Gavin Newsom Is a Disaster: It is often said that denial is a hallmark characteristic of addiction used to justify or rationalize poor behavior.
According to one site, denial occurs when one rejects or distorts what is really happening. One might ignore the problem, minimize people’s concerns, or blame others for any issues.
Considering these traits, it’s easy to see that California’s governor Gavin Newsom is in denial about what’s really happening in his state under his leadership. His addiction? Power.
In an interview with Sean Hannity this week, Governor Newsom ranted about how California has “one of the fastest growing economies on planet earth.”
“The state continues to be the tentpole of the American economy. In the last two fiscal years, we enjoyed $177.7 billion in operating surpluses. We’re on our way to be the fourth largest economy – eat your heart of Germany – in the world.”
As a tax paying resident of California, I can tell you that watching that interview brought up intense feelings of what is commonly known as “gaslighting.”
Gaslighting is a “form of psychological abuse in which a person or group causes someone to question their own sanity, memories, or perception of reality.”
Powerful and narcissistic people often use gaslighting as a way to make their victims feel crazy. They say things that are in complete contrast to the reality of what the victim is seeing or experiencing with their own eyes.
Newsom’s next line was a real punch in the gut:
“Number one in R&D, venture capital, more scientists, researchers, more Nobel laureates, more patents emanating out of this state than any other state in America. With all due respect, Florida doesn’t even come close, eat your heart out Texas.”
Aside from yet another tedious catch phrase that Newsom is so oft to drop, this just reeks of how out of touch this man is with his constituents.
News flash Governor Gavin Newsom: Not everyone who lives in California went to Stanford or lives in Silicon Valley.
What about those of us who do not participate in the upper echelons of your elite scholarly circles? Those of us who aren’t Nobel laureates or people who produce patents?
None of Newsom’s script, which sounded like it came straight out of Hollywood, spoke to the reality of what non-wealthy Californians like me are feeling.
Even with a decent paying job (or two), there is a constant pressure to pay rent and daily living expenses, and still feel like you have something left to enjoy the little luxuries of life. Every trip to the grocery store requires a calculation of what can be cut from the list and every trip to the gas pump, a scheme of how to get the most out of a daily commute. Stops must be strategically planned to ensure the route is most efficient and visits to friends limited as loved ones could live over an hour away.
You can forget about stashing some money away in the rainy-day fund. Most in California live paycheck to paycheck, stuck in survival mode.
Here’s the reality for a majority of California.
According to the Public Policy Institute of California, in the fall of 2021, 28.7% of residents were poor or near poor, down from 34% in 2019.
The rate of Californians who were near poor (with resources up to one and a half times the CPM poverty line) fell slightly, from 17.6% to 17%.
Deep poverty – the share of families with less than half the resources to meet basic needs – fell from 4.6% in 2019 to 3.3%.
However, most of the decreases were due to an increase social safety net expenditures, not because of increased rates of employment or wealth, which puts an even larger burden on taxpayers.
Not only did 352 large corporations flee California for states with more advantageous tax codes from 2018-2021, my own eyes tell me small business owners just can’t make it happen in this state. I see deserted buildings and store fronts everywhere. Without the revenues pouring in from wealthier areas such as Los Angeles or San Francisco, the cumbersome legislation, regulation, and cost of leases make it almost impossible to set up shop in a smaller town.
Even big box stores are closing shop due to an insane increase in crime and theft. In San Francisco alone, Walgreen’s, Whole Foods, and Nordstrom.
According to the California Retailers Association three cities in the state are among the top 10 in the country when it comes to organized retail crime–Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento.
I could go on and on about the cost of real estate, the related homeless crisis, drug problems, and public school issues the state faces, and likely will at some point.
Not like it would make a difference. Unless an addict is willing to admit he has a problem, then he doesn’t have a shot at saving himself – or his state.
Jennifer Galardi is the politics and culture editor for 19FortyFive.com. She has a Master’s in Public Policy from Pepperdine University and produces and hosts the podcast Connection with conversations that address health, culture, politics and policy. In a previous life, she wrote for publications in the health, fitness, and nutrition space. In addition, her pieces have been published in the Epoch Times and Pepperdine Policy Review.
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