(This post may contain disputed claims. We make no assertions as to the validity of the information presented by our Opinion Columnist. We are an opinion blog, not a traditional news outlet, and this post should be treated as such. Enjoy.)Gavin Newsom, the new far-left Democratic Governor of California, is in a real tough spot. The Obama administration gave California $3.5 billion to build a high-speed rail that the Golden State never needed. Well, Newsom just announced his state is so broke that they won’t be building the railways, and then he said, “I am not interested in sending $3.5 billion back to Donald Trump.” Well, that’s when the president showed the Californian who’s the boss. You’ll love this.
Governor Gavin Newsom, who is Nancy Pelosi’s nephew, ran his campaign on free healthcare, free tuition, and free income for all. It was pathetic, but sadly it resounded with the low information voters that reside in the big cities in California. Now, Newsom has figured out his state is so broke despite the fact the Golden State has the 5th largest economy in the world. That’s partly because California has the highest illegal alien population in the country.
Last week, newly-inaugurated California Governor Gavin Newsom announced in his “State of the State” address that the “bullet train” would no longer be built between Los Angeles and San Francisco because it “would cost too much and, respectfully, would take too long,” Breitbart reported.
Newsom said the state would still build a portion of the high-speed rail project in the Central Valley in an effort to hold onto the federal funds that President Barack Obama’s administration had allocated to the project: “I am not interested in sending $3.5 billion in federal funding that was allocated to this project back to Donald Trump,” Newsom told legislators in the State Capitol in Sacramento.
Here’s the big secret everyone knows: California doesn’t need a high-speed rail project in the Central Valley, which is known as the “bread basket” of America. It’s mostly farm country sparsely inhabited by farmers and illegals who work the land. It’s a ridiculous notion to put a high-speed train out there.
Well, President Trump isn’ buying it at all. He objected, demanding on Twitter: “California has been forced to cancel the massive bullet train project after having spent and wasted many billions of dollars. They owe the Federal Government three and a half billion dollars. We want that money back now. Whole project is a ‘green’ disaster!”
California has been forced to cancel the massive bullet train project after having spent and wasted many billions of dollars. They owe the Federal Government three and a half billion dollars. We want that money back now. Whole project is a “green” disaster!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 14, 2019
Newsom responded: “Fake news. We’re building high-speed rail, connecting the Central Valley and beyond. This is CA’s money, allocated by Congress for this project. We’re not giving it back. The train is leaving the station — better get on board! (Also, desperately searching for some wall $$??).”
Fake news. We’re building high-speed rail, connecting the Central Valley and beyond.
This is CA’s money, allocated by Congress for this project. We’re not giving it back.
The train is leaving the station — better get on board!
(Also, desperately searching for some wall $$??) https://t.co/9hxEfEX8Vm
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) February 14, 2019
Well, poor Gavin just got some really bad news.
Even though $2.5 billion has already been spent — California has failed to deliver the high-speed rail (on time, or at all) as promised. So, the Department of Transportation just shafted Newsom taking away roughly $1 billion that the Democratic Governor thought he was still owed. No, Gavin Newsom, that’s not California’s money, it’s federal funds California failed to use as agreed upon.
“Making good on President Trump’s call last week for California to return billions of dollars in federal funds intended for the high-speed rail project, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced Tuesday it would cancel nearly a billion dollars in grant funds yet to be paid to the project,” CBS News reports.
Therefore, the Trump administration argues that the state has to repay federal taxpayers. The Los Angeles Times quoted Stanford law professor David Freeman Engstrom describing Trump’s effort as a “nuclear option.”
Poor Gavin Newsom felt defeated. So he had a temper tantrum and issued this statement: “It’s no coincidence that the Administration’s threat comes 24 hours after California led 16 states in challenging the President’s farcical ‘national emergency.’ The President even tied the two issues together in a tweet this morning. This is clear political retribution by President Trump, and we won’t sit idly by. This is California’s money, and we are going to fight for it.”
OK, we are sure the president is trembling in his boots over the California playboy’s idle threat. Gavin Newsom wanted to be the big boss of California, and what he inherited from Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown was one huge mess of a state. Newsom may think he can get money for free, but that’s not how it works while President Trump inhabits the Oval Office.
