What do transgender athletes have to do with emergency funding? Usually, nothing. Then, this Monday President Donald Trump linked the two together in a Truth Social post.
“California, under the leadership of Radical Left Democrat Gavin Newscum, continues to ILLEGALLY allow ‘MEN TO PLAY IN WOMEN’S SPORTS,’” the president’s post began. “Please be hereby advised that large scale Federal Funding will be held back, maybe permanently, if the Executive Order on this subject matter is not adhered to,” he added later on in the post.
After devastating fires ravaged the Los Angeles area earlier this year, an approximately $2 billion in Federal Emergency Management Funding (a 100% reimbursement) was pledged by the former administration of President Joe Biden, KNX News’ LA Local reported. That’s the funding that Trump is threatening to withhold.
Since he took office earlier this year, Trump has made it a point to issue executive orders aimed at the transgender community. On the campaign trail, he was vocal in his opposition of transgender athletes competing as the gender the identify as.
Per a CBS News report, AB Hernandez, a high school junior track and field athlete at Jurupa Valley High School, has recently received significant national attention after winning the long jump and triple jump at the CIF Southern Section Division III finals. However, her participation has been met with backlash from conservative groups.
So, the question posed by Jonathan Serviss of the LA Local this week is this: could the Trump administration really hold back billions in promised federal aid to help cover the costs of the Eaton and Palisades fires?
He noted that the Trump administration has already proven that it is slow to move when it comes to doling out FEMA funds, using disaster recovery efforts in Ashville, North Carolina, as an example. Craig Figner of KNX also reported live on the story from Los Angeles City Hall.
“The way FEMA works is that LA advances all the costs and then puts in what’s a complicated process of getting rebate money from FEMA,” Figner explained.
He caught up with U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) to discuss the issue.
“That emergency money is never denied to anyone that's experienced this kind of emergency,” she said.
KNX News’ Margaret Carrero also spoke to U.S. Rep Judy Chu (D-Calif.) – who represents the Altadena area hard-hit by the fires – about Trump’s comments regarding FEMA.
“He threatened the state of Maine over its transgender youth athletes as well,” said Chu when asked by Carrero if Democrats plan to sue if Trump does withhold the emergency funds. “They filed suit and now that has been held in abeyance pending the outcome of the courts. So, I think that these actions that he’s taken could be stopped in court. It would be a shame because it's just a waste of energy for something that should be given automatically.”
Still, the KNX team was left a bit concerned that there don’t seem to be concrete plans yet to counter Trump if he does try to withhold the funds. Interestingly, Audacy also reported earlier this year on California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s own comment that he believes it is “deeply unfair” for transgender athletes to participate in women’s sports, something he said on his new podcast. Some were surprised by the comment as the governor was has been known to be an LGBTQ+ alley in the past.