With a recall election soon to be underway in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Joe Biden have come up with a solution: Just bribe state residents.
That is, effectively, what Newsom has moved forward with this week. The governor has proposed giving two-thirds of the state’s residents $600 as part of a stimulus check program. This is made possible, in part, because of Biden’s stimulus that will send about $26 billion to California, which is looking at a budget surplus of more than $75 billion.
The $600 checks from Newsom are a gracious gift, given that his excessive lockdown restrictions threw millions into unemployment and hastened the demise of small businesses in the state. Returning a little bit of taxpayer money really is the least Newsom could do in a state where residents and businesses were fleeing due to the high cost of living before the global pandemic and the restrictions that came with it.
Any argument that the stimulus checks are necessary is only an indictment of Newsom’s handling of the pandemic. He was the one who pushed heavy-handed lockdowns while other large states such as Florida showed you could balance protection for the vulnerable with keeping the economy open and not destroying people’s livelihoods.
This was made possible, in part, thanks to the stimulus bill pushed by Biden, which was always a bloated partisan wish list for Democrats under the guise of “relief.” Biden intends to point to the ever-fading pandemic as long as possible to give his administration a blank check for all of its progressive priorities. If that means contributing to Newsom’s attempt to bribe his way into keeping his job, so be it.
It’s a terrible cycle. Newsom’s heavy-handed lockdowns (that he didn’t follow) shutter businesses and throw Californians into unemployment. Biden pushes a “relief” bill that doles out money based on unemployment numbers while encouraging states to continue their lockdowns. And Newsom then turns around and presents himself as a gracious governor trying to provide relief. All while Biden continues to use taxpayer money to discourage people from seeking work.
Newsom is being recalled because he couldn’t be bothered to abide by the restrictions he forced California residents to live by, nor could he bring himself to put the same restrictions on allies in the entertainment industry. Cutting checks with the help of Biden’s federal giveaway to try and avoid the political black eye of being recalled doesn’t change that fact.
