'C'mon. We aren't idiots': Onlookers blast GOP lawmaker over conditions on L.A. fire funds

Senator John Barrasso, a Donald Trump supporter, was buried in criticism Sunday after he suggested "strings" need to be attached to California fire relief funds.

Barrasso said on Face the Nation that "there will be strings attached" to any disaster and recovery aid Congress will "ultimately" approve for the Los Angeles wildfires.

That "has to do with being ready the next time because this was a gross failure this time," the lawmaker added.

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Chris Murphy, a Democratic Senator from Connecticut, wasn't buying it.

"C'mon. We aren't idiots. Republicans never ask for 'strings' attached to disaster funding for Republican states," the Democrat said. "This isn't about helping California. This is about punishing California because it votes for Democrats."

Norm Ornstein, emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, also weighed in, saying Barrasso "is not the worst or most embarrassing, pathetic partisan hack among Senate Republicans."

"Which tells you a lot about Senate Republicans," the scholar added.

Sharon Loper Miller, who has a Ph.D. in psychology, said, "Never heard Barrasso say one word before about anything and now he is so animated about 'strings attached to money' for Californians."

Writer and director Marshall Herskovitz replied, "Here we go."

"Trying to remember the strings attached to money going to FL, GA, and NC after Hurricane Helene. This definitional. A statement like Barrasso’s reveals what authoritarianism looks like," he then added.