I have often joked with my Legal Insurrection team that I enjoy being a “foreign correspondent.”
But, like the Babylon Bee, I often find my quips turn into prophesy.
The last time I wrote about California Gov. Gavin Newsom, I noted he called an emergency session to divert $25 million for legal cases he anticipates in his effort to “Trump-proof” the state.
Now he is going even more rogue. After President-elect Donald Trump threatened Mexico with tariffs unless they stemmed the flow of immigration and fentanyl, Newsom is working to create an even stronger relationship with our neighbor to the south and slammed Trump’s tariff proposals.
California Governor Gavin Newsom stressed the importance of trade with Mexico and immigrant labor at a press conference near the border on Thursday, striking a contrast with President-elect Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs and mass deportations.Newsom, a Democrat, portrayed the Republican president-elect’s planned 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada as a tax on Americans who could see increased prices if the plan moves forward when Trump takes office on Jan. 20.Trump won a second term last month promising protectionist U.S. trade policies and a sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration while also taking aim at transgender rights and diversity initiatives. Newsom and California Attorney General Rob Bonta have emerged as prominent Democratic opponents of Trump’s agenda, pledging to defend the state’s liberal policies.Newsom called the Trump tariff plans “one of the biggest tax increases in U.S. history.”
Newsom said California was committed to advancing plans to open a new legal border crossing near San Diego, and derided the efforts at mass deportation.
He said the state would work with outgoing President Joe Biden’s administration but that Trump’s support would be needed to complete it by late 2027….Agricultural groups have said Trump’s plans for record deportations could decimate the nation’s food supply if it extends to farm workers, a concern Newsom echoed.“The impacts of mass deportation on the cost of food in this state, in this nation, are off the charts,” he said.
Trump officials were not impressed with the posturing.
Trump transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Trump’s policies would benefit American workers and rejected Newsom’s suggestion that prices would rise.“President Trump has promised tariff policies that protect the American manufacturers and working men and women from the unfair practices of foreign companies and foreign markets,” Leavitt said in a statement.
But neither are the Mexicans, it seems.
It turns out many in Mexican migrant camps are already quiet-quitting their plans to enter our country illegally.
In sprawling migrant camps across Mexico City, people are giving up their plans to cross into the United States and are instead planning to settle in Mexico or begin the long trek back home.’I’m just going to give up and go back to Venezuela,’ said a woman in one of the squalid encampments, where thousands of migrants have constructed tents with tarps and scrap material.’I have children to take care of,’ she added. ‘I’ll just go back because, with Donald Trump, it’s going to be too hard.’This is a cruel reality for millions of people drawn to Mexico by the Biden administration’s indulgent border policies – only to find that Americans overwhelmingly rejected the misguided approach in the 2024 election.
Newsom appears to be operating under the mistaken notion this is 2017. In 2025, Trump will have a better, stronger, and more MAGA-motivated team and a more supportive media in X and podcasts.
Stunts, posturing, and virtue-signalling will not have the effect they once did on the electorate. This will likely be even more true in California, as residents will wonder why they aren’t enjoying the prosperity other states have under Trump 2.0.
Trump is likely to be more successful at California-proofing the country.
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