Critics hear differences in Trump's approach to Texas, California disasters: ANALYSIS

WASHINGTON -- Last month, President Donald Trump was asked if his deteriorating relationship with Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom would impact federal support for wildfire recovery efforts.

"Will your recent dust-ups with Gov. Newsom impact additional wildfire relief?" a reporter asked Trump at the White House.

"Hatred is never a good thing in politics. When you don't like somebody, you don't respect somebody," Trump replied. "It's harder for that person to get money if you're on top. He's done a bad job."

It wasn't the first time Trump had suggested withholding federal aid to California after the Palisades Fire. Before he visited Los Angeles, Trump said he wanted to see the state change its water management policies and voter ID laws, in exchange for federal help.

Now, six months after the California wildfires, and as Trump heads to Texas on Friday to visit the site of catastrophic flooding, he has offered the federal government's support to Republican-led Texas, without conditions.

"We're working with the Governor, it's a terrible thing," Trump told reporters earlier this week.

He also avoided casting any blame, calling the devastation a "hundred-year catastrophe, and it's just so horrible to watch."

The divergent tone has frustrated some Democrats who believe that the president has injected partisan politics into his public comments about federal disaster relief.

"He's made no secret about going after blue states and blue cities," said Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene's devastation on the East Coast last fall, Trump was critical of the federal government's response under President Joe Biden, and the state-level response led by then-Gov. Roy Cooper, also a Democrat.

Federal officials accused him of spreading "extremely damaging" misinformation about the recovery efforts in the state.

Trump was also quick to criticize the Federal Emergency Management Agency's response to both disasters, and as president, he has said he wants to "wean off" FEMA and phase out the agency in an effort to shift more responsibility for recovery to states.

Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., who represents the area of Los Angeles impacted by the fires, told ABC News that Trump's "rhetoric certainly has been different with regards to California versus Texas."

However, she also pointed out that Trump visited North Carolina and California just days into his presidency to meet with victims.

She and other Democrats also praised the president and the Trump administration for honoring the Biden administration's commitment for the federal government to cover 100% of disaster assistance costs for 180 days, and California has also received $3 billion in federal loan assistance to help small businesses impacted by the wildfires.

"FEMA has been going full bore, and the Army Corps of Engineers have done an amazing job, a fantastic job of doing the fastest wildfire cleanup in U.S. history," Chu added.

Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., who joined Trump on his visit to Southern California, defended Trump's approach to his state's recovery.

Trump has "been very clear that he wants to help L.A. rebuild, and also wants to address the failures that helped cause this disaster in the first place," he told ABC News. "We need to have a broader conversation about how we can mitigate fire risk going forward."

Kiley also blamed Newsom for contributing to the "politicized" debate around disaster relief.

"The governor wants nothing more than to grandstand and to pick a fight with the President," Kiley said.

Congress has yet to act on Newsom's $40 billion request to help pay for recovery costs. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters that Capitol Hill would act once lawmakers received a formal request from the Trump administration.

"It takes a while to calculate it," Johnson said. "We know that well, of course, with hurricane season and disasters in Louisiana."

Some Democrats have called for investigations into whether staffing cuts to federal agencies such as the National Weather Service contributed to the death toll. And while questions about the emergency response and weather preparedness loom over the recovery efforts, nobody has been accused of any wrongdoing that contributed to the disaster.

Asked about the impact of the federal cuts on the flooding, Trump on Sunday seemed ready to blame the former president for the situation, before walking it back.

"That was really the Biden setup. That was not our setup. But I wouldn't blame Biden for it either," he said.

The White House has also pushed back on the criticism of Trump's comments and the suggestion from Democrats that he has treated the states differently.

"President Trump has led historic disaster recovery efforts in both California and North Carolina he's doing the same in Texas," White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement. "In California the Trump Administration completed the fastest debris removal effort in history to provide much needed assistance to California communities. And the President is leading a transformational recovery of Western North Carolina while the Biden Administration left them behind. Any claim that the President is giving certain states preferential treatment is not only wrong, it's idiotic and misinformed."

"FEMA has delivered $132 million in aid, deployed 500 staff, and sheltered 2,800 households," the Department of Homeland Security told ABC News in a statement.

The "Small Business Administration approved $3 billion in low-interest loans for 11,633 homes and businesses, with no payments or interest for a year. Under the leadership of Secretary Noem, FEMA and DHS are prioritizing people over politics," the statement continued.

Republicans, including some who were critical of California's policies and Newsom amid the California wildfires six months ago, have also called out efforts to politicize the Texas flooding.

"One of the things that's predictable is that you see some people engaging in, I think, partisan games, and trying to blame their political opponents for a natural disaster," Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told reporters in a news conference earlier this week.

Cruz said Trump was very receptive to supporting Texas following the flooding over the weekend.

"The president said, 'Ted, anything Texas needs, the answer is yes. Whatever assets you need, whatever resources you need, yes, let us know, and we will provide everything,'" he recalled.

Michael Bitzer, a history and politics professor at Catawba College in North Carolina, watched Republicans and Democrats spar over disaster recovery efforts in his own state after Hurricane Helene.

"If I had to say it bluntly, it's pure politics," he said of Trump's differing comments about the disasters in the two states. "California didn't vote for him. Texas did."

Texas, unlike California, is also led by a Republican governor, Greg Abbott.

"When you throw in personalities such as Trump and Newsom, who are naturally going to aggravate the other guy, throw more gasoline onto the fire," he said.

Rep. Scott Peters, D-Calif., who has promoted bipartisan wildfire prevention legislation in the wake of the California wildfires, hoped the administration's policies would continue, and not move in line with his threats to withhold disaster relief to California.

"There's sometimes a gap between President Trump's bravado and his actions. And actually, I'm hoping that this is one where, even if he talks in a way that's really cruel, he'll come through for his constituents," Peters said.

"Texas has faced this disaster, and as I said, California, we grieve for them and those families, and we want to be compassionate, and as Americans, we want to help each other," he said. "That's all we're asking in California too."

ABC News' Isabella Murray and Hannah Demissie contributed to this report.