What is it about wildfires that prompts Democrats not be around when their cities and states need them?
When Altadena and Pacific Palisades burned to the ground six month ago, Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass had more important things to do in Ghana, and yes, she knew about the risk before she left. California's governor, Gavin Newsom also had better things to do.
Now Newsom has gone AWOL again, to talk politics with Texas's soon-to-be-unemployed Democrat lawmakers, who have holed up in Illinois and at least some jetting over to California in breach of their duties over a Texas redistricting matter.
According to KCRA:
AUSTIN, Texas —
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared shoulder-to-shoulder Friday with Texas Democratic lawmakers in a show of support for their nearly weeklong walkout, which has blocked a vote on congressional redistricting maps sought by President Donald Trump in a widening national battle over U.S. House control.
Texas has been the epicenter of Trump’s push to gerrymander congressional maps to shore up Republicans’ narrow House majority before next year. But the standoff is threatening to spill into other states — including California, New York, Florida and Indiana — in an emerging proxy war for control of Congress in 2026.
California is moving toward a special election in November that Democrats hope could slash five Republican-held House seats in the liberal-leaning state, in direct response to the maneuvering in Texas.
“We are trying to defend democracy, as opposed to see it destroyed district by district,” Newsom said amid the crowd of lawmakers at the governor's mansion. “There are no rules for Donald Trump.”
Meanwhile, this is what's going on in California:
California currently has 15 fires burning. Malibu, Porter Ranch & Granada Hills have no water. And Gavin Newsom is partying with Texas Democrats. He's turned 4th largest economy into 3rd world hellhole, romancing illegal aliens, unleashing criminals from prisons, paying homeless… pic.twitter.com/V64ut2Rxfb
— Katy Grimes (@KATYSaccitizen) August 9, 2025
The fire map is here.
Here are the kinds of problems his state is dealing with:
NO water for 3 days in Porter Ranch, through the weekend.
— Mike Netter (@nettermike) August 8, 2025
(Can you imagine if there was a fire),!? They’re using pool water to flush toilets
Please note it’s government’s MAIN JOB to avoid situations like this
(This includes keeping reservoirs full) https://t.co/Z44Vcxi6OU
Might it be reasonable for a governor in a state that is constantly catching fire -- with a lot of them going on now in this bone-dry weather, to just do his job instead of kibbitz with Democrats over how to retain permanent power in Washington?
As the map shows, many of them are burrning out of control with many homes endangered and the state's failure to ensure water for firefighting still a problem. Now anything could happen. Why isn't he on the ground ensuring that firefighters have the resources they need and no bureaucratic bottlenecks will be tolerated?
Newsom's gubernatorial performance during the Los Angeles fires doesn't embarass him a bit, which would explain why he's acting the same way he did last time during this round of wildfires.
For him, a potential loss of office or power in Washington is the five-alarm-fire. The potential burning of more Californians' homes is a spot of bother he'll get around to addressing with smooth talking points at some point. For now, he's taking care of his priorities.
This is disgusting.
A @CaliforniaGlobe reader left a comment: "Newsom is such a weenie I would like to see a meme of him wearing a hot dog in a bun suit. Right next to him could be Karen Bass on a tricycle wearing an oversized fireman’s helmet."
— Katy Grimes (@KATYSaccitizen) June 9, 2025
Grok did it! pic.twitter.com/8KPVXH4Gn2
Image: Grok meme screen shot, via X