Victor Davis Hanson
American Greatness
As California Governor Gavin Newsom gears up to run for president, what in the world will he run on?
Californians know that Newsom will not boast, “I will do for America what I have done to California!”
Why not?
Count the reasons.
California’s astronomical gas prices and taxes remain the highest in the continental U.S.
Ditto the state’s trifecta of the highest electricity rates, the costliest home prices, and the fourth-highest home insurance costs.
California has the largest unfunded liability debt in the nation, approaching $270 billion.
The budget deficit each year usually ranges from $15 to $70 billion.
Such profligate spending and deficits explain why the state also has the highest income taxes and state sales tax rates in the nation.
Just 1% of California households pay 50% of the state income tax. And the fleeced are leaving in droves.
Newsom recently boasted that he extended Medi-Cal health insurance to thousands more illegal aliens.
So, no wonder Newsom next begged for a nearly $3 billion Medi-Cal federal bailout.
Half of the state’s 41 million residents are now on Medi-Cal. Some 50 percent of all births are Medi-Cal-provided—and growing.
California has a lot of other firsts among the 50 states:
The largest population of illegal aliens.
The largest number of homeless people.
The largest number of people fleeing a state.
The largest number (11 million) and percentage (27%) of foreign-born residents.
The largest number of people living in poverty.
The highest food prices in the continental U.S.
The state’s infrastructure is usually rated near the bottom.
California ranks among the five worst states in per capita violent crime.
Here are a few other observations about the current disaster that is Newsom’s California.
One, California is a naturally wealthy state. It is the third largest by area. It ranks seventh in the nation in oil reserves. No nation has more agricultural production or forested land acreage. So it’s hard to bankrupt California, but Newsom has managed.
Two, under prior governors Pat Brown, Ronald Reagan, George Deukmejian, and Pete Wilson, California used to be the best-run state in the country.
California once produced more oil than any other state except Texas.
Its now-moribund timber industry once used to be the third largest in the nation.
And its currently ossified mining and mineral industries were once among the top ten producers in the country.
Three, no state politician over the last three decades has been more responsible for California’s decline than Gavin Newsom: six years as governor, eight years as lieutenant governor, seven years as mayor of San Francisco, and seven years on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
Four, California chose decline. In the last thirty years, it drove out somewhere between 18 and 20 million affluent and middle-class state residents, the largest state exodus in U.S. history.
Its open border welcomed in an influx of over 10 million illegal aliens.
Meanwhile, Silicon Valley’s $11 trillion in market capitalization created the wealthiest and the most left-wing out-of-touch elite in the United States.
The result was a medieval state of a few million elites, a mass of poor people, and a vanishing middle class.
Five, such influxes and exoduses, along with gerrymandering, have ensured a one-party state. There are no Republican statewide officeholders.
Democrats control all branches of government. Only 17% of its congressional delegation is Republican. So the Left proudly owns what California has become.
What, then, will Newsom run on?
Certainly not high-speed rail—17 years, $15 billion, and not a foot of track laid.
Certainly not a $500-million exploding solar battery plant.
Certainly not illegally issuing 17,000 commercial truck driver’s licenses to non-resident illegal aliens with little or no English competency.
Certainly not the horrific but preventable Pacific Palisades fire.
And certainly not a now-closed $2-billion desert solar plant boondoggle.
Instead, Newsom will continue his he-man threats to Trump, like, “We’re going to punch this bully in the mouth.”
But will such bluster lower the state’s gas and power prices or reduce its sky-high taxes?
On social media and in podcasts, Newsom will continue his adolescent threats to federal officials like Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem while serving up his adolescent potty-mouth smears (e.g., “son of a b***h,” “god-d**n,” “f**k,” etc.).
But that profanity will not lower crime or house prices.
In other words, in the Democrat primaries, Newsom will try to out-crazy the violence, profanity, and extremism of the now-crazy Democrat socialists.
Newsom will rant nonstop about the evil Trump, but neither offer a word nor do a thing about his own responsibility for the collapse of a once great state.
Newsom will lecture on “affordability” without mentioning that he has created the most unaffordable state in the nation.
Will all this gobbledygook work?
It did in New York.
So, who knows?
If a person resorts to slandering an opposing person with ridicule and untruths does that make him/her a person you really want to represent you in the political arena??????
Whether you are a REGISTERED Democrat or Republican both sides have some good and bad!! It is up to us, the voters, to put rational, Not Emotional, thinking into our decisions, regardless of the party you associate with or who you like or dislike, and decide who is best to represent you and your hopes and dreams for our country!
There is an exercise used in decision making–For each candidate or policy in question – on paper put 3 columns label each one, title #1 good , #2 Bad , #3 Gray areas & Undecisive.
Now, do your homework, you must study each on Both sides than put them down in the column you think they should go. Make your final decision, based on your answers, Regardless of Party.
This takes the emotion out of your decisions if you have been Honest with your answers you will be amazed on how this will come out.
I challenge all voters to do this exercise I will bet you can’t do it without emotion and there-in lies the problem. This is one reason why the same bad decisions/people are voted in.
Snidely whiplash fits… his greased hair and grin are Jokeresque. Great article! Brevity and clarity.
But how to save California? i have family and friends there, have lived there and miss it. We need a vision of success
Newsom is the poster child of what is wrong with politics. We have always had people like Newsom but he has broke the mode. It’s politicians like him who had our country on the brink of destruction. Our country was blessed when Trump arrived upon the scene. Hopefully we will elect more people similar to President Trump, a true public servant!
A couple of nits?
“California has the largest unfunded liability debt in the nation, approaching $270 billion.” – maybe “unfunded pension liability”? What’s “liability debt”?
“No nation has more agricultural production or forested land acreage.” California has around 33 million acres of forest; Russia has around 2 billion acres, Brazil 1.2 billion, China more than 500 million, Sweden 70 million – even among the US states, Alaska has 100 million acres of forest.
Newsom has been a terrible leader and a terrible manager. But the first job of a politician is to get elected, and the second is to get reelected. Newsom has been a great success at winning elections. We should not underestimate his prospects for 2028.
The trajectory of California looks a lot like Venezuela. Both squandered good fortune and wealth. Both are one party, corrupt states that operate by the whims of one man.
The left deals with feelings and the “right” deals with “facts.”
Now where did I get that? From you, VDH? Well, not me – I’m 82, born in Sacramento, California, and
Kalifornia edgukated.
Onward.
Well Victor, your ‘AI’ double is quite the character I must admit! I hope there are avenues you can pursue to prevent these ‘copycat’ AI podcasts as they are disturbing. One of the many side benefits to listening and watching you pontificate on politics is reading all of the erudite comments offered up by all your dedicated, intelligent followers. I learn a great deal from them as I do from you, Sami and Jack. Sorry to get off the Newsom topic bus, however, at 71 years of age with a body of joint replacement parts, if this clown gets into the white house prior to the good lord taking me, that is scarier than watching another VDH AI generated media piece!!
Seems increasingly obvious liberals do not care about the consequences of their votes. Ultra-liberal states and cities continue to vote in the very policies that are destroying them.
Victor,
This is a little off topic, but I have been listening to your podcast for awhile. The most cringeworthy thing you do is constantly misspronounce some words.
Lets start with nuclear, it is NOT Nookular its said like Nu klee urh, PLEASE and thank you! I hope you read this. Another is Pierre Poilievre – Member of the House of Commons of Canada leader of the opposition. You say Poilievre like this: poy·lee·ev.
I mean its ridiculous to listen to your wisdom and expertise only to mix it with constant miss pronouncations is almost every eposide. It really reduces you, TAKE the time the mere 30 seconds to say names or learn how to say nuclear correctly.
Please Victor, its hard to believe anyone with such good analysis skills never take the time to say certain names or words correctly, now STOP IT lol!
I dodged a ‘bullet’ many years ago. I was 21yo and getting ready to muster out of the USN. I had a job lined up with a San Diego car dealership servicing cars. Instead I decided to go back home to Washington state, where I was born. That was in Dec. 1968. Fast forward to today and now I live in ‘Cali-north’. That long-delayed ‘bullet’ is just about to hit me!
Democrats have made a carbon copy of California in Washington state. At 78 years old I’m contemplating moving, probably to Idaho or Montana. I’ll get more money out of my home than is reasonable, but hey! I’ll take it, and I’ll need it. I’ll get enough out of my home sale to buy something in one of those two states with cash! That’s about the only benefit of living in a democrat run state. You just need to leave to realize the benefits!
Democrats have ruined every place where they are in charge. At some point can we just make illegal certain political parties??? Please?
My “extended” family (the Goad’s – my Grandmother’s maiden name) were among the earlier settlers of Tulare County. The county was “chartered” on the family property a few miles west and slightly north of the county seat – Visalia. I, along with my 3 brothers are multi-generational Californians and also of Tulare County. I will reach my 83 birthday in January. Were my wife and I not of such age, we would be among those departing the state in which we grew born, were educated, married and raised our children. And which, to this day, we love. However, as VDH and other commenters have stated, California’s one party governance and Governor have pretty much destroyed and bankrupted California. Too many voters are on the “dole.” “We the People” are now sowing what we seeded through a lack of attention and a failure to truly educate and inform ourselves on the issues and individuals on which we have voted.
Harry, hold off on the success of the entertainment industry, Gavin’s managed to run a lot of that out of town, only to realize the blunder too late, just like the oil refineries, the band-aids are too little too late. Hollywood is the new Detroit! But you know California is the 4th largest economy in the world? Ugh I get tired of hearing that!
As Victor pointed out, California’s decline was not inevitable, but instead a choice by its leaders. On many previous occasions Victor has pointed out , this class of bicoastal elites is insulated from the consequences of their destructive decisions. Conservatives must be relentless is pointing out Newsome’s failures while at the same time aggressively pursuing social and economic policies that promote prosperity and stability.
I can’t look at that picture of Newsome without being reminded of the villain Snidely Whiplash, the evil antagonist of Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties (Rocky and Bullwinkle series).
It’s a simple plan.
Import voters and please them with freebies. Create motor voter laws. Establish lax voting standards. Turn this advantage into a one-party system that has no effective counterweight.
That’s how you make democracy undemocratic. It helps to have high-tech industries bankrolling the whole thing — with many foreign-born contributors who don’t really get the American experience.
Will this plan translate to the whole of America? Can they make the California plan “work” everywhere? Are the ingredients there to make this happen?
We will see. It is clear that the open borders policy of “Joe Biden” was a first step, mimicking CA in the process.
Our defense is to show clearly how much of a failure California has become. This is the truth. If this truth does not scare voters then we are done.
The Californication of America will be complete.
It’s difficult to understand why anyone would vote for this guy, unless on the receiving end of taxpayer subsidies, whether legal or illegal recipient. I guess that’s the whole point, to create a voting block of people beholden to government programs, while those in power self-enrich. This reckless behavior is not sustainable; it’s not going to end well.
A cautionary tale for any state following California’s path. Like Colorado or New York. Ayn Rand predicted this outcome decades ago. California’s demise proves her prediction.
Our nation is on the same path to destruction. We don’t need to go there. The solution is clear: recognize the inalienable rights that accrue to each citizen noted in the Declaration. Demand that politicians and bureaucrats adhere to the intent of this document. Form a true opposition party to stand against any other bigger-government party.
The vast majority of citizens know this to e true, we need leaders willing to understand and then articulate the truth of freedom from government oppression. – Jay Davidson
Newsom will absolutely run on a platform that can do to the US as a whole what’s been done to California. He’s proud of it. He thinks he’s the reason that we have a successful tech industry, entertainment industry, that there was a gold rush and that the sun rises each morning.
And there’s a market for this nonsense. He’s probably a shoo in to get 47% of the vote in a national election. If he can claw another 2 percentage points he’d probably win.
Thanks Victor! If gavin newsome’s plan is to try and intimidate President Trump and his MAGA Patriots, he should be prepared to get his hair messed up a little. Mike Tyson had a solution for those who thought they had a well prepared plan.
Well, that’s depressing. And, it’s also why I left.