California Gov. Gavin Newsom called on Donald Trump to help California rebuild and prepare for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles after the wildfires that devastated Los Angeles County. However, Trump seems to be causing more harm than good.
Last month, Gavin Newsom praised Donald Trump for his involvement in securing the 2028 Olympics for Los Angeles before emphasizing that it was “an opportunity for him to shine” as the city focuses on rebuilding for the Olympics.
Trump, however, has not been of much help
In recent weeks, Trump has been spreading misinformation and inaccurate claims, even telling Sean Hannity on Fox News that he might withhold aid from California unless the state agrees to “let water flow down,” trumpeting a false claim that Newsom and state officials were intentionally preventing water from Northern California from reaching Los Angeles and instead diverting it into the Pacific Ocean using a supposed “valve.”
“Look, Gavin’s got one thing he can do,” Trump said according to the New York Times. “He can release the water that comes from the north. There is massive amounts of water, rainwater and mountain water, that comes, too, with the snow, comes down as it melts, there’s so much water, they’re releasing it into the Pacific Ocean.”
Trump further insisted that water from the Pacific Northwest was readily available to Los Angeles but was instead being funneled into the Pacific Ocean through a nonexistent “valve.” In reality, there is no pipeline connecting the Pacific Northwest to California, and such a project has consistently been dismissed as impractical and far too expensive.
Yet, Trump has continued to push the idea.
“Los Angeles has massive amounts of water available to it,” Trump claimed during a Tuesday press conference. “All they have to do is turn the valve, and that’s the valve coming back from and down from the Pacific Northwest, where millions of gallons of water a week and a day, even, in many cases, pours into California, goes all through California down to Los Angeles. And they turned it off.”
In an apparent attempt to justify his misinformation, Trump went on to order two dams in central California to be opened, letting roughly 2.2 billion gallons of water flow out of reservoirs. Trump celebrated, this move on Truth Social, saying “the water is flowing in California,” and adding the water was “heading to farmers throughout the State, and to Los Angeles.”
However, this was a massive mistake from Trump.
Heather Cooley, director of research for California water policy organization the Pacific Institute, points out that there are two major problems with this move from Trump: the water is being wasted by being released during the wet winter season, and the water will not even flow to Los Angeles, anyway.
“They were holding extra water in those reservoirs because of the risk that it would be a dry summer,” Cooley said according to CNN. “This puts agriculture at risk of insufficient water during the summer months.”
“This release is extremely concerning,” Cooley added. “It’s providing zero benefit and putting California farmers at risk of water supply constraints in the coming months.”
Los Angeles was looking for help from Trump as they look to rebuild and prepare for the 2028 Olympics. However, it does not seem like Trump’s attempts to help are going all that well.
