And This Man Wants to Be President

[California, in cartoon form: fractures everywhere, U-Hauls heading east, fires burning, and fictional rail lines to nowhere. Geographic precision waived in the interest of truth.]

And This Man Wants to Be President

By Jim Reynolds | www.reynolds.com

Start with the obvious.

California is a failure.

Not in theory. Not in partisan talking points. In lived reality — measured in exits, decay, debt, and distrust.

And Gavin Newsom ran it.

Homeless encampments stretch block after block through Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose — billions spent, no measurable improvement. Tent cities metastasize while politicians congratulate themselves on “compassion.” People step over human waste on sidewalks that once defined American prosperity.

And this man wants to be President of the United States.

California endured some of the most draconian COVID policies in the country. Small businesses were crushed. Schools stayed closed. Children fell behind. Mental health collapsed. Meanwhile, Newsom dined maskless at the French Laundry — flanked by lobbyists — while lecturing the rest of the state about sacrifice.

Rules for thee. Champagne for me.

And this man wants to be President of the United States.

California burns every year.

Entire neighborhoods in Los Angeles and Northern California go up in flames while reservoirs sit low and brush piles remain untouched. Decades of failed forest management, environmental lawsuits blocking fuel reduction, and the active destruction of dams and water retention infrastructure have left the state uniquely vulnerable.

Billions are spent. Nothing is fixed. Fires worsen.

And this man wants to be President of the United States.

California’s infrastructure tells the same story.

The “train to nowhere” — now well over $100 billion — remains unfinished, mismanaged, and indefensible. Meanwhile, no serious expansion of the I-5 corridor, the economic spine of the state, has occurred despite population growth and freight congestion.

Symbol projects flourish. Essential projects rot.

And this man wants to be President of the United States.

California bleeds money.

It has the highest taxes, the highest gas prices, crushing regulatory burdens, and a cost of living that drives out the middle class. Corporations flee. High-earning taxpayers leave. Entire headquarters relocate. California loses congressional seats because people are voting with their feet.

A state once defined by opportunity is now defined by exit velocity.

And this man wants to be President of the United States.

Energy policy completes the picture.

Nuclear plants shuttered. Dams destroyed. Vast deserts scarred with low-yield solar farms and subsidized windmills. Reliable energy sacrificed to ideology. Power companies leave. Blackouts become seasonal expectations. Industry looks elsewhere.

Green virtue replaces engineering reality.

And this man wants to be President of the United States.

Crime rises. Retail theft is normalized. Gang violence resurges. Cities like Oakland hollow out as police morale collapses and prosecutors refuse to prosecute. San Francisco becomes a global punchline — a city once envied, now avoided.

Law without enforcement. Compassion without order.

And this man wants to be President of the United States.

Then there’s the biography — the part we’re not supposed to examine.

Gavin Newsom likes to hint at grit. At struggle. At humble beginnings.

It’s a lie.

His early businesses were bankrolled by the Getty family — one of the richest dynasties in America. His rise was fueled by proximity to capital, donors, and elite insulation. He did not climb the ladder. He was placed on it.

That doesn’t disqualify him.

Pretending otherwise does.

It explains the exemptions.

It explains the confidence without competence.

It explains the absence of accountability.

This is not a man shaped by constraint.

This is a man shaped by exemption.

And this man wants to be President of the United States.

The pattern is unmistakable.

Every failure is met with messaging.

Every disaster with blame-shifting.

Every criticism with moral posturing.

California is not mismanaged accidentally. It is mismanaged systemically — by leaders who mistake spending for success, ideology for outcomes, and symbolism for governance.

This is not a résumé.

It is a warning.

If this is how Gavin Newsom governs a state — insulated by wealth, protected by one-party rule, buffered by endless excuses — imagine him with national power.

Imagine the scale.

And after all of this — the decay, the flight, the fires, the lies, the lockdown hypocrisy, the squandered billions, the protected elites, the collapsing cities — this low-grade, virtue-signaling, blame-dodging, tax-and-spend scold, insulated by inherited privilege and allergic to accountability, is asking you to trust him with the presidency of the United States.

———-

Addendum: A Call to Arms

Is this over the top?

Maybe.

However, it was fun to write.

Let me say where a piece like this comes from. It comes from you — from conversations with readers, friends, and family — and, more often than not, from my own living room. My wife can be wonderfully, vocally exasperated, and when she starts arguing with the television, I know something important: she’s not alone. Millions of others are feeling the same frustration. So am I. And so are the readers I hear from every day.

Longtime readers know I usually write diagnostic essays — pieces that dissect politics, culture, and institutional behavior with calm precision. My aim there is understanding.

This is not one of those.

This is a polemic.

I believe there is a genuine danger to the country, and I believe this deeply flawed poseur must never become a national leader. I’m not hedging, qualifying, or soft-pedaling. I’m calling it as I see it.

This isn’t personal. It’s civic.

Writing is a tool. You use it where it matters most. I wrote this not for myself, but for readers who still care about outcomes — and ultimately, about the country.

If you found value in this departure into plainspoken argument, share it. Not for clicks. Not for subscribers. Not for revenue. I’m retired and financially independent.

I just want the truth in circulation.

Some moments call for analysis. Others call for clarity.

This is one of the latter.

— Jim Reynolds | www.reynolds.com