Imagine for a moment that you are the governor of a failing state. Would you try to improve the state by repealing failing policies, or would you spend taxpayer money on an ad campaign to try to improve your national image without helping the residents of your state?
If you chose the second option, you may be California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
NEWSOM’S DISGRACEFUL PANDER TO ANTI-ISRAEL DEMOCRATS
Newsom is planning to spend $19 million on an ad campaign to “dispel myths driven by misinformation and political rhetoric” about California. Nothing quite says “dispel myths” about California like wasting taxpayer money to help Newsom’s eventual 2028 presidential campaign. After all, California’s failures will be an embarrassing anchor on Newsom’s campaign, much like they were in his 2023 debate with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. (Remember when DeSantis held up a copy of San Francisco’s sidewalk poop map?)
Rather than fix California’s problems, Newsom is going to gaslight the country into pretending they don’t exist. It’s a strategy that already works with his California voters.
For example, he will probably brag about the state’s gross domestic product, which is greater than that of every country in the world other than the United States, China, and Germany. He will ignore that California has the highest poverty rate in the nation, is driving lower and middle-class residents out of state, and is taxing and regulating its remaining residents into the dirt.
He may brag about California’s environmental record. But California is actually making global emissions worse by destroying its own oil industry and importing gasoline from foreign countries. And yes, California has to import water and energy from other states because its environmental regulations have sabotaged the state. But Newsom can throw out some vague slogans about being a “global climate leader.”
NEWSOM BLAMES TRUMP FOR CALIFORNIA’S HIGHER GAS PRICES, DESPITE STATE POLICIES
We know he can’t brag about California building anything. The state has failed to build water storage or the highly touted high-speed rail for years. California has also failed to rebuild Los Angeles after the wildfires 14 months ago. But Newsom says he wants to build more houses and infrastructure, so that may be a good enough reason to include vague promises about cutting red tape in a commercial campaign.
Newsom’s inferiority complex about California and his governance compared to other states is the core motivation behind this campaign, along with trying to keep his presidential ambitions afloat. Newsom can’t admit that he has overseen eight years of decline in the Golden State, so now he must spend another several million dollars while whining that other politicians have been plotting to “diminish our accomplishments.”