California lawmakers push for CEQA reforms to address housing crisis
Several California bills could lead to significant reforms of the state's environmental review law, with the goal of addressing the state's ongoing housing crisis.
One of the bills, Assembly Bill 609, authored by Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland), would establish a CEQA exemption for most urban housing developments. The bill is part of the Fast Track Housing Package, a collection of 20 bills that aim to expedite the approval of housing projects.
The California Environmental Quality Act, enacted in 1970, requires public agencies in California to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of proposed projects and avoid those impacts, if possible.
However, many argue that the law has been weaponized to block new housing projects and development.
'CEQA can be an expensive and lengthy process, especially for large or complicated projects. This is true even if there is no litigation. Preparation of an Environmental Impact Report under CEQA can take a year or longer and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, or even, in some cases, more than $1 million,' a 2024 report from the bipartisan Little Hoover Commission said.
Liftoff! Big Bear bald eagle chick takes to the sky
The Los Angeles Times also pointed out that when CEQA threatened to stop enrollment at UC Berkeley, prevented the Sacramento Kings from building their new stadium, or prevented renovations of the state Capitol, lawmakers stepped in.
With the various exemptions, critics have nicknamed the law 'Swiss cheese CEQA.'
'Right now, it takes far too long to build the housing Californians need — and that's a failure of government,' Assemblymember Wicks said in a statement. 'The Fast Track Housing package is about making our systems work better: clearer rules, faster timelines, and fewer bureaucratic hoops. It's not about cutting corners — it's about being honest that what we're doing isn't working.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has also announced his support for reforms to CEQA.
Still, not everyone is in favor of the proposed changes to the environmental law. Dozens of environmental and labor groups, such as the California Preservation Foundation and Livable California, are opposed to the proposed changes.
Improving California's housing crisis has been a priority for Newsom since taking office.
In 2018, Newsom, in a Medium post, wrote, 'As Governor, I will lead the effort to develop the 3.5 million new housing units we need by 2025 because our solutions must be as bold as the problem is.'
Newsom has since revised that goal, setting a new benchmark for cities to plan for 2.5 million homes by 2030.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Newsweek
15 hours ago
- Newsweek
California Closes $12 Billion Budget Deficit With Hit to Migrants
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a $321 billion budget on Friday that closes a $12 billion deficit by scaling back several progressive priorities, including a landmark health care expansion for undocumented immigrants. Newsweek reached out to the governor's office via email on Saturday for comment. Why It Matters The budget agreement between Newsom and Democratic leaders marks the third consecutive year the nation's most populous state has been forced to reduce funding for programs championed by Democratic leadership. The governor and legislative leaders framed the budget as a response to what they describe as economic challenges stemming from President Donald Trump's tariff policies, immigration crackdowns and rising costs tied to increased enrollment in Medi-Cal, California's state-funded healthcare program for low-income residents that was expanded last year to include undocumented adults as part of the state's universal healthcare goals. The cuts to immigrant health services represent a significant retreat from California's universal healthcare ambitions, affecting hundreds of thousands of residents. With projected annual deficits of $17-24 billion in coming years and potential federal revenue losses of $16 billion, the state faces sustained financial pressure that could force deeper cuts to essential services. What To Know The budget addresses the deficit primarily through state savings withdrawals, borrowing from special funds, and payment delays rather than implementing new taxes on families or businesses. The most significant immigrant health program changes target Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program. Starting next year, the Golden State will halt new enrollments for undocumented adults in Medi-Cal, effectively capping the program's growth. Additionally, beginning July 2027, the state will implement a $30 monthly premium for immigrants currently enrolled in the program, including some with legal status, affecting adults under 60 years old. These changes represent a scaled-back version of Newsom's original proposal from May, which would have imposed deeper cuts to the landmark program that began just last year. The Medi-Cal modifications mark a retreat from California's ambitious universal healthcare expansion, which had made the state a national leader in providing comprehensive health coverage regardless of immigration status. The program cuts come despite California's role as home to the nation's largest immigrant population, with undocumented residents comprising a significant portion of essential workers in agriculture, construction, and hospitality sectors. Healthcare cuts extend beyond immigrant services, eliminating $78 million in mental health phone line funding that served 100,000 people annually and removing dental service funding for low-income residents in 2026. However, lawmakers successfully preserved funding for in-home care services, Planned Parenthood, and reproductive health programs. A Napolitan News/RMG Research poll released in May, conducted between February 10–12 among 800 registered California voters, found that 60 percent of Californians think illegal immigrants living in America should not be provided with taxpayer funded health care. The poll also found that 72 percent believe illegal immigration is harmful to the country. The poll had a margin of error of ±3.5 percentage points. RMG Research is a Republican-leaning pollster. California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks during a news conference at Gemperle Orchard on April 16 in Ceres, California. California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks during a news conference at Gemperle Orchard on April 16 in Ceres, People Are Saying Governor Gavin Newsom in Friday's press release announcing the balanced budget: "As we confront Donald Trump's economic sabotage, this budget agreement proves California won't just hold the line — we'll go even further. It's balanced, it maintains substantial reserves, and it's focused on supporting Californians — slashing red tape and catapulting housing and infrastructure development, preserving essential healthcare services, funds universal pre-K, and cuts taxes for veterans." Speaker of the California State Assembly Robert Rivas in Friday's press release: "This is an incredibly difficult time for Californians. Trump is undermining our economy with reckless tariffs, harsh cuts, and ICE agents terrorizing our communities. At a moment when so many are already struggling, he's adding fear and instability. In contrast, Democrats have delivered a budget that protects California. It cuts red tape to build more housing faster — because housing is the foundation of affordability and opportunity." He added: "It preserves critical investments in health care, women's health, education, and public safety. And it honors our commitment not to raise taxes on families, workers, or small businesses. In unprecedented times, under painful circumstances, Democrats are delivering for Californians." Republican state Senator Tony Strickland told reporters prior to the vote on Friday: "We're increasing borrowing, we're taking away from the rainy day fund, and we're not reducing our spending." He added: "And this budget also does nothing about affordability in California." Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire in Friday's press release: "The State is delivering a responsible on-time budget in a challenging year focused on fiscal restraint and investing in the people and programs that make this State great. This budget prioritizes record funding for our kids and public schools, protects access to health care for millions of the most vulnerable, and will create more housing at a scale not seen in years." He added: "Thanks to this budget agreement, the state will help get more folks off the streets and into permanent shelter, and we'll expand the ranks of CalFire, deploying hundreds of additional full-time CalFire firefighters, which will save lives and make us all more wildfire safe. And this agreement helps prepare our state for the ongoing chaos and massive uncertainty caused by the Trump administration. Thank you to our Senate Budget Chair Scott Wiener, Speaker Rivas and Governor Newsom and their staffs for their hard work for the people of California." Representative Pramila Jayapal, a Washington state Democrat, wrote on X in May: "Immigrants aren't making health care more expensive – Republicans are. Trans people aren't making health care more expensive – Republicans are. Poor people aren't making health care more expensive – Republicans are." What Happens Next The budget's implementation depends entirely on lawmakers passing housing legislation (AB 131 or SB 131) by Monday's deadline, or the entire spending plan becomes void. Reporting from the Associated Press contributed to this article.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
California will see 'devastating' healthcare cuts under GOP bill, Newsom says
As many as 3.4 million Californians could lose their state Medi-Cal health insurance under the budget bill making its way through the U.S. Senate, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday. Newsom said the proposed cuts to healthcare in the "one big, beautiful bill," a cornerstone of President Trump's second-term agenda, could force the closure of struggling rural hospitals, reduce government food assistance for those in need and drive up premiums for people who rely on Covered California, the state's Affordable Care Act health insurance marketplace. "This is devastating," Newsom said. "I know that word is often overused in this line of work, but this is, in many ways, an understatement of how reckless and cruel and damaging this is." Medicaid provides health insurance for about 1 in 5 Americans and generally uses income, rather than employment, as a condition for enrollment. Roughly 15 million Californians, more than a third of the state, are on Medi-Cal, the state's version of Medicaid, with some of the highest percentages in rural counties that supported Trump in the November election. More than half of California children receive healthcare coverage through Medi-Cal. The Senate is still debating its version of the bill. But the current version would require many Medicaid recipients to prove every six months that they work, volunteer or attend school at least 80 hours per month. States would be required to set up their work eligibility verification systems by the end of 2026, just after the midterm elections. States that do not set up those systems could lose federal Medicaid funding. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters last month that the aim of the policy was to encourage poor Americans to contribute and "return the dignity of work to young men who need to be out working instead of playing video games all day." The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated this month that the requirements would cut about $344 billion in Medicaid spending over a decade and leave 4.8 million more people uninsured. Health policy experts warn that work requirements can lead to people who are eligible, but can't prove it, losing their benefits. Newsom said 5.1 million people in California would need to go through the work verification progress and about one-third would "likely" meet the requirements. The other two-thirds would "go through the labyrinth of manual verification," Newsom said. He said 3 million people in California could lose coverage through the new Medicaid work requirements, and 400,000 more could lose their insurance if they were required to re-verify their eligibility every six months. Newsom said that the state's estimate was based on the number of people who dropped off Medicaid in New Hampshire and Arkansas after those states briefly implemented their own work requirements. Last year, California became the first state in the nation to offer healthcare to low-income undocumented immigrants. The expansion, approved by Newsom and the Democratic-led Legislature, has cost the state billions and drawn sharp criticism from Republicans. Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher (R-Yuba City), who has previously called on Newsom to walk back that coverage, said on social media Friday that Newsom and Democratic legislative leaders had "obliterated" the healthcare system. Newsom's budget proposal in May proposed substantial cuts to the healthcare program for undocumented immigrants, including freezing new enrollment in 2026, requiring adults to pay $100 monthly premiums and cutting full dental coverage. Lawmakers ultimately agreed to require undocumented immigrant adults ages 19 to 59 to pay $30 monthly premiums beginning July 2027. Their plan adopts Newsom's enrollment cap but gives people three months to reapply if their coverage lapses instead of immediately cutting off their eligibility. Democrats agreed to cut full dental coverage for adult immigrants who are undocumented, but delayed the change until July 1, 2026. In Congress, the GOP bill could also pose a serious threat to 16 struggling hospitals in 14 rural counties, which received a $300-million lifeline in interest-free loans in 2023, Newsom said. He said the Republican members of Congress in California who supported the bill and represent rural parts of California, including Central Valley Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford) and Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin), are "gutting an already vulnerable system." Some senators are pushing to change a requirement that would require states to freeze and cut by half the tax they impose on Medicaid providers, slashing a key source of funding for rural hospitals. Michelle Baass, the director of the California Department of Health Care Services, said that change could be "fatal for the many rural and critical-access hospitals that are already financially strained." Newsom said in aggregate, the cuts could threaten California's progress in reducing the share of residents without health insurance, which stands at about 6.4%. Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter. Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond, in your inbox twice per week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
San Francisco Chronicle
a day ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Gavin Newsom is Donald Trump's chief antagonist. But he tried being nice first
SACRAMENTO — When Donald Trump won the presidential election in 2024, Gavin Newsom was ready. He and his staff had been preparing for this possibility for months, poring over the conservative Project 2025 playbook and assessing legal strategies to counter an expected assault on California. Two days after the election, Newsom called the California Legislature into a special session to prepare for Trump's second term. Seven months later, Newsom is exactly where he thought he would be: constantly battling the Trump administration over one issue or another. In just the past few weeks, he's sued to wrest authority of the California National Guard back from Trump's control. He's campaigned aggressively against the president's budget bill moving through Congress. And on Wednesday, his office reacted with defiant mockery to the Trump administration's ultimatum over California rules allowing transgender athletes to participate in high school sports. But his path to becoming Trump's chief antagonist was unexpectedly circuitous, sometimes baffling supporters, causing one senior adviser to quit and giving ammunition to his critics from both parties. He attempted to make nice with a president who continued to call him 'Newscum' in the wake of the Los Angeles wildfires. He launched a podcast where he bro-ed out with MAGA world guests. And, as he struggled to find a coherent message to combat Trump, suggested that a wrongly deported Salvadoran man was a 'distraction.' In their latest salvo against California on Wednesday, Republicans gleefully used Newsom's own words from his podcast in March, in which he said it was 'deeply unfair' to allow trans athletes to compete on girls' teams, in their arguments against him and the state's policy. Newsom's supporters say the governor's failed peacemaking attempts were necessary because the state desperately needed federal cooperation to recover from the L.A. fires. But it meant Newsom's rhetoric for months did not match the anger polls showed most Democrats felt toward the president when many in the party were clamoring for their leaders to oppose Trump more aggressively. Newsom's supporters say he did that in a major televised address last week when he abandoned his attempts to get along with Trump and called him a 'failed dictator.' 'Democracy is under assault right before our eyes,' he said. 'The moment we've feared has arrived.' But the consequences of his meandering road to this point, and what comes since he discarded efforts to get along with the president, remain to be seen. Newsom is a lame-duck governor in the final two years of his second term whose political future likely depends on how voters view his handling of Trump. Political observers told the Chronicle that Newsom will have to be strong enough against Trump to appeal to Democratic voters in a potential 2028 presidential primary while remembering that his progressive San Francisco roots could hurt him with moderate and conservative voters in a general election. The difficulty of Newsom's position is evident in the latest Public Policy Institute of California poll in June, which showed Newsom suffering sharp drops from March in his approval ratings among California adults (52% to 44%) and registered voters (52% to 46%). At a news conference Friday, hours after filing a $787 million suit against Fox News over its coverage of the National Guard issue, Newsom said he would stand up to Trump's efforts to cut health care spending, which he described as a 'cruel' attack on vulnerable people, and his tariff policies, which he said 'vandalize' California's economy. If 'the President of the United States wants to work with the state of California, I'm absolutely committed to doing so, just as we did through COVID, and I hope to continue to do as we rebuild LA and try to rebuild this democracy,' Newsom said in response to a question from the Chronicle. 'But I'm not naive. … Working with Donald Trump is a challenge at best. One thing I will never do is work for him.' The podcast episode heard 'round the world Just before Trump took office, fires reduced whole neighborhoods in Los Angeles County to rubble and killed at least 30 people. They burned thousands of homes and forced more than 150,000 people to flee. They also upended the political dynamics of Newsom's relationship with the president. Suddenly, Newsom desperately needed Trump's help. He began Trump's second term with a statement aimed at cooperation. 'In the face of one of the worst natural disasters in America's history, this moment underscores the critical need for partnership,' Newsom wrote. 'I look forward to President Trump's visit to Los Angeles and his mobilization of the full weight of the federal government to help our fellow Americans recover and rebuild.' While other Democratic officials accused Trump of trying to destroy American democracy, Newsom avoided attacking Trump. Reporters asked him repeatedly to react to Trump's moves to suspend federal funding for California. Newsom declined. In the aftermath of the fires, he needed as much help from the federal government as he could get, longtime Newsom aide Jason Elliott said. 'It made sense at the time to have a working relationship,' said Elliott, Newsom's former deputy chief of staff. Trump also had an incentive to hold off on the most drastic plans to target California, which was still reeling in the aftermath of the deadly blazes. Newsom called Trump's attempts to end birthright citizenship and cut federal funds from California unconstitutional in terse statements in those early months, but mostly he praised the president for his work on the fires. In early March, Newsom sparked outrage among fellow Democrats when he launched a podcast featuring an interview with conservative provocateur Charlie Kirk, during which Newsom told Kirk he agreed that allowing trans athletes on female sports teams is 'deeply unfair' even though a 12-year-old state law, followed by the California Interscholastic Federation, have allowed students to join teams that correspond with their gender identity. Newsom had pitched his podcast as a sort of friendly debating platform, but he did not push back on most of what Kirk said. When Kirk inaccurately described hormone therapies given to transgender children as 'chemical castration' and described transgender medical care as 'butchery,' Newsom did not argue. 'Right,' Newsom said. 'I think we have to be more sensitized to that.' LGBT groups said they felt betrayed by Newsom, who rose to national prominence for issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples as San Francisco mayor in 2004. A chorus of California Democrats also panned Newsom's comments, including members of the state Legislature, in a rare rebuke of the leader of their state party. Assembly Member Chris Ward, D-San Diego, and Sen. Caroline Menjivar, D-Los Angeles, who chair the state Legislature's LGBT caucus, said Newsom's comments 'profoundly sickened and frustrated' them. The podcast isn't a deviation from Newsom's Democratic politics, argues Anthony York, who previously worked in the governor's office and now works for his political operation. The governor decided to do the podcast out of a desire to understand the political appeal of conservative firebrands such as Kirk and Steve Bannon so he can better challenge them, York said. He also wanted to gain ground in a new media space where conservatives are dominating. 'I understand how those things get painted as contradictory, but I don't see them that way at all,' York said. 'He would argue this is a place where more Democrats need to be … finding voters where they are.' The podcast created tension within Newsom's office. His senior adviser on aging and disability, Kim McCoy Wade, resigned over the comments. She told the Chronicle she was shocked by his agreement with Kirk. She decided she could no longer work for him after seeing him align himself with someone who supports Trump's targeting of trans people. 'I can work with someone I disagree with, but someone who puts my family at risk, no,' she said. She told Newsom in person that she was resigning the Friday after the podcast aired, and she said they had a 'thoughtful' one-on-one talk about their views. She said the governor seemed hurt and surprised by the backlash from the LGBT community. 'He was hearing from a lot of people who were just mad at him,' she said. 'He was struggling. I think he was taken aback by how much those comments hurt the community that he has championed his whole career.' As someone responsible for managing Newsom's public communications, York said having the governor in front of a mic every week for the podcast sometimes makes him nervous. But he defended the unscripted conversations, even if they sometimes lead to controversy. He said the team behind the show is still trying to figure out its target audience. The governor didn't go into the interview with Kirk planning to make a statement about his views on transgender policies, York said. Although she was shocked by the backslapping between Kirk and Newsom, Wade said she's less surprised by the actual policy position Newsom seemed to embrace during the interview, which he's since clarified and softened. 'This is who he is, he has opinions that some would say are conservative, that some would say are liberal, that some would say are independent. He is all of those things,' Wade said. 'I think he was genuinely, as always, trying to introduce himself as someone who is not in one of those boxes.' Newsom's moves are seen by some simply through a political lens. Barbara Ann Perry, a political scientist at the University of Virginia, said Newsom's comments on transgender athletes are the primary thing that's broken through at the national level from the governor's podcast. As she listened, she said she recalled thinking it was a smart strategy as Newsom positions himself to run for president in 2028, where his national reputation as a San Francisco progressive will hurt him with moderates. 'I just remember thinking as a political scientist, oh of course he's saying that because he's trying to make himself seem less progressive,' she said. 'That actually made perfect sense to me that Gavin Newsom picked that topic.' In the second episode, Newsom also waded into transgender issues by featuring a conservative guest who blamed Democrats' embrace of trans rights for their 2024 election loss. Even if Newsom didn't script his comments ahead of the interviews, he knew what he was signaling politically when he released the episodes, said Eric Schickler, a UC Berkeley political science professor. 'By appearing with some conservative male podcasters who had said a lot of things that are offensive to a lot of Democrats, that sends a signal that he was trying to reach out to these other constituencies,' Schickler said. Longtime politicians like Newsom 'do not make public statements on controversial issues without thinking about the political implications.' Newsom's comments provided an opening for the Trump administration to call on him to modify the California Interscholastic Federation rule, in alignment with Trump's efforts to erase protections for transgender people. Since he returned to office, Trump has also signed executive orders attempting to bar trans people from serving in the military and restrict access to gender-affirming health care. His administration has launched investigations into California schools and other institutions over their policies on transgender children, threatening to revoke federal funding if they don't align with his directives. On Wednesday, the Trump administration gave California a 10-day deadline to ban transgender athletes from girls sports competition and strip them of their awards. Tariffs mark a turning point Newsom became more and more critical of Trump as the months wore on. In April, Trump's decision to impose sweeping import taxes known as tariffs on goods from most other countries were somewhat of a turning point for him. The economic fallout of the tariffs was swift, even though Trump quickly backed off of many of the most draconian ones. They spurred a dramatic slump in activity at the ports in Los Angeles, Oakland and Long Beach. A crush of foreigners canceled their vacations to California. Angry business owners reached out to the governor about the economic damage the tariffs were wreaking on their businesses. All of that weighed on Newsom, said Bob Salladay, Newsom's top communications adviser. In his most fiery public criticism of Trump since the president returned to office, Newsom in April accused Trump of corruption and announced a lawsuit over the tariffs. The president had abandoned his own voters in California's Central Valley, Newsom said, where other nations' retaliatory tariffs in response to Trump's policies and statements have been hitting farmers especially hard. 'They're disproportionately going to be hurt by this,' Newsom said, standing in front of a warehouse at a Central Valley farm where he announced the lawsuit. 'Donald Trump is betraying the people of the Central Valley. He is betraying the people that supported him.' Newsom focused on the tariffs, in part, because he saw it as a winning issue for Democrats. But he overshadowed his own message at that news conference somewhat with an answer he gave about migrants deported to El Salvador without due process. 'This is the distraction of the day, the art of distraction,' he said. 'It's exactly the debate they want, because they don't want this debate on the tariffs.' Newsom described the Trump administration's refusal to obey a Supreme Court order to return one of the men, who had been wrongfully deported, as 'Orwellian.' But distraction was the word that made many of the headlines. A judge dismissed Newsom's tariff case on June 2, finding that the court where California filed was not the appropriate venue. A 'red line' crossed Strain between Newsom and Trump continued to grow, until the relationship finally cracked this month. Late on June 6, Newsom missed a call from Trump. He texted the president back, asking him to call again. Newsom spoke with Trump for 16 minutes late Friday night in California, early Saturday morning for Trump. At the time, California officials were preparing to respond if Trump followed through on reported plans to revoke a wide swath of federal grants from the state. Newsom says that's what the two men talked about. 'He was in a process Friday of defunding California,' Newsom said on the New York Times' flagship morning news podcast. 'He was looking to defund the university system. And so our conversation was about the activities that occurred on Friday.' During the call, Newsom said he briefly mentioned protests over Trump's aggressive immigration aids roiling Los Angeles, which were consuming much of the governor's attention that evening. Newsom says Trump quickly pivoted to other topics. Newsom said he first learned about Trump's plans to deploy troops when the president posted about it on his social media website the next day. Trump has told a different story. Speaking with reporters on a tarmac before he headed to Camp David, Trump said he warned Newsom. Newsom and his aides received a link to Trump's comments via text and listened to his description of the call while in L.A. working to coordinate a response to the new protests that had cropped up in opposition to the deployment. 'I did call him the other night,' Trump said. 'I said, 'Look, you've got to take care of this otherwise I'm sending in the troops.'' That was Newsom's 'breaking point,' Salladay said. 'He immediately said, 'That's a stone-cold lie,'' Salladay said, describing the governor angrily pointing his finger in the air to punctuate the statement. 'He was pissed.' Newsom has said that sending troops into Los Angeles crossed a 'red line,' and aides say it really hit home when he heard the president describe the call. 'The president lied about his phone call with the governor, which was really jarring and mystifying,' Salladay said. 'Everything we'd feared about Trump, about his authoritarian mindset, was all coming to a head.' Newsom spent much of June 8 at the Los Angeles emergency operations center, where he was meeting with the Sheriff Robert Luna, Mayor Karen Bass and other local officials. He also did three interviews with NBC's Jacob Soboroff, Fox11's Elex Michaelson and Meidas Touch. In the interviews, he was visibly angry. 'We're not going to be polite about an authoritarian dictator sending the U.S. military onto American streets,' Salladay said. Newsom and his aides had been toying for days with the idea that Newsom should do a formal address, Salladay said. Newsom doesn't typically like giving official, scripted speeches. Because of his dyslexia, he has trouble reading teleprompters and often prepares for weeks before big speeches like his State of the State addresses, scrutinizing each line. On June 9 around 4 p.m., Salladay said he asked the governor if he wanted to go ahead and give a speech. Newsom said yes. He worked with staffers in his government office and on his political team to craft it, Salladay said. They notified journalists the next afternoon. Reading from a teleprompter, Newsom criticized Trump's aggressive immigration raids for targeting 'hardworking immigrant families' at Home Depot parking lots and at a clothing company, and for detaining a pregnant U.S. citizen and a 4-year-old girl. He described Trump's deployment of the National Guard to confront protesters as a 'brazen abuse of power' that put protesters, police and the troops at risk. He accused the president of purposefully inciting violence by provoking protesters and arresting immigrants without criminal records. 'Trump is pulling a military dragnet across L.A., well beyond his stated intent to just go after violent and serious criminals,' Newsom said. 'Donald Trump's government isn't protecting our communities — they are traumatizing our communities. And that seems to be the point.' He described his government's efforts to block Trump's actions in court. He compared the Trump administration to an authoritarian regime, and criticized the president for firing government watchdogs, deleting government databases, attacking scientists and journalists, trying to control what universities teach and threatening lawyers and judges who don't bend to his will. He mocked Trump for organizing a military parade on his birthday 'just as other failed dictators have done in the past.' 'This isn't just about protests in L.A.,' he said. 'California may be first — but it clearly won't end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault right before our eyes — the moment we've feared has arrived.' MSNBC, CNN, Fox News and the BBC carried the 8½-minute speech live. Those trying to tune in on YouTube and some other streaming platforms weren't able to hear much of the speech, due to technical problems, but in the hours that followed, the governor's message spread rapidly. Videos of the speech on the governor's social channels have racked up about 40 million views, mostly on TikTok. Millions more have watched the speech on social channels for the New York Times, Meidas Touch and MSNBC. Newsom posted the audio of his speech to his podcast feed, turning a platform that has strained his relationship with progressive allies into a vehicle for his most effective outreach to that lane of his party since Trump retook the White House. Will it backfire? Being seen as a leading Trump opponent has strengthened his relationship with core Democratic supporters he will need if he mounts a campaign for the White House in 2028, many of whom he had turned off with his podcast, Schickler said. But antagonizing Trump could backfire. If Newsom runs, he'll be judged on how well California is doing. And Trump has a lot of power to hurt California, if he wants to. He can starve the state of federal funds, including for low-income housing vouchers and homeless aid. He can impose tariffs that hurt California farmers and manufacturers. He can cut off research grants at state universities. That creates a Hobson's choice for Newsom. 'The bind he's been in is he doesn't want to offend Trump, because Trump will punish the state,' Schickler said. 'That's one of the reasons that he's been very careful in how he treats Trump until recently.' The military deployment effectively forced his hand. 'He basically left Newsom with very little choice but to stand up,' Schickler said. 'He's in a really difficult position as a result.' California still has an outstanding $40 billion request for federal wildfire recovery aid for Los Angeles. When Trump was asked if his recent fighting with Newsom would cause him to withhold that money, he responded 'yeah, maybe' and blamed Newsom for the fires in the first place. 'You clean the floor of the forest and you won't have fires,' Trump said. 'Hatred is never a good thing in politics. When you don't like somebody, you don't respect somebody, it's harder for that person to get money if you're on top.' The same day he made those comments, a fire ignited on Somersville Road in Antioch and burned 358 acres. Four other major fires have been sparked and extinguished across the state in the days since. All the while, Newsom's words on his own podcast continue to haunt him. On Wednesday, the Trump administration gave California a 10-day deadline to ban transgender athletes from girls' sports competition and strip them of their awards. To punctuate the threat, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon posted a video of Newsom's podcast episode with Kirk on social media where he called trans girls' participation 'deeply unfair.' 'What part of this was fake, Governor?' she wrote. The governor's office, which has said it rejects the Trump administration's demands, attempted to thread a delicate political needle in its response: acknowledging the governor's comments on the issue while affirming that the administration will continue to follow a 2013 state law that allows transgender children to participate in sports according to their gender identity. 'Linda's back in the ring — confusing the law with personal opinions,' the office wrote. 'California follows the law. In this case, it's a law signed in 2013 that 21 other states similarly follow. The Trump Administration may follow the law based on one man's whims. California does not.'
