Ep. 286: Are California Democrats Panicking?

[00:00:06] If you're a California conservative, a libertarian, a moderate Democrat, believe in common sense, or just the same person, this is the political podcast for you. It's the California Underground Podcast.

[00:00:27] What's going on, everybody? Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the California Underground Podcast. I'm your host, Phil. And as always, with me is the best and fastest researcher in the West, Camille, my co host. How are you doing tonight, Camille?

[00:00:39] I'm good. I'm good. We were just discussing this, you were saying your house is kind of cold. And I was thinking temperatures are dropping, but Democrats are melting right now in California.

[00:00:54] They're feeling the cold rebuke of California voters. How many puns can we make about cold and Democrats?

[00:01:00] I really hope that we just hit every, I'm just kidding.

[00:01:03] Every possible pun we can. Yeah. The topic of tonight's episode that we're going to get into, but before we start actually some a little bit of housekeeping.

[00:01:13] There is tonight's episode and then next week's episode, we're going to have newly elected Jeff Gonzalez, who flipped the seat.

[00:01:20] Six?

[00:01:21] Yes.

[00:01:22] It was a 36. And he flipped the Democratic seat going to the Assembly. We had him on before. It's great. We're going to have him back on. So he will be next week's show. And then that's it. That's it for 2024.

[00:01:34] 2024 is a wrap for the California Underground Podcast. Obviously, next two Tuesdays after that are Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.

[00:01:41] And as much as we love our listeners and all of our dedicated listeners who are going to pay attention and tune in, don't tune in to us on Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve. Go spend time with family and have fun.

[00:01:51] We will be here anyway.

[00:01:52] Yeah. I, you know, we'll be...

[00:01:54] We'll see you next week. Pick up one of your instruments and lead us in Christmas carols, but...

[00:01:58] Yeah, those are just for decoration. I don't even know how to play them.

[00:02:01] I know.

[00:02:01] But no, that will be it. This is tonight's episode and next week's episode will be it for 2024.

[00:02:08] 2024 and then 2025, we will start off with new laws like we usually do around the new year.

[00:02:15] We will be discussing what are the new laws that are going into effect in 2025 for you to pay attention.

[00:02:20] And then away we go. Before we know it, President Trump will be inaugurated and the craziness will really begin.

[00:02:27] Tonight's episode, we're going to be talking about our California Democrats panicking.

[00:02:31] And I say this because there's... I think there's levels of panic.

[00:02:35] Let me just start off with saying that. I think there's levels of panic.

[00:02:39] There's five alarm fire panic of like, holy crap, like, you know, the sky's falling. This is really bad.

[00:02:45] And then there's panic of like, did I forget to mail this thing out today on time?

[00:02:50] Like, there's levels of panic. It's not all like...

[00:02:52] Like we forgot a kid panic. That's pretty extreme.

[00:02:55] No. Or like, we left the stove on or like, I don't know. I left a candle on in the bathroom.

[00:03:01] Like, I'm going to burn the house down sort of thing.

[00:03:02] I think there's levels of panic. And I think this is the most panicked I've seen California Democrats in a while or basically ever since I've really been out here and doing this podcast.

[00:03:16] We're going to talk about that. But before we start, we do have our cringe moment of the week and involves none other than our favorite governor, Gavin Newsom.

[00:03:26] Good old noodles. I will be... We'll do this cringe moment.

[00:03:29] Oh, we got to do the little stinger. I always forget.

[00:03:32] We miss you, Kamala.

[00:03:34] We miss you.

[00:03:35] It's been...

[00:03:37] What are we going to do without her when she's...

[00:03:40] Now that she's gone.

[00:03:41] Well, she's going to run for governor. That's the rumor is. I keep hearing that. So she might be coming back to our state here.

[00:03:48] We'll have to get her on the show. Anyone with connections.

[00:03:51] Anyone with connections to get her on the show. Okay. So this is...

[00:03:55] This is Gavin Newsom. He was in Calusa. Is that where it was? Calusa.

[00:04:01] I'm talking about water and infrastructure, but this is the cringe moment and we'll let you enjoy.

[00:04:06] Hey, Tom here for the Nextar Media Stations across the state. Thanks to you and the Davis Franches and Secretary Ross and Director Namath Myers.

[00:04:14] I saw the Majority Leader also Agriar Curry. Thanks for taking the time.

[00:04:17] Let me quickly ask two questions here. First one is pretty simple.

[00:04:21] I remember being with you for the snow survey, Sierra Nevada, a few months ago.

[00:04:26] Overall, since we are here for the water situation, overall, just to get your thoughts,

[00:04:32] what is the state of California's water situation overall?

[00:04:35] Second question relates to your podcast, Politicking. Just want to ask, I know...

[00:04:40] Is it politicking with a K? Is that...

[00:04:43] Yeah.

[00:04:44] You do make news on it.

[00:04:45] I mean, Trump's selling fragrances, so I can promote my damn podcast. Sorry.

[00:04:50] Jesus.

[00:04:52] His damn podcast, if you haven't known, he does have a podcast, Politicking with a K.

[00:04:59] I don't get the K part. Like, please explain it to me because I don't get it.

[00:05:04] I think it was a term. When you say like politicking, it's like you're getting down in the mud and negotiating with people.

[00:05:11] I think that was like an old term of like politicking.

[00:05:13] Maybe I'm wrong. That might not be why he called it politicking.

[00:05:16] But he likes to name drop his podcast when, you know, the state's on fire or we are in a budget deficit.

[00:05:22] We've got a whole bunch of problems, but he's got time to do a podcast.

[00:05:25] Yeah, that was from... He did a live thing today because he's like, Tory the state talking about water and infrastructure and all that.

[00:05:34] And he's like warning people, you know, we're going to have a dry season and we don't have the water from last year.

[00:05:40] James Gellar put out a clip about like, we passed this legislation, what was it, eight, ten years ago?

[00:05:46] Mm-hmm.

[00:05:47] And the money was there while nothing has happened.

[00:05:51] Nothing.

[00:05:51] Yeah, this was 2018.

[00:05:53] We approved bonds for or a bond for like water storage and all this and we haven't built anything.

[00:06:00] So now all of a sudden, I guess it's a priority.

[00:06:03] But this is part of Newsom's Red County tour of him going out and being like...

[00:06:08] James Gallagher actually did a good video on it if you want to go check it out on Instagram.

[00:06:12] This is his Red County tour to say like, hey guys, I get you and I'm here to help you and I'm here for you.

[00:06:19] And like, you don't need that.

[00:06:20] I mean, hold on.

[00:06:21] You can tune into my Politicum podcast and listen to Leslie Jones drop about a thousand F-bombs.

[00:06:28] But that's sort of his tour.

[00:06:30] And James Gallagher made a good point about like, no, this is more like he's going out and lecturing Red Counties.

[00:06:34] We kind of picked up on this too when we did his whole Newsom doesn't understand Red Counties.

[00:06:40] It sounded like he was going to these Red Counties and like wagging his finger at him.

[00:06:44] Like, how dare you vote for Trump when we've done so much for you guys and the economy's roaring and like, we've done all this great stuff.

[00:06:52] And I just don't get it.

[00:06:53] Like, so it does seem like he's kind of lecturing Californians, which is going to have the opposite effect.

[00:06:58] I think if he's going to Red Counties and lecturing them rather than actually trying to sit down and figure out.

[00:07:03] But he doesn't really care about figuring out why they voted for Trump.

[00:07:05] He just wants to make it seem like he's reaching out to opposite voters.

[00:07:09] All right.

[00:07:10] So point of tonight's episode, we got some other topics that we want to get to as well is California Democrats are panicking.

[00:07:17] Like I said, I think there's levels of panic.

[00:07:19] I think there's some Democrats who are seeing the writing on the wall.

[00:07:23] I think they know that this is something that they shouldn't take lightly.

[00:07:28] The fact that Trump did flip 10 counties to red in California.

[00:07:33] I mean, that's enormous.

[00:07:33] Flipping 10 counties in California is pretty enormous.

[00:07:36] But California has been trending red even since Brian Dolly was running.

[00:07:41] Like, I think you were the one you found that map that showed like two years ago when Brian Dolly ran.

[00:07:48] It was basically the same map.

[00:07:50] It's Brian Dolly won those counties.

[00:07:52] So California has been trending red, right?

[00:07:55] Correct.

[00:07:55] I think we had pointed out on it earlier podcast too, that he got the most percentage of votes for Republican governor since, well, I guess I'd say since Schwarzenegger, since Schwarzenegger won.

[00:08:07] But like the trend was definitely downward.

[00:08:09] And then Brian Dolly did get a significant percentage of the votes.

[00:08:14] He didn't win, but.

[00:08:16] Yeah, so it's been trending that way.

[00:08:19] And I, which is, I think, really good news because it shows it's not a Trump thing.

[00:08:24] Right.

[00:08:26] Necessarily.

[00:08:26] Because it wasn't, oh, just everyone showed up for Trump.

[00:08:30] It was when Trump wasn't on the ballot, we were trending more red.

[00:08:36] So I think this trend is going to continue going that way.

[00:08:39] Especially with like some of the, I didn't, Rob Pyers put out a whole bunch of tweets after a lot of the vote tallies came in and showing, you know, these counties or this area went from Obama this year to Biden.

[00:08:53] And then all of a sudden he'd show like, and then it went for Trump by like 10 points.

[00:08:57] Like these are counties that were double digit for Obama and Biden and Hillary.

[00:09:03] And then all of a sudden now they're for Trump by five to 10 points.

[00:09:07] Beverly Hills, which blew, now all of a sudden went for Trump by five points.

[00:09:13] So it's, it's pretty crazy how like there's a lot of places and Jeff Gonzalez is a good example as well.

[00:09:19] Like he's down there in Imperial County.

[00:09:21] Imperial County went red for the first time in a long time.

[00:09:24] So that's sort of the trend we're at right now.

[00:09:27] So this article to kind of give you an idea and kind of overview of California Democrats panic game.

[00:09:34] And we're going to get into some other articles as well, including our favorite state senator, Scott Weiner.

[00:09:39] He wrote an op-ed about all this.

[00:09:41] So this is from LA Times.

[00:09:43] It's Trump gained support in California.

[00:09:44] What does that mean for the so-called resistance?

[00:09:47] Newsom wants the legislature to approve $25 million litigation fund to protect abortion access, climate change policies, disaster funding, LGBTQ plus rights.

[00:09:57] And to challenge policies that he says could harm the state.

[00:10:00] And this is in response to his special legislative session.

[00:10:04] But resistance 2.0 is proving to be awkward.

[00:10:08] Yet, yes, Democrats maintain their supermajority in Sacramento, but support for Trump in California has undoubtedly increased.

[00:10:15] And Republican state lawmakers have called the special session and all the talk about Trump-proofing California mere political theater.

[00:10:22] Quote, the people of California sent a clear message during this election season.

[00:10:26] They are done with the majority party's failure to address the most important issues we face.

[00:10:30] They are ready for a return to common sense, solution-focused governing.

[00:10:35] Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones said in a statement, quote,

[00:10:38] We are thrilled to see Californians standing up against the Democratic machine and declaring enough is enough.

[00:10:44] After county vote tallies were finalized, Trump earned his final blue to red flip in rural Imperial County, a longtime Democratic stronghold that borders Mexico and Arizona.

[00:10:53] Trump beat Harris there by 463 votes, becoming the first Republican presidential candidate to win the county since 1988 when voters chose George Herbert Walker Bush.

[00:11:04] The county, which relies heavily upon an agriculture industry whose workforce could be decimated under Trump's deportation plans, has long struggled with poverty and unemployment.

[00:11:13] In October, in October, Imperial County's unemployment rate of 19.6 was the highest in the state and more than three times the state average.

[00:11:22] Quote, there's no financial constraints on the Democratic Party.

[00:11:26] Tax, tax, tax, everything for everybody and you don't have to work for it.

[00:11:30] We're driving the financially responsible people out of California.

[00:11:33] Those that are tied to the land who can't leave are going to have a bigger burden, bigger burden until the end, until they break and their children are going to leave.

[00:11:41] Trump flipped nine California counties that voted for Biden, Butte, Fresno, Merced, Imperial, Inyo, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Joaquin and Stanislaus.

[00:11:50] So it's nine, not 10.

[00:11:51] So it is.

[00:11:54] I think when they say it is awkward this time, you know, in 2016, California was still very, very blue.

[00:12:03] These counties that I just mentioned were still blue.

[00:12:07] Now you have nine counties that have flipped for Donald Trump.

[00:12:12] So it takes a little wind out of your sails to be the resistance.

[00:12:18] When you got rebuked in your own state by your own voters, I think that is probably why this time around this whole resistance idea is not coming off as strong or it does kind of seem awkward or forced.

[00:12:34] Like Newsom's trying to be the resistance.

[00:12:36] You got Rob Bonta out there trying to be the resistance.

[00:12:38] Like we're going to talk about San Diego County is trying to be the resistance.

[00:12:44] It's there's not as much appetite for people having California be the resistance when the state is trending in the opposite direction of the resistance.

[00:12:53] What are your thoughts?

[00:12:54] Right.

[00:12:55] Well, do you know how many counties in 2020 out of the 58 voted for Trump?

[00:13:03] I don't know that number.

[00:13:04] Is it not that's like nine flipping nine?

[00:13:07] That's like 15% of all counties didn't do the exact math.

[00:13:11] Nobody'd be like, oh, you suck at math.

[00:13:12] Yeah, I suck at math.

[00:13:13] But it's give or take 15%.

[00:13:16] But I'm curious how many counties that are actually red.

[00:13:21] But yes, I think I feel like we've discussed it a few times that it does seem like they're the Democrat support.

[00:13:28] The extreme is like the liberal support is it's waning.

[00:13:32] It feels like it's like I've even mentioned, you know, like the Prop 36.

[00:13:39] As much as Gavin Newsom was so outspoken, you know, and he tried to strike it down.

[00:13:44] It it overwhelmingly passed.

[00:13:46] I mean, it was like 70 percent, give or take.

[00:13:50] That's just kind of shows like his influence is.

[00:13:56] You know, it earlier this year, he was able to, of course, the timing was interesting, but he was able to get Prop 1 passed.

[00:14:02] But then Prop 36 that he was so opposed to overwhelmingly, it wasn't even close.

[00:14:09] Now, I that's yeah, I think his whole his influence and probably why he's so upset.

[00:14:15] So this is to give you an idea because you asked about 2016.

[00:14:19] So this is what the map looked like in 2016 when he originally won.

[00:14:24] Lots of blue, but now all of this middle stuff is now red.

[00:14:29] It's now red.

[00:14:31] So do you have 2020?

[00:14:34] I don't know how many counties that is, but I think I can find that.

[00:14:40] May not be up yet since they've only like have they even certified.

[00:14:44] So this is 2024.

[00:14:45] That is huge.

[00:14:48] Well, that's actually 2020 looks almost identical to what Hillary Clinton won.

[00:14:54] What Joe Biden won.

[00:14:55] But this is 2024.

[00:14:56] That is.

[00:14:58] Stark difference.

[00:14:59] Like that is a huge difference.

[00:15:01] Yeah.

[00:15:02] But I have to look up the number later because I'm curious how many counties went.

[00:15:06] So you can get an exact percentage.

[00:15:08] Yeah, just because I'm curious.

[00:15:11] Yeah, I think we've talked about this before with Gavin Newsom.

[00:15:14] Why he was so against Prop 36 was it not because I think he didn't think Prop 36 was maybe he didn't think Prop 36 was a good idea.

[00:15:23] I think it was an ego hit for him.

[00:15:25] Well, I'm telling you Prop 36 isn't good and look at all these great bills I'm signing and I'm working hard to stop retail theft.

[00:15:33] And it didn't budge the needle at all.

[00:15:37] Like it didn't move the needle.

[00:15:40] Basically, 70% of Californians are like, nope, voting for Prop 36.

[00:15:44] We're not listening to you.

[00:15:45] It was like such a strong rebuke of Gavin Newsom that I think it sent shockwaves.

[00:15:49] And that's why I said Prop 36 was the most consequential election of 2024 for Californians is it really kind of sent a shockwave through the political establishment here in Sacramento.

[00:16:00] But yeah, I think it's harder if you keep in mind what that map in 2024 that we just showed you compared to previously.

[00:16:07] Yeah, in 2020 and 2016, there was a lot more blue.

[00:16:11] It looked more popular to be the resistance to Donald Trump.

[00:16:14] Now, when you look at a map of California that is way redder, much more red, you look at it and go, okay, well, there isn't that much appetite for resistance anymore.

[00:16:25] Like obviously people want Trump and they don't want you to resist Trump.

[00:16:32] But you think.

[00:16:34] Yeah, go ahead.

[00:16:35] How do I phrase this question?

[00:16:35] So this support, this turd red, do you think this is Trump or people tired of liberal extreme politics, extreme far-left politics or a combination of both?

[00:16:49] I think it's a little combination of both because like we said, the map looked very similar when Brian Dolly ran for governor.

[00:16:57] So the state itself, when Trump's not on the ballot, is trending more red.

[00:17:02] I think it looked more pronounced and it got more coverage and it got more legs because it was a presidential election.

[00:17:11] And the idea of like Trump flipping that many counties in California made a lot more headlines.

[00:17:15] But if we're looking at the historical trend right now, yeah, California is trending red.

[00:17:21] And I think there's more people who are getting fed up with democratic policies.

[00:17:25] They're looking at everything kind of going like it's too expensive.

[00:17:28] You tax us to death.

[00:17:30] Regulations are out of control.

[00:17:31] Affordability.

[00:17:32] We can't buy a house.

[00:17:33] Like it's just, it's enough that we're all going to start going over to vote for Republicans.

[00:17:39] And I think, what was it?

[00:17:40] Over a hundred thousand, well over a hundred thousand people registered to be Republicans in California just in the past year alone.

[00:17:48] And then I don't think the Democrats picked up nearly any registrations.

[00:17:52] So like, do you think DeSantis could have drummed up that kind of support if he had been?

[00:17:58] I think based on what we saw two years ago, I think, yeah, I think he probably would have done, maybe he didn't, he wouldn't flip nine, but I think he probably would have done pretty well.

[00:18:07] To be honest, he might've done a little bit better because DeSantis isn't Trump.

[00:18:11] So maybe there's less aversion to Trump.

[00:18:14] I know this isn't the point of tonight's podcast, but four years at an election cycle is so short.

[00:18:22] Like four years seems so far out, but four years when it comes to politics, it's very quick.

[00:18:27] And it's just like, okay, yay for 2022 and 2024, getting a little, a little more middle ground, but come 2028, do we have a plan?

[00:18:39] And again, I know that's totally not the point of tonight's, but it is kind of scary to think Trump is not going to be an option whatsoever.

[00:18:44] He will be officially turned out.

[00:18:46] He will be too old.

[00:18:47] He will be gone.

[00:18:57] To want more middle ground, break the supermajority.

[00:19:00] That's just kind of what we're talking about right now.

[00:19:02] Yeah.

[00:19:04] I think it's a, to answer your question, I think it's a combination of both.

[00:19:08] I think people are getting fed up with like democratic policies.

[00:19:11] I think presidential elections usually have a bigger turnout.

[00:19:15] People show up more.

[00:19:16] I think Kamala was such a bad candidate that a lot of people showed up more for Trump.

[00:19:21] She did poorly.

[00:19:22] She underperformed in a lot of those counties.

[00:19:23] But when Kamala and Trump weren't on the ballot, California was going more red.

[00:19:29] And I know it's shocking for a lot of people to hear that, that in the past couple of years,

[00:19:33] California has been going more red because no one talks about it.

[00:19:36] They just think California is this one giant dark blue splotch, which is not true.

[00:19:40] And if you look at that map, it's really just the coastal county that are blue anymore.

[00:19:46] It just happens to have the most amount of people.

[00:19:49] So I think that's why California Democrats are looking at this going like crap, like things

[00:19:55] happen in politics slowly.

[00:19:59] And I know people don't like to hear that, but politics happens slowly.

[00:20:03] It's a game of inches.

[00:20:04] And if you make a couple inroads here, if you flip a couple assembly seats here, like that's

[00:20:11] sort of your goal every election cycle is to kind of inch your way back into the race or

[00:20:16] to win a seat or to flip a district.

[00:20:19] It's kind of like what Democrats have been doing with Orange County is like they slowly

[00:20:22] kind of chipped away at Orange County.

[00:20:23] That was a reliably red area.

[00:20:26] Now it's purple relations kind of always up in the air, but it's those inches.

[00:20:30] It's those inches of like we got more voter registration and now we flipped, you know,

[00:20:35] four seats in the legislature.

[00:20:37] And I think if you're a smart politician on the Democratic side, you're looking at this

[00:20:43] going crap like the tide is turning against us and we better get out ahead of it before

[00:20:51] it engulfs us before we lose control here.

[00:20:54] Because before you know it, like there is that kind of breaking point of like you, there's

[00:21:00] enough mass and enough inertia that it just kind of takes over.

[00:21:02] And like all of a sudden, before you know it, it's 50, 50 legislature.

[00:21:06] The governor's race is not entirely decided before anyone casts their ballot.

[00:21:11] And you're looking at a purple battleground state and maybe presidential candidates start

[00:21:15] coming out here going, maybe California is in play.

[00:21:18] Maybe I can get those 50 electoral votes.

[00:21:20] So if you're a smart politician, what's that?

[00:21:24] So that's a nice segue to your next article.

[00:21:26] That is a perfect segue.

[00:21:28] I didn't mean to do it that way, but it is a perfect segue into our next article, which

[00:21:32] was written, like I said, by our favorite state senator, Scott Weiner.

[00:21:35] He wrote this in the San Francisco Standard titled Democrats need to wake up and build

[00:21:40] real solutions to California's affordability crisis.

[00:21:43] I'm going to try and cut out everything because I highlighted like so much of this article.

[00:21:47] I don't want to read everything.

[00:21:49] He says after the disastrous recent election results with right wing extremists prepared

[00:21:53] to dominate the White House, both houses of Congress and the Supreme Court, it's easy to

[00:21:57] curl up in a ball and disengage from politics.

[00:22:00] See, already they're panicking and freaking out.

[00:22:03] We must not take that path.

[00:22:05] Far too much is at stake.

[00:22:06] We need to push back against the destructive policies.

[00:22:09] This new administration will advance.

[00:22:11] At the same time, we must prove that a central narrative peddled by President-elect Trump and

[00:22:15] his cronies is false.

[00:22:17] The idea that California is a failed state.

[00:22:20] Like the rest of the nation, California faces real challenges from rising unaffordability.

[00:22:25] The success of the state depends on our ability to lower the most important costs facing households

[00:22:31] everywhere, childcare, healthcare, energy, transportation, and most of all, housing.

[00:22:36] Focusing like a laser on issues of affordability will provide a powerful contrast to Trump's

[00:22:41] Republican Party, which continues to make costly and largely impossible promises rather

[00:22:46] than deal with the complexities of real world problem solving.

[00:22:50] Democrats must distinguish ourselves as the party of result.

[00:22:53] By focusing on governing well in the places where we hold power.

[00:22:57] That will mean reckoning with our past failures.

[00:23:01] Now, I will give him credit for that because my golden rule is that politicians never like

[00:23:07] to admit that they're wrong.

[00:23:09] So having a politician say, we need to recognize our past failures.

[00:23:14] You know, you got to tip the cap there.

[00:23:15] I'm going to be like, okay.

[00:23:16] I felt like he was very humbled in this article.

[00:23:20] Yeah.

[00:23:21] I don't know if he gets it, but you know, he definitely is making the attempt.

[00:23:26] Time-consuming and expensive processes in California and other blue states have made

[00:23:30] it difficult to develop the things that reduce costs for people and improve their lives.

[00:23:34] Housing comes to mind most vividly.

[00:23:36] We have made it incredibly hard to build new homes with onerous zoning permitting and review

[00:23:40] processes choking off supply.

[00:23:43] Right.

[00:23:44] That's what people have been saying for a long time in California is things like CEQA,

[00:23:48] which they should scrap CEQA and like start all over with CEQA.

[00:23:53] They shouldn't try and chip away like the margins when it comes to CEQA.

[00:23:59] But at least he admits like we put these bad things in place and it's causing a problem.

[00:24:04] And you know what their solutions are.

[00:24:06] I don't agree with because when it comes to housing, like the best thing government can

[00:24:12] do when it comes to housing is get the hell out of the way.

[00:24:15] Like getting the government involved in more housing doesn't help.

[00:24:18] He like, he recognizes like half this problem.

[00:24:22] Right.

[00:24:23] It's, and that's where, yeah, it's kind of, that's where it's like, okay, he recognizes

[00:24:29] why there's a problem.

[00:24:31] Okay.

[00:24:31] Tip of the cap.

[00:24:32] You recognize why there's a problem because of owner zoning and all your, your BS regulations.

[00:24:37] But then he kind of does the one 80s.

[00:24:39] Like, well, we, as a government, we have to get more involved.

[00:24:42] And it's like, I don't know if you really have to get more involved.

[00:24:44] Like you've, you've created this mess.

[00:24:46] Maybe you should sit this one out.

[00:24:49] He goes on to say, but it's not only housing.

[00:24:52] California's energy costs are off the charts.

[00:24:54] PG and E bears a lot of the blame for neglecting its infrastructure to boost profits,

[00:24:58] then passing along the cost of consumers.

[00:25:00] At the same time, we are falling behind our long staying clean energy leadership goals

[00:25:05] with Texas now ahead of California on clean energy generation.

[00:25:08] It's still too time intensive and expensive to build clean energy infrastructure in California.

[00:25:13] That needs to change if we're going to truly reduce energy costs.

[00:25:16] I didn't know that.

[00:25:17] I didn't know Texas had overtaken California and clean, whatever they call clean energy.

[00:25:22] So maybe it's because Elon moved out there and moved all Tesla stuff out there.

[00:25:28] It goes on to talk about supply in California.

[00:25:30] It doesn't have a true statewide rail system.

[00:25:32] I mean, give up the whole rail system idea.

[00:25:34] Like that's, that's just not going to happen.

[00:25:37] Like just stop at the rail system.

[00:25:38] He says to get from the Bay Area to Los Angeles currently takes twice as long by rail as by car.

[00:25:44] Okay.

[00:25:45] Or you could just take a plane.

[00:25:48] California's addiction to process over results has led to our high speed rail project getting bogged down

[00:25:52] at every step resulting in growing delays and cost overruns and a decline in public confidence in this critical project.

[00:25:59] I would disagree with him that it's critical, but you guys have definitely dropped the ball on that one.

[00:26:04] What else does he say?

[00:26:05] The solutions to these affordability problems are manifold.

[00:26:08] They require permitting reform, improved government capacity and efficiency, strategic public investments, smart government interventions that actually reduce costs.

[00:26:16] And in some cases, letting the private sector do its thing with reasonable but not heavy handed regulation.

[00:26:22] The common denominator is that California and other blue states need to demonstrate quickly that we can deliver the things that reduce costs, streamline government programs and improve people's lives.

[00:26:31] Okay.

[00:26:32] So like we said, he gets it half right that California has become this draconian state government with too many rules and regulations and laws.

[00:26:43] But I think he misses the point that, okay, so maybe it's time to start scrapping that stuff and starting over.

[00:26:51] Yes.

[00:26:51] Right.

[00:26:52] Like he keeps referencing blue states need to do this.

[00:26:55] And it's like maybe blue states need to look at where red states are thriving.

[00:27:00] And, you know, look at it to what they're doing.

[00:27:04] Right.

[00:27:05] You know, he's never going to admit that like that is the answer because he does say something in the article about people who are going to call them out.

[00:27:13] It's like deregulation is bad.

[00:27:14] But he goes on to say some people will object to this approach as quote deregulation, but it's not an either or proposition.

[00:27:20] We have reasonable regulation to protect public health and safety workers, consumers environment without strangling our ability to deliver good things that benefit Californians.

[00:27:30] Again, it's like he's so close.

[00:27:32] Like he just he almost gets it that like.

[00:27:35] There's too much.

[00:27:36] There's too much regulations and we need to cut back.

[00:27:39] We need to cut the red tape.

[00:27:41] But he's trying to tiptoe that line of like, well, I don't want to call for too much deregulation because then a lot of my progressive supporters are going to be like, no, no, no.

[00:27:51] We need more government.

[00:27:52] We don't need less government.

[00:27:54] We need more government to run all of these things, which.

[00:27:57] As we're seeing in California, it doesn't necessarily work because we're we've been annually or perpetually in a budget deficit.

[00:28:06] So having the government run everything is probably not the best idea, but he's close.

[00:28:10] But I think the reason this article this is why this article to me when you sent it to me.

[00:28:16] Inspired tonight's episode, because if Scott Wiener is talking like this about.

[00:28:24] You didn't send this to me.

[00:28:25] I thought I found it.

[00:28:26] I thought you sent it to me.

[00:28:27] Scott Wiener article.

[00:28:29] Oh, no.

[00:28:30] OK, maybe I found it.

[00:28:32] OK, well, I can never remember.

[00:28:34] We send so much stuff back and forth in terms of articles and stuff that I forget.

[00:28:37] But when I saw this article, I was like, OK.

[00:28:40] If he's writing this, he's a deep blue, progressive San Francisco liberal.

[00:28:46] Right.

[00:28:46] If he's writing stuff like, hey, guys, we may have too much regulation and we got to cut back and we got to streamline stuff.

[00:28:55] Then you kind of sit back and go, what's prompted him to take this stance?

[00:29:00] I mean, his seat's safe.

[00:29:02] He can be like as, you know, progressive as he wants.

[00:29:06] Like he's not going to get voted out.

[00:29:09] There's no challengers to Scott Wiener.

[00:29:11] But I think if he's recognizing the tide, like things are turning and voters are turning against them.

[00:29:17] That might be a signal that behind the scenes, they've had meetings about this.

[00:29:23] I bet you a lot of the higher ups in California Democratic politics have had meetings about how red this state has gotten over the past couple of years.

[00:29:34] And they're going, guys, what are we doing here?

[00:29:37] Like they're turning against us.

[00:29:39] Like we're not as solidly blue as we once were.

[00:29:41] And if we're not careful, like it's going to become a purple state in the next couple of election cycles.

[00:29:47] So that's why this article to me is like he's there.

[00:29:50] He gets he sees the problem.

[00:29:53] But he whiffs on the solutions.

[00:29:56] He actually he doesn't really offer a lot of solutions anyway.

[00:29:59] He just kind of says, well, it's just more government.

[00:30:01] It's more government, but it's also like, hey, you know, we did these things poorly and inefficiently.

[00:30:08] So the government has to get better at doing these things more efficiently.

[00:30:11] And it's like, well, your first problem is assuming that the government is going to do anything more efficiently and better.

[00:30:18] So hold on.

[00:30:19] Hey, what's up, everybody?

[00:30:21] There's a lot going on in the chat.

[00:30:23] There's a lot going on in the chat.

[00:30:24] What's going on, everybody?

[00:30:25] Thank you for tuning in tonight.

[00:30:27] Let us know your thoughts about Scott Wiener.

[00:30:29] Answer the question.

[00:30:30] Do you think California Democrats are panicking?

[00:30:33] Let us know in the chat.

[00:30:34] There was a video.

[00:30:35] Let me pull that up.

[00:30:37] Let me know your thoughts.

[00:30:37] Your thoughts while I pull up this video.

[00:30:41] Not the chat.

[00:30:42] I was talking to you.

[00:30:43] I just this is reminding me of that movie of Bugs Life for the cockroaches.

[00:30:48] You know, Tim, you guys see that movie.

[00:30:49] The cockroaches are like controlling the ants and the ants are working for the cockroaches and getting all the food for them and everything.

[00:30:55] And then the ants finally decide to rise up.

[00:30:57] They're like, wait, why are we doing this for the cockroaches?

[00:31:00] And I don't know why, because it's such a weird extreme.

[00:31:04] But it's just kind of reminding me of like the liberals, the stream far left are like the cockroaches who are like, you will do as we say.

[00:31:10] And all of a sudden the ants are like, wait a second.

[00:31:13] Your way is not working for us.

[00:31:15] Right.

[00:31:16] And they just.

[00:31:18] Yeah.

[00:31:18] It's really random.

[00:31:19] I know.

[00:31:20] No, it's not random because I feel like I've seen that meme like so many times of like the ants figure out.

[00:31:27] Like, wait a second.

[00:31:29] There's 10 of us to one of them.

[00:31:31] Like, why are we taking their.

[00:31:33] All their orders.

[00:31:35] And they're hurting us.

[00:31:36] Their orders are literally hurting us.

[00:31:39] They're killing us.

[00:31:41] Yeah.

[00:31:41] And that's a good way to put it.

[00:31:43] I think it's a good way to put like what's happening in California is a lot of people are like, wait a second.

[00:31:47] It is way too damn expensive to live here.

[00:31:49] And you guys are not making it better.

[00:31:51] So we're going to start voting for Republicans and see what happens.

[00:31:54] So this is a video from the San Jose mayor.

[00:31:59] He had something to say, and he kind of went after Gavin Newsom for his special legislative session.

[00:32:06] So not every Democrat is on board with what Gavin's doing.

[00:32:10] You know, it's interesting.

[00:32:11] He doesn't seem to have a lot of support of his own party in California.

[00:32:14] They seem to kind of roll their eyes at old Gavin doing what he's doing.

[00:32:18] So we'll take a look.

[00:32:21] This is only like a minute long.

[00:32:22] So call a special session.

[00:32:24] They talked about it as a Trump proofing of California.

[00:32:27] You think that's a wise use of time?

[00:32:30] Well, I think that the best resistance, if you want to call it that, is to make California work.

[00:32:37] Prove that what we're doing here is a model for the country going forward.

[00:32:41] That's where we've been.

[00:32:42] The last 50 years, we were the state that led the way.

[00:32:45] We innovated.

[00:32:46] We solved problems.

[00:32:47] We were the trendsetter.

[00:32:49] And now we're reacting.

[00:32:51] And I don't, sure, there will be things we can work with the Trump administration on.

[00:32:55] There may be places we have to push back, and there may be some legal battles.

[00:32:59] But the emphasis should be making our state the most economically vibrant and competitive,

[00:33:04] having the best public schools, getting everybody housed, controlling cost of living for working families.

[00:33:10] Because if we do that, I don't think we have to worry too much about what Trump does.

[00:33:14] And I think we will continue to lead the nation forward.

[00:33:17] But unfortunately, people aren't looking to us for leadership anymore.

[00:33:20] And that's a problem.

[00:33:21] Sounds like what you're saying is that you think the governor is focused on the wrong things.

[00:33:25] I think the Democratic Party in our state needs to get back to basics, listen to ordinary people about the issues that affect their daily lives.

[00:33:35] Be honest that the policies and programs we have in place are not always delivering the outcomes we need.

[00:33:41] It's why I was an early backer of Prop 36.

[00:33:44] A huge issue in this state is...

[00:33:47] Yeah, so you have the mayor of San Jose, also a very liberal city.

[00:33:52] Now also saying sort of the same thing that Scott Wiener is saying, which is,

[00:33:55] hey guys, we have kind of screwed up here.

[00:33:58] And we have received the message loud and clear from voters that our policies are not hitting home anymore.

[00:34:06] And they are not beholden to us.

[00:34:09] They are not, you know, they're not...

[00:34:10] We haven't...

[00:34:11] Don't have all their votes locked up in perpetuity.

[00:34:14] And we have to do something about it.

[00:34:16] So will this mean like more Democrats are going to start moderating their position?

[00:34:21] Maybe.

[00:34:22] Maybe Prop 36 was that consequential, that people are going to start moderating their positions.

[00:34:27] And maybe more Democrats are going to start moving more towards the right.

[00:34:31] Everything he said wasn't even extreme.

[00:34:34] Like I think we all agree that we want public schools to do well.

[00:34:38] You know, we want the cost of living to be affordable.

[00:34:41] We want people to want to live here and to have good jobs.

[00:34:44] Like none of that is an extreme thought.

[00:34:46] None of that's like a far left or a far right.

[00:34:48] Like, yeah, it's the basics, like he said.

[00:34:52] Yeah.

[00:34:53] And I think that, I mean, that message is probably resonating really well with a lot of Californians.

[00:34:57] Like, wait a second, we need to get back to public safety.

[00:35:01] We need to make sure our cities and communities are safe.

[00:35:04] We need to make sure education is doing well.

[00:35:07] We need to make it affordable.

[00:35:08] We need to make sure there's a good economy here that works for everybody.

[00:35:13] And we've gotten too far off track.

[00:35:14] And now there are Democrats like in LA, like we talked about last week in terms of sanctuary cities.

[00:35:21] And we'll talk about what's going on in San Diego County a little bit.

[00:35:24] That are going the opposite direction.

[00:35:26] They are not listening to this and they're going, no, we're going to double down on the crazy and the far left policies.

[00:35:32] And let's see how that works.

[00:35:34] I think they're shooting themselves in the foot, to be completely honest.

[00:35:37] I don't think it's great.

[00:35:38] It's a great look for them to run farther left.

[00:35:42] Because Donald Trump won the presidency and he won nine more counties in California.

[00:35:48] I don't think running to the left is the way to do it.

[00:35:51] But if Scott Weiner is saying like, hey guys, we need to figure this out and get better.

[00:35:55] And then you have the San Jose mayor who's going, hey guys, we need to get back to the basics.

[00:35:59] Like I don't think there's more room on the left for California to go.

[00:36:06] If that makes sense for California Democrats.

[00:36:08] Unless you're in like San Francisco and you're running for like a local election.

[00:36:11] Sure.

[00:36:11] But outside of that, I don't think like a lot of there's not that much room on the far left anymore in California.

[00:36:18] I think there's been a rebuke, the pendulum swinging back the other way.

[00:36:21] What are your thoughts?

[00:36:22] Well, it's funny because I think like in the case of San Diego, if what Scott Weiner said in this article is really true to his heart and his beliefs,

[00:36:30] he's going to start to distance himself from the likes of Nora Vargas.

[00:36:36] That's her name, right?

[00:36:37] Tara Lassa-Reamer, Todd Glor and stuff.

[00:36:39] Like he's going to start to be like, no, you guys are going so extreme and we've already figured out this isn't working and this is a failure.

[00:36:46] And I don't want to align with that.

[00:36:48] And he's going to probably start to be like, I'm not with you on that.

[00:36:52] I'm doing something else.

[00:36:53] Which would be really interesting to see.

[00:36:54] I still think Scott Weiner's a pig.

[00:36:56] I'm not defending him.

[00:36:58] But I give credit where credit's due.

[00:37:00] And if he's like having this, you know, this wake up moment of like these X, Y, and Z have failed, then I'm going to give him credit for that.

[00:37:08] And, you know, would love to see him try something, something.

[00:37:11] I mean, there's the saying, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

[00:37:14] And these people are definitely being the squeaky wheel.

[00:37:17] And then they also are still kind of like those people, I think, are still kind of like trying to stay on Gavin Newsom's good side.

[00:37:24] They don't want to piss him off.

[00:37:25] And I feel like they're just like, you know, kissing the king's ring and like all that kind of stuff.

[00:37:31] But like we said earlier, like that, that seems to be waning.

[00:37:36] There seems to be less and less of them.

[00:37:38] And so, of course, these loud cities, these loud politicians, San Diego, L.A., we're going to hear from them.

[00:37:45] But I just don't think they're going to get the support that they think they're going to get.

[00:37:49] Yeah.

[00:37:51] You could just agree.

[00:37:52] I was reading what the chat is going wild right now.

[00:37:57] So I just wanted to read.

[00:37:57] The government needs to get out of the way entirely.

[00:38:00] Everything touched by the government is failing.

[00:38:01] I agree.

[00:38:02] Because I say, I think at this point, there's no way that they can totally recover.

[00:38:06] Yeah, I think it's Democrats are in a tough position right now, which is they will have to reconcile the fact that they have to admit a lot of the stuff that they did is not working.

[00:38:20] That CEQA is not working.

[00:38:22] The regulations and the zoning is not working.

[00:38:26] And they're going to have to kind of backpedal on that.

[00:38:28] Is that going to turn off a lot of their voters and supporters who like this regulation and like this stuff?

[00:38:36] But they can't keep going with this stuff because clearly, if they keep the status quo and trim around the margins when it comes to things like CEQA, then it's just not going to work.

[00:38:47] Like it's people are going to get turned off and it's going to continue to blow up in their face.

[00:38:52] And California is going to continue to go red.

[00:38:54] So progress to purple, like we've been saying.

[00:38:57] Speaking of Democrats who are panicking for other reasons, not because of the fact that it's going more red.

[00:39:03] I want to get to this story.

[00:39:05] And then there's one more story I want to talk about, which is breaking news as of today.

[00:39:09] Okay.

[00:39:12] Newly reelected mayor of San Diego, Todd Gloria.

[00:39:16] So after he won reelection, he had a nice little press conference a couple of days ago to announce that there is a $258 million budget deficit in the city of San Diego.

[00:39:26] This is from the Times.

[00:39:27] You guys are all at fault for not passing a new tax.

[00:39:30] Right.

[00:39:31] Yeah.

[00:39:32] At a press conference, he said, because of the defeat of measure e-sales tax increase, there was no option but to enact an immediate effort to save money.

[00:39:42] The immediate cutbacks outlined Wednesday include a freeze on all but the, quote, most essential hiring.

[00:39:50] I would hope.

[00:39:51] I'm sorry.

[00:39:51] This one made me laugh.

[00:39:53] I hope you're not hiring non-essential people who are not essential to the government running.

[00:39:59] Suspending all non-essential overtime.

[00:40:01] Again, I would hope all overtime is essential.

[00:40:05] What would make it non-essential?

[00:40:07] Pausing spending on travel and training.

[00:40:10] Where are you traveling to as a city of San Diego employee?

[00:40:14] I don't know.

[00:40:14] Reviewing capital projects and halting new construction.

[00:40:17] Pausing the civic center revitalization proposal.

[00:40:20] Renegotiating or terminating some city leases.

[00:40:22] Seeking to monetize the use of some city facilities such as Golden Hall.

[00:40:27] I had to look this up because I was like, what is Golden Hall?

[00:40:31] I actually had no idea what Golden Hall was and I live here in San Diego.

[00:40:35] Golden Hall is part of that area down where City Hall is.

[00:40:39] It's near the civic center.

[00:40:41] It's an indoor arena and is built in.

[00:40:44] I had to look this up on Wikipedia.

[00:40:45] It was built in 1964.

[00:40:47] Today, it is primarily used as a homeless shelter.

[00:40:51] Okay.

[00:40:52] It was built in 1964 and opened in 1965.

[00:40:55] Is that near the waterfront?

[00:40:58] No, it's in downtown on B Street.

[00:41:02] Golden Hall has been the host of many concerts, events and athletics.

[00:41:05] Legendary music artist Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Ozzy Osbourne, Grateful Dead Boston,

[00:41:10] Pink Floyd, and BB King have all played at the venue.

[00:41:13] And then in 73 to 74, Golden Hall was the home to the San Diego Conquistadors of the American Basketball Associations.

[00:41:22] The Conquistadors, nicknamed the Cues, were coached by Basketball Hall of Fame player Wilt Chamberlain.

[00:41:27] And they had a record of 37 and 47.

[00:41:30] Okay.

[00:41:30] There's your fun fact about San Diego for tonight.

[00:41:33] So they didn't like what the official NBA came about.

[00:41:36] They didn't make it to that?

[00:41:39] Yeah, they tried to jump to the NBA.

[00:41:42] It didn't quite work out.

[00:41:43] But there used to be the Clippers down here in San Diego.

[00:41:45] The Clippers started down here.

[00:41:47] But yeah, Golden Hall getting leased out for monetizing.

[00:41:50] Tuglory goes on to say, since the beginning of my administration, I've focused on four key priorities.

[00:41:55] And it looks like you failed at all of them with the way the budget deficit is.

[00:41:59] Keeping San Diego safe.

[00:42:01] Fail.

[00:42:02] Addressing our homelessness crisis.

[00:42:05] Fail.

[00:42:05] Fail.

[00:42:06] Building more homes and fixing our roads.

[00:42:08] Fail.

[00:42:09] Because the government's not building any more homes.

[00:42:11] These priorities will not be changing.

[00:42:13] Tuglory said.

[00:42:14] I don't want to dox you, but didn't you just have a shooting outside your work recently?

[00:42:18] Yes.

[00:42:20] Yeah.

[00:42:20] There was a double homicide in downtown not too long ago.

[00:42:25] Literally saw everything from our office window.

[00:42:28] But that was a weird story.

[00:42:31] I don't know if that was just because of the day.

[00:42:32] That was like a lover's quarrel or something.

[00:42:35] But yeah, I mean, the fact that that happened and there's tons of police sirens that you hear all the time in downtown.

[00:42:42] It's not necessarily the same.

[00:42:44] I wouldn't choose to go to downtown.

[00:42:45] Let's just put it that way.

[00:42:47] If I had a choice of where to go for a dinner or a drink, downtown would not be the spot.

[00:42:53] It's funny because you and I don't talk on the phone often.

[00:42:56] It's usually on a Tuesday prior to the podcast.

[00:42:59] And I'll say something like, hey, I want to run over something about the show tonight.

[00:43:02] Can you call me on your wake up?

[00:43:04] And you'll call me at, I think, almost every time.

[00:43:08] Which, again, this isn't an offer.

[00:43:09] We're not often on the phone.

[00:43:10] But every time, there'll be sirens.

[00:43:12] And you're like, oh, what draw is happening right now?

[00:43:15] It's always.

[00:43:17] Yeah.

[00:43:18] There's always something.

[00:43:19] Especially because I'm driving back from downtown.

[00:43:22] There's always a siren or something happening.

[00:43:24] Let's see.

[00:43:24] Todd Gloria.

[00:43:26] In questioning the potential additional revenue sources, Gloria said fees for trash pickup might generate $70 million.

[00:43:33] That's a lucrative business.

[00:43:35] In preparing for the next budget, which would begin on July 1st, city departments will be asked to budget from scratch.

[00:43:40] Do you guys have, you like contract with the trash company?

[00:43:45] Yeah.

[00:43:45] It's Republic.

[00:43:47] Republic and somebody else.

[00:43:48] I don't know.

[00:43:49] But we had a whole.

[00:43:51] I was trying to figure out why the city makes money off this.

[00:43:54] And I don't know how it works in my city.

[00:43:56] But then, they are very big trucks.

[00:43:58] And they will destroy the roads.

[00:44:01] So it's fair if they pay a certain amount of tax or something to cover that.

[00:44:06] That makes sense.

[00:44:07] Maybe.

[00:44:09] Yeah, I don't know the economics of how that actually works.

[00:44:12] But I guess they make a ton.

[00:44:14] If you look at all governments nowadays, everything is contracted out.

[00:44:19] There's not a lot of city services that are still run by the city.

[00:44:26] Like, you look at garbage is contracted out.

[00:44:29] A lot of maintenance is contracted out.

[00:44:31] Like, it's not a lot that they actually do themselves.

[00:44:35] Because they kind of recognize, like, okay, the private sector, it's cheaper.

[00:44:39] Well, maybe it's not cheaper because they run up the contract fees because it's the government.

[00:44:43] But it's easier to have them just contracted out than have employees on the payroll.

[00:44:48] But, I mean, I think we should just contract out everything and make it for, like, actual bidding of contracts, not just your buddies in the union.

[00:44:58] Also, why are our city departments not budgeting from scratch every year?

[00:45:03] Like, why do we just roll over?

[00:45:06] I think government should just be budgeting from scratch every year, not rolling over from last year.

[00:45:11] Because they were like, oh, we need this money for upgrades to our department, even though we spent it all in the last month on, like, new toilet seats or something.

[00:45:20] So, that's just my take.

[00:45:22] San Diego City, not doing so well.

[00:45:24] $258 million budget.

[00:45:26] They were really banking on that measure e-passing and raising taxes on us.

[00:45:29] But it didn't work out.

[00:45:30] In other San Diego news, this came out as of just today.

[00:45:36] San Diego County has now become a super sanctuary in a 3-to-1 vote.

[00:45:43] The resolution says the county, quote,

[00:45:44] shall not provide assistance or cooperation to ICE in its civil immigration enforcement efforts,

[00:45:49] including by giving ICE agents access to individuals or allowing them to use county facilities for investigative interviews or other purposes,

[00:45:58] expending county time or resources, responding to ICE inquiries, or communicating with ICE regarding individuals' incarceration status or release dates,

[00:46:08] or otherwise participating in any civil immigration enforcement activities.

[00:46:12] Supervisor Jim Desmond was the sole vote against the resolution, saying,

[00:46:16] the super sanctuary county vote betrays American citizens.

[00:46:20] Desmond called the measure reckless and says, quote,

[00:46:23] not only goes far beyond California's already extreme sanctuary state laws,

[00:46:27] but actively endangers our communities by shielding illegal immigrant criminals from deportation.

[00:46:32] Consider this.

[00:46:34] Under this policy, law enforcement is prohibited from notifying ICE about individuals in custody

[00:46:38] who have committed violent and heinous crimes, including rape and stalking,

[00:46:42] assault and battery, burglary, child abuse, and more.

[00:46:45] Let me be crystal clear.

[00:46:47] This policy means that an illegal immigrant who has committed one of these appalling crimes

[00:46:51] will now walk free on our streets once they serve their jail sentence,

[00:46:54] protected by county policies with no coordination with ICE.

[00:46:59] So, not to be outdone, San Diego County, LA went sanctuary status,

[00:47:04] and they said, we're going to be a super sanctuary.

[00:47:07] Not surprising, Nora Vargas, Tara Lawson Reamer,

[00:47:10] who's the other girl I can never remember.

[00:47:12] I think she's my supervisor.

[00:47:13] I can't remember.

[00:47:14] Monica, Monica, blah, blah, blah.

[00:47:16] I can't remember her name.

[00:47:18] Not important, but that's where we're at.

[00:47:20] And Joel Anderson, the other Republican, had a cough and did not show up for the vote.

[00:47:27] So, wasn't that important enough for Joel Anderson to show up?

[00:47:31] I mean, he would have been up, but yeah.

[00:47:33] Well, it would have been nice to make it 3-2 rather than 3-1,

[00:47:37] just for the numbers sake, to make it look a little closer.

[00:47:39] I was curious about that.

[00:47:39] I didn't know why.

[00:47:40] I was like, well, where's the fifth person?

[00:47:42] You know, Tara Lawson Reamer won her re-election.

[00:47:45] Excuse me.

[00:47:46] He won a re-election against Kevin Faulkner.

[00:47:49] Local election.

[00:47:51] So, she's going to hold on to her seat.

[00:47:53] She'll probably be the next chair.

[00:47:54] And God help us, she'll be the next chair.

[00:47:56] And she'll push some of the most radical leftist policies on San Diego County.

[00:48:01] It wasn't that long ago, San Diego had a county board of supervisors

[00:48:04] that was actually a majority Republican.

[00:48:07] So, just saying, it wasn't that long ago that we had a majority Republican.

[00:48:11] And we had a Republican mayor as well.

[00:48:14] Imagine that.

[00:48:14] A Republican board of supervisors and a Republican mayor all at the same time.

[00:48:18] There's hope for the future.

[00:48:20] Just wasn't this time.

[00:48:22] Maybe not with our local party the way it's going,

[00:48:24] but that's a whole other episode.

[00:48:25] So, that's it.

[00:48:26] That's breaking news.

[00:48:27] As of now, San Diego County is becoming a super sanctuary.

[00:48:30] Don't want to work with ICE.

[00:48:33] I don't know why, but it reminded me of the supersized commercials

[00:48:36] of the McDonald's in the 90s.

[00:48:40] But, like, you don't just get your compo.

[00:48:43] You could supersize it.

[00:48:45] I just felt that with, like, San Diego, they're just like,

[00:48:48] not only are we a sanctuary city, we're a super sanctuary city.

[00:48:52] We're a super sanctuary city.

[00:48:55] I don't know if this is going to work.

[00:48:57] Like, we kind of round off the whole episode.

[00:49:00] This is them going farther to the left.

[00:49:04] And I'm not sure if this is a good idea for San Diego politicians.

[00:49:08] Now, if we had a local party that was competent

[00:49:11] and not run by a bunch of cronies and bootlickers,

[00:49:15] it'd be great.

[00:49:16] But, unfortunately, we don't.

[00:49:19] So, getting a lot of these people out might be a little bit of a challenge.

[00:49:24] But, again, I think there's going to be enough people in San Diego County.

[00:49:27] Actually, the biggest shift of Republican votes in San Diego County,

[00:49:32] I think, actually came from South Bay, which is a largely Latino population.

[00:49:36] So, interesting to note there.

[00:49:39] I'm also interested to see, I know Jim Desden came out and said, like,

[00:49:43] look, I'm not going to quit fighting on this.

[00:49:46] Like, I think he said in his words, like, help is on the way.

[00:49:49] Like, Trump will be elected.

[00:49:50] Tom Holman will come in.

[00:49:52] Like, he's going to work with the federal government to figure out what they can do

[00:49:55] or what they can do to kind of override a lot of this.

[00:49:58] But it will be interesting to see.

[00:50:00] I don't think Tom Holman, from what I've seen,

[00:50:05] I don't think he's going to take this laying down.

[00:50:08] And I don't think he's just going to throw up his hands when it comes to California

[00:50:10] and just go,

[00:50:12] all right, you guys declared yourself a sanctuary state or sanctuary city.

[00:50:15] I guess I can't do anything.

[00:50:17] Aw, shucks.

[00:50:20] Darn.

[00:50:20] I guess I'll just, you know, it looks like you guys got under control.

[00:50:24] I'll just go back to D.C. and figure out what I'm going to do.

[00:50:27] It's going to be a fight.

[00:50:28] It'll be interesting.

[00:50:31] So, moral of the story, I think a good way to kind of summarize the entire episode

[00:50:36] before we log off.

[00:50:38] We have two sets of California Democrats who are panicking.

[00:50:41] We have those who are actually rational and going,

[00:50:46] hey guys, maybe we need to actually-

[00:50:48] Just call Scott Wiener rational.

[00:50:49] I know.

[00:50:50] I actually, I said that and I'm like,

[00:50:52] I can't believe I'm putting Scott Wiener in the rational category.

[00:50:55] Unfortunately, he was in the rational category.

[00:50:58] This time, he's not always in the rational category.

[00:51:01] I was going to list off like some of the stuff that he talks a big game about making government

[00:51:06] efficiency and tackling all these issues.

[00:51:08] But I actually pulled up like legislation that he enacted or that he introduced.

[00:51:14] The first one on top of the list supports refugees and those grant asylum by extending

[00:51:17] the base number of days.

[00:51:18] They're entitled to case management from 90 to 80.

[00:51:22] Improves street safety by requiring speed governors in new vehicles.

[00:51:25] Allows adults over 21 to use certain psychedelics.

[00:51:29] So, you know, the important things, right?

[00:51:33] Like Scott Wiener said.

[00:51:34] Yeah.

[00:51:34] So, I think there's a group of California Democrats who are going, hey guys, like they've

[00:51:40] made it pretty clear with Prop 36 and Trump flipping nine counties.

[00:51:43] We got to figure out where we stand and like move a little bit to the middle or moderate

[00:51:51] like the San Jose mayor.

[00:51:53] Now we have people in LA City and now San Diego County who have decided, screw that.

[00:52:00] We're going to go farther left and even more progressive.

[00:52:03] So, it might cause a rift between the California Democrats, which poses an opportunity for Republicans

[00:52:10] or Libertarians or anybody to get in there and kind of split them up.

[00:52:13] So, I think for those who think that California is a lost cause, I would say don't count us out yet.

[00:52:20] Obviously, we're not done yet.

[00:52:21] We've come back from deep blue to more red and it's getting redder every election cycle.

[00:52:27] So, don't give up on California.

[00:52:29] What are your final thoughts?

[00:52:30] I agree.

[00:52:32] I always appreciate those comments.

[00:52:34] Glad I left.

[00:52:36] Glad I left.

[00:52:36] Okay.

[00:52:37] I'm glad your life is working out for you.

[00:52:39] But I'm not giving up on California.

[00:52:42] It has much to offer.

[00:52:44] Some horrible things going on, yes.

[00:52:46] Somebody has to stay and fight.

[00:52:48] I don't consider myself like a fighter, but I hope that through this podcast, we're able to at least educate some people on some things that are going on.

[00:52:57] And of course, I don't say that condescendingly.

[00:52:59] But I just hope that we're able to like, hey, you actually have a say in this.

[00:53:04] Your vote does matter, especially when it comes to local elections and stuff.

[00:53:07] And so, that's my version of fighting, if you will.

[00:53:11] And of course, raising my kids to hopefully believe the right way.

[00:53:15] Hopefully, I'm doing a good job there.

[00:53:17] So, yeah, I'm staying.

[00:53:18] Unless for some reason, my husband's job, we need to go.

[00:53:21] I don't see that happening.

[00:53:22] But if Switzerland is calling us, then I'm going to go to Switzerland.

[00:53:25] Unless, you know, Scotland.

[00:53:27] So, it's called me now.

[00:53:28] I'm going to go pack my bags.

[00:53:29] I'm okay with that.

[00:53:30] Yeah.

[00:53:31] You know, a lot of people, I always hear the comments and the DMs of people on Instagram who are like, oh, it's, you know, it's so nice.

[00:53:37] And again, I never followed anybody if you moved or had to move because of your family.

[00:53:41] That's what you have to do.

[00:53:42] What's best for your family.

[00:53:43] But the people who kind of go, oh, well, I went to Arizona.

[00:53:45] I'm like, no, Arizona is on the way too.

[00:53:49] Arizona is not too far behind California.

[00:53:50] Even though it went red this time.

[00:53:53] Things are changing in Arizona too.

[00:53:56] So, things can change, you know.

[00:53:58] And I think stopping things here makes a big difference in terms of how California goes.

[00:54:03] So does the nation.

[00:54:04] And if California is going more red and is stopping far left progressive policies, it stops it for the rest of the nation.

[00:54:11] So, all right.

[00:54:14] Any other final thoughts before we log off for the night?

[00:54:16] Thanks, everyone, for tuning in.

[00:54:18] Everybody in the chat going wild.

[00:54:19] It was great to see you guys.

[00:54:21] Love seeing a lot of people in the chat.

[00:54:23] Love seeing an active chat.

[00:54:24] That's why we do this live every Tuesday at 6 p.m.

[00:54:28] Otherwise, if we didn't care about people in the chat, we would just pre-record these and throw them up on YouTube.

[00:54:32] But thank you to everybody for tuning in and watching.

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[00:55:03] And we will see you next week for the last show of the year of 2024.

[00:55:09] And that will be a wrap.

[00:55:11] Thanks, everyone.

[00:55:11] And we'll see you on the next one.

[00:55:13] Later.

[00:55:24] Thank you for listening to another episode of California Underground.

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