Kevin O’Leary doubles down on Bass, Newsom resignation call over LA Fires mishandling
Kevin O’Leary is doubling down on his calls for top California politicians Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass to resign from office on the heels of Speaker Johnson confirming “discussions” on tying wildfire aid to the debt limit.
“I think every taxpayer in America, including those in California, would like to tie this aid to removing Newsom and Bass. Now. Gone,” O’Leary said on a “Varney & Co.” panel Tuesday.
“Part of the deal would be, and I know Trump likes new ideas, here’s one: not a dime until those two are whacked from their jobs immediately,” he continued. “They are so incompetent, and all of the decisions they’ve made led to this, and they’re still making mistakes. They’re horrific managers. Whack them.”
Four active fires are now burning in the Los Angeles area after the Auto Fire broke out early Tuesday in Ventura County, with firefighters saying forward progress “has been stopped” with that blaze.
But further safety threats remain as The National Weather Service said wind gusts topping 70 mph have been recorded in the area, elevating fire concerns.
Although the winds aren’t expected to be as powerful as last week’s, they will be strong enough to hamper ongoing firefighting efforts and could potentially cause new and existing blazes to spread rapidly, according to FOX Weather.
On Monday, House Speaker Mike Johnson floated the idea of tying a debt limit increase to providing ride-along aid to California amid the wildfire destruction, but The Hill has reported that some GOP lawmakers such as Sen. Mike Rounds, R-SD, and Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., hold reservations over the idea.
California’s governor is also facing backlash from within his home-state leadership, as the state Senate minority leader lambasted Newsom this week for “lumping together” a special session about suing President-elect Trump with wildfire relief.
Newsom “recently expanded the current special session that was focused on suing the Trump administration to also include Los Angeles wildfire relief,” according to State Sen. Brian Jones, R-Calif.
“I’m encouraged that Governor Newsom heard our calls to take action on the LA wildfires in a special session,” Jones said in a statement. “However, lumping this emergency response together with a politically motivated special session to sue Trump is unnecessary and, frankly, insulting to those struggling through this disaster.”
Under current policy leadership, O’Leary does not believe Southern California could look like it once did in the short or long-term future.
“I even think the Olympics are in jeopardy [due to] the infrastructure. I think these homes, people have to realize, were built with pine timber back in the 50s and 60s, some of them as inexpensive as $15,000 now worth $4 million. They were dry. They basically melted,” O’Leary explained.
“That looks like Hiroshima. But [with] the infrastructure and the policies, it’s going to be difficult in terms of building them back.”
