President Trump announced Tuesday that he will travel to North Carolina and California this weekend for the first trips of his second term.

“We’re going to take care of Los Angeles. I’m going there. I’m going to California, which has been abandoned by Democrats. And I’m going to North Carolina, very importantly, first. I’ll be there on Friday and then going from there to Los Angeles and then I’m going to Nevada,” Mr. Trump told reporters during a 50-minute White House press conference to discuss new spending on artificial intelligence.

Mr. Trump will survey the recovery efforts in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene and then tour the aftermath of the wildfires that have ravaged Southern California.

The president has pointed to both disasters as failures by Democrats. He mentioned North Carolina, where 200,000 people suffered housing damage following the deadly September Hurricane, while taking a jab at former President Biden.

“Our country can no longer deliver basic services in times of emergency as recently shown by the wonderful people of North Carolina, who’ve been treated so badly, and other states that are still suffering from a hurricane that took place many months ago,” he said in his inaugural address on Monday.

He then turned to the California fires, saying “We are watching fires still tragically burn from weeks ago without even a token of defense.”

“They’re raging through the houses and communities, even affecting some of the wealthiest and most powerful individuals in our country — some of whom are sitting here right now. They don’t have a home any longer. That’s interesting. But we can’t let this happen. Everyone is unable to do anything about it. That’s going to change,” he said.

Mr. Trump has blasted California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on social media over the fires.

In a Truth Social post, Mr. Trump referred to the two Democrats as “incompetent pols have no idea to put them out.”

“They just can’t put out the fires. What’s wrong with them?” he asked.

On Tuesday, Mr. Trump said California had plenty of water to fight the fires amid complaints from firefighters that hydrants were empty when they responded to the first wildfire earlier this month.

“All they have to do is turn the valve and that’s the valve coming back from and down the Pacific Northwest, where millions of gallons of water a week … pours into California down to Los Angeles and they turned it off,” he said.

He added that the fire response has damaged Mr. Newsom and other California politicians’ political futures.

“I think they are dead politically, what they’ve done,” Mr. Trump said. “They’ve destroyed the city. What they’ve done to the city is unbelievable.”

• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.