President Donald Trump and Gov. Gavin Newsom traded their war of words for a few handshakes Friday afternoon.
The two leaders, both vociferous critics of each other, met on the tarmac at LAX around 3 p.m. Friday as Trump touched down to survey the catastrophic damage caused by the spate of wildfires in Southern California this year.
Newsom, dressed in a casual button-up, was the first to greet a black MAGA hat-wearing Trump as he descended the stairs from this plane. The two clasped hands and exchanged some words — there were no microphones but Newsom often gesticulated at the president — before they and first lady Melania Trump walked over to where reporters and cameras waited.
Trump and Newsom, at least in front of the cameras, were cordial.
Trump didn’t refer to the governor as “Newscum” as he is wont to do on social media. And Newsom didn’t call the president an “idiot” as he has done in the past.
“I appreciate the governor coming out and meeting me,” Trump said, reaching for another handshake. “We’ll be talking in a little bit. We want to get it fixed.”
“Thank you for being here,” Newsom said. “It means a great deal to all of us, not just the folks in the Palisades (but also) the folks in Altadena that were devastated. We’re going to need your support; we’re going to need your help.”
“You were there for us during COVID, I don’t forget that, and I have all the expectations that we’re going to work together to get this speedy recovery,” the governor continued.
Earlier Friday, when Trump was still in western North Carolina, where he stopped first to survey recovery efforts from last year’s Hurricane Helene, the president suggested tying future federal relief aid for California to a voter ID law and changes to water management.
“I want to see two things in Los Angeles. Voter ID, so that the people have a chance to vote, and I want to see the water be released and come down into Los Angeles and throughout the state,” Trump said then.
Trump has long slammed states that don’t have voter ID, a requirement or request during voting that one proves their identity with specific forms of identification. While California does not require such identification, some first-time voters may be asked to show a form of ID when at the polls.
When asked about it on the tarmac Friday, Newsom said, “I have all the confidence in the world we’ll work that out.”
Trump, in his brief remarks, compared the devastation that he had yet to see firsthand to a “bomb going off” and World War II. He promised to work with Newsom to get a more “permanent fix” in place to prevent future catastrophic destruction.
“We’re looking to get something completed, and the way you get it completed is to work together,” Trump said. “He’s the governor of this state, and we’re going to get it completed.”
“They’re going to need a lot of federal help — unless you don’t need any,” Trump quipped.
“We’re going to need a lot of federal help,” said Newsom, patting Trump’s shoulder.
The three — Trump, Newsom and the first lady, who, clad in a khaki jacket, plain dark cap and aviator-style sunglasses, did not speak — walked toward the helicopter.
The exchange was incredibly cordial, considering the animosity the two men spew at each other, even in the days leading up to the trip. Newsom and Trump have locked horns over how disaster relief, including how the state’s water resources should be allocated.
Newsom had invited Trump, ahead of his inauguration, to come to California to see the destruction, meet with families and thank first responders and firefighters.
“Hundreds of thousands of Americans — displaced from their homes and fearful for the future — deserve to see all of us working in their best interests to ensure a fast recovery and rebuild,” Newsom said in a Jan. 10 letter.
On Thursday, the governor said he had not been in contact with the White House but planned to be at LAX to welcome the president anyway. By Friday morning, an aide for the governor said Newsom planned to greet Trump, a meeting that was “in coordination with the White House.”
It’s a balancing act for Newsom, for sure.
On the one hand, the California Legislature is in the midst of a special session called by the governor to “Trump-proof” the state.
“We will work with the incoming administration, and we want President Trump to succeed in serving all Americans,” Newsom has said. “But when there is overreach, when lives are threatened, when rights and freedoms are targeted, we will take action.”
But on the other, Newsom knows California desperately needs federal aid — aid that Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, have threatened to withhold or tie conditions to. Newsom was one of only a handful of Democratic governors to order flags to be raised on Monday, Trump’s Inauguration Day. They had been lowered in honor of the late President Jimmy Carter, who died on Dec. 29.
This was reportedly the first time the two leaders have spoken since Trump left the White House in 2020.
Ahead of the airport assemblage, Newsom met with firefighters from CAL FIRE and the Pasadena Fire Department.