The Gavin Newsom Economic Wrecking Ball Swings On
The battle for worst governor in America is — and has been for a while — a three-horse race between California’s Gavin Newsom, Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer, and New York’s Andrew Cuomo. While Whitmer and Cuomo were more efficient at killing their own citizens in the early days of the pandemic, Newsom is establishing that he is a far more ruthless slayer of livelihoods.
He seems to be intent upon proving that he has staying power, too.
While pretending to be a fan of science, Newsom continues his capricious approach to which businesses can and cannot be open in the Golden State.
“We don’t anticipate in the immediate term any of these larger parks opening until we see more stability in terms of the data.” Those are the long-awaited words of California Gov. Gavin Newsom on the fate of the state’s still-closed amusement parks.
“We feel there’s no hurry to put out guidelines, and we continue to work with the industry,” he continued.
Those words will not land softy on the ears of those who run local theme parks, including Universal Studios, Knott’s Berry Farm and Six Flags Magic Mountain. Collectively and individually, they have called on the governor over the past few weeks to allow them to reopen, saying that their business is more amenable to preventing COVID than many that have already been allowed to open in the state.
Disney later issued a statement from Dr. Pamela Hymel, Chief Medical Officer, Disney Parks, Experiences and Products that read in part, “We absolutely reject the suggestion that reopening the Disneyland Resort is incompatible with a ‘health-first’ approach.” Read the full statement here.
Disney chairman Bob Iger finally grew tired of Newsom’s whimsically tyrannical shtick last week.
Two days after Disney announced some 28,000 layoffs in its U.S. parks business, chairman Bob Iger has resigned from California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s task force on the state’s economic recovery.
The Sacramento Bee reported this afternoon that Iger has quit the post, citing a Disney spokesperson. Deadline has reached out to the company for comment.
It must be rather difficult to work on the state’s economic recovery when its chief executive is keeping his policies wrapped around the economy’s throat.
All of this comes at a time when the evidence for the effectiveness of the lockdowns is getting weaker and weaker.
As has been pointed out by many, this is devastating not only to the employees of the amusement parks, but to the communities surrounding them that rely on the tourism money. This is especially so in Anaheim, which is for all intents and purposes a Disney company town. Newsom may succeed in crippling it for a very long time, if he hasn’t already.
The true devastation of this pandemic will eventually not only be measured in the number of lives lost but in the number of lives of destroyed among those who physically survived the virus. It’s already a tragedy on a monumental scale and there is no end in sight.
Gavin Newsom seems to be OK with that.
COVID Kills More Jobs: Disney to Lay Off 28,000 Park Employees
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PJ Media Senior Columnist and Associate Editor Stephen Kruiser is the author of “Don’t Let the Hippies Shower” and “Straight Outta Feelings: Political Zen in the Age of Outrage,” both of which address serious subjects in a humorous way. Monday through Friday he edits PJ Media’s “Morning Briefing.” His columns appear twice a week.
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