Like the Media Research Center, Newsmax sought to exploit the California wildfires for political purposes by hyping how Republicans in general and Donald Trump in particular were baselessly blaming Democrats and liberals in general, and Gov. Gavin Newsom specifically, for them:
- Trump: ‘Newscum’ to ‘Blame’ for ‘Apocalyptic’ Wildfires (surprisingly, Newsmax published an article allowing Newsom to respond)
- Rep. Fong to Newsmax: Fires Highlight California Mismanagement
- Rep. Zinke to Newsmax: Wildfires Sign ‘of Not Managing for Years’
- Rep. Andy Biggs to Newsmax: FEMA Likely Needs to Be ‘Revised’
- Trump Again Rips Gov. Newsom, Demands He ‘Let Water Flow’
- Trump: Newsom Should Resign Over Wildfires
- Trump: Calif.’s ‘Incompetent Pols’ to Blame for ‘Death, Catastrophe’
- James Woods Blames ‘Liberal Idiots’ for LA Wildfires
- Roger Stone to Newsmax: Fires Expose Liberal Policy Failures
James Hirsen devoted his Jan. 10 column to parroting Trump’s unsubstantiated rants over the wildfires:
President elect Trump had previously warned California Gov. Gavin Newsom that he needed to better manage the state’s forests in order to prevent wildfires.
In 2018, then-President Trump chastised Newsom over the burned-out remains of the town of Paradise.
“You’ve got to take care of … the floors of the forests,” Trump said.
Two years later Trump spoke out again after a new round of fires had inflicted severe harm on California. He talked about cleaning the forest floors, removing leaves and fallen trees, and preventing the igniting of the brush and forest debris.
The president-elect recently used a post on X to comment on the current fires in Los Angeles.
“There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor,” he posted.
He also used his Truth Social account to wake up Gov. Newsom, writing, “I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA! He is the blame for this. On top of it all, no water for fire hydrants, not firefighting planes. A true disaster!”
Hirsen also repeated other unsubstantiated claims:
LA city officials reportedly failed to cut off electricity to power lines. Video footage from the Palisades Fire showed sparks flying as power lines came down.
Officials in Los Angeles County had reportedly refused to refill reservoirs with the water that would ultimately be needed to flow to fire hydrants.
Shouldn’t Hirsen have tried to find out if those claims were factual before he put them in his column? Instead of that basic bit of fact-checking, he hyped that “More information about the catastrophic failures of leadership will no doubt emerge in the coming days.”