California’s silver-haired (and silver-tongued) Democratic Party Governor Gavin Newsom has been working for the last few years to raise his national profile.
As leader of the largest economy of all 50 states—what would be the fifth-largest economy in the world, if California were an independent country—Newsom has striven to highlight his bona fides as he clearly desires to run for national office.
Normally, running a state as large and diverse as California would qualify a politician of any party for rising through the ranks, and possibly even running for his party’s presidential nomination.
While it is true that Newsom has led California. It is not true, however, that Newsom’s time as California’s fortieth governor has been a success. The chutzpah on the part of Newsom to think he is qualified to run for president simply because he has served as the governor of California is insane.
Although, it’s not unheard of.
Failing Upwards
After all, Joe Biden believed he was qualified to be president in 2020 simply because he’d spent a lot of his time working in government (even though his record was—and continues to be—trash). In modern politics, especially in the Democratic Party, one’s record matters less compared to the fact that one was merely “in the room” shaping and making policies.
So, in Biden’s case, was considered to have one of the worst foreign policy records in the United States Senate, yet Obama still tapped him to be his vice-president in 2008 (and billed Biden as the “old wise man” to Obama’s young, “right stuff” template).
As vice president, Biden continued to be the butt of all jokes. Yet, he was ultimately elevated as the heir apparent to Obama by the time 2020 rolled around (because the supposedly more competent Hillary Clinton couldn’t beat the mean old Orange Man in 2016).
With Newsom, he’s far more articulate and camera-friendly than Joe Biden (or Hillary Clinton) ever were. He’s been in government for a while, too. Newsom has a national stage presence already. Converting that into a competitive presidential campaign wouldn’t be too hard for the governor.
But what would he run on? It certainly couldn’t be his abysmal record!
Under Newsom’s leadership, California has become a more expensive, less comfortable place to live. It has become a snapshot of America’s future, if the Democrats continue to win majorities in national elections.
A land of high prices and massive wealth disparities—paradoxically a place defined by its inequality yet run by a political party that champions itself as the party of the working-class and the poor—California has seen 1 out of 100 of its citizens move away from the state in the last three years.
Killing the California Miracle
It’s a real tragedy because for much of the twentieth century, California was viewed by most Americans as the Promised Land; a place that was a microcosm for the wider nation, where the Middle-Class American Dream could be fully realized.
Since the Democrats became the dominant political party there in the 1980s and 90s, the entire state has collapsed into a dystopian nightmare that the Democrats call paradise but is, in fact, a hellscape for anyone who isn’t a multimillionaire (and even then, the wealthier people are, in many cases, seeking an escape from this once-great state).
Despite Newsom’s glowing press, he knows that his governorship is a failure. In fact, he faced a serious recall a couple of years ago because his leadership was in such dire doubt. Newsom survived the recall attempt. But it didn’t just happen randomly. It was a serious response to deeply unpopular policies by Newsom. What’s more, it was done over the fact that Newsom was embroiled in multiple controversies.
Just think about some of the insanity that has occurred under Newsom’s rule. During the COVID-19 pandemic that emanated from Wuhan, China, California embraced the most draconian lockdown policies in the country. Newsom’s administration imposed harsh social distancing protocols and, ultimately, invasive vaccine programs.
Ultimately, the rates of infection and death rates from COVID-19 were either as bad or greater than those of Red States, like Florida, that reopened earlier and did not impose strict lockdowns, social distancing, and vaccine mandate policies that Newsom’s California did.
California’s COVID-19 mitigation program under Governor Newsom, then, was a failure. Yet, Newsom and his team insist they were effective and would implement those same policies if another biological crisis occurred in California.
Meanwhile, California is experiencing an exponential increase in rates of homelessness. Newsom took personal control over his state’s response to that crisis—even calling himself California’s “homelessness czar”—only to abdicate responsibility for that program as he appeared to exacerbate the crisis.
Newsom’s Culture of Decay in California
Newsom has presided over massive cultural decay. For example, his governorship has helped to create a culture of widespread acceptance of public drug usage in places like San Francisco “under certain circumstances.”
Newsom also likes the idea of Democratic Party State Senator Scott Wiener to decriminalize hallucinogens and ecstasy. For the record, these are two of the most powerful illicit narcotics that Newsom’s government wants to make widely available to Californians.
The most damaging policies in California under Newsom has been his obsession with pushing Climate Change policies on the state. He has signed legislation banning the purchasing of all new gas-powered vehicles by the 2030s.
This Man Must Be Stopped
That’s all well-and-good, however, electric vehicles are thousands of dollars more expensive to purchase than the average gas-powered vehicle. Moreover, the costs of maintaining those vehicles are higher than the average cost of maintaining ordinary gas-powered cars.
In other words, Newsom is jacking up the costs of cars in a state that is explicitly designed around car usage as the primary mode of transportation for its citizens.
As Newsom has pushed more people toward buying expensive electric vehicles, his idealism has gotten ahead of his reason. That is because the California electric grid cannot handle the increased load that the EVs are placing on it.
Rather than first focus on dealing with that before demanding that Californians invest their limited funds into expensive, impractical EVs, Newsom has just jumped to making Californians purchase impractical vehicles.
Newsom’s policies are killing his state. The California Miracle is dead. Shockingly, Newsom uses his policies in California as an example of his worthiness as a national leader.
He has killed his state, despite what all the friendly press says. If given the opportunity (which Newsom plans on taking soon), he’ll kill the country the way he murdered his once-great state.
A 19FortyFive Senior Editor, Brandon J. Weichert is a former Congressional staffer and geopolitical analyst who is a contributor at The Washington Times, as well as at American Greatness and the Asia Times. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower (Republic Book Publishers), Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life (Encounter Books), and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy (July 23). Weichert can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.
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