LOS ANGELES.–Complaining publicly that 78-year-old President-elect Donald Trump didn’t return his phone calls, 57-year-old Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom continues to antagonize and provoke the incoming president. Why Newsom continues his feud with Trump is anyone’s guess, perhaps just a bad habit or carryover from the bitter 2024 campaign when Newsom was a proxy for 60-year-old Vice President Kamala Harris? Newsom has his own run-ins with Trump in 2020 during the pandemic about California’s overly-restrictive Covid policies, criticizing Trump, like other Democrats and the press, for taking the Covid pandemic too lightly. Trump remembers well all the flack he took from Newsom doing his utmost to politicize the Covid crisis, essentially blaming the government’s slow response on Trump. Turns out the blame Trump strategy worked in 2020 to get 82-year-old President Joe Biden elected.
Newsom wrote Trump a letter inviting him to California to tour the devastation, meet with fire victims, survey the damage and join him together in thanking first responders. Newsom’s letter is yet another political swipe, only eight days before Biden leaves office. It’s almost like Newsom thinks he can gaslight Trump into admitting he could care less about 40 million Californians, when, in fact, Trump is not yet president. Why doesn’t Newsom extend the same invitation to Biden, currently responsible for approving the Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA] response? But to go out of his way antagonizing Trump makes no sense for Newsom who will depend on federal help to get California through the crisis. Newsom shows he puts his own self-serving politics ahead of any relationship with Trump that would help deal with the current crisis.
Newsom shows that he either gets bad advice or doesn’t listen to anyone with how to open doors with the incoming president. “He’s an incoming American president,” Newsom told a reporters on the tarmac of LAX airport. “I would expect any leader of the free world, the most powerful in the United States of America, to respect the pleas of 40 million American that happen to live in the State of California. Hundreds of thousands of people that are still evacuated and a recovery effort that included, right now, cadaver dogs to look for human remains, to be here for the American people at a time of emergency and time of recovery,” Newsom said. What kind of insanity does Newsom show behaving like an impetuous child. How out-of-line, how inappropriate can Newsom get speaking to the President-elect? Newsom’s actions are applauded by the leftist Los Angeles Times.
If Trump tried to interfere with Biden’s FEMA efforts he’d be accused by Democrats and the press of meddling with the White House. Suddenly, Newsom wants to rub it in Trump’s face, like that somehow helps California when Trump becomes president Jan. 20. Telling Trump to respect the pleas of Californians in preposterous when he’s not currently in charge. With encouragement from the LA Times and other Democrat, Newsom has become the tip of the resistance spear. How can Newsom expect Trump to return his phone calls when he’s constantly grandstanding like he’s running for president? Telling Trump that cadaver dogs are looking for human remains doesn’t underscore the gravity of the situation, it makes Newsom look like a pompous ass trying to bait Trump into lashing out. If Newsom hasn’t learned protocol or just plain manners by now, it’s not going to happen.
Newsom has run California into the ground despite all the capital gains revenue from a multi-year-old bull market. California faces a $30 billion budget deficit but, more importantly now, a shortfall in the California Fair Plan insurance fund, that has billions in expected claims with only $200 million left in the fund. Without billions in federal funds, the state insurance fund would go broke in short order with the state without the resources to make it whole. Newsom plans to sell his great accomplishments in California to Democrat primary voters in 2028, many years off but records don’t disappear. Why no one tells Newsom to tone it down is anyone’s guess? He’s hurting California everyday that he continues his arrogant, haughty and critical approach toward Trump. Trump will likely do the right thing with California federal disaster relief, just continue to ignore Newsom.
Newsom needs to remind himself that Kamala lost the 2024 election and he’s not running for anything anytime soon. Newsom would like to continue pushing for gender and women’s reproductive rights but the election is long over. With all the needs for federal disaster relief, you’d think Newsom would bite his tongue and try to get along with Trump, not for himself but the good of Californians. When you look at the border problem and rampant homelessness in California cities, you’d think Newsom would get off his high horse and stop lecturing Trump. Newsom will be forced to defend his record in the future, should he seek higher office at some point. For the good of the state, Newsom would be well-advised to bury the hatchet and try to find common ground with Trump. Trump met him more than halfway on Covid in 2020, and he’ll do what’s right in 2025.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
