California Governor Gavin Newsom reached out to Donald Trump for assistance in rebuilding Los Angeles and preparing for the 2028 Olympics following the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles County. However, rather than providing much-needed support, Trump appears to be making matters worse.
Last month, Newsom acknowledged Trump’s role in bringing the 2028 Olympics to Los Angeles, stressing that it was “an opportunity for him to shine” as the city works toward rebuilding in anticipation of the global event.
Trump, however, has not been particularly helpful.
In recent weeks, he has continued 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.” This statement echoed the false narrative that Newsom and state officials were deliberately 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 also claimed 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 linking the Pacific Northwest to California, and experts have long dismissed such an idea as impractical and overly expensive.
Yet, Trump has continued to push the narrative.
“Los Angeles has massive amounts of water available to it,” Trump asserted 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 what seemed to be an attempt to back up his claims, Trump then ordered two dams in central California to be opened, releasing roughly 2.2 billion gallons of water from reservoirs. He later celebrated the move on Truth Social, declaring that “the water is flowing in California” and claiming it was “heading to farmers throughout the State, and to Los Angeles.”
However, Trump’s decision actually caused a lot of problems while fixing nothing.
Heather Cooley, director of research at the Pacific Institute, a California water policy organization, highlighted two major problems with Trump’s actions: the water was released during the wet winter season, wasting valuable water that could be used during the dry summer months, and it would not even reach Los Angeles in the first place.
“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 benefits and putting California farmers at risk of water supply constraints in the coming months.”
Needless to say, this whole situation led to a lot of reactions on social media.
“I don’t understand why I am not seeing more outrage about this? I am not by any means a water expert but we need to hear more from those that are to debunk the Trump lie that he helped California with the water shortage,” one person wrote on X.
“Controlling the water levels in the reservoirs is how California ensures there is water year-round. Indiscriminate release at a toddler’s whim is how you cause devastating droughts,” someone else said.
“Let’s all bookmark this for when the summer comes and the farmers are suffering from lack of water due to the dry summer,” another person wrote.
“But we were told he was an expert on everything once he knows about it!” someone else added.
“He doesn’t care. The worse off California is the happier he is,” another person said.
California sought Trump’s help to recover and prepare for the 2028 Olympics, but so far, he is only causing more headaches.
