Trump Picks a Fight with California, Threatens to ‘Defund’ the State for Defying Him AS REPORTED LAST WEEK, the Trump Administration’s unconstitutional overreach didn’t just piss off one or two cities in California. They pissed the whole state off. And the interesting thing about that, is that California is what’s known as a “donor state.” In simple terms, that means that California pays more money into the federal system than they receive back. Which puts them at a huge advantage. Should California choose to forego paying federal taxes to the United States government, so long as they figured out how to reallocate the funds appropriately, they could actually come out on top.