Stop the presses. Gavin Newsom is running for president.
The governor of California has, for months, tried to tell anyone who will listen that he's not a candidate for president. After his nationally televised "save democracy" speech on Tuesday night, there's no mistaking his intent to make a grab for the brass ring.
"California is no stranger to immigration enforcement. But instead of focusing on undocumented immigrants with serious criminal records and people with final deportation orders—a strategy both parties have long supported—this administration is pushing mass deportations," claimed Newsom in his short speech.
I believe that Newsom was attempting to set the record for the most lies, half-truths, and exaggerations in the shortest amount of time in history. The state is not only a sanctuary state, but two million illegal aliens (8% of the population) comfortably reside in California, with the ability to access a host of taxpayer-funded services. Not only that, but we've just spent four years with Democratic control of the executive branch, allowing 8 million illegal aliens into the United States. "Both parties" did not support deporting illegal alien criminals, which is the primary reason Donald Trump is president today.
"Peaceful" Los Angeles residents came out to protest, and police met them with "the use of tear gas, flash-bang grenades, rubber bullets, federal agents detaining people and undermining their due process rights," Newsom said. Trying to change history when there's a video record borders on the insane.
“Donald Trump, without consulting California law enforcement leaders, commandeered 2,000 of our state’s National Guard members to deploy on our streets,” Newsom continued, conveniently eliding both the conversation he had with President Trump (Trump later exposed his untruth with a screenshot of the 16-minute conversation the two had) and the fact that he got caught saying that it had never taken place. “As the news spread throughout LA,” Newsom said, “anxiety for family and friends ramped up. Protests started again.” This is perhaps Newsom at his most deceitful: He alleges that the protests turned violent only after the president sent in the National Guard. Everyone saw the footage. We all saw the tapes. We saw the activists breaking up chunks of concrete to throw at law enforcement. We saw the vandalism, saw the clashes with police, saw far-left activists try to shut down immigration raids. We all saw it happen—before the deployments. And once again, LA’s own police chief rejected the idea that the National Guard provoked the violence.
The narrative Newsom is trying to establish will resonate with the left and likely be a potent selling point for his campaign among low-information voters. But for the majority of Americans, Newsom will be seen as part of the problem, not the solution.
He complained that federal agents "are arresting dishwashers, gardeners, day laborers, and seamstresses." Yes, governor, and your point?
His point is that they aren't murders, rapists, and violent criminals so they should be allowed to stay in the U.S. despite the fact they have no legal right to be here. That's precisely the mindset that led to the election of Donald Trump.
It was here that Newsom revealed that far from the solution to the Democrats’ problem with the electorate, he is the epitome of it. For arresting illegal migrant laborers is exactly what many Americans voted for—an end to the regime of cheap labor that undercuts American-born workers. Contrary to what Democrats like Newsom and Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass would have you believe, Americans aren’t celebrating deporting illegal immigrants because they are racists. It’s because they recognize the inherent unfairness of it, the burden it’s put on them, the cost to their own families—something the elites are utterly blind to.
Trump is winning on an issue that Newsom is trying to use to gain the Democratic nomination. Sixty percent of Americans support sending the National Guard to Los Angeles, and 57% support deporting all illegal aliens. That total deportation number has risen from 38% in 2016.
The Free Press's Batya Ungar-Sargon writes, "The only divide Trump is exposing is between elite and working-class opinion." Trump has been doing that for his entire political career.
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