During his trip to China last week, California Governor Gavin Newsom —
Whoa, whoa, wait, stop. What? That must be a typo or something. China? Really? Surely you must mean someone other than a state governor. After all, no governor has any business visiting Communist China, especially amid the current trade disputes, human rights concerns, and its refusal to condemn Hamas; and certainly not as it continues to supply fentanyl precursors to Mexican cartels and ratchets up its saber-rattling regarding Taiwan.
Nope, not a typo.
During his recent trip to China, Newsom took a break to channel his inner-Barack by playing a little B-ball. And who could blame the guy? After all, it really was a great and endearing PR move by the former Commander-in-Chief. You may remember that President Obama made playing hoops a pretty major sideshow of his time in office. He played and practiced with Marines, soldiers, the UConn women's team, UNC's men's team, and others. He even beat former Indiana Pacers star, Clark Kellog, at a game of HORSE.
No, I never voted for him, but the brother had game.
Gavin Newsom being the political opportunist that he is, no one should've been surprised when he decided to follow Obama's lead by playing a little roundball against, er, um — a bunch of grade schoolers.
No, he didn't stop by the NBA's recently-opened training facility in Hainan, or a practice session with the Chinese men's team (or the women's), or anything of the sort.
Instead, he paid a call to a bunch of prepubescent boys in a neighborhood park.
At least Barack kept the minimum age requirement to about 9th grade, and on one visit to a high school, he knocked down an impressively long three-pointer with the only shot he took.
Let's just say that things did not fare quite as well for the Golden State's chief exec.
By now, you've all seen (I hope) the truly priceless video footage. I figure the universe must've been in a just and jocular mood that day because, less than 10 seconds after taking possession of the ball, Newsom dribbled himself to the floor.
However, to read what a KTLA reporter had to say about the episode, you'd think we were talking about a member of the Dream Team, for Pete's sake! According to the color commentary from digital news reporter, Will Conybeare, "After a spin move around a double team, Newsom pivoted and went for a behind-the-back crossover before temporarily losing the ball (thanks to some good defense from one of the children) and plowing into the other child who was defending him."
Huh? Spin move? Behind-the-back crossover? Bro, what video did you watch?
Do you perhaps mean that he was idly musing over how cool it would be to, one day in his life, execute such a move? Because nothing I saw, as I endlessly watched that clip on a loop resembled anything close to even the very beginning of a 'behind-the-back crossover.'
In reality, after twice attempting —unsuccessfully— to spin the ball on his fingertip, he dribbled behind his back once, (while standing still), then pirouetted awkwardly and began to advance toward the net, dribbling as he did.
But the fact is that he literally didn't make it to his third step before collapsing atop an 11-year-old Chinese kid and then, in a desperate effort to smokescreen his ungraceful (and quite un-athletic) nosedive, he aggressively hugged the kid and patted his back. Arguably not what we'd ordinarily consider acceptable for a grown man to do to a child at a playground.
And, for the record, even if he hadn't spazzed out and fell, he should've been called for charging. That kid's feet were clearly planted!
But more importantly, what sort of narcissistic douche would presume that a group of Chinese kids playing a game of pick-up would be cool with some 6-3, 56-year-old round-eye insinuating himself into their game?
What a tool.
Of course, Newsom's journey to the Middle Kingdom wasn't a complete flop.
See what I did there?
In fact, the governor was able to accomplish a few significant things during his stay. (Or at least he seems to think he did).
First, on background, it's important to remember, that this is the dude who, in 2020, signed an executive order that would ban the sale of gas-powered cars in his state by 2035, and is the same genius who, a few days later (and a couple of times since), pleaded with Californians, during a summertime "statewide grid emergency," to refrain from charging their electric vehicles, as well as to turn up their thermostats and turn off their lights. I’m sure that request from the governor must have inspired all sorts of confidence in the minds of his constituents about the capacity of their state's grid to accommodate Newsom’s fanciful (and, really, quite un-American) EV decree.
While California has the most charging stations in the country with about 80,000, it also has the most automobiles, about 14.5 million. Only 903,000 of those are electric, which means that, in just over a decade, the state's grid will need to accommodate an additional 13.1 million electric vehicles.
Clearly, the current infrastructure is lightyears —not a decade— away from being able to support his delusional initiative. And that's not to mention the inconvenient truth that such a mandate will have a disproportionately negative impact on low- and middle-income families, as the average price of an electric vehicle currently sits at about $66,000.
So anyway, back to Newsom's diplomatic "accomplishments" last week.
Over the course of his Asian excursion, he signed symbolic and entirely meaningless agreements with the leaders of five Chinese provinces, purportedly aimed at reducing carbon reliance and increasing levels of renewable energy use.
He was then treated to what has been widely described as a "surprise" meeting with President Xi Jinping, at the Great Hall of the People, on Tiananmen Square.
I could go on for days about the fallacy of characterizing the conference as a "surprise," but I'll spare you.
Following the meeting, Newsom's office claimed that the governor had raised issues beyond the climate, among them the continued flow of fentanyl precursors; the CCP's imprisonment of a California pastor; and "a variety of human rights issues including Hong Kong, Tibet, Xinjiang and Taiwan."
But here's the thing: the meeting took place without a single member of the media in attendance, and when a skeptical member of the press later questioned him on his "[refusal] to tackle the human rights issue," Newsom glibly replied, "I can't be everything to everybody at every moment of every minute of every day."
That smart-ass response would lead a reasonable person to conclude that, yeah, his staff had been completely BS-ing us about what he and Xi actually discussed.
He and Xi. I'm so pleased with that choice of words.
In fact, reports from China suggest that Newsom very much pandered to Xi by refraining from so much as mentioning any of the issues that his aides had earlier credited him with advancing.
And what's sort of pathetic is that Newsom seems entirely oblivious to the fact that, in each of his meetings throughout his weeklong tour, he was being played.
So played.
The CCP dutifully and unceasingly caressed his ego, with President Xi even welcoming him as "my old friend." Of course he did. Are you kidding me? His Chinese hosts absolutely cherished the opportunity to coddle him and to agree to any number of his frivolous suggestions about reducing carbon emissions (as if they care!). That's because the more green policies that the West adopts (including the world's fifth-largest economy, California), the more reliant we'll all be on China, the largest source of wind turbines, solar panels, and yes, EV batteries.
"I’ll say, that’s a brilliant idea, Governor! What's the next screwy measure you'd like to propose that will materially serve the interests of the CCP and the economy of your nation's greatest adversary?"
Meanwhile, even as it played host to the sycophantic sap from Sacramento, China continues to build coal-burning power plants like it’s going out of style (which I thought it was supposed to be). They’re pumping them out to the tune of about 100 a week.
Now, while we’ve heard quite a bit about the China leg of his overseas adventure —thanks, in large part, to his assaulting a pre-teen boy on a basketball court— the first item on Newsom's itinerary was actually a hastily arranged and rather shameless stop in Israel. Because, you know, where else would an inveterate narcissist think he should be, even as the Jewish state struggles to recover from the horrific Hamas attacks of October 7?
And I think it worth pointing out that, just weeks before his performative show of solidarity with the Israelis, Newsom signed a bill prohibiting Californians with concealed-carry permits from bringing their firearms into a variety of locations and facilities, including houses of worship.
Yeah, like synagogues, such as The Chabad of Poway Synagogue near San Diego where, on the last day of Passover in 2019, a man armed with an AR-style rifle burst through the doors and opened fire on the congregation, killing Lori Gilbert-Kaye and injuring three others, including the rabbi.
Yeah, but that was probably just a one-off, right? A freakish anomaly. Surely, there's no imminent threat to Jewish houses of worship in 2023, is there?
Anyway, during his one-day visit to Israel, Newsom met with President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but only after he stopped by the Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv. There, he indulged his bloated sense of self-importance by actually visiting the wounded in their hospital rooms, sitting alongside family members.
Dude, who invited you? Seriously.
Yeah, I'm thinking that maybe he should just return to his assigned lane and address a few of the myriad issues currently impacting the state he's supposed to be running.
For instance, just before embarking on his Asian excursion, Newsom was forced to dispatch the California Highway Patrol (CHiPs — damn it, now I've got the theme song in my head) and National Guard to San Francisco in order to reinforce the SFPD's efforts to combat the city's fentanyl crisis. And yet, while on his trip, he proved too much of a wuss to confront Chinese officials about their critical role in the production of the deadly drug.
Or, perhaps he could spend some time addressing his state's cavernous $32 billion budget deficit, the result of significantly lower tax revenues, brought on, in large part, by a nearly 1% population decline since the day he took office, and the massive exodus of corporate and retail taxpayers (many of them bound for red states) in response to the state's out-of-control crime problem.
Which brings me to the next issue he might address before embarking on another tax-payer-funded international junket. From the day Newsom took office in January 2019 through the end of 2022, incidents of violent crime, statewide increased 11%, from about 174,000 to 194,000. Homicides in Los Angeles County alone spiked by 40% since the day he took hold of the state's reins.
If you were unaware of that dramatic increase in California's crime stats, you shouldn't be too hard on yourself. That's because, in July 2023, very much taking advantage of the four-day Independence Day weekend, the California Department of Justice followed a time-honored political tradition of releasing bad news at the most advantageous time — when no one is paying attention. So, late on the afternoon of Friday, July 1, on the cusp of the holiday weekend, the department very quietly dumped the state's 2022 crime data, just in time for no one to notice or give a damn.
The report revealed that, relative to the previous year, violent crime had increased by 6.1%; property crime 6.2%; and robberies by over 10%.
Now, while all of that is, of course, ugly, perhaps the most apt statistic —given the subject of this piece— pertains to "commercial shoplifting," defined by California's 2014 Proposition 47 as, "entering a commercial establishment, during business hours, with the intent to steal property valued at less than $950."
Newsom has long been a staunch and vocal supporter of Prop 47 and its $950 threshold, and has continued to praise and defend the legislation, even as incidents of commercial shoplifting jumped a staggering 28.7% in 2022.
But Prop 47, which reduced a number of felonies to misdemeanors, isn't his only baby. He's also a fan of Prop 57, which reduced prison sentences, and of Assembly Bill 109, which allows felons to serve their sentences in local jails, rather than state prisons.
And in spite of copious evidence to the contrary, Newsom has had the gumption to claim that these statutes have actually helped reduce crime in California, and, even in response to bi-partisan calls to amend them, he's instead repeatedly chided the state's DAs to prosecute under existing laws.
But Fresno DA, Lisa Smittcamp, doesn't buy it, saying last January, "He should be ashamed of himself. This is the environment he created. And he's either ignorant of the statistics, or he's a liar."
Smittcamp went on to insist that Prop 47 had weakened the criminal justice system in California and accused Newsom of trying to destroy the state's law enforcement.
Rather than support legislation that might stem the tide of crime in his state, patch the budget gap, or address the fentanyl crisis, Newsom is focused on matters that he has deemed far more important, such as imposing a law requiring department stores to display toys and children's toothbrushes in a gender-neutral way; signing the nation's first ban on gas-powered lawn mowers and leaf blowers; and prohibiting restaurants from offering packets of ketchup and other condiments unless customers specifically ask for them.
Seriously.
Prop 47 remains, but just last week he signed a law requiring that schools teach cursive writing.
All this from a guy who, back in January, passionately espoused the notion of "protecting liberty from a rising tide of oppression taking root in statehouses."
Yeah, he actually said that with a straight face.
And then, just when you thought the guy couldn't be more slick, gross and hypocritical, on October 8 Newsom signed Senate Bill 54, requiring venture capital firms to submit annual DEI reports on the leadership of companies they've invested in over the previous year, including information related to race, ethnicity, gender identity, military and disability status, and whether any members identify as LGBTQ+.
His signing statement read, “This bill resonates deeply with my commitment to advance equity and provide for greater economic empowerment of historically underrepresented communities.”
Now, while all of that silliness about SB 54 may be idiotic and counterproductive, I promised you 'slick, gross and hypocritical,' right?
Well, on that very same day, SB 702 also landed on his desk. That bill directed that "the office of the Governor shall create and publish on its internet website a report that contains aggregate demographic information of appointments by the office of the Governor [including] the ethnicity, gender, disability status, region, party affiliation, and veteran status of the appointed individual.”
Sound familiar? It should. Only when that bill arrived, he quickly vetoed it, arguing that the data would “not necessarily accurately reflect the diversity of appointees.”
After repeated unreturned calls to Newsom's office from the non-partisan CalMatters, asking why Newsom supported the diversity reporting requirement for VC firms but not for his own office, spokesman Omar Rodriguez replied via email, "Thanks for reaching out. SB 54 and SB 702 speak for themselves. Will let you know if we have anything further to add."
Anyway, despite his shady history and all of those pesky statistics, if you haven't already figured it out, Gavin Newsom is running for President. It couldn't be more transparently obvious. There is no other conceivable justification for him to travel to China and Israel, of all places; or for the dude to launch a political action committee in March, followed by a trip to Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama, under the banner of his Campaign for Democracy.
"What the hell is the "Campaign for Democracy?" you might ask.
Well, according to its website, "The Campaign for Democracy was founded to expose and fight rising authoritarianism across the nation."
Really? This from the guy who won't let the McDonald's cashier put ketchup in your bag unless you expressly request it.
In June, though you might not have believed it, Newsom sat for a nationally televised hour-long interview with Fox's Sean Hannity. It actually went quite well and he has since parlayed that appearance by agreeing to a November 30 debate with his ideological rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
In case you haven't heard, DeSantis is an officially declared candidate for President of the United States, which might make his pairing against Newsom for a debate seem a smidge unconventional. But that's only if you believe that, when Newsom looks at himself in the mirror, he doesn't start humming "Hail to the Chief".
Now, he may be a truly lousy governor and a man of questionable fidelity and integrity (he cheated on his first wife with his campaign manager's wife). And, maybe he has a somewhat tenuous grasp of what's truly important to his constituents. But the dude is aerodynamically built for politics. He's got the looks, the smarminess, the unbridled ambition, and enough of a lack of self-awareness to confidently propel himself through a campaign, even when it's not yet "a campaign."
Of course, when pressed by the likes of Chuck Todd, and Cecilia Vega on his presidential aspirations, Newsom has skillfully demurred, insisting that it's "time to move on" from the notion of his candidacy and that his recent efforts to clean up California's streets are "not about some grand ambition, absolutely not."
Whatever.
Look, the truth of the matter is that I love that Newsom has chosen to put himself on the skyline. If he hadn't, we never would have gotten to see him face-plant on a Chinese basketball court. And now we'll have much more of an opportunity to watch him defy the 2nd law of physics by simultaneously being full of himself and, at the same time, being full of sh*t.
Brian O'Leary is a retired Marine Corps colonel, who served for 30 years, including combat deployments to Somalia and Iraq, and command of an infantry battalion in Afghanistan. Additionally, he has spent 25 years in the financial services industry. Brian earned his BA in English from Penn State University and his MA in National Security Studies from the US Army War College.