Governor Gavin Newsom’s attempts at painting the Recall as a partisan coup spearheaded by right-wing crazies have failed bigly. So now, he has no choice but to rewrite his tortured record. In tweets and news conferences Newsom asserts how his actions saved millions of California lives.

It is all theater, and a bald-faced lie. But then, His Hairfulness is good at that.

In his State of the State speech, Newsom said,

All of which is why California’s death rate has remained one of the lowest per capita in the nation: 134 deaths per 100,000, compared to 158 nationally, 153 in Texas and 247 in New York.

He also took to Twitter to cast shade on Texas Governor Greg Abbott lifting all COVID mandates and fully reopening his State.

Absolutely reckless. https://t.co/3O5GsbSLpM

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) March 2, 2021

Was it really reckless?
So far, Covid-19 numbers keep falling in Texas.. pic.twitter.com/tz2FA8GRrM

— Ambedkar (@Ambedkar4E) March 28, 2021

California Assemblyman Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin) could take it no longer. He took to his Capitol Quagmire blog to debunk Governor Gavin Newsom’s lies about COVID-19 numbers, calling his fixation on pushing this false narrative, “morbid”, and “perverse”.

Gavin Newsom is making bogus claims about California's "death rate" to defend his failed policies. It's perverse.https://t.co/3wcNJziVii

— Kevin Kiley (@KevinKileyCA) March 29, 2021

These boasts aren’t just perverse. They’re completely bogus. Here’s how California actually ranks according to the CDC:

28th highest overall COVID death rate. Florida is 27th, although it does better in direct age group comparisons.

4th highest current COVID death rate, averaged over the last week.

6th highest excess death rate throughout the COVID era. This is a measure of increased mortality from all causes.

As a caveat, comparisons between states are not always apples to apples. For instance, California might fare better on account of its younger population and agreeable weather, and worse on account of its denser settlement patterns. Other factors, like humidity, are not well-understood. And there are surely many unknown unknowns.

All of that nuance, of course, is lost in Newsom’s braggadocio. What we know for sure is this: after a year with the nation’s most severe restrictions, California is somewhere between the middle and bottom of the pack on the key measures of public health. That should be case closed: Newsom’s lockdowns are doing immense harm without any discernible benefit.

Now that sectors of the State are slowly reopening, we will be able to fully see the depth of that harm. Here’s what we do know for sure: Newsom will do anything to save his political career, and lying about the damage he has caused is as easy as dinner at the French Laundry.