Trump versus California: One year into his presidency, tensions rise
After sodden hillsides thundered into Montecito, Calif., obliterating scores of homes and killing nearly two dozen people, seven days went by before President Donald Trump first acknowledged the disaster.
Even then, word came not from Trump, but from his press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who noted in a two-sentence statement that the president "has been briefed and will continue to monitor the mudslides."
The statement, issued a day after local authorities effectively announced that no more survivors would be found, offered sympathy for the families involved and "prayers for those who remain missing."
The week between the destructive slide and the brief mention partly reflected the general chaos of Trump's tenure. It also symbolized the disconnect between Trump and California that has veered from arm's distance to outright hostility over the last year.
Trump's disregard of the nation's largest
