Newsom touts successes, takes a swipe at Trump in keynote speech

from Dan WaltersCalMatters

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The California Constitution requires the governor to “report to the Legislature each calendar year the state of the state, and may make recommendations.”

For the past seven years, Gavin Newsom has grudgingly and minimally followed that order, usually avoiding the traditional January address to a joint legislative session at the Capitol.

But today, entering the last year of his governorship, he pronounced a 64 minutes, unscripted to lawmakers who touted his accomplishments and portrayed the state as a model for the world, while injecting sharp criticism of President Donald Trump as an autocrat who undermines democracy.

In this way, it was not only a celebratory swan song, but something of a platform for Newsom’s almost certain campaign to succeed Trump in 2028 — suggesting that a prosperous, inclusive and generous California could become a model for the nation if he takes the White House.

Newsom mentioned Trump by name only twice, once while decrying cuts to federal child care funds and toward the end, criticizing his refusal to send billions of dollars in aid to the deadly wildfires that swept through Los Angeles County just a year ago.

Newsom called it “complete inaction” and added, “It’s time for the president of the United States to act like the president of the United States.”

During the speech, Newsom also hinted at what he wants to see happen in his final year as governor — particularly fixing the state’s finances. Since Newsom mistakenly declared in 2022 that the state had a $97.5 billion surplus and he and the Legislature increased spending, the budget has been plagued by multibillion-dollar deficits that have been covered up with accounting gimmicks, off-budget borrowing and transfers from emergency reserves.

The Legislature’s budget adviser, Gabe Petek, projects another $18 billion in deficits for 2026-27, possibly rising to $35 billion after that.

Newsom told lawmakers that his proposed budget, to be presented on Friday, projects an additional $42.3 billion in revenue based on recent increases in tax payments. That, he said, would close the gap and provide money to rebuild reserves, pay down the state’s pension debt and fund increases in some programs, including a jump in education support.

If the Legislature passes Newsom’s rosy fiscal scenario, it would allow him to end his governorship after a year with a budget that, at least on paper, would be in the black.

However, recent history suggests that Newsom’s projected windfall should be viewed with skepticism. His finance department quietly admitted later that his 2022 claim of a $97.5 billion surplus was based on an overstated revenue of $165 billion over four years.

Overall, it was perhaps the most persuasive address Newsom has given as governor, even if it ignored, downplayed or rationalized some of California’s most vexing problems, such as the nation’s highest rates of homelessness, unemployment, poverty and cost of living, not to mention the budget deficit.

Newsom suggested it was clearly aimed at countering the “California derangement syndrome,” which sees the state as a hellhole of crime and misery, with taxes and regulations that stifle businesses and drive people to other states.

It’s a clever play on the “Trump derangement syndrome” that the political right often touts. Regardless of the pun, if and when Newsom makes his presidential ambitions official, his scariest factor will simply be that he’s from California.

The reality lies somewhere between the lofty view of California that Newsom offers, claiming “we just don’t have equals,” and the dystopian image that dominates right-wing media.

Someone once remarked that truth is the first casualty of war. By the same logic, reality rarely leads to political campaigns.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.