OPINION:
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s big response to the murderers, rapists, drug traffickers and illegals and all their enablers and supporters who’ve set the city streets of Los Angeles on fire has been — sue President Trump for trying to instill order.
This is the guy the Democrats have whispered as their best chance to win the White House in 2028.
Yeah. Good luck with ‘dat, Dems.
It’s one thing to want to appear strong — strong enough to stand up to Team Trump over principle; strong enough to step firmly up to the plate and resist a Republican agenda that’s clearly at odds with the Democrats’ so-claimed ’good-for-the-people’ governance; strong enough to say, hey, Trump, this is a matter for the states to handle, this is an issue the Democrats can deal with; leave us alone to lead.
But a burning L.A. is not that issue.
Newsom is painting himself as a strong, principled leader against a backdrop of utter chaos.
“This isn’t just about protests here in Los Angeles,” he most recently told a national audience, in a media appearance aimed at defending his rebellion against Trump’s deployment of troops.
He went on, as NBC News reported: “When Donald Trump sought blanket authority to commandeer the National Guard, he made that order apply to every state in this nation. This is about all of us. This is about you. California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes. This moment we have feared has arrived.”
And then he had to duck his head to avoid the fiery embers that were floating about due to all the Waymos his peaceful protesters were busily setting on fire. Does he not think the nation notices?
It’s tough to make a claim that all’s well, all’s good, nothing to see here, folks, go home, when the live, on-scene cameras are flooding social media with images and video that show the opposite. It’s even tougher to be taken seriously as a leader who responds to these videos and images with condemnation of the very ones who want to arrest the criminals who are causing the chaos. It sort of gives the impression of siding with the criminals.
“Newsom knocks Trump’s ‘brazen abuse of power,’” The Hill wrote in one headline.
“Speaker Johnson: Newsom ‘ought to be tarred and feathered,’” The Hill wrote in another headline.
Newsom’s political play here is to ratchet up the images of militarization — to showcase the ICE arrests, to talk up the instances of immigration officials throwing smoke bombs, to feign outrage at the rubber bullets fired at all the poor, peaceful protesters — all while dismissing, ignoring and denying the fact the leftists in the streets started the chaos; all while gaslighting and glossing over the fact it’s Democrat policy that sparked all this mob violence in the first place.
If Democrats didn’t open borders wide and use tax dollars to pay to settle illegals in this country — if Democrats didn’t twist the judiciary to serve their own tortured interpretations of the Constitution — if Democrats didn’t spend all their time destroying the concept of law and order — then Los Angeles wouldn’t be on fire. America wouldn’t be facing such a constitutional crisis. The streets of Democrat-controlled communities wouldn’t be unsafe for business owners to do their business. And this country wouldn’t be the example of decay our foreign enemies and competitors are currently selling to their populations, via their communist propaganda machines.
The world would actually be a better place without Democrats in charge.
So if the light at the end of the tunnel of the L.A. riots is that Newsom destroys his political capital and burns up his chances to run for president in 2028 — well, then, one down, plenty more to go. We’ll take it.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “God-Given Or Bust: Defeating Marxism and Saving America With Biblical Truths,” is available by clicking HERE.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.