Democrats have had an all around abominable response to the fires in California. This isn't just when it comes to those on the ground, namely Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, but also those offering commentary as they try to escape from the hard truths about the mess that our nation's largest state is in. During Monday night's episode of "CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip," Scott Jennings looked to put John Avalon and his talking points in their proper place, and he certainly made him squirm.
According to Avalon, who ran for Congress in the 2024 cycle but lost to Republican Rep. Nick LaLota, we ought to be concerned with supposed "disinformation," a narrative that Newsom has been ranting and raving about.
"I think also in this environment right now where immediately there is disinformation flowing through social media networks that cleaves down partisan lines, that is stopping our ability to be united," Avalon claimed. "And we should not just accept that as inevitable. That is weakening our ability to unite as a nation and as cities."
Such a talking point drew strong reactions from Jennings, as he went on to bring up the role that Newsom and California Democrats have played, which shows they're not exactly interested in this "uniting."
"Let me answer your criticism by asking you a question," he offered. "Do you think it was uniting or dividing while in the midst of these fires for the Democrats to go to Sacramento, and in an emergency session, vote to appropriate $50 million to Trump-proof California, to sue the Trump administration, which hasn't even taken office yet? Do you think that was a good priority and a good time to do that or no? Was that dividing? Was that divisive or was that uniting?"
Such questions are not about hypotheticals, as news came out on Monday that state lawmakers created a $50 million slush fund to sue President-elect Donald Trump. It's not merely Newsom and Bass who can't adequately answer for their handling of the fires, as Robert Rivas, the Democratic speaker of the California State Assembly was also particularly incompetent in answering why the legislature is focused on fighting Trump, who has yet to take office, rather than the fires.
Avalon reacted by getting particularly defensive. "Scott, I think what Sacramento does, and, by the way, I think--look, I think the focus should be entirely on the firefighting, and I'm not going to go take that, you know, bait because I don't know the details of that particular bill," he sputtered, evidently too afraid to criticize his fellow Democrats.
Jennings, who calmly agreed with Avalon's point that "the focus should be entirely on the firefighting," emphasized that the main takeaway here is that California Democrats "voted to appropriate $50 million to sue Trump," leading to some crosstalk between the two of them.
CNN Panelist Squirms as Scott Jennings Exposes Who’s Really Fueling Division Over LA Wildfires
— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) January 14, 2025
John Avlon never saw this coming.
AVLON: “I think also in this environment right now, where immediately there’s disinformation flowing through social media networks that cleaves down… pic.twitter.com/Du04KHMbhN
Avalon was forced to acknowledge that "I think there's a lot of problems when you have one party state legislatures that are increasingly run by one extreme that caused political backlash," though even still he couldn't just come out and directly place the blame on fellow Democrats, who have quite the majority in our nation's largest state.
"That's one of the reasons we saw you know, a drift towards Trump, even in California," Avalon continued, though he still went on to complain about how Trump has been speaking out against Newsom's handling of the fire. Trump won 38.3 percent of the vote in California last November, an increase from the 34.3 percent he won in 2020.
Regardless of how much Democrats and their allies in the media whine about Trump speaking hard truths about who is to blame for the California fires, it's certainly not "bait," as Avalon claimed, when it comes to what Jennings brought up about California Democrats. It's not "bait" when these lawmakers are indeed approving such slush funds because Orange Man Bad when there are more pressing priorities going on in the state at the moment. Avalon should be brave enough to call out his fellow party members so directly, and not use their narratives about "disinformation" as such a crutch.
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