Trump dares Newsom to run in 2028, slams record on LA wildfires

President Donald Trump said he would “love” California Gov. Gavin Newsom to launch a White House bid for the Democrats, but said his response to wildfires and other issues would “pretty much put him out of the race.” 

The president, during a bilateral meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, took a swipe at Newsom, blasting California’s high-speed rail project. 

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“A little train going from San Francisco to Los Angeles that’s being run by Gavin New-scum—the governor of California,” Trump said. “Did you ever hear of Gavin Newsom? He has got that train—the worst cost overrun I’ve ever seen. It’s like, totally out of control.” 

Trump said he “always liked Gavin” and “had a good relationship with him.” 

“I just got him a lot of water, you know, I sent in people to open up that water because he refused to do it,” Trump said, adding that “if they would have done what I said to do, they wouldn’t have had the fires in Los Angeles.” 

“Those fires would have been put out very quickly,” Trump said. 

Trump traveled to Southern California in January, just days after taking office, to see damage from the devastating wildfires that destroyed thousands of acres and more than 10,000 buildings in the Los Angeles area. 

After the visit, Trump issued an executive order calling on federal agencies to overrule California regulations on endangered species to create more water availability, expedite the removal of debris in the areas affected by the fires and conduct investigations into the City of Los Angeles’ use of federal grants.

Trump also called on the Department of the Interior to immediately override existing regulations in California that “unduly burden efforts to maximize water deliveries” to the Central Valley Project, a water management effort in the state.

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Shifting back to the high-speed rail project, Trump said he has “watched a lot of stupid people build a lot of stupid things,” but that this is “the worst cost overrun I’ve ever seen.” 

California’s high-speed rail project was designed to cart riders between San Francisco and Los Angeles in less than three hours. It was expected to cost $33 billion and be finished by 2020, but the project has been riddled with funding challenges, cost overruns and delays. 

The project is now reportedly expected to cost an estimated $106 billion to complete. 

“This government is not going to pay,” Trump said, noting that he told Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy that the Trump administration is “not going to pay for that thing” –  [it’s] “30 times over budget.” 

“It was supposed to be a simple train,” Trump said. 

Duffy, in February, began a Transportation Department review to determine whether the California High-Speed Rail Authority had “followed through on the commitments it made to receive billions of dollars in federal funding.” 

“If not, I will have to consider whether that money could be given to deserving infrastructure projects elsewhere in the United States,” Duffy said at a news conference in Los Angeles in February. 

Looking ahead to 2028, the president said he would “love” to see Newsom run for president. Newsom is barred from seeking re-election as California governor in 2026 due to term limits.

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“But I don’t think he’s going to be running because that one project alone—well, that and the fires and a lot of other things—pretty much put him out of the race,” Trump said. 

Newsom has been rumored to be mulling a 2028 presidential bid but has not committed to doing so. 

In a statement to The New York Times, Newsom said he wanted to work with the Trump administration on a $7.5 billion federal tax credit program to bolster the TV and film production industry. 

“California built the film industry – and we’re ready to bring even more jobs home,” Newsom wrote on X on Monday. “We’ve proven what strong state incentives can do. Now it’s time for a real federal partnership to Make America Film Again.”

The White House said Monday that “no final decisions” had been made as the administration was “exploring all options” to deliver on Trump’s directive “to safeguard our country’s national and economic security while Making Hollywood Great Again.”

Trump first announced in a Truth Social post on Sunday that he was authorizing the Department of Commerce and the U.S. trade representative “to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.” 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.