California is the most centrally controlled and planned state in the union. No one can do anything there without the Democrats at the state level giving their blessing. For Newsom to deflect to local officials when pressed on what is a devastating infrastructure failure, when he controls the infrastructure, is his entire political career in a nutshell.

Don't get me wrong, the local officials, including Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, are also deeply responsible for the lack of preparedness and response to these fires. Newsom is not a bystander, though. The state that he has led for eight years (and was lieutenant governor of the eight years prior) has failed to build a new reservoir since 1979 despite multiple ballot propositions passed to fund those projects.

During Donald Trump's first term, he sued the federal government to stop water diversions that would have lessened the dry conditions that led to wildfires. Newsom has wasted hundreds of billions of dollars over the years on boondoggles like "high-speed rail" while bending the knee to environmentalists that have put California in grave danger.