ArcaMax

SAN DIEGO -- I'm the product of a mixed marriage. My parents are both Mexican American, but they were born on what sometimes seem like different planets.

I'm a lifelong Californian, who has spent all but a dozen of my 58 years living in the Golden State. I share those roots with my father, who was born in Central California in 1941.

But I'm also half Texan. My mother and her parents, grandparents and great-grandparents all hail from the Lone Star State, where I myself lived for five years.

Perhaps that is why the images coming out of the Texas Hill Country are so painful to watch. Kerr County, in particular, has been devastated by deadly floods after the water levels of the Guadalupe River rose quickly following heavy rainfall. More than 130 people are dead, with dozens more still missing. Residents, journalists, and elected officials are asking whether local officials were quick enough to warn residents to evacuate.

Republicans don't like those questions. At a recent news conference, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott took umbrage when a reporter asked if local officials deserved blame for not responding adequately to the floods.

"I'm going to use your words," Abbott told the reporter. "Who's to blame? Know this. That's the word choice of losers. The way winners talk is not to point fingers. They talk about solutions."

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump advanced the same message. When a reporter asked him what he would say to families in Texas who say weather alerts didn't go out in time, Trump said "only a very evil person would ask a question like that."

However, Republicans sing a much different tune when disaster strikes a blue state. And that includes the biggest, wealthiest and most powerful blue state of them all.

In January, wildfires ravaged the Los Angeles area. The result was at least 30 fatalities, more than 18,000 destroyed structures and the evacuation of almost 200,000 residents. Seven months later, many of the evacuated are still displaced. Total damage and economic losses are estimated to be as high as $250 billion, according to AXA Climate and AccuWeather.

At the time, Californians didn't ask for sympathy from anyone. But they certainly didn't need snark and second-guessing.

Yet they got served up plenty of both by Republicans, including President-elect Trump. Not yet in office, Trump was already spoiling for a fight with Gov. Gavin Newsom -- one of the nation's leading Democrats and a strong contender for the White House in 2028.

A Jan. 10 article in The Guardian noted that Trump and MAGA "have used the fires to attack the Democratic political ruling establishment in Los Angeles and California." According to the article, many of the attacks were fueled by "disinformation, wild claims, conspiracy theories and extremist culture-war tropes."

The Republicans' favorite targets were Newsom, who they claimed failed to ensure that there was enough water to extinguish the infernos, and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who drew criticism for not returning soon enough from a trip to Ghana. They also slammed Kristin Crowley, the first openly gay woman to head up the Los Angeles Fire Department, as a "DEI hire." Some right-wingers said the same thing about Bass, who is African American.

While the nation's second-largest city was ablaze, Republicans engaged in insults, second-guessing and finger-pointing. They also tried to get mileage out of the tragedy by pushing narratives about what they see as the harm of liberal policies and how creating a leadership class that looks like America allegedly lowers hiring standards.

"Governor Gavin Newscum 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 in a virtually apocalyptic way," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

With the blood of both California and Texas flowing through my veins, I see the good and bad in each state. I can feel the warmth of their people, admire the beauty of their vistas and applaud the strength of their economies -- both of which, incidentally, were built by Latino immigrants. But I also recognize the failures of the states' leaders, the ineffectiveness of their respective policies and the dishonesty that gets baked into the bullcrap that spews from the mouths of politicians eager to cover their backsides whenever tragedy strikes.

It's bad enough that Americans have to endure natural disasters. They shouldn't also have to put up with something that can be just as frustrating: politics.

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To find out more about Ruben Navarrette and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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