Los Angeles Fire Victims Cheer President Donald Trump As He Calls Out Mayor Karen Bass For Not Allowing Residents To Return To Their Burned Down Homes

Not accepting any excuses. President Donald Trump has been busy today meeting with residents in both North Carolina and California following natural disasters that have wreaked havoc across both states. North Carolina was devastated by Hurricane Helene back in September, which damaged over 70 THOUSAND homes and caused an estimated $60 billion in damage. And on the other side of the country, California has been dealing with massive wildfires that have destroyed thousands of acres and well over 10,000 homes in the Los Angeles area. During his first week (back) in office, Trump has made it a priority to get aid to those who are in need from these disasters, telling the people of North Carolina earlier that he would be signing an order to remove red tape and bureaucratic barriers to rebuilding: "We're gonna go through a permitting process that's called, 'No permitting. Just get it done.'"  https://twitter.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1882851034844090843 And in California, things got a little testy between President Trump and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass when the president learned that residents weren't being allowed to return to their burned down homes to begin the process of cleaning up and rebuilding. During a round table discussion, frustrated residents called out the mayor after being told that it would be EIGHT MONTHS before being able to get into their homes. And Trump agreed with them, telling the mayor to her face that they shouldn't have to wait for the city to hire contractors to clean out their homes: "I am more worried because I met at least 8 groups of homeowners and I'm much more worried about the fact that they said it's 18 months...and they were devastated. They want to start now. They want to start removing things, they're not allowed to do it now. And you mentioned "hazardous waste." What's hazardous waste? You're going to have to define that. Are we going to go through a whole series of questions to determine what's hazardous waste? I just think you have to allow people to go on their site and start the process tonight." The crowd burst out into applause, and later in the discussion, Trump again called out state and local officials with slowing down the restoration process with unnecessary permits - which the mayor said wouldn't happen while claiming that the government would be working to clear property. Trump, though, thought the government should be letting people into their own property to clear out debris after being told by a resident that they had been informed it may be as long as six months before the city allowed them back onto their burned down property: "The people are willing to clean out their own debris. It doesn't cost a lot. You should let them do it, because by the time you hire contractors it's going to be two years... There's not that much left. It's all incinerated. And it's just going to take a long time if you do it." The mayor pushed back, telling Trump that they had to make sure it's safe before residents can return to their homes. But when she said that could still take at least another week, that wasn't good enough for the president: "That's a long time, a week. I'll be honest. Everyone's standing in front of their house, they want to go to work, and they're not allowed to do it." Bass contended that they had to make sure everybody was safe (Safe from what? Who knows.) before they could enter their lots, but Trump quickly shot back at her: "They're safe. You know what they're not safe? They're not safe now. They're going to be much safer... I watched hundreds of people standing in front of their lots, and they're not allowed to go in. It's all burned, it's gone, it's done. Nothing's going to happen to it. It's not going to burn anymore, there's nothing to burn...and they want to go in. The people are all over the place, they're standing and they say, 'Why aren't you going in?' 'We're trying to get a permit.' And the permit's going to take them, everybody said, 18 months." The crowd was clearly on Trump's side on this one, cheering as he stood up to California officials who have been promising to act quickly - and then dragging their feet. One resident claimed that the city is even blocking them from getting back into their neighborhood: "We can't even see our homes right now. We are blocked from entering our street." The session was full of fireworks, with Trump also taking aim at Democrat Congressman Brad Sherman for his party's support of policies that have made insurance companies flee the state of California and cancel policies for homeowners: "You did something, Brad, where every insurance company left California, that's why you have no insurance, because you made it so impossible. People that think like you made it so impossible." Sherman tried to clap back, but you couldn't really hear his response over the crowd's applause. Safe to say the officials in California are on notice not to drag their feet on this any longer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fxyu6l_XzH0