As wildfires blazed through Los Angeles, turning buildings and lives to ash, President Trump politicized the tragedy, blaming an endangered species. In a January 8 Truth Social post, Trump said—erroneously—that Governor Gavin Newsom caused the wildfires by keeping water from Southern California to save “an essentially worthless fish,” the delta smelt. … It turns out Donald Trump had a political score to settle. … In 2020, Newsom sued the federal government, successfully, to halt a Central Valley water infrastructure project that could help farmers but harm the smelt, thereby violating the Endangered Species Act (ESA).