On a cloudy Friday morning, former President Donald Trump took to the microphone at his golf course on the cliffs of Ranchos Palos Verdes to lambast Gov. Gavin Newsom and Vice President Kamala Harris for their handling of local landslides, crime and immigration.
Trump called California “a mess” and said that the state and federal government are “missing in action” when it comes to helping residents impacted by recent landslides in Palos Verdes.
The longstanding issue accelerated after the deluges of the last two winter seasons and reached a new crisis point on Labor Day when more than 100 homes lost access to gas and electricity. On Sept. 3, Gov. Newsom declared a state of emergency in Palos Verdes to allow local authorities to more rapidly access federal resources.
Despite the help from Newsom — who Trump repeatedly referred to as “Newscum” — Palos Verdes Mayor John Cruikshank stood by Trump’s side at the press conference and thanked the former president for shining a spotlight on the city.
“The problem is bigger than the city of Rancho Palos Verdes, and so it’s important that we get the attention and the help of the people of California and of the federal government, so I’m here to thank Trump for having me here today,” said Cruikshank.
“This is a very big deal,” he added.
Trump then turned to the subject of California bashing, decrying the high cost of housing and living as well as crime, homelessness and illegal immigration.
“The decline of this whole state is one of the sad chapters in what’s gone on with the radical left lunatics that we have to put up with,” he said.
He strongly criticized Harris’s policies while serving as San Francisco district attorney and attorney general, saying they are to blame for increases in carjacking, murders and gun assaults. He also took swings at L.A. County District Attorney George Gascón.
“Gascón has unleashed hell upon the residents of Los Angeles, absolute hell,” he said. “Kamala supported Gascón’s decision to stop prosecuting criminals for trespassing, disturbing the peace, making criminal threats, loitering to commit prostitution and resisting arrest.”
Harris endorsed Gascón in his 2020 campaign. Part of Gascón’s campaign platform included a promise to stop prosecuting misdemeanor cases for a wide swath of offenses including those mentioned by Trump. Gascón’s goal was to direct people who commit these ‘quality of life crimes’ to substance use and mental health treatment instead of the justice system.
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Trump dedicated a great deal of the press conference to immigration, saying Harris’ “will turn America into a poor, violent Third World Refugee Camp.”
On Tuesday evening he went head-to-head with Harris on the debate stage in Philadelphia where the pair sparred over hot button issues issues of immigration, reproductive rights, national security and the economy. On Thursday, he posted on his Truth Social site that there “will be no” further debates with Harris.
During Friday’s press conference, Trump praised his own performance saying “I thought the debate was great. I thought I did well.”
In the 24 hours after the debate, the Harris campaign reported raising $47 million in donations and at a Thursday rally in Charlotte, NC, said she would be willing to debate Trump again.
“I believe we owe it to the voters to have another debate because this election and what is at stake could not be more important,” she said.
Currently, Harris has the advantage when it comes to campaign contributions.
The Harris campaign and Democratic National Committee reported raising a combined $361 million in August, leaving Harris with $404 million cash on hand, the campaign reported Friday.
Trump’s campaign team said on that it and the Republican Party raised $130 million in August and had $295 million cash on hand at the end of the month.