charred trees were visible in the background as the president walked through a neighborhood of destroyed homes. Firefighters handed him a white fire helmet adorned with the number 47 on the front and side.
Trump said he was stunned by the devastation and vowed to partner with local officials to help victims.
I’ve seen the aftermath of fire and floods to someone’s home. It’s a visual and visceral devastation to the heart and soul. That’s what the people of North Carolina and Los Angeles are dealing with. Yet we have government officials dragging their feet on the recovery efforts.
So much so that a permit is needed, a PERMIT, to clean up your own property. Guess how long said permit takes to be granted… a year to 18 months.
Well, President Trump was having NONE of that at yesterday evening’s fire presser. Nope, not one bit.
This is what everyone is LA, and I daresay in parts of North Carolina and Georgia are dealing with. In the guise of being “safe” the bureaucracies are going to slow walk the recovery because reasons and asinine regulations. ALL of which will penalize the home and business owners.
It’s highly evident that President Trump understands that. He called out Karen Bass and the CA bureaucracy to their face. Seriously, 18 months to get a freaking PERMIT to clean up your home? Hell to the NO.
Let them all start now. And everyone else such as LA gov’t along with CA govt and EPA had better stay the hell out of the way.
"If individuals want to clean out their property, they can." Karen Bass.
— Justine Bateman (@JustineBateman) January 25, 2025
Resident in the crowd, "We can't get to our house" (because the Mayor's evacuation orders are still in place).
Bass, "….But you will be able to go back…. soon."
Get this completely inept @MayorOfLA out… https://t.co/0BHhH9yVk3
And when I talk of getting regulations out of the way, I hope President Trump knows about this one that Bass put in place on January 15th.
The Health Officer issued an order prohibiting cleanup or removal of fire debris at fire damaged and burned properties located in Critical Fire Areas until a hazardous materials inspection is completed by an approved government agency.
— LA Public Health (@lapublichealth) January 16, 2025
1/2 pic.twitter.com/GrNIF6YTn4
You know what? The home and business owners don’t have 18 months to wait for some idiotic inspection and/or permit. They want and NEED to start their cleanup NOW.
And that is what President Trump understands. He gets it. He’s been in construction all his life. The longer you wait to clean up, the worse it is on a multitude of levels.
This was a smackdown of government. Yes, government should be a resource, but also STAY OUT OF OUR WAY.
If we want to hire a backhoe and a bulldozer to clean up our burned down home, then get out of our way so we can get to work.
Bass and the CA bureaucracy has been handed their wake up call. Either step up or get out of the way.
Feature Photo Credit: composite collage of Mayor Karen Bass (official portrait by the City of Los Angeles via Wikimedia Commons, cropped, public domain) and Governor Gavin Newsom (photo by the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation via Wikimedia Commons, cropped, public domain)
Cameron says: I think that Governor Newsom wants to hold on to those properties long enough to exercise eminent domain on them. Trump made him and Bass look like bumbling fools on live TV.
KnitMomma says: The other option is that the homeowners get so frustrated by all the orchestrated delays that they sell to developers who will turn all those former single-family houses into multi-family dwellings. Some of the new 2025 laws in California allow for multiple ADUs on a lot. If I remember correctly, one of those new laws allows for 2 primary houses and 4 ADUS on one former single-family lots.
Cameron says: So glad I left.
Edward Lunny says: The evil that is the democrat party has been on full display throughout this catastrophe. A catastrophe deliberately perpetrated by the democrats, worsened ,deliberately by those same vermin, and even yesterday they were attempting to string it out further. They are trying to extort monies that they would have squandered without providing any relief to the victims of the catastrophe that they created. Just as they have done with the taxes that they have collected. These vile ,turd creatures need to be removed . As well the bullshit commissions that quash efforts to mitigate the conditions that led to these fires need to be eliminated. President Trump can facilitate that and began too at that meeting. Time will tell if california voters see the consequences of their voting habits.
Scott says: Sadly, I hold out no hope for your last statement. California voters are, IMHO, beyond help. I’d love to be wrong, but I’m don’t see more than a time percentage realizing that voting for dims will bring them nothing but ruin..
rbj1 says: The nine most terrifying words in the English language are “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”
Ronald Reagan
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