Donald Trump confirms he backs Republican efforts to withhold disaster aid from California unless Democrats agree to his agenda.
Firefighters are still working to contain the deadly wildfires that have devastated the Greater Los Angeles Area. It’s unclear what started the fire, but high winds and drought quickly exacerbated the situation, causing the blazes to sweep across the area, destroying tens of thousands of buildings and killing at least 27 people. Amid the devastation, Republicans have been disturbingly eager to politicize the situation because California is a blue state. Trump quickly used the situation to attack his political adversary, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and blame him for the fires. Meanwhile, Trump and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson have expressed interest in politicizing disaster aid.
Republicans laid the ground for politicizing the aid early on by claiming that the fires were caused by some kind of egregious mismanagement, even though a thorough investigation into the tragedy has yet to be completed. Hence, Johnson confirmed the House was contemplating putting “conditions” on the aid to punish California for its alleged mismanagement. Now, Trump has confirmed he wants to use the disaster aid as leverage to get House Democrats to agree to his demands.
Donald Trump wants to use disaster aid as leverage
During an interview on The Dan Bongino Show, Trump outlined Republicans’ crooked plan to get “everything” they want. Republicans had already floated the idea of tying California aid into a bill that would give Trump the debt ceiling increase he has been seeking. If the two were combined, Democrats would be pressured to accept the debt limit increase in order to hasten aid to California. On the show, Trump suggested he’ll seek more than just the debt ceiling increase.
He stated that he has a reconciliation bill he wants to pass that encapsulates his agenda. Trump explained that he’d been considering introducing a reconciliation bill in one or two parts because the outcome wouldn’t change if it was divided. However, he suggested the devastating fires “unfortunately helped” the argument for one bill. He’d been inspired by the fires and the knowledge that Democrats would want to send aid to California to make one big reconciliation bill that would include the aid. Trump explained, “I’d like to see one bill. And because of Los Angeles, you’d think that’s a Democrat thing. They want that money going so fast. Because of Los Angeles, I think the concept of one big, beautiful bill has been helped greatly.”
Republicans against Trump shared the audio for his next statement, in which he openly admits he wants to force Democrats to accept every aspect of his reconciliation bill by using threats to withhold aid to Californians. He stated, “They want the money to go out there so badly. And I don’t think we should do a bill until Los Angeles is included. And when Los Angeles is included, we get everything we want.”
Trump’s words are incredibly chilling. He’s publicly admitting that he may try to pass his agenda through coercion instead of having a fair vote. Not only that, but he’s going to use potentially life-saving aid and the plight of wildfire victims to perform this coercion. Thousands of Californians had their homes burned down and all of their possessions destroyed. Many have lost loved ones. Now, Republicans are genuinely contemplating telling Democrats that these people will get no aid unless they agree to every aspect of Trump’s agenda. Trump’s not even in office yet, and he has already confirmed that his agenda comes before the lives of his own fellow Americans.
Published: Jan 17, 2025 05:41 pm