I’m just a little fish, not three inches long.
But my story speaks volumes.
Which is why America’s biggest fish is gunning for me.
Donald Trump has taken more shots at me than at Vladimir Putin. He called me a “worthless fish” on Truth Social. And worst of all, he blamed me for January’s Los Angeles fires.
He suggested I somehow stopped water imports to Southern California, keeping fire hydrants dry. The president also used me to justify his crazy decision to unleash two massive releases from two reservoirs, wasting water that farmers will need this summer. Luckily, no Californians were killed by this presidential-mandated flood — or those deaths would have been my fault too.
It hasn’t mattered to Trump that I have one whale of an alibi when it comes to the L.A. fires:
I’ve never been to Los Angeles!
I’m a fish that can live only in the California Delta. So, rest assured, I couldn’t have started the Palisades or Eaton fires — or killed the Black Dahlia. I’m one of those things you can only find in Northern California, like good sourdough.
For the record, I’ve never met Gov. Gavin Newsom, much less convinced him to keep more water in the Delta to protect me. The truth, if you still care about the truth, is that I’m so low on the food chain that Californians wrote me off long ago.
Let me take you to school. I used to be ubiquitous in my particular part of California. But by the mid-20th century, my numbers declined steeply. There were many culprits: disease, invasive species, and the greater pumping of Delta water to supply California cities and farms, which impacted the flows of the fresh, cold water that is my lifeblood. By 1993, I was labeled a “threatened” species, but conditions got worse. By 2009, I officially became endangered.
That designation sometimes inspires humans to action. The yellow-legged frog is making a comeback in the Sierra with human assistance. But I haven’t enjoyed that kind of support. California’s agricultural interests made me their bogey-fish, blaming me when the state government, in dry years, cut water imports from the Delta for farmers. Trump, parroting this pastoral propaganda, tried to kill me off during his first term, but was stopped by the courts.
The lies about my awfulness may continue well beyond my actual existence. Today, I’m extinct in the wild. And the delta smelt captive breeding program (it’s even less sexy than it sounds), has struggled to produce more of me — and may soon be dead. The Trump administration just pulled federal funding, as retribution for my supposed plot to burn down L.A.
Related Articles
Opinion: A Trump-Newsom agreement on water? Public has the right to know
Letters: Bring back Cal Fire contract for vulnerable South County
$20 billion Delta tunnel plan wins endorsement from Silicon Valley’s largest water agency
SJ water agency to vote on whether to help fund Newsom’s $20B Delta tunnel project
Here’s another thing you should know. Scientists call me “an indicator species,” meaning that my health is a good proxy for the health of the Delta ecosystem. I’m afraid that I also might be a proxy for the vulnerable in this new America.
These days, politicians say they are for the little fish, but when the water is fouled, they are quick to blame trans people, civil servants, children whose parents aren’t citizens, and anyone else too small to fight back.
Scapegoating me, or any living thing, doesn’t solve our real problems — it just spreads the cruelty in our ecosystems. “When we judge, we are always in a psychic space which is circular,” warned the late French philosopher and Stanford professor Rene Girard.
Take it from me. This is a moment to stop blaming, and to start fighting as if your very existence were at stake.
I’d join you, but I lack the size to fight governments.
What’s your excuse?
Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column for Zócalo Public Square.
