The 2024 presidential race actually gets underway in about six months, and the governor of America’s most populous state recently fired an audacious shot.
With President Joe Biden too old and Vice President Kamala Harris too inept, Democrats have scant options for 2024. Some will look to past failures like Sens. Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren, yet one name has come up often in recent weeks: Gavin Newsom.
Since January 2019, the Californian has been overseeing the most poorly run left-wing state in America, but he’s also only 54, and is more popular than the hapless vice president.
Newsom recently released an extremely dishonest advertisement, where he argued that California is where freedom reigns, as opposed to the tyrannical Sunshine State.
Gavin, if California and Florida are on the ballot, Florida wins every day, ending in Y.
The last time I checked, people aren't leaving MY state in droves—they're fleeing YOURS.
Banning CRT ✅
Protecting Constitutional Rights ✅
Voter ID laws ✅
Anti-late-term abortions ✅ https://t.co/OoIUYH7vzU— Congressman Byron Donalds (@RepDonaldsPress) July 6, 2022
Arguing that Newsom is “desperate for relevance and attention,” Republican Party of Florida Vice Chair Christian Ziegler claimed, “This ad will have zero impact on anything going on in Florida — both in terms of policy and politics. And the one losing sleep over this ad won’t be Ron DeSantis, but instead, Joe Biden will lose midday nap time over this as it clearly shows that Newsom is positioning himself to take on the Democratic president.”
Was the 30-second spot excoriating the nation’s third-largest state, led by potential Republican frontrunner Ron DeSantis, Newsom’s soft campaign launch? Regardless, it was pathetic and DeSantis pushed back a few days later.
Florida is everything California is not, but people’s definitions of “freedom” vary. Some are selfish aims, while others create enticing opportunities, like an ability to work and thrive, even during a pandemic.
Florida’s lack of a state income tax and reasonable cost of living, for example, have long made it attractive to retirees and younger families
Is it worth living within California’s confiscatory taxation system because the Golden State allows unfettered abortions? Is it worth paying nearly triple for unreliable electricity and cramped housing to live among the homeless, simply because the weather is nice?
I suppose if you’re a public school teacher who wants to sit home and collect paychecks while your students suffer, California is a great choice for you.
And if you want a vainglorious governor who ignores COVID-19 restrictions to dine with lobbyists at luxurious restaurants, then ask California to open up those pearly gates. But the trends show middle-class people can’t wait to leave the income inequality of California.
However, as even the liberal press turns on Biden and Harris, Newsom is thus eager to build a national image, yet as someone almost recalled from office just last year, the multi-millionaire is a fringe politician who faces an uphill climb, as conservative pundits note.
“Apart from the fact that this is horse manure — no Republican is going to attack gays, etc. — that is what he is going to use to attract support from Hispanics, black males, Asians, suburbanites, blue-collar types, etc? In the industrial Midwest?,” Power Line Blog opined. “Is he actually going to defend drag queens prancing in front of kindergartners? I don’t think Newsom is nearly as stupid as Kamala (or Biden) — not a very exacting standard — but he is no rocket scientist. He’s basically dumb, he’s never had to confront GOP/conservative arguments, and the only things he knows are leftist nostrums like the rainbow horse manure an example of which is the quote above.”
A marketing campaign won’t eradicate decades of Democrat-led failures in California, but we’ll see if the left is considering a governor as their nominee for the first time since Bill Clinton.
A.J. Kaufman
A.J. Kaufman is an Alpha News columnist. His work has appeared in the Baltimore Sun, Florida Sun-Sentinel, Indianapolis Star, Israel National News, Orange County Register, St. Cloud Times, Star-Tribune, and across AIM Media Midwest and the Internet. Kaufman previously worked as a school teacher and military historian.
