Properly Subversive/Sherman R. Frederick
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s first crack at a state budget projected a small surplus.
That was in January.
Today, his revised budget calls for a $12 billion deficit.
Why? The Devil made him do it. Says he:
“California is under assault, the United States of America in many respects is under assault, because we have a president that’s been reckless in terms of assaulting those growth engines and has created a climate of deep uncertainty. The impacts are being felt disproportionately in the fourth-largest economy in the world.
But, in a moment of clarity, the governor also acknowledged the truth — the real truth — of what ails California: Crazy effin’ spending.
“We’ve got a spending problem. We can deny that we have a shortfall. We can deny that we have a deficit. We can deny we have a problem in the system, and we could put it off and be irresponsible.”
The cuts in spending will come in two areas: Closing a prison and cuts to the Medi-Cal insurance program, including cutting off adult illegal immigrants and ceasing the coverage of weight loss drugs such as Ozempic.
Look, I may be an outlier in the 2028 presidential pool, but I remain bullish on Newsom as the frontrunner for Democrats. He’s the best communicator they have at the moment. He remains unapologetic about core liberal beliefs, which will energize the base.
I admit the governor’s past butt-licking of Joe Biden is a big negative. His track record in California governance is also kinda lousy, as the meme at right shows. But Donald Trump is the kind of unicorn leader who can make you forget about the past.
The next presidential election is 100% going to be about President Trump.
If he pulls a rabbit out of his hat by championing world peace and rectifying world trade imbalances and the global economy, the Democrat brand will be absolutely, 100% dead in the water.
No Democrat will prevail in 2028. Democrats can thank Joe Biden for that.
But if things go poorly for Trump’s lofty endeavors, Newsom’s got a better chance than, say, AOC or other little-known, but less kooky, Democrats currently on the bingo card. I don’t mention Kamala Harris here because I don’t see her as even remotely in the remotely.
That’s how I’m seeing it. Of course, I reserve the right to change my mind on any of this at the drop of a hat.
(Sherman R. Frederick is the owner of Battle Born Media, MarinLocalNews.com and Marinscope.com. You read more of this column here and of his other essays at shermanfrederick.substack.com.)
Leave a Reply