SACRAMENTO, California – Governor Gavin Newsom used his State of the State address on Tuesday to boost President Joe Biden ahead of Thursday’s address crucial presidential debatecomparing the Republican Party’s version of Donald Trump to the rise of fascism before World War II and offering the Democrats’ ideals as “an antidote to the poisonous populism of the right.”
Nowhere in Newsom’s speech — which was pre-recorded and posted online to his social media channels, departing from decades of tradition — he mentioned either Trump or Biden by name. But he used some of Trump’s most incendiary statements to offer a grim contrast of the choice Americans faced in November, comparing it to the eve of World War II, when “fascism spread its hatred and destruction across Europe.” .
“When they talk about immigrants poisoning American blood and mass deportations and detention camps, this is the language of destruction – of 1939,” Newsom said.
Trump made these comments about immigrants “poisoning the blood of our country” during a campaign rally in Iowa last year, later saying he didn’t know that Adolf Hitler once said something similar. Still, the comments have become a key talking point for the left as they paint Trump’s candidacy as a warning of a bleak future.
The political tone of Newsom’s speech was not surprising given his role as a top Biden campaign surrogate, which has made him a target of Republicans who have repeatedly held up California as an example of Democratic mismanagement. They pointed to the state’s $46.8 billion budget deficit, high tax rates, large homeless population and the proliferation of property crimes in its largest cities – acts that were captured in viral clips on social media.
Much of Newsom’s speech was dedicated to resisting this narrative, referring to the “delusional California bullies” whose “success depends on our failure.” He noted that California’s violent crime rate is about half what it was at its peak in 1992. He said property crimes in San Francisco have fallen, as has the overall crime rate in the Oakland Bay Area — where Newsom recently deployed 120 officers from the California Highway Patrol.
“This is because in California we take public safety seriously – a problem to be solved, not just to flog on cable news,” he said.
On homelessness, Newsom highlighted the more active role the state has taken under his administration, including spending billions of dollars to create programs that have provided 15,300 housing units and provided shelter to more than 71,000 people. But one state audit released earlier this year rebuked his administration for failing to monitor the effectiveness of the state’s spending on homelessness – more than $24 billion over five years -.
Newsom defended his decision to sign a law increase in the minimum wage for fast food workers to $20 an hour, an increase that companies blame for rising costs for customers. And he boasted about California’s economy that, if it were an independent country, would rank as the fifth largest in the world — saying California has added 63,000 new millionaires since 2019.
“Here’s a simple question for Republicans: If California is a failed state, why are four of the seven most valuable companies in the world headquartered here?” he said, referring to Apple, Nvidiaand the parent companies of Google and Facebook. “The best minds in the world call California home because they are freed from the constraints of conformity and tradition. This is true freedom – to invent and make the world a better place.”
Newsom chose to deliver a speech for the smartphone age, opting to upload a pre-recorded video to his social media channels rather than give a formal speech before a packed house of state lawmakers.
The Democratic governor, now in his second term, has never been a big fan of formal speeches, given the difficulty your dyslexia gives it to him while reading a teleprompter in real time. Last year, Newsom I completely skipped the speechembarking instead on a statewide tour to announce a series of important policy proposals in a more informal setting that allowed questions from reporters.
“While this pre-recorded speech fulfills the governor’s legal mandate, it in no way fulfills his responsibility to Californians who deserve a safe, affordable and opportunity-filled future,” said California Republican State Senator Kelly Seyarto. “California continues to be the homeless capital of the country, businesses are closing their doors and crime continues to rise. The state of this state is simply not good under Newsom’s leadership and any claim he makes to the contrary in his speech will be patently false.”
The California Constitution requires the governor to update the Legislature every year “according to the conditions of the state.” Before World War II, California governors did this by sending a letter to the Legislature. That changed with Governor Earl Warren – the future Chief Justice of the United States – who decided to make a formal address to the Legislature.
