Elections have consequences, as California is likely to learn when Donald Trump once again moves into the White House.
The state has been a bastion of anti-Trump sentiment ever since the bombastic billionaire real estate tycoon first ventured into politics nearly a decade ago.
Its political figures — particularly Gov. Gavin Newsom, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Senator-elect Adam Schiff — have sought and achieved notoriety for their public denunciations of Trump.
Trump has responded in kind. As president, he attempted to thwart some California policies, such as its reductions of farmers’ supplies, and as a candidate portraying Vice President Kamala Harris’s home state as a hellhole of crime and social decay.
There’s no reason to believe that Trump, despite election night promises to bridge the nation’s stark conflicts, will not continue using California as a punching bag during his second stint as president.
The agricultural water conflict is likely to resurface because the state is still trying to reduce farmers’ share. Trump’s promised crackdown on undocumented immigrants would likely have its greatest impact on California. The state’s aggressive crusade to reduce reliance on carbon-based fuels will conflict with Trump’s pledge to ramp up oil and gas production.
That’s just three points of friction between California and Trump’s second presidency, and many more are out there such as gun control and transgender participation in women’s sports.
California officialdom appears ready for four years of confrontation. On election night, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas told Politico, “California will do everything we can to protect America from Donald Trump.” Attorney General Rob Bonta promised to wage legal battles against Trump on gun control and abortion rights, telling the political news outlet, “We have gone down to the detail of what court do we file in.”
Positioning as a Trump foe is a slam dunk tactic for California politicians, especially those, such as Bonta, who may aspire to succeed Newsom as governor two years hence.
But, one might wonder, what does Harris’s defeat and Trump’s victory bode for Newsom? He will no doubt lead the opposition if Trump tries to punish the state, as he anticipated in a recent interview.
“They’re not going to wait to wind up. It’s ready, fire, aim — not ready, aim, fire,” Newsom said. “And that is going to create a dynamic that will be profound in two senses — from a governing perspective and also from a political attack perspective.”
However, would he take the next step of joining what will be a clutch of Democratic politicians angling to succeed Trump in 2028?
While laboriously building a national political profile in the last two years, Newsom repeatedly denied any ambition of becoming a presidential candidate, saying at one point he has “sub-zero interest.”
National political media never bought the line and continued to portray him as a potential aspirant for the White House. However, whatever ambition Newsom may have had if Joe Biden bowed out this year was dashed when Democratic leaders immediately anointed Harris as the substitute.
Her decisive defeat probably means that she has hit the political ceiling, particularly since initial election night finger-pointing dwelled on her shortcomings as a candidate, as well as the Democratic Party. The door is now open for Newsom to run, unless he truly intends to finish out his second term as governor and return to life as a restaurateur and wine merchant.
Newsom has spent half of his 57 years climbing up the political ladder, one rung at a time. Is he really willing to give it up? What he does in the coming months, either entering the Democratic Party’s forthcoming battle royale or exiting the national political arena, will answer the question.