CommentsAT LENGTH--The California GOP, after having no majority in the state legislature and none of the statewide offices for the last decade on top of the embarrassing defeat of their dear fascist leader for president, they return to a very old ploy — blame everything on the Democrats.
The recall Gov. Gavin Newsom campaign is none other than a replay on how the Republicans got rid of Gov. Gray Davis in 2003 over the energy crisis and got Arnold Schwarzenegger elected. Come to think about it, it’s the same kind of game that was run on President Jimmy Carter by Ronald Reagan with the Iran hostage crisis. The Republican’s motto should be “never let a bad crisis go to waste.”
Newsom’s problem is that the state has been hit with three crises simultaneously: COVID-19, the economic shutdown and chronic homelessness — a problem exacerbated by the other two crises. And up until Jan. 20, there has been no federal coordination on a unified response to any of the crises. If one takes the long view of history, you might come to the conclusion that the Republicans create the calamities that the Democrats inherit and then blame them for not fixing them. Think of the last four economic recessions, the 9/11 wars on terrorism and now this damn pandemic. No, Trump didn’t create the disease, but he sure didn’t do what was necessary to either defend the nation against it in the first place nor have a plan other than “let the states deal with it” and “let the nation get infected.”
What we have come to learn lately is that for all of Trump’s boasting about “Warp Speed” vaccine development was that it was just as much a campaign ploy as his maskless rallies, because when Joe Biden became president (and yes he did get elected with more votes than DJT), the distribution plan for those vaccines was nonexistent. His predecessor didn’t have a plan — other than play golf, incite the traitorous insurrection with false allegations of “voter fraud” and fuel conspiracy hoaxes for the next 70 days after Nov. 3 until Twitter finally realized that Trump had gone mad. This is something we’ve known for a long time.
Most of the very same devotees of the voter fraud conspiracy are the same people behind “Recall Newsom.” This is nothing less than an extension of the mindset that fueled the insurrection.
Given the current volatility and frustration in places like Huntington Beach about wearing masks and the general aggravation about restaurant closures, along with the small number of anti-vaxer protesters, QAnon conspiracy nut jobs and white supremacist groups, I’m surprised that they don’t just storm the state capital. This is beginning to resemble Jan. 6 in which a minority of disgruntled people attempt to overthrow a legitimately elected government.
Some will recall that Newsom won the general election in 2018 with the largest majority since Gov. Earl Warren did in 1950. He did it with 7,721,410 votes, nearly 62%. It takes 12% of the total votes cast for both candidates in that election to even hold a recall vote, which are 1.495 million signatures. Newsom has already weathered one failed recall attempt in 2019. Now they’re back for a second bite at the orange. Will the Republicans be successful in this second attack on a governor who is more popular than even Gov. Jerry Brown? The game is afoot.
The election of Newsom in 2018 marked the first time Orange County favored a Democratic candidate since Jerry Brown in 1978, and the first time Democrats have won three consecutive gubernatorial elections in the state’s history. This recall effort probably has more to do with the Republican minority becoming desperate to stay relevant in the political game as their party registration of late has them ranked third behind decline-to-state. Ouch!
On Feb. 2, former San Diego Republican Mayor Kevin Faulconer showed up in front of Cabrillo Elementary School in San Pedro to announce his run for the governor’s seat. It was reported on KCAL 9 and CBS 2 News. How he snuck into a blue working-class town that voted 65% for Biden and Harris without so much as a protest from either labor or progressives we may never know, but it was certainly odd in an era of oddities. Had this newspaper been at this press conference, I would have asked him if he:
- Supported the insurrection at the US Capital,
- Whether he thinks Joe Biden stole the election and
- When was the last time he had dinner with Republican supporters at a restaurant with more than his immediate family?
This recall effort is nothing more than a dangerous charade fed by right wing conspiracies, Republican fears of being completely locked into the dustbin of irrelevancy for the foreseeable future because of their failure to diversify their base and their embrace of Trumpism.
Don’t get me wrong, I have my disagreements with Gov. Newsom too. But I’m not stupid enough to spend the next six months refighting the same issues that got Trump dumped, impeached twice and to then have some bozo from San Diego go all Gov. DeSantis on our state just to position himself for the Republican ticket for president and name recognition. Perhaps they need to call Rudy Giuliani to lead the charge and file a lawsuit against Newsom for holding an “illegal dinner” at the French Laundry in Napa.
Onward Christian soldiers. Storm the parapet of democracy and throw out the infidel Democrats! Ha, I say!
(James Preston Allen is the founding publisher of Random Lengths News. He has been involved in the Los Angeles Harbor Area community for more than 40 years.)
-cw