This isn’t a new strategy—California sued the Trump administration over 120 times during his first term, spending at least $42 million in taxpayer funds in the process. But this time, it’s different. This time, California has crises of its own making that are spiraling out of control. While lawmakers posture against Trump, the state is drowning in economic mismanagement, crumbling infrastructure, and a public safety crisis.

California is on fire—literally and figuratively—and its leaders are too obsessed with Donald Trump to notice.

A Manufactured Crisis to Distract from Real Ones

At the heart of this latest funding package is the idea that California must “defend itself” against Trump before he’s even taken any major immigration actions. Lawmakers rushed to pass $25 million to fund legal battles against federal policies that don’t yet exist, and another $25 million to provide free legal defense for illegal immigrants facing deportation.

What’s striking about this move is how unnecessary it is. During Trump’s first term, California had no trouble launching legal fights when actual policies were enacted. So why preemptively set aside tens of millions of dollars now? The answer is simple: California’s ruling class needs Trump as a scapegoat to distract from their own failures.

California has the highest poverty rate in the nation when adjusted for cost of living, a homelessness crisis that has spiraled out of control, and a $73 billion budget deficit that has forced lawmakers to consider new taxes to plug the hole. Crime is surging in major cities. Businesses and residents are fleeing in record numbers.