After nearly two weeks of cross-country jousting, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California waited alone Friday at the bottom of the steps outside Air Force One to greet President Trump as he arrived in Los Angeles to tour wildfire damage.
It wasn’t clear how the meeting would go. Mr. Trump often derides the governor as “Newscum.” And Mr. Newsom has accused Mr. Trump of orchestrating an assault on the 14th Amendment by signing an executive order to end birthright citizenship.
But after Mr. Trump exited the plane and walked slowly down the steps, the two men greeted each other with a long warm handshake and shoulder clasps. Mr. Trump then brought Mr. Newsom with him to speak to waiting reporters.
“I appreciate the governor coming out and meeting me,” Mr. Trump said, wearing a dark blazer and a “Make America Great Again” baseball hat. “Very much.”
Mr. Newsom, dressed in bluejeans and a denim, button down shirt, echoed the sentiment. “Thank you for being here. It means a great deal.”
It is hard to imagine two officials who are more ideologically different. If Mr. Trump is the leader of conservative America, Mr. Newsom is one of the most prominent leaders of liberal America. They both relish their respective roles.
In advance of the trip, the White House released a long list of California public officials who would meet with Mr. Trump later at a firehouse in Pacific Palisades. It included Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles. Mr. Newsom was not on the list, and went to the airport on his own. While in the air, Mr. Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said she was surprised to hear that Mr. Newsom would be greeting Mr. Trump.
“That’s news to me,” she said. “I look forward to seeing him there. And I’m sure the president does, too.”
Any animosity was put aside during their short time together on the tarmac. Mr. Trump thanked Mr. Newsom for meeting him, and Mr. Newsom recalled how the White House helped California during the Covid pandemic, during Mr. Trump’s last term.
“We’re going to need your help,” Mr. Newsom said. “You were there for us, during Covid, I don’t forget that, and I have all the expectations that we will be able to work together for a speedy recovery.”
Mr. Trump nodded. “We are going to get this done.”
Before he arrived, Mr. Trump had said he would extract concessions from California on water usage and a voter ID law that Democrats are very likely to resist as a condition of federal aid. Mr. Newsom said he expected the federal government to treat California the way it treated other states grappling with a natural disaster. But that policy tug of war didn’t materialize during their brief meeting.
“We are going to need your support,” Mr. Newsom said.
Mr. Trump responded warmly to the governor’s olive branch.
“We are looking to get something completed,” Mr. Trump said. “The way you get something completed is you work together.”
Mr. Newsom and Mr. Trump appeared to have come to a similar conclusion, at least for now: Americans are looking for cooperation, rather than confrontation, in the aftermath of the fires. Throughout their brief meeting at the airport and then speaking to reporters, they seemed to be reading from the same script.
“They are going to need a lot of federal help,” Mr. Trump said, turning to Mr. Newsom with a slight grin. “Unless they don’t need any?”
“We need your help,” Mr. Newsom said. He turned to the cameras. “I have all the confidence in the world that we will work together.”
