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 has in recent days called the governor “Newscum.” And Mr. Newsom has accused Mr. Trump of orchestrating an assault on the 14th Amendment by signing an executive order abolishing birthright citizenship.
Mr. Newsom’s name was conspicuously not included in the very long list of names of public officials who would accompany Mr. Trump on his tour of neighborhoods ravaged by fire. 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.”
After Mr. Trump exited the plane, the two men greeted each other warmly, shaking hands and clapping each other on the back. 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 American 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.
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. During their brief meeting at Los Angeles 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.”
