President Trump treks to Rancho Palos Verdes golf club

The longstanding animosity between President Donald Trump and Gov. Gavin Newsom was once again the focus of conversations on Tuesday, Aug. 4, with the president expected to take jabs at the governor during a rare appearance in the Los Angeles area and Newsom taking his own swings at Trump even before the president’s arrival.

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Trump, in only his second trip to California since returning to office, spoke at a fundraising dinner for the Republican National Committee at his golf club in Rancho Palos Verdes, before heading to Las Vegas later in the evening.

White House spokesperson Olivia Wales on Monday had previewed the president’s planned remarks at the RNC event. Trump, she said, intended to “tout his wins for the people of the Golden State despite failed Democrat leadership: the largest middle-class tax cut ever, the most secure border in American history, and a plummeting crime rate.”

Trump “will draw a sharp contrast between his commonsense agenda and the radical policies of Democrats like (Gov.) Gavin Newsom,” Wales added.

Newsom, widely viewed as a likely candidate for president in 2028, meanwhile, seized on Trump’s visit to urge the president to provide relief to the people and businesses still recovering from last year’s devastating Palisades and Eaton wildfires.

In January 2025, during Trump’s last visit to California when he toured the aftermath of the Palisades fire, Newsom greeted Trump on the tarmac at LAX, and the pair shook hands in what appeared to be a temporary truce amid the chaos of the fires.

But that truce was short lived.

“Donald Trump promised he’d ‘take care’ of Los Angeles firestorm survivors. 18 months later, he’s flying back to LA. Not to help, but to host a fundraiser at his golf club. Do the right thing, Mr. President,” Newsom wrote in an X post on Tuesday.

Newsom was not the only Democratic politician to criticize the president ahead of his visit to the Golden State.

Xavier Becerra, the Democratic candidate for California governor in this year’s election, echoed sentiments similar to Newsom’s.

In his own X post, Becerra, who was the U.S. health and human services secretary during the Biden administration, said “instead of parachuting into our state to collect cash for politics, President Trump should end the politics withholding desperately needed funds for families who lost everything in the LA wildfires.”

Republican Steve Hilton, who is running against Becerra and is endorsed by Trump, was not in Southern California Tuesday and did not attend the RNC dinner, according to his campaign.

Hilton’s campaign did not respond to a follow-up message asking if he feels that federal aid for the Southern California wildfire survivors is long overdue.

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While Hilton has said he appreciates the president’s endorsement, his campaign has also put out an ad telling Californians – where the plurality of voters are registered Democratic – they don’t have to be Trump supporters to vote for him if what they seek is leadership change.

As for Trump’s visit on Tuesday, the president arrived at LAX late in the afternoon aboard Air Force One. He quickly transferred to an awaiting Marine One helicopter, which carried him to Trump National Golf Club, avoiding any major traffic disruptions that a traditional motorcade would require.

About 60 protesters and another 20 Trump supporters gathered outside the club, about 20 miles south of LAX, ahead of the president’s arrival.

The two groups were mainly peaceful, though a few people engaged in arguments or screaming matches.

Trump’s appearance in Southern California occurred despite the revelation that just days earlier, a man who appeared interested in security precautions and had weapons with him was arrested at the golf club.

The suspect, from Downey, had a 16-round magazine of hollow-point ammunition in his pocket, and a loaded pistol with a round in the chamber and a second hollow-point ammunition magazine in his car, parked in a lot on golf course property, according to the L.A. Sheriff’s Department.

Trump departed the golf club via a helicopter around 8:30 p.m. roughly four hours after arriving in Los Angeles. He was expected to continue his two-day swing through the West Coast with a stop at Red Rock Casino in Vegas, where he is expected to deliver remarks about the economy and tax relief on Wednesday.

The president will use this trip to draw contrasts with Democrats on the economy, border security and crime and shore up support for Republicans ahead of the November midterm elections that will determine whether the GOP retains control of Congress.

An AP-NORC poll conducted in July found only 32% of U.S. adults approved of the president’s handling of the economy, with 69% of those polled describing the state of the economy as “poor”  while citing the cost of daily essentials, such as groceries and gas, as a “major” source of stress.

Trump’s overall approval rating is at 33%, according to the AP-NORC poll. That’s about 8 percentage points below where he stood around this point in his first term.

Staff Writers Christina Merino and Sierra van der Brug, as well as City News Service and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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