Gavin Newsom’s California calamity
Steven Moore
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Anyone who watched Sean Hannity’s recent Fox News interview with Gavin Newsom knows that California’s Democratic governor is dapper and charming and has great hair. And Newsom talks like a sensible, moderate politician who wants to build consensus for middle-of-the-road policies to make America a better place. Republicans’ reaction was: Uh oh!
I’ve met Newsom several times, and he is a friendly, low-key guy who can hardly be more likable. And likability can take you a long way in politics. Just ask former Presidents Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. Presidential elections are sometimes about policy and ideology, but they often, in this 50-50 nation, come down not to a candidate’s stances on gun control, climate change, or tax cuts but rather, which of these two candidates do you like better? Who would you rather have a beer with?
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I’m convinced President Joe Biden will not be the Democratic nominee in 2024. And Democrats, too, are looking far and wide for another candidate. Vice President Kamala Harris is next in line, but even my liberal friends concede she has proven to be a political hand grenade. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a 2020 Democratic also-ran, has no qualifications and has failed in his current role. And defeated 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is a nightmare for the party.
The bench is thin for Democrats, so where does the party turn? Look out for Newsom — or Gov. Hair Gel, as some call him. He punches all the right buttons to be the next president.
Except Newsom has a tragic flaw. He has been governor of California for over five years, and the Golden State has turned into the See You Later State.
Since 2000, California has lost well over 2 million people on net, which is a population the size of Chicago, Illinois, and St. Louis, Missouri, combined. This is the first time a massive outmigration from California has ever happened. The rich and the working class are leaving, while the homeless and the gangs move in. Los Angeles and San Francisco are starting to look like Kolkata, with the panhandling, homeless encampments, graffiti, feces on the street corners, and rampant crime.
If you go to nearly any red state west of the Mississippi River, you will see lots of California license plates, and many of those cars aren’t headed back. Palm Beach is now becoming Silicon Valley South.
The Golden State once had a beefy budget surplus. Now, it is again drenched in red ink. It has, with the possible exception of New York and Illinois, the highest taxes in the country and the worst (but most expensive) public services.
Mr. Middle of the Road has supported banning nonelectric vehicles and diesel trucks, tax rates of up to 14% (whereas Texas is at zero), school lockdowns, and water restrictions. California, which suffers droughts, just had an epic rain and snow season, but it is too incompetent to build reservoirs to capture the water, which then drains into the Pacific Ocean. And a state with bountiful energy resources suffers electric power brownouts and blackouts under Newsom. This would be like Alaska running out of ice.
Under Newsom, California advertised itself as a progressive paradise. How do you like it now?
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How does Newsom respond to the criticism that millions of people are leaving his state for good? He claims fallaciously that California isn’t really losing people or jobs. He contends that other states are seeing people leave at a faster clip, such as Mississippi and Louisiana. What kind of a rousing defense is that? Hey, at least we’re not Mississippi.
When then-Gov. Michael Dukakis sought the presidency in 1988, he ran on the “Massachusetts Miracle.” It didn’t work. But if Newsom is the Democratic nominee in 2024, what will he run on? The California calamity. Will he promise the voters he will do for America what he did for California? It’s a big bet for the Democrats that voters are dumb enough to fall for that.