
Trump claimed he ‘invaded Los Angeles’ to get the water flowing, and it might be time for another ‘person, woman, man, camera, TV’ test
So much has happened under Donald Trump‘s second administration that it feels as though he’s been back for seven months, rather than seven weeks. But if you cast your mind back, past his and Elon Musk‘s Tesla ad, him and JD Vance yelling at President Zelenskyy, and even before he referred to himself as a king, you may remember the controversial California water release.
In February, trying to prove a point he’d repeatedly made about getting more water to fight the devastating Los Angeles wildfires, Trump ordered the army corps to open two reservoirs in the San Joaquin valley, wasting billions of gallons of water that was being held in reserve for use in the dry, hot summer months.
It’s worth mentioning that, at the time, he claimed the water came from Canada, and implied that he had personally turned the tap.
Trump at the National Prayer Breakfast: "The water comes down from the northwest parts of Canada, I guess, but the Pacific Northwest. And it comes down by millions and millions of barrels a day and uh, I opened it up. It wasn't that easy to do. But I opened it up and it's pouring… pic.twitter.com/UcHiv8uZRe
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 6, 2025
What’s more, the water didn’t reach Los Angeles – and threatened to cause flooding in the Central valley area, before local experts persuaded the government to close the reservoirs again to prevent it reaching a critical point.
Those facts are very different to the picture painted by the President on Thursday, when his ever-expanding story reached new heights of absurdity. Listen to what he said.
Trump: "I invaded Los Angeles and we opened up the water and the water is now flowing down. They have so much water they don't know what to do … we broke in to do it." pic.twitter.com/p2A8Yql9VN
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 13, 2025
Would it hurt someone to say “Donald Trump, meet reality. Reality, meet Donald Trump” just once? The two don’t seem to have even a passing acquaintance.
Much facepalming followed.
1.
He made people open a dam three hours north of here that nearly flooded a bunch of farms – while it was raining in LA https://t.co/r9wM5XTYkE
— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) March 13, 2025
2.
Every day, Trump says something that had it come out of Joe Biden's mouth, the font size on the editorial in the NY Times demanding his resignation could be seen from the moon. https://t.co/OjdPFhVxpY
— scary lawyerguy (@scarylawyerguy) March 13, 2025
3.
— Deborah Meaden (@DeborahMeaden) March 13, 2025
4.
BREAKING: In an insane moment, Trump is now bragging that he "invaded Los Angeles and we opened up the water," even though he just ended up wasting billions of gallons of water and did not help fire fighting efforts. Trump is delusional.pic.twitter.com/5urK8U0cT7
— Really American (@ReallyAmerican1) March 13, 2025
5.
BREAKING: A rambling, incoherent Trump claims he "invaded Los Angeles."
(He did not invade Los Angeles. And the water he wasted did not go there.) pic.twitter.com/mKUfiUdl7v
— Democratic Wins Media (@DemocraticWins) March 13, 2025
6.
This is a psychotic level of derangement and delusion. WTF IS THIS https://t.co/WiseQ8iuef
— Spiro’s Ghost (@AntiToxicPeople) March 13, 2025
7.
Trump forced the opening of a dam that was nowhere near Los Angeles, actively hurt local farmers, and had no role in putting out the fires that been contained a week earlier.
Other than that, yeah, big help. https://t.co/DslcOUShqJ
— Mike Rothschild (@rothschildmd on blu sky) (@rothschildmd) March 13, 2025
8.
This is not even remotely true. Just the delusional rantings and ravings of a lunatic. https://t.co/U6KvIy8q9f
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) March 13, 2025
9.
100 percent nonsense.
None of this is true. https://t.co/FPK5aRbabf
— S.V. Dáte (@svdate) March 13, 2025