Newsom Prepares California for a Trump Showdown

 

By Santa Clarita Star Staff

 

California Governor Gavin Newsom is ramping up efforts to protect the state from potential retribution under a second Trump administration, focusing on issues like climate change, reproductive rights, and disaster relief. As Trump’s possible return looms, Newsom is preparing legal, financial, and policy defenses to safeguard California’s progressive values and autonomy.

 

SANTA CLARITA  — With the looming threat of Donald Trump's comeback into the White House, California Governor Gavin Newsom is intensifying measures he expects will be needed to confront an aggressive presidency. Newsom, who has been one of Trump’s most vocal critics, is going out of his way to protect the Golden State from policies he believes might target liberal California’s causes, such as climate change mitigation, immigrants, reproductive health, and natural disaster recovery.

 

This action cements another recent decision by Newsom where he traveled to Washington, D.C., to talk to the federal authorities in search of long overdue reimbursement funds owed for wildfire costs. The governor’s visit demonstrated what was at the line for California, a state that has borne the brunt of climate change and natural disasters but was as frequently in conflict with the Trump White House over disaster relief and environmentalism during Trump’s first term.

There has been a long-standing animus between Newsom and Trump which is quite clear to anyone who follows American political theater. In the first two years of bringing together the administration of President, Trump, California has become a symbol of the fight against his policies. Newsom assumed governorship in 2019 and was one of Trump’s main adversaries on issues to do with immigration, healthcare, and the environment. Trump, on the other hand, often used California as the epitome of progressive failed policy. He criticized the state for its handling of homelessness, wildfire management, and water policies, often using the state as a punching bag to rally his conservative base.

 

The most contentious battle was over aid for those affected by wildfires. Trump continued to shift the blame to forest and state management despite that the fires originated in California and were provoked by climate change and federal governmental management. In 2018, he threatened to withhold disaster relief funds unless the state complied with federal water policy and forestry demands.

 

Newsom fired back, accusing Trump of politicizing disaster relief and failing to address the root causes of the crisis. ‘You cannot fight climate change with tweets,’ Newsom said at the time in an exchange reflecting a deep political difference between both personalities.

 

As Trump is expected to reclaim the White House, Newsom is not resting as he gets California ready for the battle again. Cognizant of federal intrusion, Newsom has summarily convened a California special session to provide more financial support to legal, policy, and other forms of defenses. In his speech to the lawmakers and the public, Governor Newsom vowed to protect Californians from what he began to call an upcoming “assault” on progressive values. In a strongly worded statement, Newsom vowed, “The freedoms we hold dear in California are under attack—and we won’t sit idle. California has faced this challenge before, and we know how to respond.”

The session, set for December 2 will aim at increasing funding for the California Department of Justice and other agencies to litigate against expected actions by the federal government. The governor has also discussed with the state departments revisiting contingency measures for protecting key policies on abortion access, LGBTQ+ rights, and environmental standards.

California knows all too well about engaging in legal battles with the federal government. During Trump’s first term, the state sued his administration 123 times over policies from repealing the DACA protections to the state’s car emissions standards.

Attorney General Rob Bonta, who succeeded Xavier Becerra, has told Californians that the state is prepared for more litigation. “If Trump attacks your rights, I’ll be there. If Trump comes after your freedoms, I’ll be there,” Bonta declared in a recent press conference.

 

Bonta’s office has already started going back through previous cases and thinking through possible litigation regarding federal policies on matters related to women’s reproductive rights, immigration, and environmental rollbacks. Experts argue that the second term of the Trump administration might be even more hostile given the support from a Congress and a judiciary dominated by his party.

It was even reminding everyone of Newsom’s recent trip to Washington, D.C., for the best reason: to make sure that California gets the federal money it is owed. The state remains with bills to be footed to the frequent and destructive phenomenon of wildfire with hundreds of its residents having been affected by recent disasters. He said that “California has been here before,” he said, “and we’ve proven that we can stand up to Washington and win.”

Though the Biden administration has been more agreeable in distributing disaster relief, Newsom’s visit simply shows rising concern that Trump may again cause certain disaster funds to be stalled or outright rejected. During his first term, Trump’s administration used disaster relief funds to strong-arm the US Congress into changing policies and Newsom sees this as a possibility in the future.

The governor has also proposed increasing the number of programs for disaster relief assistance funded by the state instead of the federal ones. Measures such as these would, of course, be expensive, but they might help create an effective hedge against political retribution from Washington. These anticipations are not only legal and financial, Newsom has also planned many things around them. The governor is also engaging other layers of government, civil society, and businesses to push back on expected federal actions on various topics.

 

California though has many obstacles in the future but has valuable shifts in the current national policy. As the nation’s largest economy, the state has often acted as a counterweight to federal initiatives. For example, California’s stricter emissions standards have been adopted by other states, effectively setting a higher bar for automakers nationwide.

 

The outcome of this renewed confrontation clearly will define both the future of California and of the nation. For Californians, the stake involves the countering of policies that threaten to undo the very liberal identity of the state.

 

As Newsom said in his recent speech, “No state has more to lose or more to gain in this election.”

 

The preparations made in California indicate that the state is willing to fight for its principles and laws in anticipation of what looks to be an extraordinarily hostile four years. Whether by court action, state enactment, or popular organization, the Golden State is prepared to assert its rights vis-à-vis the federal government.

 

As Trump’s inauguration approaches, all eyes will be on California, watching how this epic clash between two starkly different visions for America unfolds.