How low can they go? Apparently, pretty low. California Governor Gavin Newsom and Senator Elizabeth Warren are under fire for shamelessly exploiting California’s devastating wildfires to line the pockets of Democratic fundraising machines. While Californians are watching their homes go up in flames, these two are busy steering donations into political coffers.
Let’s start with Elizabeth Warren. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Warren urged her followers to donate to help wildfire victims, claiming that “100% of donations” would go to the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) and the United Way of Greater Los Angeles. Sounds noble, right? Not so fast. Community Notes, X’s fact-checking feature, quickly exposed the truth—Warren’s donation link funneled contributions through ActBlue, the Democrat Party’s favorite fundraising platform. ActBlue takes a cut for “processing fees,” meaning not all of that money was going where Warren claimed. So much for being honest.
But Warren wasn’t the only one playing games. Gavin Newsom pulled a similar stunt, only worse. Newsom posted a link to a website called californiafirefacts.com, claiming it would combat wildfire “misinformation.” Sounds important, but here’s the catch: the site was actually run by his own campaign committee. Instead of providing reliable information, the site directed people to donate through—you guessed it—ActBlue. The donation page wasn’t just a place to support wildfire victims; it also automatically signed donors up for text alerts from Newsom’s super PAC.
The site claimed donations would go toward helping firefighters and victims, but here’s the kicker—the California Fire Foundation already accepts donations directly, no political middleman required. So why push people to donate through a Democratic fundraising site? Simple: it’s about building donor lists and siphoning off funds under the guise of disaster relief.
Let’s be honest. This is despicable. People are losing their homes, their livelihoods, and even their lives, and Newsom and Warren are using this tragedy to fatten their political war chests.
And it’s not like ActBlue is squeaky clean. Last year, congressional Republicans flagged suspicious transactions on the platform. But that didn’t stop Newsom and Warren from exploiting a crisis for political gain.
Thankfully, X’s Community Notes and vigilant users are calling out this scheme. Once again, Democrats prove that nothing—not even a deadly wildfire—is off-limits when it comes to fundraising.
It’s politics at its absolute worst.
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