January 2025 saw deadly wildfires engulf Santa Monica, Malibu, and other parts of Los Angeles County in California. And when the blazes were finally contained weeks later, 31 people were dead, more than 200,000 were forced to evacuate, and approximately 18,000 homes and structures were destroyed.
It was quickly revealed that reservoirs in the area, specifically designed to fight fires, were empty. Twenty percent of all fire hydrants went dry, leaving firefighters helpless.
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Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) blamed climate change for the wildfires. But it turned out that many of the fires were started by human arsonists. Jonathan Rinderknecht, for example, is on trial after being accused of starting one of the first wildfires. Prosecutors are expected to present evidence of Rinderknecht using ChatGPT to learn how to properly start a wildfire.
“Officials said they had used his phone data to pinpoint his location when the fire initially started on 1 January, but when they pressed him on details he allegedly lied to investigators, claiming he was near [where the fire started],” according to the BBC.
The accused is also a big fan of the suspected murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Overall, eight people were arrested on charges of arson related to the wildfires.
Newsom, a likely 2028 presidential candidate, quickly promised to rebuild the areas affected as quickly as possible.
“We will not let overly strict regulations get in the way of rebuilding these communities,” he said on Feb. 13, 2025. “The state stands with its local partners to ensure that we cut red tape and make recovery as easy as possible.”
Seventeen months later, and just two homes have been completely rebuilt in the Palisades and Malibu, and only 13 overall in Los Angeles County. This is a direct result of the leadership, or lack thereof, of Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who just received less than 35% of the primary vote in her mayoral race. Bass may have eked out a victory to get to the general, but when basically only 1 in 3 voters would like to see a second Bass term, that’s not a good sign.
For his part, Newsom barely talks about so-called rebuilding efforts in LA County, and the media barely ask him about it. Instead, we get exchanges such as these between Newsom and former NBC, CBS, and ABC “anchor” Katie Couric.
“Do you have a Zoolander problem?” Couric asked the governor during an episode of her podcast Next Question, referring to the 2001 Ben Stiller comedy about narcissistic male models.
“Are you just ridiculously good-looking, as Vogue said?” Couric asked. “No, seriously, what do you do about that?”
“You don’t do anything about it because if you’re going to do something about it, then you’re bulls***ting people,” Newsom responded. “You know what, I am who I am, and it’s fine. You don’t have to like me, or maybe you like a slick person, I don’t know. Whatever, it’s OK.”
Would Couric, who has proven to be a Democratic activist in her post-legacy media life, ask JD Vance or Marco Rubio the same kind of question?
In recent weeks, Newsom has hosted Ashley St. Clair and Hunter Biden on his podcast. You remember St. Clair — she was legacy media’s “it” girl after revealing she had a child with Elon Musk, who has fathered 14 children via four different women, so this isn’t exactly newsworthy.
But Newsom loves attention as much as he loves himself. So he invited St. Clair on for a Musk-bashing session due to the trillionaire’s allegiance to President Donald Trump.
“Who are you most disappointed in?” a pensive Newsom served up.
“I think I’m most disappointed in Elon,” she responded. “I think divorce is an option when your spouse wants to kill you. Yeah, I was offered $40 million, which included an NDA and non-disparagement into eternity, which I declined.”
Is this a podcast belonging to the sitting governor of the most populous state in the country? Or is this some hybrid of Jerry Springer meets Oprah?
And then there was his conversation with Biden last week, in which Newsom and the former president’s son agreed that Maine Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner isn’t such a bad guy.
“I have not heard anything in any way that would say to me that he is an abusive, misogynistic, antisemitic, or racist person,” Biden said of Platner with a straight face as Newsom nodded along. “I have heard this from Graham Platner, though, that he thinks we should all have free healthcare. I have heard this from Graham Platner also, that he thinks that we have to radically change our politics. I have heard this from Graham Platner, that working people are getting f***ing screwed.”
So if we’re keeping score at home, the son of a former president and the governor who really, really wants to be president have no problem with a candidate who had a Nazi tattoo for 20 years, says black people don’t tip, argues women need to act more adult to avoid getting raped, and who, according to several ex-girlfriends, engaged in abusive, disturbing behavior.
Yet Biden, a beacon of moral purity himself, has “not heard anything in any way that would say to me that he is an abusive, misogynistic, antisemitic, or racist person.” All as Newsom smiled and repeatedly nodded his head in agreement before adding, “Yup. You got it. I appreciate that.”
Newsom is moving decidedly in the wrong direction if recent polls are any indication. One recent TIPP poll has him down 17 percentage points to Kamala Harris. A Financial Times poll has him down 20 points. Harvard-Harris has him down by 18, while Rasmussen has him down 22 points. And this is Kamala Harris we’re talking about.
The governor may have had some momentum months ago, but his record, which includes the highest unemployment, gas prices, poverty, and homeless rates in the country, coupled with his apathy and/or ineptitude around rebuilding damaged and destroyed homes, is too big for his slickness to overcome.
And on top of all of that, Newsom and his wife are being investigated for fraud. California first lady Jennifer Siebel Newsom runs a nonprofit organization that promotes feminism through its media productions.
“However, that charity has attracted pay-for-play allegations with critics claiming what is essentially happening is corporations with business interests in California donate to the organization in an effort to gain influence over Newsom,” Fox News reported on Monday night.
The governor, of course, is blaming Trump for weaponizing the justice system against him.
“After calling for my arrest last year, Donald Trump directed his Department of Justice to investigate me,” he said in a statement earlier this week. “And just in the last week, I’ve learned his campaign has reached my own home: to get me, he’s coming after my wife, Jen.”
One little problem with this claim: It was the Biden administration that originally launched said investigation. Even CNN is noting this inconvenient fact: “I think there’s serious reason to doubt the narrative that’s being offered by Gavin Newsom, which is that he is being specifically targeted by Donald Trump for political retribution,” senior legal analyst Elie Honig told Kaitlin Collins.
“The reporting is that this investigation did not initiate from Donald Trump or even from prosecutors in D.C.,” he added. “So, not from Pam Bondi when she was AG, not from Todd Blanche, rather it arose organically from the U.S. Attorney’s office out in the Eastern District of California, based on a whistleblower complaint, reportedly, which is a normal way that cases start.”
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Whoops. Did Newsom peak too soon? Perhaps.
To turn things around, get to work, governor. Start by making rebuilding homes for the thousands affected 18 months ago a top priority instead of hosting cringeworthy podcasts that do nothing but damage your carefully curated brand.
