In a video appearance Thursday at the Democratic National Convention, Govin Newsom urged President Trump to threaten federal funding for the prevention of firearms in California, after nearly 500,000 acres burned in storm-related lightning strikes, further criticizing him for trying the state its landmark vehicle emission standards.
The Democratic governor’s attack on Trump, though not surprising in a presidential election, marked a departure from his hesitation over the past few months to attack the president’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Newsom has consistently said that life at stake in the crisis is more important than engaging in partisan politics.
But Newsom on Thursday night aired his criticism of Trump – which has focused on the president’s environmental and immigration policies – on national television.
“Yesterday, the President of the United States threatened the State of California, 40 million Americans living here in the state of California, to defend our efforts to suppress wildfires, because he said we did not have enough leaves. skarrele. I can not create that, “said Newsom in a three-minute video.
During an event in Scranton, Pa., On Thursday, Trump repeated a charge he often made – that California could better control wildfires if the state clears fallen leaves and other natural debris on forest floors.
“I see again, the forest fires are starting,” Trump said. ‘They’re starting up in California again. And I said, you have to clean up [forest] floors. You need to clean your floors. There are many, many years of leaves and broken trees. And they are so flammable. ”
In response, Newsom noted that the federal government owns nearly 58% of California’s 33 million acres of forest walls, while the state owns 3%. The rest will be owned by private landowners, local governments and others.
Newsom’s appearance at the convention, a plum political opportunity on the night that former Vice President Joe Biden will accept the Democratic nomination for president, appeared in jeopardy earlier in the day. On Sunday, Newsom pre-recorded a video that was intended to air during the convention, but it was pulled because of the ongoing crisis in the wildfire in California, said Dan Newman, the mayor’s political adviser.
“The segment that was originally planned made no sense, seeing the growth and severity of the state’s devastating wildfires,” Newman said.
Instead, the governor appeared in a phone video from Watsonville, threatened by a massive outbreak of fires around the Santa Cruz Mountains, at the start of Thursday night’s broadcast.
‘I confess, this is not where I expected to speak here tonight; I’m about a mile or so away from one of the more than 370 wildfires we are fighting here in the state of California, ”said Newsom, with a wall of tall trees in the background.
Newsom accused Trump of trying to restore environmental protection for clean water and air, as well as pesticide regulation and car emissions, noting that California has filed more than 90 lawsuits against the Trump administration to block those and other actions.
The governor passed Biden and his choice for a running mate, American sen. Kamala Harris of California, to be hailed as environmental champion. Newsom and Harris have been political allies for years, beginning when Newsom served as mayor of San Francisco and Harris was the city’s district attorney more than a decade ago.
“It is our decision, not our conditions, that will determine our fate and future, so let’s resolve that after this historic night, this incredible, incredible week, this remarkable convention, that we do everything in our power to make Joe Biden and Kamala get Harris to the White House, ”Newsom said.
