Walls of fire devoured neighborhoods, forcing tens of thousands of residents to flee for their lives. But as a cataclysm fueled by windstorms charred swathes of Los Angeles, Donald Trump spotted an opportunity.

Gavin Newsom (D) swiftly dismissed Donald Trump’s efforts to “play politics” on Wednesday after the president-elect blamed him for the devastating Los Angeles wildfires that have killed at least five people.

"He is the blame for this," Trump wrote about Newsom on his social media platform Truth Social on Wednesday, but Newsom's office called that "fiction."