Newsom Slams 'Conservatives And Delusional California-Bashers'
California Gov. Gavin Newsom went after the state’s critics in his State of the State speech Tuesday, enumerating some of its efforts to counter right-wing policies across the country.
“For conservatives and delusional California-bashers, their success depends on our failure,” Newsom said in the pre-recorded speech, recorded at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles and posted online Tuesday. “They want to impeach the very things that have made us successful, as a tactic to turn America toward a darker future.”
It’s the fourth year in a row the governor has eschewed giving the annual address before the state legislature in Sacramento.
“People across the globe look to California and see what’s possible, and how to live and advance together and prosper together across every conceivable difference,” he said.
California, one of the bluest states in the country, is a reliable punching bag for conservative media and GOP leaders. Fox News hosts regularly paint the state as lawless, citing its relatively high rates of violent and property crime, though red states like Arkansas and Louisiana outrank it.
Anyone who knows California knows the state of our state is strong and resilient. pic.twitter.com/0C9IsQ12lB
— California Governor (@CAgovernor) June 25, 2024
And in a head-scratching moment in April, Donald Trump falsely accused the California governor of offering undocumented immigrants free mansions and other perks for crossing the border.
“You have an idiot like Gavin Newsom saying, ’If you come up, we’re going to give you pension funds. You’re going to have pensions, you’re going to — we’ll give you a mansion,” Trump proclaimed during a speech.
Newsom hit back against those attacks on California, emphasizing red states’ attacks on reproductive rights instead.
“For our detractors, the distorted prism of political pandering means cutting health care benefits and telling a woman she’s not in charge of her own body,” he said. “When it comes to reproductive rights, their lies are designed to control. Their draconian policies are driving women to flee across state lines, as fugitives from laws written by men more than a hundred years ago. Some even go so far as to force victims of assault to give birth to their rapist’s babies.”
California has enacted several new abortion protections in the wake of Roe v. Wade’s fall. One policy allows Arizona physicians to provide abortions in California, after the conservative state began enforcing a now-defunct ban on the procedure.
Newsom also boasted of the state having “six times more clean energy jobs than fossil fuel jobs” and highlighted its businesses.
“Here is a simple question for Republicans: If California is a failed state, why are four of the seven most valuable companies in the world based here? Why does the Bay Area remain the top-ranked region for venture capital?” he asked.
