SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Gov. Gavin Newsom used his State of the State address on Tuesday to boost President Joe Biden ahead of Thursday’s crucial presidential debate Donald Trump‘s version of the Republican Party against the rise of fascism before World War II, offering the Democrats’ ideals as “an antidote to the right’s toxic populism.”
Nowhere in Newsom’s speech — which was pre-recorded and posted online to his social media channels, in a departure from decades of tradition — did he mention Trump or Biden by name. But he used some of Trump’s most incendiary statements to provide a dark contrast between the choice Americans faced in November, comparing it to the eve of World War II, when “fascism unleashed its hatred and destruction.” spread throughout Europe’.
“When they talk about immigrants poisoning American blood, and about mass deportations and detention camps, this is the language of destruction — of 1939,” Newsom said.
Trump made these comments about immigrants “poisoning the blood of our country” at a campaign rally in Iowa last year, later saying he was unaware that Adolf Hitler had ever said anything similar. Still, the comments have become a major talking point for the left as they portray Trump’s candidacy as a warning of a dark future.
The political tone of Newsom’s speech was not surprising given his role as one of the Biden campaign’s top surrogates, which has made him a target of Republicans who have repeatedly cited California as an example of Democrats’ mismanagement. They have pointed to the state’s $46.8 billion budget deficit, high tax rates, large homeless populations and the proliferation of property crimes in its largest cities — acts captured in viral clips on social media.
Much of Newsom’s speech was devoted to pushing back on that narrative, referring to “deceitful California bashers” whose “success depends on our failure.” He noted that California’s violent crime rate is about half of what it was at its peak in 1992. He said property crime has dropped in San Francisco, as has the overall crime rate across the Bay from Oakland — where Newsom recently deployed 120 California Highway Patrol officers.
“That’s because in California we take public safety seriously – a problem that needs to be solved, not just to deliver cable news,” he said.
On homelessness, Newsom pointed to the more active role the state has taken under his administration, including spending billions of dollars to create programs that provided 15,300 homes and housed more than 71,000 people. But a state audit released earlier this year reprimanded his government for failing to track how effective the state’s spending on homelessness — more than $24 billion over five years — has been.
Newsom defended his decision to sign a bill that would raise the minimum wage for fast food workers to $20 an hour, an increase that companies blame for rising customer costs. And he boasted about California’s economy being the fifth largest in the world if it were an independent country – saying California has added 63,000 new millionaires since 2019.
“Here’s a simple question for Republicans: If California is a failed state, why are four of the seven most valuable companies in the world based here?” he said, referring to Apple, Nvidia and the parent companies of Google and Facebook. “The best minds in the world call California home because they are freed from the constraints of conformity and tradition. This is true freedom: inventing the world and making it a better place.”
Newsom chose to deliver a speech for the smartphone age, opting to upload a pre-recorded video to his social media channels rather than deliver a formal speech to a packed room of state lawmakers.
The Democratic governor, now in his second term, has never been a big fan of formal speeches, given the problems his dyslexia causes him when reading live from a teleprompter. Last year, Newsom skipped the speech altogether, instead embarking on a statewide tour to announce a series of major policy proposals in a more informal setting that allowed questions from reporters.
“While this pre-recorded speech fulfills the Governor’s legal mandate, it in no way fulfills his responsibility to the Californians who deserve a safe, affordable and opportunity-filled future,” said California Republican Senator Kelly Seyarto. “California remains the homeless capital of the country, businesses are closing their doors and crime continues to rise. The state of this state is simply not good under Newsom’s leadership and any claims he makes to the contrary in his speech will be patently false.”
The California Constitution requires the governor to update the legislature each year “as the state may require.” Before World War II, California governors did this by sending a letter to the legislature. That changed when Governor Earl Warren – the future Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court – decided to make a formal address to the legislature.
