Donald Trump's Biggest Controversies In California

Not one to shy away from controversy (to say the least), President Donald Trump has often faced serious money problems and courted lawsuits on his way to the top. With his second term in the White House off to a bombastic start, many are reeling from his onslaught of executive orders and troubling invitations for lifelong civil servants to accept a wishy-washy severance package. One state in particular that's found itself in the crosshairs of the Trump administration is California. Trump has a long history of feuding with the state as it's primarily run by his political opponents and boasts a population of left-leaning voters.

California isn't the first state to find itself locking horns with Trump, there's a series of Trump's biggest controversies in the state of New York that kept him in and out of the court system for decades. Never a man to back down from a legal fight, Trump might actually be salivating at his chance to be swarmed with litigation coming out of the Golden State. From his first time in office to his second, there's been quite a bit of guff between California and Trump. Here are the biggest controversies Trump has been embroiled in within California.

During Donald Trump's first presidency, one of the sweeping executive orders he administered was in regard to blocking individuals from several nations from entering the United States. This was loosely referred to as a way to ban Muslims from traveling to the US and immediately sparked an irate backlash — especially in California. There were initially major protests at airports, often with lawyers camping out, waiting to help those already on their way to the state from abroad. This move by Trump initiated a large slate of lawsuits, bans, and challenges to funding that still simmers to this day.

When it came to attempting to block the flow of travel from Muslim-majority nations, California was one of the many states that sued the Trump administration. Whereas this wasn't one of the biggest lawsuits to hit the Trump family, it certainly set the tone for his time in office (before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, anyway). This wasn't the only battle Trump faced with the state around this time. California also took it upon itself to become a "sanctuary state," limiting the reach of federal agencies like ICE from coordinating with local law enforcement. When Trump attempted to retaliate against this by threatening to withhold federal money, California sued — and won. Per The Hill, a federal judge ultimately called Trump's order unconstitutional. "[This] ruling is a victory in our fight to protect the people of California," then California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said at the time. However, this set a precedent of Trump feeling comfortable with dangling federal dollars just out of reach of Californians in need. 

When wildfires devastated much of California in 2018 — from Paradise to Mendocino and beyond — they left behind a wave of destruction, thousands of missing people, and one of the highest fatalities for California fires in recent history. President Donald Trump did what he naturally did at the time: He tweeted about it. According to DW, not only did he claim the fires broke out due to forest mismanagement (something that is both inaccurate and he will insist upon often) but he also threatened to deny payment for recovery efforts.

One of the key factors in the political transformation of Trump is his insistence on punishing his perceived enemies. These "enemies" often include political rivals like former U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, former Vice President Kamala Harris, and Governor Gavin Newsom — all hailing from California. "Donald Trump has put California in his sights because we have a governor and statewide officials, all of whom are Democrats," Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political analyst and former University of Southern California professor said at the time (via DW). However, Trump's attempt to bully the Golden State ultimately didn't shake out, with recovery efforts from 2018 slowly but surely bringing homes and families back together.

Leaping into 2025, Donald Trump stepped into his second term as president of the United States having to battle another fire disaster coming out of California. This time it was a series of fires all burning within the Los Angeles area, with many from working-class families to celebrities losing their homes to the blaze. The relief effort will be monumental, and even though California has the GDP of a small nation, federal aid will be necessary to restore the livelihoods and homes of many who were impacted. Of course, Trump is using this tragedy to push his own narrative.

When Trump was set to take his first trip as president in 2025, California was on his list to stop by, after visiting North Carolina. Leading up to his visit, however, it was uncertain if Trump would meet with California Governor Gavin Newsom. According to the Associated Press, the White House waited until the last minute to confirm the President's travel plans with Newsom. When asked by Fox News if he would be meeting with Newsom on his trip, Trump responded, "I haven't even thought about it."

Luckily, the two set aside their differences and were able to be cordial around each other. However, Trump has once again begun to ramp up rhetoric around withholding recovery funding, even if he and Newsom got along for a few short hours.

After meeting with Governor Gavin Newsom, President Donald Trump was still not satisfied regarding California's need for federal disaster aid. Trump, citing false information about California's efforts to preserve an endangered species of fish native to the northern portion of the state, blamed these conservation efforts for faulty fire hydrants in Los Angeles. Sitting with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Trump thanked firefighters while also making pointed digs at the state, saying in the interview, "I don't think we should give California anything until they let the water run down."

This also tied into Trump's general grievances with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and he has often made rumblings about wanting to do away with the organization. Talking with Hannity, Trump continued that there will be "a whole big discussion very shortly" regarding FEMA and how it will provide relief to states in need. However, as much as Trump's insistence that water from northern California would have helped fight fires in the south was incorrect, he didn't stop there. He and his cringey bestie Elon Musk also spread misinformation in the following days that caused quite a stir for Californians, and could have repercussions in the future.

Proving to be an influential dark horse during the presidential campaign, Elon Musk's obsession with Donald Trump is continuing to ramp up. Musk's Department of Government Efficiency also took a trip to California in the last week of January 2025. However, the visit certainly included controversy when Musk made some bold claims on X, formerly Twitter. "Congratulations to the Administration...for more than doubling the Federally pumped water flowing toward Southern California," the agency posted, with Trump following up on Truth Social, "The United States Military just entered the Great State of California and...TURNED ON THE WATER."

While this would appear to give DOGE and the military all the credit, in reality, all they did was arrive on the day routine maintenance was wrapping up at a facility that had shut down to do so. Not only this, but Trump falsely claimed on Truth Social that "There would have been no fire!" should he have been listened to earlier. However, some of his actions had to be halted by Californian agencies so as not to flood the Central Valley.

Per Politico, the Army Corps of Engineers was set to follow Trump's orders to "maximize" water supplies by ramping up the flow from two reservoirs. However, doing so would have put farmers literally underwater had they not been stopped by local officials. "People don't understand that ... you're going to have flood damage down below," said Victor Hernandez, who is partially in charge of water management in Tulare County. The rate at which the Trump admin wanted to release the reservoirs would not only cause flooding but could also dry up necessary irrigation water for farmers, according to Hernandez.

When Donald Trump's acting director of the Office of Management and Budget ordered a halt to sweeping federal finances, it sent a ripple of chaos across the country — hitting California at a time when funds were desperately needed. According to Cap Radio, Governor Gavin Newsom was doing his best to keep things in a positive perspective while trying to restore the state's Medicaid system, saying, "It's down. Medi-Cal in California ... So they turned that off. So that's something our state's working overtime to address." Whereas Newsom was doing his best not to be negative, Senator Adam Schiff had a different tone to take, saying the order "will have immediate and deeply destructive consequences for recovery efforts."

According to the New York Times, programs such as Medicaid and Head Start were not supposed to be part of the temporary freeze, but some in California couldn't access their portals for payment. "We did have a couple of programs on the verge of closing their doors until we got into the payment system this afternoon," Melanee Cottrill, executive director of Head Start California said. Luckily for California, a judge put a stay on the OMB's order and the Trump administration appeared to withdraw it temporarily, although the damage could still appear in the future for California. As for Trump, well, all the hullabaloo almost caused him to miss his anniversary with Melania Trump.