Gavin Newsom Is a Bust

Gavin Newsom is a bust, both metaphorically and literally.

The California governor, who's trying to take his overspending and underperforming record national, is now in the middle of a bimbroglio over an expensive bronze bust of him displayed at San Francisco City Hall. Someday, I'll tell you the derivation of that contracted word that both describes Governor Hair Gel's political heft and his life as an unintentional chaos agent.

The bust is one of the stories contained in Jedd McFatter and Susan Crabtree's book about the California rogue's gallery of leaders entitled, "Fool’s Gold: The Radicals, Con-Artists, and Traitors That Killed the California Dream and Now Threaten Us All." 

They claim that Newsom fundraised to help buy the bust of himself. Newsom, whose reputation as an F-5 level blowhard forced the dictionary to expand room for its definition of self-aggrandizement, was told by his political team that he should look embarrassed by this resurgent revelation while denying it at the same time. 

As the entirely believable story (first reported at the Chronicle's SF Gate) goes on, we learn that the funds to the city included money from companies in which Newsom had a stake. Those funds were directed to Baghdad by the Bay's notoriously corrupt "behested payments" racket — think USAID programs on a city/county/state level. That money was put into the "mayoral bust for San Francisco City Hall" line item that funded the $97,000 bronze bust of Newsom installed in 2015. 

Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom secretly funded a bronze bust of himself inside San Francisco’s City Hall, per Breitbart. 🤡 pic.twitter.com/W5zIldDc4Q

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) March 11, 2025

The "behested payments" are frequently used for self-dealing local pols. For example, Susan Dyer Reynolds writes about when California Attorney General Rob Bonta and his wife, a state legislator with direct control of the legislative budget, were both in the Assembly, they used the power to "behest" contributions to their favorite programs, such as their political benefactors or themselves. 

Gavin Newsom’s Rapid Response director is in my comments claiming Newsom didn’t pay for his own monument like I reported.

He’s lying.

Gavin Newsom‘s companies did indeed pay for his own monument in City Hall!

I have the receipts! 👇🏻 https://t.co/OvdLLAxUST pic.twitter.com/rw72Q7zmqC

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) March 12, 2025

Newsom's stories about the bust have changed over the years, to which this Fox News Digital story alludes: 

Newsom told SFGate the bust was the brainchild of his supporters and that it would be paid for with private funds. According to the outlet, Newsom said he did not even know who the supporters and fundraisers were.

The outlet also reported that Newsom sat for the bust with artist Bruce Wolfe multiple times. The work was finished in 2018, according to the San Francisco Arts Commission.

Newsom's "rapid response" team immediately seized upon the story to declare it false, but a closer reading of the response reveals that they only take issue with the characterization that the donations were secret or used taxpayer money. 

His team rhubarbed and harrumphed to Fox News Digital about the book: 

This publication should come with a free tinfoil hat, a lifetime subscription to InfoWars, and a VIP dinner with Elvis Presley and Bigfoot. The authors seem allergic to basic facts — especially the kind you can confirm with a 10-second Google search, like how many children the Governor has.

Which reminds me, has Newsom had Alex Jones on his new I Want To Be President and I'm Inviting People to Espouse Ideas I Would Never Do to Get Fox News to Give Me Airtime podcast? 

Newsom hopes to keep his horrible California record under the radar until he can secure a spot on the roster of 2028 presidential candidates. And no wonder; look at this partial list.

• He failed to prepare for the California fires and then lied about it.
• Tried to censor people asking questions about the state's preparation for fires.
• Lied about the steps he took to clean out tinder dry brush.
• Helped cut off water to farmers.
• Took a COVID-bulging budget to a deficit.
• Lost billions in COVID unemployment funds to imprisoned California inmates and Nigerian princes.
• Failed to keep track of more than $24 billion in homeless funds, and its grift was so attractive that more drug tourists came to the state to slurp up the freebies. Now, 50% of the U.S. homeless call California their home. 
• Offered free healthcare to illegal aliens at the expense of taxpayers, naturally. 
• Set up the state to be a money giveaway to transgender surgery-seeking children. 
• Signed legislation that bans parents from knowing medical information about their kids in public school.
• Signed legislation allowing boys to play girls' sports.
• Chased yet another great California company from the state when In-N-Out changed the location of its HQ.
• Signed legislation increasing the minimum wage for fast food workers, costing thousands of jobs and closing businesses.
• Poured billions into 15-year-old plans for a high-speed bullet train boondoggle that he once said he'd stop. Not a foot of track has been laid, and the state's own consultants say it won't get built until the next decade or never.

I'd change the subject, too. 

We've been writing about Gavin Newsom and the rest of the West Coast, Messed Coast™ lefties for years now. If you enjoy our stories, why not become a VIP Member and have an ad free, behind the velvet rope experience at our PJ Media website? We're offering 60% off right now if you use the promo code FIGHT at check out! Click this link and let's have some fun. See you in the comments section (another VIP Member exclusive).