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Californians are used to disdain from flyover country, the South, the East Coast—heck, pretty much from most of the country!

But from Utah? That kind of hurts. It puts a new twist on Iron Man’s line to Thanos’ minion in The Avengers: Endgame.

For Californians, Cox is saying. “Utah is closed today, and possibly next week. Who knows?”

From The Los Angeles Times:

If you’re from California and thinking of moving to Utah, think again. You may not be welcomed in the Beehive State.

Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah said Friday that Californians should “stay in California,” in part because his state is beset by problems including housing and water shortages.

No doubt brought to the state compliments of Californians fleeing and bringing their egregious ways with them.

According to the U.S. census, Utah’s population grew from 2,763,885 people in 2010 to 3,271,616 in 2020, an increase of 18.3%, the highest in the nation.

A June 2021 report by the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah found that California accounts for the largest influx of people to Utah from across the country. In 2018, 18,000 people arrived in Utah from California, compared with the more than 50,000 Californians who headed to other states in the union, such as Arizona or Washington.

Cox is the vice-chair of the National Governor’s Association, a bipartisan group of U.S. governors from the 50 states. On February 10, Cox was in Washington, D.C. with Chair and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy for the association’s winter meeting. After they met with President Joe Biden, the chair and vice chair did a press scrum to comment on the meeting and answer any questions.

One reporter directed his question to NJ Gov. Phil Murphy. The reporter asked about population movement from New Jersey (mostly outbound) and what changes Murphy planned to make to keep people in the state. Note that Murphy wins fourth place for amount of pandemic lawsuits thanks to his draconian lockdown measures, shuttering of businesses, and working to kill grandma and grandpa in nursing homes. Murphy stands shamefully with former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. For that, he barely won re-election. During the lockdown madness, Murphy infamously told Tucker Carlson that the Bill of Rights was “above his pay grade.”

So is the job of governor apparently, but I’m from California, so who am I to judge?

The question was then directed to Cox, and he dropped his dig at the once-Golden State about 4:10 minutes in.

This last census confirmed that Utah was the fastest growing state over the past 10 years, so our biggest problems are more growth related.

We would love for people to stay in California instead of coming as refugees to Utah. So, we’re always trying to figure that out.

Our biggest problem right now is housing and water. Those two issues. Because we’ve grown so quickly, we need a larger supply of housing. That’s where our focus is. We’re not working to attract more people, we’re doing just fine that way.

Gavin Newsom would love that too, but he refuses to make any changes to quell the California Adios, so, people continue to flee to Utah, Florida, Texas, and other red states. Newsom is so delusional that he claims that a stark reduction in population really doesn’t exist. U-Haul begs to differ and would also like to thank him. Newsom’s Democrat Super Majority in the California Legislature is trying to pass laws to punish anyone who does leave the state by taxing their wealth for years after they have left. Another indication of his delusional thinking: If you threaten people who choose to leave, then expect them to give you the middle finger and do just that.

Many of us are in that queue.

Cox also coyly dropped this piece of red meat.

Utah was named the best state to start a business, with Texas and Florida number two and three, we feel really good about that balance and where we are right now.

Cox bragging that Utah is the best state to start a business is just throwing salt in the wound of entrepreneurial Californians who were destroyed by AB5. Through AB5, Newsom single-handedly decimated independent professionals, freelancers, and small businesses, including the trucking industry. So, Cox is just dangling a carrot in front of anyone who wants their enterprise to thrive, then showing them the stick.

Based.

While Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott continue to open their arms, especially to Californians, Cox is taking a different tack, and rightly so. While there are Californians legitimately needing to exit the state who worked their hardest to stand against the progressive destruction, a majority of those fleeing are the ones who contributed to the problems that have made California unlivable. Cox does not want that isht imported, and who can blame him? Cox is also attempting to do what California has failed to: build the supportive infrastructure so that everyone benefits from the growth rather than suffers from it. But he has to care about his people first, not the ones who planted the seeds of their own destruction and seek to escape it.