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ALPERN AT LARGE - Whoever the heck is advising Gavin Newsom may want to reconsider, or perhaps Governor Newsom needs to reconsider trying to be “Trump-ish” in his response to Trump’s redistricting efforts in Texas.
The all-caps social media style trolling of Trump and imitating Trump’s brash wordplay isn’t going to do much for either the Democratic base, Independents, or GOP voters who already hate Trump’s style.
This is particularly true for the governor of a state which is hemorrhaging its business and taxpayer base (contrary to popular belief, business and taxes are best upheld by the middle class), and is relying more and more on the very wealthy who reeeeeeally don’t number that much with respect to creating a secure economy.
It’s not like the housing and homeless and affordability problem is something Governor Newsom can crow much about—and hence there are no shortage of people who cannot stand President Trump, and who might take Newsom seriously if the latter focused on cleaning up his own priorities in California before entering national politics.
The ugly reality for Governor Newsom (and is an ugly reality for many Californians who are extremely unhappy about the ICE raids) is that President Trump and the feds (which includes ICE) are backed by federal law and the Supreme Court, and if the Border Patrol wants to arrest someone next to a Newsom rally in Little Tokyo…
…the Border Patrol can doggone well just do it. Period.
Hence we’ll see Newsom “talk”, and Trump “act”.
The voters will see Trump fly up to Anchorage to deal with Vladimir Putin and world peace, while also seeing Newsom unable to ascertain what the heck happened to $100 million in FireAid funds to help the Pacific Palisades and other devastated regions. The voters will see Trump yank $5 billion away from the ridiculously overbudget and inefficient California High-Speed Rail Network project, while not witnessing any effort by Newsom to shift the $5 billion to other transportation needs throughout our state.
The voters will see undocumented immigrants (some still call them illegal immigrants, or even illegal aliens) deported by the Trump Administration, while Newsom has made no efforts to have vital agricultural interests in California sponsor noncitizen farmworkers deemed necessary to stay here.
The voters will see virtually no effort by Governor Newsom to prepare for the 2028 Olympics, while President Trump will take charge in arranging for the big event without any help from a seemingly-witless, clueless, and incompetent state/local governmental leadership who can’t make a balanced budget…let alone create a world-class show.
So bluster all you want, Governor Newsom, and troll President Trump all you want. Sink as low as you want, imitate Trump’s ridiculous and churlish verbal spewings all you want.
Californians, including Californian Democrats don’t want their own local personal Trump—they wanted a man of action, and they’re not getting it.
It’s your race to lose, Governor Newsom—and right now it appears you’re indeed racing to lose any hope you have of a political future, no matter how much you’re hoping that you can redistrict California to focus on national debates and politics while ignoring California’s own many unaddressed crises.
(Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D. is a dermatologist and longtime CityWatch columnist focused on transportation, infrastructure, and civic engagement. He serves as Westside Village Zone Director and Board Member of the Mar Vista Community Council, where he co-chairs the Transportation/Infrastructure and Planning Committees. Dr. Alpern has also led the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee and chaired The Transit Coalition. He co-chairs Friends of the Green Line (www.fogl.us) and can be reached at [email protected].)
