Turn Out The Lights, Gavin's Party's Over

<![CDATA[If only Dandy Don Meredith were alive to sing the chorus...I'm sure within the ego of California Governor Gavin Newsom, as vast as the acreage of the L.A. basin that's burned, he thinks he's handling this crisis just fine, and that no one will remember this unpleasantness witnessed over the last week. I'm sure he believes his presidential ambitions, unlike so many historic homes, restaurants, museums, and other buildings, still stand. It's over. Yesterday, there was one exchange Newsom had with a mom overcome with grief. She had lost her home. Her daughter lost her school. She lost everything and was apoplectic, as most Angelinos are, at the horrific response of federal, state, and local government that not only exacerbated the conditions making the fires possible in the first place, but compounding the efforts to put them out by sheer incompetence. Just like a gut wound sometimes takes a few days for it to ultimately become fatal, this exchange alone killed off Gavin Newsom's future political career. He just may not realize it, yet.Here is the full video, and then we'll work through it.   Someday, there will be a political how-to book written on effective retail politicking. Some political science professor, or some former campaign advisor will reflect on the modern world of communications -podcasts, viral videos, YouTube, TikTok, as well as traditional regime media (TV, print, and radio) and impart counsel on how to be a winning candidate, and how to avoid mistakes that will doom everything you've worked for. This video will be featured in a chapter entitled, "Don't Let This Happen To You." First, the woman bursting through the security detail protecting him clearly is passionate. She's clearly a victim of the fires and is full of angst. The very least, and I mean considering the work Newsom, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, and the federal government have turned in thus far, the very least is a pretty low bar, but the very least Newsom could have done would be to remove his sunglasses and at have a conversation with this woman by looking her in the eyes. He could have shown an ounce of compassion. He could literally have been a shoulder to cry on. He doesn't have it in him. He was annoyed at his team for letting her through, and he was stuck. From the top: "I'm literally talking to the President right now." He says that to this woman while looking at his phone, not talking on his phone. He doesn't have an earpiece in. His phone is merely a prop being used to get him out of an uncomfortable conversation with a constituent. How do I know he's not literally talking to the President right now? Because Joe Biden was at the funeral service for former President Jimmy Carter, and he had a televised briefing with Kamala Harris immediately after that, or as immediate as an 82-year old Sundowner's patient can afford. Also, I know he was not literally talking to the President right now, because this happened next.  So not only is he literally talking to the President right now, he's allegedly talking about him specifically about what he can do for this woman and her daughter. He doesn't know who this woman is. He never asked her name, or her daughter's name. He didn't ask her if she's got a place to stay short-term. Nothing. He didn't want to talk to her in the first place, but his security team failed in their job, serving as a microcosm to the failures of Newsom in his job. This is the second lie he's told her, and we're, what, 15 seconds in?  Woops. She doesn't believe Gavin Newsom when he told her he's literally talking to Joe Biden, and he's talking to him specifically about her. She calls him on it. She wants to listen in on the conversation. Newsom stammers, points at his phone for the third time as though he's an Apple sales associate showing off the new camera lenses, and lies to her for the third time in 20 seconds. Now, instead of him not literally being on the phone with the President talking to him about what he can do for this woman and her daughter, he's tried five times to call the President. You'll forgive my skepticism here, but I don't believe him. Every governor in the country has access to a satellite phone in order to be able to communicate in a disaster zone when cell towers are obviously overused or not working because they burned or the power is out. For Newsom to point to his cellphone and essentially say, 'drat the luck, I have no signal here, I need to go drive somewhere to get better coverage,' is Newsom blowing her off. Again, not a trace, not a scintilla of compassion is shown here. You know where there's probably better cell service, Governor? The French Laundry.  Here's the thing. Nobody cares that Gavin Newsom has four kids. It's totally irrelevant. It's not showing compassion. Newsom's kids didn't have their house burn down. Newsom's kids didn't have their private school burn down. This is no different than Joe Biden telling people who lost loved ones in war zone while serving this country that he lost his son in Iraq. It's not sympathy. It's not compassion, and it's not true. What it is, is narcissism.   What are you going to do? Why was there no water? Newsom's answer is hummina hummina. Then, the killer. Will it be different next time? "It has to be." Why? Nothing changed in fire prevention for the last six years he's been governor. He was the Lieutenant Governor for eight years before that. There have been hundreds of fires up and down the Golden State on his watch for the past 13-plus years. Why on earth should anyone have a right to expect he's going to do anything different? And then, the final blow-off. Gavin Newsom isn't even governor. Apparently, his cellphone is. He spent more time looking at and pointing to his phone than he was engaging with this woman. And then he pulled the Brave Sir Robin. He ran away. And you intuitively know what happened after the car door closed, right? Once the car started rolling and he was out of earshot of the woman and the media crew documenting it all, he screamed at his personal detail - security and political, for not intervening sooner and keeping him from looking like an ass. I'm sure the inside of that Suburban resembled the condition of Kamala Harris' hotel room at 2AM on November 6th.He's not cool. He's not charming. He's not charismatic. Gavin Newsom is hopelessly ideological and ruthlessly out of his depth. Contrast his performance in this ongoing disaster with any number of disasters, hurricane or otherwise, that have hit Florida over the past six years on Ron DeSantis' watch. There couldn't be a bigger contrast in competency and leadership. Speaking of DeSantis, at Mar-A-Lago yesterday, a press gaggle talked to a bunch of Republican governors there to meet with President-Elect Donald Trump, and one reporter tried to launch a gotcha question about what Donald Trump said regarding Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass' work thus far. In case you missed the context, here is what Trump had to say.  Naturally, regime media types got the vapors, and tried to tie every Republican governor there to it. Here was Ron DeSantis.  The Republicans have a very bright future indeed. The Democrats? Scratch Gavin off the list. Here's just a couple of ads you'll see against him if he tries to launch a national campaign. ]]>