Politics
WATCH: GOP Strategist Torches Gavin Newsom’s Anti-Trump Meltdown Amid LA Chaos
California Governor Gavin Newsom is under fire after delivering what many are calling a political stunt masquerading as leadership amid the chaos unfolding in Los Angeles.
As parts of LA remain engulfed in unrest following violent riots triggered by an ICE operation, Newsom took the national stage—not to calm his state or back law enforcement—but to launch a broadside against former President Donald Trump. In a televised address, Newsom shifted the conversation from restoring order to rehashing partisan grievances, touching on everything from Trump’s immigration policies to the events of January 6th.
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins observed that Newsom “went far beyond just what has been happening in terms of Los Angeles and the protests,” using the moment to criticize Trump’s presidency as a whole. “He said, the moment that we feared has arrived,” she noted. Collins went on to say that Newsom’s speech may have been crafted to energize a frustrated Democratic base eager to see more aggressive pushback against Trump.
But Republican strategist Scott Jennings wasn’t impressed.
“It’s amazing to me. First of all, this guy’s the governor of a state and it has got one of its most important cities burning on his watch and he’s out here launching a presidential campaign,” Jennings said. “There’s no other way to listen to what happened and not conclude that he just launched his presidential campaign.”
Jennings hammered Newsom for failing to focus on the crisis at hand and instead using the moment to posture on national television.
“He governs a failed state, he sits on top of a failed state,” Jennings continued. “And he sits, I guess, at the leadership right now of a political party that’s wanting to coddle the illegal invasion of our country that’s causing what’s happening.”
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Jennings defended Trump’s decision to deploy federal resources and enforce immigration laws, noting that the president is simply doing his job. “It’s not particularly controversial for Donald Trump to enforce federal law, or immigration laws. And yet to Democrats, it’s an affront.”
Newsom’s speech included references far outside the scope of the Los Angeles unrest, prompting Jennings to point out the absurdity of the moment. “He went down a litany of things that have nothing to do with what’s happening in California. All that’s happening in California is that a bunch of foreign nationals have occupied large swaths of the United States. One city is burning and the President of the United States is trying to bring order.”
Jennings also took aim at Newsom for name-dropping irrelevant topics. “We get this litany of complaints from Gavin Newsom about everything about how much the Democrats in California have failed,” he said. “I think it’s going to look opportunistic and people are going to wonder why in the world is the governor of California complaining about Harvard when one of his cities is on fire?”
While some Democrats have also criticized the Trump administration’s response, there is growing division within the party. Even Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) recently called for Democrats to take a tougher stance and condemn the violence more forcefully—something Newsom only briefly acknowledged before turning his attention to partisan jabs.
With over 200 arrests, reports of rocks being hurled at federal agents, vehicles torched, and law enforcement under siege, the people of Los Angeles are looking for solutions.
