You'll Never Guess Who Gavin Newsom Blames for California's Bad Reputation

Gavin Newsom has a new problem, and it is not the budget or the latest wildfire season. It is the fact that the rest of the country has watched California’s mess for years and drawn conclusions. Now, as he flirts with a presidential run, he wants to act like that reputation just happened to California, like it blew in on the coastal fog.

People do not pack up a life, rent a truck, and leave their friends behind because of a bad vibe on cable news. They leave because the rent is punishing, because petty crime feels tolerated, because taxes bite, because regulations make it harder to build anything or start anything, and because the basics of daily life keep getting more expensive while the politics stays smug. California still has gorgeous land and world-class talent. But governing is supposed to make it easier to live there, not feel like you need a plan to escape it.

If Newsom’s answer is to blame outsiders for telling stories about California, he is telling on himself. It is the classic move: change the subject from results to reputation management. The problem with that move is that the “reputation” is built on measurable things: out-migration numbers, housing costs, businesses picking up and moving, families doing the math and deciding they are done. You can spin that for a while. You cannot spin it forever.

A presidential candidate from California is free to make his case. But he cannot run away from his record the way so many residents have tried to. If he wants voters in Ohio, Georgia, and Arizona to trust him with the country, he should start by admitting what went wrong in his own backyard and showing he can fix it. Otherwise, the campaign is just California, but nationwide.