All posts tagged "california"

5 key details to know about suspect in 'horrific' California wildfires

Investigators on Wednesday announced new information about the suspect in the devastating Pacific Palisades fire in January.

Here are five things to know about the suspect.

1. The suspect's name is Jonathan Rinderknecht.

He is a 29-year-old French-born man who was living in Florida at the time of the arrest, CNN reports. He formerly lived in the Pacific Palisades and has gone by the names “Jonathan Rinder” and “Jon Rinder."

2. Investigators point to a video from the trailhead, where the fire was set, with an image of his car.

Officials say he was the only person in the location at the time of the fire, and they matched video of his vehicle to Rinderknecht.

3. He was an Uber driver at the time of the fire. He used to live in the neighborhood.

He allegedly set the fire after dropping off passengers in the area on Dec. 31 and appeared "agitated and angry," according to two separate passengers who were in his car.

This fire spread over the course of several days, according to reports.

"After dropping off a passenger in Pacific Palisades, Rinderknecht – who once lived in that neighborhood – drove towards Skull Rock Trailhead, parked his car, attempted to contact a former friend, and walked up the trail," the U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California said in a statement.

4. He called 911 several times to report the fire, but struggled to connect because he was out of cellphone range.

He then connected with 911 after a neighbor reported the fire. He allegedly used his iPhone to take videos at a nearby hilltop area and listened to a rap song that he had listened to repeatedly in previous days. The song's music video included things being set on fire.

"During an interview with law enforcement on January 24, 2025, Rinderknecht lied about where he was when he first saw the Lachman Fire," officials said. "He claimed he was near the bottom of a hiking trail when he first saw the fire and called 911, but geolocation data from his iPhone carrier showed that he was standing in a clearing 30 feet from the fire as it rapidly grew."

5. He is expected to make his initial court appearance on Wednesday.

“The complaint alleges that a single person’s recklessness caused one of the worst fires Los Angeles has ever seen, resulting in death and widespread destruction in Pacific Palisades,” Acting United States Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement. “While we cannot bring back what victims lost, we hope this criminal case brings some measure of justice to those affected by this horrific tragedy.”

Trump is using this appalling meme to trigger a terrifying new catastrophe

Last week, Donald Trump posted a stolen valor war meme on his failing, Nazi-infested social media site, with the bonespurs-draft-dodger wearing a US Army Cavalry hat and the slogan, paraphrased from the movie Apocalypse Now:

“’I love the smell of deportations in the morning…’ Chicago is about to find out why it’s called the Department of War. 🚁 🚁 🚁

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker replied on BlueSky:

“The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city. This is not a joke. This is not normal. Donald Trump isn't a strongman, he's a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.”

So, how could this play out? It’s important to begin the conversation — and planning — for what appears to be the Civil War 2.0 that Trump’s apparently trying to incite.

First, there’s precedent for the federal government to send federal troops into a state to enforce the law as ordered by a court.

JFK did it in the 1962 Ole Miss crisis, to enforce the Supreme Court’s Brown v Board decision, mobilizing up to 31,000 federal troops, including the 503rd Military Police Battalion, the 108th Armored Cavalry Regiment, and soldiers from the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions. Kennedy also sent federal troops and readied thousands near Birmingham, Alabama, during violent resistance to those same federally mandated desegregation efforts.

To accomplish this, Kennedy invoked the Insurrection Act of 1807, which is actually a series of laws passed over a two-decade period, that constitute a virtual blank check for presidential power.

Particularly problematic is Section 253 of the law that allows the president to use troops to suppress “any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy” in a state that “opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws.”

As the Brennan Center for Justice explains:

“This provision is so bafflingly broad that it cannot possibly mean what it says, or else it authorizes the president to use the military against any two people conspiring to break federal law.”

Adding to Trump’s potential power, in 1827 the Supreme Court ruled that “the authority to decide whether [a crisis requiring the militia to be called out] has arisen belongs exclusively to the President, and . . . his decision is conclusive upon all other persons.”

Both JB Pritzker and California Governor Gavin Newsom have explicitly said that they believe much of this is Trump preparing to use troops for voter suppression in Blue areas of the country during the 2026 elections to prevent Democrats from taking Congress.

Pritzker said voters “should understand that he [Trump] has other aims, other than fighting crime” and that this is part of a plan to “stop the elections in 2026 or, frankly, take control of those elections.”

Newsom pointed out, “Interestingly, we still have federalized National Guard assigned through Election Day. Is that a coincidence? Through Election Day?!”

Additionally, the governors of 19 Blue states issued a statement saying:

“Instead of actually addressing crime, President Trump cut federal funding for law enforcement that states rely on and continues to politicize our military by trying to undermine the executive authority of governors as commanders in chief of their state’s National Guard …

“Whether it’s Illinois, Maryland and New York or another state tomorrow, the president’s threats and efforts to deploy a state’s National Guard without the request and consent of that state’s governor is an alarming abuse of power, ineffective, and undermines the mission of our service members. This chaotic federal interference in our states’ National Guard must come to an end.”

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner went a step further, saying he was willing to actually arrest federal agents who exceed or break the law:

“Let’s be clear: if the National Guard comes to Philadelphia and commits crimes, they will be prosecuted locally and Donald Trump cannot pardon them.”

So, how does this play out?

Trump is already reportedly positioning Texas National Guard troops and other federal officers at the Naval Station Great Lakes, just north of Chicago, presumably preparing for an invasion of that city as soon as this week.

The vision of former Confederate-state troops seizing control of the largest city in a former Union state is explosive and may well provide Trump with the violence he’d hoped for but didn’t get in LA and DC. Violence he could use to justify invoking the Insurrection Act like Kennedy did, and then using that to lock down the 2026 elections.

If this happens, will Pritzker follow Krasner’s model and begin arresting federal agents and Texas National Guard members if they’re found breaking Illinois or Chicago law? Or will he sue at federal court the way Newsom did? Or both?

If he does the former, it could literally kick off a second American Civil War. If he does the latter, Trump may win Civil War 2.0 without a shot fired, particularly if the six corrupt on-the-take Republicans on the Supreme Court overrule the lower courts and endorse Trump’s actions.

And if Pritzker and Newsom are right, all of this is being done — along with extreme gerrymandering — as part of the widespread Republican effort to rig the 2026 election so Democrats can’t take back the House and begin subpoena-based investigations of Trump’s crimes from the Epstein era to his recent murder of 11 immigrants in a boat off the coast of Venezuela.

Meanwhile, as Trump pits Americans against each other, dismantles our federal government, ensures future epidemics, and grifts billions in cybercurrencies, China and Russia are pulling the rest of the world together against America. It’s almost as if Vladimir Putin was giving Trump weekly directions, a dystopian Manchurian Candidate notion that seems more credible with every passing day.

He’s systematically weakening America while boosting Putin. By shutting down Voice of America, dismantling defenses against Russian election interference, ignoring Ukraine, and bungling diplomacy with tariffs and summits that drive allies toward Moscow, he’s handed Putin victories that come at the direct expense of U.S. power and security.

In the face of this, Trump is doing everything he can to ramp up tensions and provoke people in Blue cities to violence which he can then exploit to increase his power and further crack down on elections, particularly next year.

All, apparently, in-service of converting America from a historic liberal democracy into a one-man personality-driven dictatorship that’s increasingly aligned with — and following the model of — other tyrants around the world.

As a result, now is the critical time for all Americans to get educated about what’s going on and prepare for the eventuality of a totally locked-down police state being imposed on multiple Blue cities, particularly in states where not counting the urban vote can flip the entire state Red (which is most Blue states).

Trump is trying to take down American democracy for good. This is not a drill. Organize, educate, call your representatives, and prepare to show up in the streets.

This ICE arrest in California reveals Trump's vast criminal scheme

An 18-year-old boy was kidnapped by Immigration and Customs Enforcement outside LA just days before he was to begin his senior year in high school. He was walking his dog when they came for him.

ICE never told his parents. For a week, they had no idea where he was. During that time, ICE had taken him to one facility, then another, then another, before sending him to Arizona, where he awaits his fate.

This story is being repeated across the country. Federal immigration authorities are taking from churches, schools, workplaces and courts people whose crime is coming, or staying, without authorization. Otherwise, they are hard-working, family-oriented and law-abiding.

A typical reaction to these stories is that they are at odds with Donald Trump’s campaign promise of getting rid of “the worst of the worst,” those who have committed serious crimes, especially violent ones.

To continue with that reaction would do more harm than good, however, as it accepts as true the belief that Trump cares about crime and about public safety, and that the solution is for him to pull back.

The president doesn’t care about crime, except as a pretext for doing what he wants, nor is he going to pull back, even if the pretext is proven lawless and false. Indeed, it will be used by his thugs as rationale for committing crimes even greater than the ones they claim to fight — like kidnapping an 18-year-old boy, violating his rights, frightening his parents and terrorizing his community — because crime, as they see it, is not about what you do, but who you are.

And as long as there are people in America who are walking their dogs while brown (or Black),Trump will see a “crime wave” so massive it justifies commandeering local law enforcement and replacing police with armed soldiers to do what needs doing to “keep the country safe.”

Are we safer thanks to ICE?

ICE conducted a raid in Connecticut recently. It detained about 65 people living in the country without authorization. The name of the raid was “Operation Broken Trust.” It was not only a comment on my state’s sanctuary laws. It was a warning, as if to say: We can do to your people whatever we want and there’s nothing you can do to stop us.

With exceptions, Connecticut’s Trust Act puts strict limits on how state and local police cooperate with federal immigration authorities. The law, like all so-called sanctuary laws, does not interfere with federal agents. It only forces them to do their work on their own. As the office of Connecticut Attorney General William Tong has said, the Trust Act “reflects the unremarkable proposition that immigration enforcement is the responsibility of the federal government.”

But by protecting brown people (read: “criminals alien offenders”), Connecticut’s Trust Act actually breaks the public’s trust, an ICE spokeswoman told the New Haven Register.

“Such laws only force law enforcement professionals to release criminal alien offenders back into the very communities they have already victimized,” she said.

The subtext here is that Connecticut, like all cities and states run by Democrats, is being hopelessly overrun by “criminals alien offenders,” that its leadership is weak, and that the only way to make things right is for the president to come in and enforce law and order. Two top state Republicans agreed that things are so bad they justified violating Connecticut’s sovereignty.

“Connecticut’s streets are now safer,” they actually said in a statement. “Violent offenders are now in custody.”

But are we safer thanks to ICE?

ICE said it took immigrants who had broken federal law, but did not cite federal crimes committed. The crimes it did cite were almost entirely state crimes — assault, rape, robbery, etc. ICE also said the immigrants it took had already been convicted of those crimes by the state. In other words, and in its own words, ICE suggests that Connecticut’s streets are safer because Connecticut enforces the law.

That ICE took them anyway tells you public safety and public trust are not its main concerns, nor is serving justice, as justice has already been served. Indeed, that they were taken anyway suggests their prosecutions were not enough, that something more had to be done, for some reason beyond criminal justice. And that should be telling.

It tells us their real “crime” isn’t what they did.

It’s who they are.

And it tells us that their very existence, according to this president, constitutes a national emergency requiring a national response such that no law should be able to stand in the way of victory. Trump will defeat these “criminal aliens” if he has to break every law to do it. If he has to become a criminal to beat “the criminals,” so be it.

Dictators are criminals

Trump benefits from the appearance of good intentions – that what he’s doing, no matter how horrible it seems, is in the people’s service.

But when you strip away the facade, as I hope I have done, and see that the “crimes” in question are not crimes but rather identities, it’s hard to continue giving Trump the benefit of the doubt (unless you long to see the explicit restoration of the white-power order in America).

And it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that what we are seeing, in the case of an 18-year-old boy in California and hundreds of other stories like his, is a massive crime wave. If I snatched a boy off the street while he was walking his dog, and kept him separated from his family for a week, then took him across state lines for unknown but presumably malign reasons, I would be prosecuted for kidnapping and more.

The regime wants us to quibble over the allegation that this boy overstayed his visa, but the visa question fades into the background when you bear in mind that the president does not care about preventing crimes but rather committing crimes, in order to grab more power for himself and others, who will commit more crimes.

After all, dictators are criminals first.

The president seems to understand the downside of being seen as a criminal. During an Oval Office meeting last week, in which he talked about sending troops to Chicago, because it’s “a killing field,” he said:

“They say, ‘We don't need him, freedom, freedom. He's a dictator. He's a dictator.’ A lot of people are saying, ‘Maybe we like a dictator.’ I don’t like a dictator. I’m not a dictator. I’m a man with great common sense and I’m a smart person. When I see what’s happening to our cities, and then you send in troops, and instead of being praised they're saying you're trying to take over the republic. These people are sick.”

Trump hasn’t committed enough crimes to establish enough control over the population and suppress enough dissent against him to declare himself a dictator.

“I’m not a dictator.” But he’s getting close.

And he may get there if we continue to accept the lie rather than insist on the truth. There really is a massive crime wave. It really deserves a national response. But it has nothing to do with an 18-year-old boy.

Only one thing can stop Trump turning the US into Russia

Governor Gavin Newsom is doing exactly what he had to do with his redistricting plan in California: attempting to stop Donald Trump rigging the 2026 midterms election in Republicans’ favor.

When you have a president bent on maximizing his autocratic power and positioning his party to dominate federal elections and create virtual one-party rule, no response is too extreme.

Newsom didn’t choose to create five Democratic-leaning House districts out of territory currently held by Republican lawmakers. He threatened it as a tactic to get Trump and his obeisant Texas governor and lawmakers to back off their gerrymandering scheme to rig the election.

Since Texas went through with the redistricting, Newsom had the choice of allowing Trump’s attempt to steal the House to go unchallenged or to counterattack and re-level the playing field.

That Trump would attempt to rig the 2026 midterms should shock no one.

This is the guy who lied that the 2020 presidential election was stolen — who coerced governors, state legislatures, and election officials to change votes, who created fraudulent elector slates to cast fraudulent electoral votes, who tried to get Vice President Mike Pence to subvert the electoral certification process, and who incited a violent mob to attack the Capitol in an attempt to halt the presidential certification of Joe Biden.

It is also no coincidence that three of Trump’s most admired political pals – Vladimir Putin, Victor Orbán, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan — enjoy virtual one-party rule, their parties having long-established strangleholds on election results and governmental power. Thinly veiled autocracies today, the erstwhile democracies of Russia, Hungary, and Turkey have been crushed.

This is exactly what Trump and his Project 2025 chums have in mind for the US.

Trump is attempting to kneecap the Democratic Party’s chances in all future elections through gerrymandering and voter suppression. Measures such as eliminating mail-in voting, disallowing voting machines, reducing the number of polling places, eliminating election-day registration, and requiring proof of citizenship are all aimed at suppressing the vote of minorities who traditionally support Democrats.

Trump’s successful ploy to add five Republican districts in Texas is part of a grander scheme to reshape America’s governance system and render the two-party democratic system defunct.

In virtual one-party systems, the ruling party controls all branches of government, Trump’s obvious goal.

In one-party rule autocracies, opposition parties and shows of public dissent are often suppressed through legal, political, or violent means. Power is centralized within the ruling party and its authoritarian leader, with no democratic system of checks and balances to restrain it. Constitutions are reinterpreted or rewritten to help the ruling party and its authoritarian leader remain in power indefinitely.

This is the direction the US is headed. We have an overreaching, power-grasping president and a rubber-stamp Republican Congress that obediently does his bidding. Atop the judicial system is a pliant Supreme Court filled with Trump appointees. Federal judges who rule against Trump’s unconstitutional executive orders are maligned and served with lawsuits.

Authoritarian bullying is rampant. Trump punishes universities and states that refuse to bend a knee to his demands. He calls out the national guard to militarize Democratic-controlled cities and launches sham investigations of Trump’s critics conducted by the servile heads of the DOJ and FBI. Trump signs executive orders that violate states’ and the federal legislature’s rights. These anti-democratic acts are just the beginning.

Trump may steal the 2026 House election by other red states following Texas’s gerrymandering lead coupled with repressive voting laws that disenfranchise traditional Democratic voters. Republicans’ one-party rule would then be given two more years to entrench itself in the manner of Putin’s, Orban’s, and Erdogan’s parties. Democracy as we have known it would no longer exist.

With his redistricting plan, Newsom is pushing back. Other Democratic states may follow suit. But Trump’s election scheme has created a chillingly dark day for American democracy. Thanks to Trump, the winning party in 2026 must out-manipulate the other, since winning fairly is no longer an option.

Democrats must win the House by hook or by crook in 2026 to save America from becoming an autocratic, one-party rule country. Every anti-democratic act that Trump commits provides more striking evidence of the intent.

Governor Newsom did not stand by and let Trump’s dirty election tricks go unchallenged. If other Democratic leaders and the vast majority of voters follow suit, Trump’s second attempt to destroy American democracy will be his last.

  • Tom Tyner is a freelance editorialist, satirist, political analyst, blogger, author and retired English instructor

This Republican hero is right about one big thing — and also so wrong

Arnold Schwarzenegger, a lifelong Republican, has benefitted the world in immeasurable ways.

As California’s 38th governor, he reduced the state's greenhouse gas emissions by moving the state away from fossil fuels and toward renewables, particularly hydrogen and solar. He sought and obtained a waiver to allow California to adopt more stringent greenhouse gas emissions standards for passenger vehicles than those mandated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He’s been named an EPA Climate Change Champion for his work in green energy, clean technology and the overall struggle against climate change.

Schwarzenegger’s climate progress is even more impressive considering the size of California’s economy, now the fourth-largest in the world. With a $4.1 trillion GDP, California’s economy is larger than that of almost all countries, including Japan, Russia, and India. Only the economies of China, Germany, and the US are larger.

Given the cost and complexity of transitioning industries away from fossil fuels, especially 20 years ago, Schwarzenegger’s success demonstrates deep intelligence and an ability to see beyond the immediate. His prescience makes his “vow to fightCalifornia’s redistricting efforts all the more puzzling.

Texas is rigging the midterms

At Trump’s insistence, Texas is passing a law designed, by intent and craft, to rig future elections beginning with the 2025 midterms.

Sensing voter backlash, Trump demanded that Republicans gerrymander Texas years ahead of its scheduled census. Having just completed its congressional maps in 2021, Texas wasn’t due to re-draw them until 2031. On Wednesday, the Texas House of Representatives obliged, creating five new Republican-leaning Congressional seats. The Texas Senate is following suit and Abbott will soon sign it into law.

Republicans don’t hide the fact that they’re manipulating voting boundaries to carve up Democratic voters, merging them with heavily Republican districts where their votes will be outnumbered. The practice got the green light in 2019 in Rucho v. Common Cause, when the Supreme Court ruled that partisan gerrymandering was a political question beyond the reach of the federal courts.

Rigging elections to protect Trump in perpetuity portends too many disastrous consequences to list. So California Gov. Gavin Newsom is pushing back with a plan to redistrict five Congressional seats. Newsom vowed only to move forward with his plan if Texas states continued theirs. Texas is moving forward, and now Trump is pushing other red states to do the same.

Arnie is right about gerrymandering

Newsom’s “Election Rigging Response Act” is a defensive move to counteract what Trump and Republicans are doing. The challenge for California is that in 2010, when Schwarzenegger was governor, an independent commission approved by voters redrew maps with the laudable goal of reducing partisanship in districting.

Although Newsom’s plan would only temporarily suspend the commission's authority, Schwarzenegger has come out swinging against it, hoping to “terminate gerrymandering.”

Schwarzenegger, who successfully campaigned for independent redistricting in California, argues correctly that gerrymandering undermines democracy and voter trust. His spokesperson said Schwarzenegger “calls gerrymandering evil, and he means that. He thinks it’s truly evil for politicians to take power from people.”

Schwarzenegger isn’t wrong. It is truly evil, as well as despotic, for politicians to choose their voters instead of the other way around. But if Newsom and other Democrat governors fail to counter Trump’s partisan redistricting war in Texas and elsewhere, Republicans will seize power nationwide, possibly permanently.

Schwarzenegger’s ‘two wrongs don’t make a right’ principle is no defense to concentration camps, book bans, state forced births, and Trump’s ever-spreading police state, to say nothing of accelerated climate destruction.

Welfare state v. donor state

Compared to California, Texas is a welfare state. In 2022, Texas received approximately $71.1 billion more from the federal government than it paid in. In contrast, California taxpayers pay far more than they receive from the federal government. In financial year 2023-24, California’s total federal taxes were $806 billion — nearly twice as much as Texas, which contributed $417 billion.

Comparative economic health is relevant here because most of the Republican-led states seeking to rig elections for Trump are also welfare states presenting drains on federal resources.

California leads not only Texas, but the nation in Fortune 500 companies, high-tech industries, new business start-ups, venture capital access, manufacturing output, and agriculture.

Despite their decades-long campaign claims, Republican economies create poverty, not wealth. Nineteen of the 20 richest states are predominantly Democratic, while 19 of the 20 poorest states are predominantly Republican. Letting poverty-producing states steer the national economy is economically backward, especially as they reject science, pretend climate change is a hoax, and ignore evidence that climate devastation is accelerating.

The partisan redistricting fight could deliver a fatal blow to democracy. Schwarzenegger is right about that, as he’s been right about so many existential challenges. The Brennan Center for Justice warns of an extremely dangerous time for American democracy: “Gerrymandering … flips the democratic process on its head, letting politicians choose their voters instead of the other way around.”

But that’s where we are: the president’s party is committed to seeking power at all costs.

As Schwarzenegger continues to lead globally on climate, pushing back against ignorance from the right that threatens to drown coastal regions and incinerate habitats out of existence, he should see that California’s redistricting response is a matter of survival. California voters will stand on Schwarzenegger’s ceremony at the nation’s peril.

  • Sabrina Haake is a columnist and 25+ year federal trial attorney specializing in 1st and 14th A defense. Her Substack, The Haake Take, is free.

This Trump kryptonite just snuck up on him — and it packs a punch

Over an astonishingly short period, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California has transformed himself from a competent but uninspired "California liberal" to a piercing voice cutting through the MAGA music and crypto techno otherwise drowning out this summer.

In so doing, Newsom has become our most necessary American, the country's ego to President Donald Trump's id.

Reasonable people can differ in pegging the precise point at which the California governor turned a corner. Some might say the spark first ignited during Trump's visit to Los Angeles after the fires, when Newsom set an uncompromising and unflinching non-political tone.

Others may nod to the objection and subsequent litigation over National Guard troops roaming those same LA streets. Perhaps it took right up until he said, "No more," and promised to redistrict California in response to Trump's Texas power play.

While people quibble, all can agree that Newsom is now meeting the moment, whether it is a press conference on the new California initiative, the now nearly inevitable political showdown going forward, or the elegant all-cap trolling on Xitter, tweets with a familiar syncopation and beguiling iteration, matching Trump word for incoherent word. Newsom has this.

He is now the post-MAGA "GCN," and only starting to roar. But it took a president on the prowl of democracy to put him in the hunt.

The single most remarkable thing about Trump 2.0 is not the pace at which he is tearing down our hopes for the republic's health; that project was in the works and has been campaigned on since 2021.

No, the most shocking development has been the Democrats' mealy-mouthed retreat from center ground, the humiliating hole in space presumed to be covered by our Congressional representation. Whether it was Chuck Schumer's cave on the debt ceiling or Hakeem Jeffries's lukewarm resistance, the voiceless opposition has never been so muted.

Enter Newsom.

A year ago, all of this would have seemed laughable. On the national scene, Newsom — however competent and likable — was seen at best to be a placeholder for a nation too immature and insufficiently desperate to call on Pete Buttigieg to restore sanity as a 2008 redux, "rainbow version."

Newsom was, after all, a "California liberal," the death knell for any part of the country east of the Sierras. Moreover, Gavin may as well be a "Clinton," having been on the political scene for decades with nary a memorable noise at a Democratic convention, primary, or campaign. That was then.

It took Trump morphing into "New Trump" to bring out the fight in Gavin Newsom. And fight he has.

Right.

Democrats and Independents need this. Even saintly Joe Biden, circa 2020, failed to really capture an all-things-anti-Trump national zeitgeist. Scan the coast-to-coast "room" and point to Trump's most formidable foe right now. There is only one person rising to today's demand.

One is tempted to consider whether anyone else even wants to speak up. Wouldn't it be wonderful if it were hard to point to Trump's primary opposition? If we had governors east-west-up-down and a Congress full of energy and offense? We don't, but we do have Gavin. And just perhaps he is enough, especially if he unifies.

Not a moment too soon, it was Newsom who picked Democrats' lower lips from the floor after Texas announced its Trump-mandated redistricting plan with a "fight fire with fire" hot response, one that stunned Republicans used to Democrats only pouting about the travesty of it all while holding to an ideal of which, at least right now, is not an option. Newsom knows this all too well and perhaps stunned just as many Democrats in his abrupt, unexpected shot — finally.

No, no one should anoint Newsom as positioned as anything heading toward 2028; the first order is saving a meaningful vote at all. But he is "our" candidate for 2025 and '26, anointed or self-appointed, and in whom our support is best placed.

He has the strength to back up any plan. Grok puts California's $4.5 trillion GDP as the fourth biggest in the world. Trump and MAGA badly need that economy to flourish to keep the nation afloat, especially amidst glum economic news and tariffs hanging over us, particularly in the Midwest. The governor can cause misery for Trump through any number of moves. Unlike others, he has the necessary leverage.

Newsom needs to expand his national footprint. Fortunately, he can best protect his state by enveloping that other nation, the red-white-and-blue middle to the blood-letting red right. Take the moment into next week, next month, and definitely next year.

He needs to highlight his national super-PAC, "Campaign for Democracy," but brand it with his name, the one that matters, and buff it out, build the meme in the moment. Find his own billionaires, sic "Bernie-bros" at the cryptos, rally women — the most discerning Dems, go on Meidas and Rogan, pocket money while unleashing opposition, and for God's sake, keep up with the masterful social media. Fund all things opposition on a national scale.

We need someone, and it appears to be him. Good.

It is hard to "come from nowhere" when coming from California. Yet, weirdly, it feels as though he has. Perhaps it is because the bar has been set so low. Which is not to say that Newsom isn't rising. In a nation dominated by fear flowing from those outside of Trump's domination, he seems to revel in it. Amazingly, where he came from couldn't matter less, only that he came at all.

Someone finally grasped the reins. It behooves all of us to meet him in this moment and throughout this county. He is the leader the nation most needs, the now all-too-necessary American.

  • Jason Miciak is an American attorney, past Associate Editor of Occupy Democrats, author, and can also be found on Politizoom.

This masterful trolling has finally exposed a Trump myth

You may have noticed something. I used to talk about the president’s dementia pretty regularly, but haven’t in months. That’s because I’ve lost faith. I used to believe the Washington press corps would see the plainly obvious. I no longer believe that. The hypocrisy is too baked in.

The double standard that prevents political reporters from seeing Donald Trump’s totalitarianism is the same double standard that prevents them from seeing his dementia. He doesn’t make choices. Only Democrats do. He can’t be held responsible for what he says.

President Joe Biden tried to get his facts straight, because he believes in speaking truthfully and because he took seriously his role as an honest broker. But he sometimes stumbled over this or that word. He’s old. He’s a stutterer. Old stutterers sometimes mangle what they say. He was held responsible, anyway, and ultimately driven from office.

Trump can’t be a--ed when it comes to facts. He lies with confidence and “authority,” though what he says is often insane. No one says he has dementia. No one asks. Anyone who has seen it up close likely wonders why it seems like no one sees what’s plainly obvious.

In the absence of questions about his brains falling out of his ears, Trump looks strong. That’s his MO: do whatever you want, whenever you want, to whomever you want, safe in the knowledge that no one has the will to stop you. Therefore, if no one in the press corps has the will to doubt his mental fitness, then – voila! – he’s mentally fit, and every single unchallenged confabulation stands like a pillar of truth.

As long as the Washington press corps looks away from Trump’s dementia, he will never seem demented. And they will continue to look away, because they are incentivized to. They need attention. Trump brings attention, even when, or especially when, his statements are insane. As long as they do that, his insanity will seem like strength.

'Clearly trolling the president'

This is where Gavin Newsom comes in. I know virtually nothing about his record, but I do know the California governor has been pursuing a media strategy that is a model for other ambitious Democrats to follow. It also has the potential to expose the president’s weakness.

And Newsom doing that by unlikely means: copying Donald Trump.

First, some context. Last week, Newsom held what he called a “big beautiful press conference” in which he announced his intention to ask voters in California to approve a plan to redraw that state’s congressional districts in response to Texas’ bid to do the same.

He put the coming midterms in the context of insurrection.

“We’re here, because Donald Trump on January 6 tried to light democracy on fire, tried to wreck this county, tried to steal an election,” he said. “And here we are, in open and plain sight, before one vote is cast in the 2026 midterm elections, and here he is, once again, trying to rig the system.”

Newsom added: “He doesn't play by a different set of rules. He doesn't believe in the rules. And as a consequence, we need to disabuse ourselves of the way things have been done. It's not enough to just hold hands, have a candlelight vigil and talk about the way the world should be. We have got to recognize the cards that have been dealt.

“We have got to meet fire with fire.”

While Newsom was making these remarks, the president’s secret police showed up outside. ICE agents reportedly arrested at least one person. The LA Times would later call the episode a “show of force.”

“Right outside, at this exact moment, are dozens and dozens of ICE agents,” Newsom said at the presser. “Do you think it's coincidental? … He's a failed president. Who else sends ICE at the same time we're having a conversation like this? Someone who's weak. Someone who's broken. Someone whose weakness is masquerading as strength."

After the presser, Newsom took questions from reporters. One asked about the ICE agents outside.

“It's pretty sick and pathetic,” the governor said. “It's everything you need to know, the setting we’re under. They chose the time, manner and place to send [ICE’s] district director outside, right when we’re about to have this press conference.

“It’s everything you know about Donald Trump's America,” Newsome said. “It was top-down. You know that for a fact. They’ll deny it, I’m sure. Maybe they won’t deny it. It’s everything you know about the authoritarian tendencies of the president of the United States. … Wake up, America. You will not have a country if he rigs this election. You will see a president running for a third term. Mark my words.”

But it was only at the end of the presser that Newsom’s media strategy came to light. It was when a reporter asked about “posts on X that are clearly trolling the president?” As the redoubtable Jamesetta Williams said, it was a brilliant strategy.

“He knows if he trolls the president by posting the way he does, the press will give him scrutiny that Trump escapes, allowing him to give this kind of compelling answer," she said.

Sounding like a demented old man

What answer?

“I hope it’s a wake up call for the president of the United States,” he said. “I’m just following his example. If you have issues with what I’m putting out, you sure as hell should have concerns with what he’s putting out, as president. To the extent that it’s gotten some attention, I’m pleased, but I think the deeper question is how have we allowed the normalization of his tweets and Truth Social posts over the course of the last many years to go without similar scrutiny and notice.”

Governor of California Gavin Newsom talks to U.S. President Donald Trump in Los Angeles, California. REUTERS/Leah Millis

See what’s going on here?

First, let’s note what he’s not doing. Newsom is not playing by the old playbook saying Democrats should not go low, where the Republicans always go, for fear of bringing every discussion down to their level. Newsom is playing two levels at the same time: calling for America to wake up before a despot completely takes over as well as mercilessly mocking said despot by using the same tone and tenor he uses daily.

Second, Newsom is counting on the press corps to be exactly what it is: an amoral group of attention-seekers that is happy to play along with Trump’s authoritarianism if it’s convenient, even if that means sacrificing their credibility by holding the Democrats to the highest standard while holding the Republicans to none at all.

For the last week, Newsom’s office has been trolling Trump (see the top image for an example), as Trump trolls everyone, and yesterday, a reporter wanted to know why, which is a question Newsom can predict will come from reporters who are oblivious to their double standard.

Third, he can comment on that double standard and raise awareness of it not only among people who consume the news but among people who produce it. It’s one thing for Newsom to say Donald Trump is weak and “broken” (that’s Newsom’s code word for dementia), and that his “weakness is masquerading as strength.” It is another to level those allegations while suggesting reporters have conspired for years in the masquerade. He suggests: You notice my trolling? You notice it sounds like I’m a demented old man yelling at clouds? But not Trump? Why?

And while all that is happening, Newsom is demonstrating what real strength is by calling on voters to defend their democracy while the president sends his goons to silence him. To be honest, Newsom could not have bought better staging of the message he was trying to send.

And with this trolling, I think Newsom paves the way for something even more powerful. Trump has convinced lots of Americans that the press corps is against them, because the press corps is liberal, and lots of reporters do backflips trying to prove they are not. But by trolling Trump — by speaking in the voice of an old man who has lost his mind — and by baiting the press corps into asking him about it, Newsom creates conditions in which it’s possible to see that the press corps protects Trump from the people by hiding the truth about him.

Donald Trump wants people to see the media through the lens of us-versus-them. Newsom is flipping that around, and I’m all for it.

Indeed, I think he should drop the other shoe.

Show up for his next press conference wearing a suit that’s too big, a tie that’s too long, pants that are pulled up too high, and a tan that obviously comes out of a spray can, all while bragging about how he’s the manliness man to ever walk the earth, despite falling in love with any man who flatters him, or chickening out at the sight of conflict.

I would love to hear questions about that.

'Putting words in my mouth!' TX Republican clashes as CNN host grills him on redistricting

CNN's Boris Sanchez went toe-to-toe with Texas state lawmaker Brian Harrison (R) on Monday over the issue of gerrymandering in his state.

Democratic lawmakers fled the state in droves over the weekend to protest new redistricting proposals that would give Republicans as many as five more congressional seats. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is demanding that they return to the statehouse by 3 p.m. CDT for a vote.

Illinois Gov. Pritzker is hosting several of the lawmakers in his state, and Harrison called him out, while also slamming CNN.

"Let's talk about this hypocrisy here!" Harrison began. "I mean, Illinois and California have been much more aggressive on redistricting than even the new maps that Texas is contemplating. These are very inconvenient facts. I mean, CNN — why don't you have on your chyron right now? Every time you play Governor Pritzker, why don't you point out that Illinois, under his leadership, 45% of the vote goes to Republicans in Illinois. but the Governor, Pritzker, only gives Republicans 15% of the congressional delegation?"

Sanchez attempted a follow-up question about whether Harrison supported a federal law to prohibit gerrymandering, but the two ended up talking over each other.

"Sir, let me ask the question!" Sanchez protested. "Why not quit the gerrymandering altogether and put the power in the hands of voters to make the Republic more efficient?"

Harrison claimed that "this type of redistricting" is perfectly legal and that he was going to do everything in his power to ensure Republicans hold their majority in Congress.

"So, then, is your objection against Pritzker or Newsom doing the same thing purely that it doesn't advantage your party?" an incredulous Sanchez asked. "That's not consistent."

"No, I've never said something like that," Harrison argued. You're putting words in my mouth!"

Watch the clip below via CNN.

Kamala Harris makes 'surprising' announcement on political future

Former Vice President Kamala Harris (D) has tipped her hand on her plans for her political future.

After much speculation, Harris announced Wednesday that she would not run for California's governorship in 2026, but she did not rule out running for president in 2028.

“After deep reflection, I’ve decided that I will not run for Governor in this election," Harris said in a statement.

“For now, my leadership—and public service—will not be in elected office. I look forward to getting back out and listening to the American people, helping elect Democrats across the nation who will fight fearlessly, and sharing more details in the months ahead about my own plans.”

Deadline reported that the news "came as a surprise to those outside Harris’ inner circle, though sources say Gov. Gavin Newsom was in the loop of what was going on."

Read Harris's full statement on Deadline.com.

‘Clearly afraid’: Warren and Cruz trade barbs over Texas redistricting scheme

WASHINGTON — Texas Republicans are “clearly afraid” of their own voters, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) told Raw Story after Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) compared the Lone Star State’s mid-decade redistricting effort to “gerrymandering” in Democratic strongholds like Massachusetts.

Under pressure from President Donald Trump, Gov. Greg Abbott called the Texas legislature into a special session in an effort to ram through a controversial redistricting plan designed to net as many as five extra GOP seats in next year’s midterm elections.

That’s had Democratic leaders and rank-and-file members calling foul, but Cruz told Raw Story blue state progressives are being hypocrites.

“The Democrats have long used gerrymandering to subvert democracy and expand their congressional delegation,” Texas’s junior senator said.

“For example, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a liberal state. There are Republicans in Massachusetts. Indeed, they've elected multiple Republican governors, and yet, of the entire Massachusetts congressional delegation, there are zero Republicans.

“They have drawn the lines in Massachusetts so that only Democrats need apply. [It’s] not surprising that the state of Texas is deciding to redraw the lines to elect more Republicans who reflect views of the vast majority of the state.”

When Raw Story presented Cruz’s argument to Sen. Warren, she laughed.

“Massachusetts is not afraid of our voters, and we don't need to engage in gerrymandering in order to elect our representatives in the state house or in Congress,” Warren said.

“Texas Republicans are clearly afraid that if the good people in Texas are given a chance to vote for who they want, that those Republicans are going to lose power.”

Polling gives President Trump and congressional Republicans reason to believe their unpopular “Big Beautiful Bill” tax cut and spending cut package and the deepening Jeffrey Epstein scandal will severely damage their electoral prospects.

The proposed Texas redistricting is a break with the customary 10-year cycle that lines up with the nation’s census, in an attempt to give the GOP an edge before any votes are cast.

“What do you think about [the Texas redistricting effort] being directed from the White House?” Raw Story asked Warren.

“It’s one more indication that Donald Trump leads the charge when it comes to undercutting democracy, for the Republicans,” the senator said.

‘Everybody's happy at the White House’

Texas Republicans are facing constant questions about the redistricting plan, leading to many representatives running from reporters or offering a dismissive “no comment.”

“I know from a bunch of you Texas members, y'all don't want this,” Raw Story pressed veteran Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX).

McCaul smiled broadly.

“A lot of y'all are freaked out by it,” Raw Story added.

“Everybody's happy at the White House, now they're looking at an opportunity to get some seats and they talked to the state legislature, and it's their prerogative,” McCaul said.

“So that's kind of where it stands.”

“Maybe put forward policies people like and you can combat that midterm boom the other party always gets?” Raw Story suggested.

“A lot of times it's a game of numbers too. But anyway, this is actually sort of like the White House,” McCaul said. “So, that's about all I can say.”

Gerrymandering — the practice of drawing district lines to favor your own electoral prospects — is named after Elbridge Gerry, a founder, Massachusetts congressman, and U.S. vice president in 1813-14. The practice has always been part of U.S. politics, openly discussed by politicians and advisers.

“The objective is to get Republican seats,” House Budget Committee Chair Jody Arrington, another powerful Texas Republican, told Raw Story.

“But we don't get to draw the maps.”

That was a reference to state authorities set to carry out redistricting. Arrington dismissed suggestions his own seat could disappear, adding: “I think every Republican member from Texas wants to expand our number of seats if we can. I think there's a way to do it.”

Prominent Democrats are urging California governor Gavin Newsom to initiate aggressive redistricting in response to Texas, to reduce the number of Republicans from his overwhelmingly blue state.

Republicans like Arrington dismiss that as dirty politics.

“I think it would be problematic,” Arrington said, adding: “I don't think they can do what we can do because of the system for redistricting … there's not as much behind that threat than there is a realistic opportunity to have more seats in Texas.

“How many, I don't know, but there's definitely more there.”

‘How ugly’

Redistricting is easier in Texas than in California.

“Well, Texas can do what it wants but Newsom doing so would be in direct face of the voter initiative that puts [redistricting] in the hands of an independent commission which I supported as a legislator and as a private citizen back in the day,” Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) told Raw Story.

“That would have a really very bad look. And the way Newsom is bragging about how, ‘Well we got a three-to-one majority, we could just force this thing through’ … that's a bad look. The people directly said they wanted [redistricting] to be independent of politics and politicians.”

California “voters wanted [redistricting] in the hands of an independent commission,” LaMalfa added.

“I've watched personally, before I was in office, how ugly the process turned when politicians on both sides were drawing the lines in order to benefit their political vendettas and things like that.”

Asked about Texas, LaMalfa repeated that it could do what it wanted.

Another California Republican, Rep. Darrell Issa, was more cynical about the independent commission.

“They already gerrymandered my state,” Issa told Raw Story. “[Democrats] just think they can do a little better. California is already highly gerrymandered. You look at it, we [Republicans] have eight seats. And you look at the [last] election … we should have more than double that.”

“The independent commission is a farce,” Issa added, alleging “gerrymandering, clearly by a commission to create safe seats for Democrats.”

‘It’s racial’

Rep. Al Green (D-TX) is a Capitol Hill institution in himself, a fiery orator and leading figure in the Congressional Black Caucus.

He told Raw Story the Texas redistricting plan was “targeted for minority districts.”

Al Green Rep. Al Green (D-TX) is a fiery presence on Capitol Hill. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

“When you target people like that, you have to say what it is. This is racial gerrymandering … to eliminate minority voices in the process,” Green said.

“And there is a fear in this country of using the word ‘racial’ or ‘racism.’ There's a fear.

“We hear ‘antisemitism’ on a daily basis, and we should … but when there is this racial thing occurring, and that's what's happening in Texas, we're not hearing the voices, and that's what it is.”

Green also accused Republicans of “changing the rules in the middle of the game,” with a “mid-decade redistricting without the proper empirical evidence necessary to make judicious decisions.

“This is comparable to saying at a basketball game, ‘We're going to take out two of your players because you may outscore us in the next half,’” Green said. “So at halftime, we decide two of your five won't play. So you're gonna have to play with three, not five. We'll continue to play with five.

“We may even have six. Let's have six for our side and you have three on your side. Oh, we supposed to have 10 on the court? That's right. Okay. Well, look, we'll have seven and you have three.

“That's what this is all about, changing the numbers so that the President can maintain his authoritarian rule.”