As we reported, California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer released a shocking manifesto Tuesday, basically calling for rebellion. The billionaire former hedge fund manager said that if he becomes governor, he would order the arrest and prosecution of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) personnel, ignore Supreme Court decisions, and return all those who have been deported (and use taxpayer money to pay their legal fees).
It is, in short, utter madness, and it sounds to me like a call for “insurrection.”
It wouldn’t matter, because Steyer’s previous attempt to gain elected office, his failed 2020 presidential campaign, which was mostly propped up by his infusion of hundreds of millions of dollars of his own money, went nowhere. He’s not particularly magnetic, seems a bit kooky, and didn’t capture the hearts of Democrat voters.
Now, suddenly, however, he finds himself atop the field in the crowded governor’s race in the early polling following Swalwell’s political demise. My guess is he found the opportunity to outcrazy the crazy and capture some attention with his screed.
There’s only one problem: his hedge fund invested tens of millions in ICE detention centers and private prisons back in the day.
Oh.
Billionaire hedge fund founder turned environmental warrior Tom Steyer, a leading Democratic candidate for California governor, is facing mounting questions about how he earned his wealth — notably investments in private prisons that are now being used to house undocumented immigrants facing deportation.
And it wasn’t just chump change we’re talking about here:
In 1986, Steyer, co-founded Farallon Capital, which had shares valued at $89.1 million in the Corrections Corp. of America in 2005, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission. That company, now known as CoreCivic, operates private prisons around the nation that are housing people picked up by federal immigration agents, including the one in Otay Mesa.
The libs are very, very triggered:
Does your heart break for the tens of thousands being inhumanely housed in CoreCivic's 70 plus immigrant detention centers? You and Katie Porter are really milking this one. 🙄 Neither one of you are Gubernatorial material, so I guess we'll lose in November. pic.twitter.com/G6gH4yWV7Y
— Lily Cooper (@HariettCooper) April 11, 2026
“Neither one of you are Gubernatorial material, so I guess we'll lose in November.” From your keyboard to God’s ears, lady.
Steyer has apologized for the investments, said he did not personally conduct oversight, and claimed in a recent interview, “it was a mistake to think that that was a place where it was decent to make money.”
Easy to say now that you’ve lined your pockets.
As I wrote Tuesday, I used to find Steyer to be a mild-mannered bore, but now he apparently wants to be the Antifa governor. We’ll see if his calls for open rebellion keep him in the top spot, or if his profiting off the detention of illegal immigrants in the past will continue to haunt him.
It’s California, after all, so his metamorphosis into “The Insurrection Candidate” could actually work.
Editor’s Note: Democrats are fanning the flames and raising the rhetoric by comparing ICE to the Gestapo, fascists, and secret police.
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