Jim Breslo: Trump vs. Newsom – Who is really playing politics?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}California sued the federal government Tuesday over the Trump administration’s decision to terminate a $929-million grant for the state’s bullet train. The Department of Transportation pulled the funding in response to the state’s decision to reduce the scope of the project (carrying passengers merely from Merced to Bakersfield rather than San Francisco to Los Angeles).
Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao called it “a classic bait and switch.” Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office claims that “the real motive underlying FRA’s action (referring to the Federal Railroad Administration) was politically to punish California for opposing President Trump’s border wall.”
But who is really playing politics here, Trump or Newsom?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Trump’s refusal to continue funding the beleaguered and drastically scaled-back bullet train makes eminent sense. Newsom suing the Trump administration to stop it from trying to sure up the border between his state and Mexico makes no sense.
Mexican drug cartels have become so big, and the border so porous, that, according to Newsom himself, the National Guard is required to shut down marijuana farms being run by cartels in northern California. The troops will be “redeployed up north to go after all these illegal cannabis farms, many of which are run by the cartels that are devastating our pristine forests and increasingly themselves becoming fire hazards," Newsom said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}There can be little doubt that the federal government’s failure to properly guard the border, and California’s failure to support the federal government’s enforcement against illegal immigration, has created this scenario. It is truly stunning to consider that Mexican drug cartels are growing marijuana inside the United States and are competing directly against California companies!
Despite the magnitude of this problem, Newsom sued the Trump administration to stop its effort to build a barrier and implement border technology to keep these cartels from entering California. It appears that Newsom is so blinded by his impassioned opposition to Trump that he cannot see what is in the best interests of his own state.
And why deploy the National Guard to protect California’s marijuana business, but not to protect the inner cities from the gangs that sell the cartel’s drugs and which are often comprised of illegal immigrants? Is it politics? Newsom took in huge campaign contributions from California’s newly legal cannabis industry.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}And from where is Newsom “redeploying” the Guard? The same border that the Trump administration seeks to protect, and where it fights the cartels to control! While Trump has been deploying troops to the border, Newsom has announced the withdrawal of all Guard troops from the border, stating: “This is our answer to the White House,” and calling border issues a “manufactured crisis” and “political theater.”
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But, as unnerving as it is to learn that Mexican drug cartels are competing with California businesses, it is even more concerning to learn that they also compete for control of the U.S. border. According to a recent illegal immigrant’s story, he was confronted by drug cartels on his journey to cross into California from Mexico through the desert. He was following a path he had mapped out using Google Satellite Maps where no pedestrian border wall exists.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}It turned out the path was being used by the cartels to transport drugs and immigrants for money. They demanded payment. He had no money. They turned him around. After five days in the desert, he had a choice: risk being caught by the cartels or dying from dehydration. He ran for the border. They fired automatic rifles. They missed. He now lives in the sanctuary of Los Angeles.
Newsom led the effort to legalize marijuana in California. The move put a short-term dent in the cartels’ business. But, as demonstrated by the above, they are proving adept at finding new ways to make money. It will require a united effort to oppose them. Both Trump and Newsom have expressed a commitment to doing so. The president, logically, at the border. The governor, because of politics, only in Humboldt County in his state.