MAGA’s Messy California Critique

The thing about “smart brevity” is that you will pay for that concision by having to do a lot of the work you might otherwise expect from reporters and editors. To wit, Axios’s item today on the MAGA movement’s sordid “information war” against California even as “L.A. burns,” which presented its readers with an arduous puzzle.

“More than a week after the Palisades Fire erupted — and with three major infernos still burning — Republicans are still flooding the zone with allegations of gross mismanagement by California Democrats,” reporter Zachary Basu claimed. Like what? “[Donald] Trump, [Elon] Musk and other MAGA influencers have spread misinformation about water policies in California while downplaying the role of climate change in fostering historically dry conditions,” he wrote.

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.

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The thing about “smart brevity” is that you will pay for that concision by having to do a lot of the work you might otherwise expect from reporters and editors. To wit, Axios’s item today on the MAGA movement’s sordid “information war” against California even as “L.A. burns,” which presented its readers with an arduous puzzle.

“More than a week after the Palisades Fire erupted — and with three major infernos still burning — Republicans are still flooding the zone with allegations of gross mismanagement by California Democrats,” reporter Zachary Basu claimed. Like what? “[Donald] Trump, [Elon] Musk and other MAGA influencers have spread misinformation about water policies in California while downplaying the role of climate change in fostering historically dry conditions,” he wrote.

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.