DeSantis flies migrants around because he ‘needs attention’: Gavin Newsom
Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., slams Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., for flying migrants to Martha's Vineyard and Sacramento in an exclusive interview on 'Hannity.'
Sean Hannity’s interview of California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom aired Monday night. That Fox News would seek to interview Newsom—and that he would accept (the last time was in 2010)—suggests that 2024 is shaping up to be far more interesting than most pundits and voters realize.
America’s political scene has been in transition since 2016, as the old guard in each major political party fought to stay in power.
The Republicans saw this process accelerate with the election of Donald Trump, though the turnover was incomplete.
For the Democrats, however, 2016 saw the doubling down of the status quo with Hillary Clinton followed by the election of Joe Biden in 2020, first elected to public office in 1970.
Yet, while Biden presents himself as old, familiar, and safe to voters, the reality is far different—it’s not Biden, but the leftwing progressives who are in charge.
And by the end of this year, the charade will end and Biden will announce he’s not really running for the 2024 Democrat nomination after all—that his long and honorable public service (picking up a few checks from a Ukrainian oligarch here, or a Chinese "businessman" there) has worn the man out and he wants to spend more time with his family.
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Which brings us back to the governor from California. Newsom, 25 years junior to Biden, represents all the Biden administration’s radical policies—on child sterilization in the name of gender change, generous benefits to illegal aliens, higher taxes, and crushing government control in the name of social equity or combating climate change. With Newsom, you get one of the whitest dudes in California from one of the oldest and most connected families, which means, of course, a constant drone about white supremacy and white privilege—after all, how else can a white elite guy "save" those people of color who need saving?
And, Newsom, unlike his potential Democrat rivals waiting in the wings, has the backing and the national name recognition to win the sprint for the nomination.
Thus, two of Hannity’s lines of questioning were extremely illuminating, on homelessness and on illegal immigration.
California has struggled with homelessness for decades, though it’s just been since after the Great Recession that homeless encampments on city streets really burgeoned out of control. Some of California’s large homeless population is due to its mild winters. But as Hannity pointed out, Florida has 26,000 people living on the streets compared to 171,000 in California, with Florida having largely the "same weather." Put another way, California, with nearly 12 percent of the nation’s population, has almost 30 percent of the nation’s homeless.
Newsom immediately blame-shifted, claiming that he’s only been governor for four years, and "I can't make up for the fact in 2005 we had an historic number of homeless under a Republican administration."
Interesting year Newsom selected. That was my first full year in the California State Assembly and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s second full year in office. Let’s try another: there are about 37 percent more people living on the streets in California today than when Schwarzenegger left office in 2011.
The reason for the huge increase in homelessness in California, and to varying degrees in other American cities controlled by the left, comes down to a failed ideology that focuses on the material rather than moral or mental factors.
Newsom says it’s all about housing: "…costs are too high. Our regulatory thickets are too problematic." What Newsom didn’t say—though he’s talked about it in California—is that too many homeless are on the streets because they’re mentally ill, addicted to drugs, or both.
In the mid-1950s, America institutionalized about 550,000 people. Accounting for population growth, there’d be about 1.1 million today. Instead, some 40,000 people are in psychiatric wards of hospitals or in state institutions. Where are the other million? Some are taking medication and are self-sufficient and valued members of the community. But too many of the rest are in our jails or sleeping on the streets.
Ask yourself, how is it that millions of impoverished people from all over the planet make it to America—even to California—and we rarely, if ever see them on the street? Why is that? It’s because they largely work and, when required, pack into houses or apartments to afford high housing costs.
On Biden’s border crisis, Hannity previewed what might be the 2024 matchup, with Newsom attacking Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, calling his transportation of would-be immigrants to sanctuary cities, "…a stunt. It’s embarrassing. Pathetic. This is a stunt. This is a stunt." Newsom offered no solution though.
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When asked how DeSantis's flying migrants to California is any different than Biden’s "3:30 in the morning (flights to) Westchester" 37 miles north of New York City to sneak migrants "…in when states aren’t looking," Newsom replied "…they’re coordinating. And there’s a different spirit."
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Hannity pressed, "What’s the difference between what Joe is doing and what DeSantis is doing?" Newsom’s response was classic, "Everything. Pretense. Manipulation. False Representation." Ahh, it’s about good intentions—the Democrats have them, DeSantis doesn’t. Record levels of human trafficking and literal child slavery to pay off debts to the Mexican drug cartels abetted by failed Democratic policies—now that’s real compassion!
Lastly, Hannity tried to ask Newsom if he was aiming to challenge a cognitively declining President Biden. Newsom didn’t take the bait—he also didn’t say "no."
2024 is shaping up to be epic.
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