Kevin O’Leary torches California Gov. Gavin Newsom over wildfires: ‘Bad forest management’

'You can't blame this all on climate change. That's what Newsom will try to do,' O'Leary told the Daily Mail

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Published Jan 10, 2025  •  Last updated 51 minutes ago  •  3 minute read

Kevin O'Leary Photo by Dia Dipasupil /Getty Images

Political gadfly Kevin O’Leary is torching California Governor Gavin Newsom over the deadly wildfires ravaging Southern California.

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The Canadian businessman and Shark Tank star is predicting that Newsom will try to wiggle out of taking responsibility for the tragedy.

“You can’t blame this all on climate change. That’s what Newsom will try to do,” O’Leary told the Daily Mail, adding that the Democratic politician will look for any excuse.

“It’s just poor management on (Newsom’s) behalf.”

So far, it’s been reported that 10 people have been killed in the out-of-control fires and dozens have been injured. Cops are now saying they expect the death toll to rise.

The raging fires have been fuelled by hot, dry Santa Ana winds. The result has been the loss of entire neighbourhoods, particularly in celebrity enclaves like Pacific Palisades.

Gavin Newsom, governor of California, during the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago on Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. Photo by Al Drago /Bloomberg

“This is a horrific outcome, loss of life, loss of everything else, loss of property,” O’Leary told the tabloid.

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Those who lost their homes included actors James Woods and Billy Crystal, and one-time debutante Paris Hilton. It’s expected losses could hit $50 billion, making the wildfires the most destructive in American history.

“It’s just bad forest management,” O’Leary said, “you have to manage the dry brush or it’s just a matter of time before nature does its regular fire, cleans all that out and starts again.”

Newsom has come under fire as a result of California media investigations that revealed the 2028 presidential hopeful failed to keep a key environmental promise to clear the Golden State’s dry brush.

In 2021, one report claimed Newsom had inflated by a staggering 690% the amount of land the state had treated with “fire suppression methods.”

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“You either have to burn the brush off, as many other jurisdictions do all around the world on an occasional basis in a controlled fire, or the fire controls you, which is what happens in California all the time and destroys a lot of property and even worse lives,” O’Leary said.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump also piled on, blasting the failure of L.A.’s water system.

Trump wrote: “Governor Gavin Newscum (sic) refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning.”

He added: “On top of it all, no water for fire hydrants, not firefighting planes. A true disaster!”

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Homes bordering the Pacific Ocean are burned to the ground in the aftermath of the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood of Los Angeles, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. Photo by Jae C. Hong /THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

On Wednesday night, Newsom pooh-poohed complaints L.A.’s fire hydrants ran dry.

He said: “Look, the local folks are trying to figure that out. Those hydrants are typically for two or three fires, maybe one fire, not something of this scale… but again, that’s gonna be determined by the locals.”

O’Leary fired back that the lefty politician was all wet.

“If (Newsom) was working in the private sector I would have fired him a long time ago,” O’Leary said. “He’d never make it. He would have been fired everywhere. Every job he had. That guy couldn’t manage a corner store, a bodega. He’s terrible.”

California in general and Newsom in particular have been slammed for a propensity to opt for politically correct schemes while neglecting the state’s critical infrastructure.

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One pet project was electric cars — now causing havoc in the fires.

“The lithium batteries are catching fire, and you can’t put a lithium battery out,” O’Leary said of streets lined with abandoned Teslas.

“Gavin Newsom, I’ve been saying for two years, is a walking disaster for that state … Sooner or later, people will say, ‘He’s made it unbearable. The taxes are the highest in the nation. The service is the lowest. And then there’s these fires.'”

O’Leary added: “Newsom is taking California to its knees, and slowly but surely people are leaving for all different reasons, and certainly business already left a long time ago.”

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