What if this all goes back to the "starting fires for federal relief money" thing?

What if they are trying to force a disaster, so bad, that only with federal aid would that corrupt broken state be able to recover.

Trying to force Trump to make a decision: acquiesce to fraud, or the terrible optics of the suffering they caused, and the narrative of "Trump hates California" by not releasing funds into corrupt pockets?

They're broke. Trying to force a disaster to embezzle more.
Getting harder and harder to find that dark money...