After Flaming Out on His 'Red State Tour,' Gavin Newsom Returns to California and Pretends He Cares About Fentanyl

I would love to see the internal poll numbers on just how badly California Governor Gavin Newsom’s “Red State Tour” went over nationally. Newsom stopped caring a long time ago about how the California citizens who voted for him feel about the state of the state. But it is apparent that the national splash he thought he’d make by playing Brother Nanny Naysayer in Florida, Alabama, and Texas—states where former Californians have fled—made less than a ripple. If anything, the trip turned into backlash as his slap down from his posturing about Walgreens and the abortion pill indicate.

Rightfully so. That expression, “people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones,” applies here, and Newsom’s glass house has a ton of damage. Newsom has done nothing about rampant homelessness save proposing throwing more money into the Homeless Industrial Complex™. Parents have to worry about their children overdosing in school bathrooms and public parks because coming in contact with just a bit of fentanyl is that deadly. And no one has bothered to investigate the cartel kickbacks from the drugs and human trafficking through California alone that are the result of President Joe Biden’s open border policies; policies that Newsom applauds and enables. Yeah, there’s lots of shattered glass, some of it being those mirrors Newsom refuses to gaze into.

If your 10 month old baby needs to be revived with Narcan, after accidentally consuming fentanyl on a playground, you might be living in Gavin Newsom’s California pic.twitter.com/bAOd3cXDjl

— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) December 1, 2022

So, on Wednesday, Governor Hair Gel decided to make an unannounced visit to San Francisco’s infamous Tenderloin District with his cabinet in tow. If you’re not familiar with the area, the Tenderloin is Ground Zero in the northern part of the state for open-air drug use and homelessness.

From The San Francisco Standard:

Gov. Gavin Newsom dropped by San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood unannounced on Wednesday for a “private meeting” with members of his cabinet, followed by a walk around the neighborhood, according to his press office.

“They discussed the state’s ongoing efforts to tackle the fentanyl crisis, homelessness, and other critical issues,” said a spokesperson for Newsom. “Following the meeting, the Governor went for a walk and spoke with community members in the area.”

Newsom is famous for looking as though he is doing something about a problem, while barely moving the needle on actual action. Remember when he was about to get recalled, and he decided to acknowledge that homelessness and filth were a problem in the state and that he would “clean it up”? Managing Editor Jennifer Van Laar covered that, and it went as expected.

Now that there’s a date set for the California gubernatorial recall election – and now that a strong candidate with statewide, bipartisan support has entered the race – Gavin Newsom suddenly acknowledges that rampant homelessness and piles of rotting garbage in the state’s cities are more than just small problems. He carefully picked up some trash along a highway Wednesday in conjunction with a presser announcing, of course, that the state’s throwing money toward attempting to solve a problem that they created.

More taxation—in the state of California, that’s just another day ending in “Y.” And so it goes.

San Francisco activist JJ Smith decided to confront Newsom and Co. on the street. Smith shouted at Newsom and asked what he planned to do about the fentanyl crisis plaguing the state. In Newsom’s typically dismissive fashion, he barely acknowledged Smith’s presence, asking, “What do you think I should about it?” and, “That’s why I’m here.”

Today I was able to ask Gavin Newsom, the governor what is he going to do about the Fentanyl epidemic pic.twitter.com/SkMVuaVsHP

— jj smith (@war24182236) April 19, 2023

A local activist known for documenting the city’s drug crisis on Twitter posted a video of a brief exchange with Newsom. The governor was flanked by Attorney General Rob Bonta, and Mayor London Breed’s office confirmed that her chief of staff, Sean Elsbernd, was also present.

The activist, who goes by JJ Smith, said he ran into Newsom during his walk around the neighborhood and he questioned the governor on his plan to address fentanyl.

Of course, Newsom managed to return to take a selfie with Smith, because optics.

He came back and gave me my answer pic.twitter.com/Ijb6D1VIl2

— jj smith (@war24182236) April 19, 2023

“It was awkward,” said Smith, who later posted a selfie with Newsom. “He just said he’s here to work on the fentanyl and homeless situation. He didn’t give me any concrete answers or solutions.”

That’s because Newsom doesn’t have any concrete answers or solutions. He simply wants to pretend he is on top of things in order to look more presidential. Good luck with that.

California journalist Emily Hoeven said she and others would have confronted Newsom, but Newsom doesn’t put out a public schedule – his office will likely claim that’s for security reasons, but the credibility of that statement goes out the window when he walks through the crime-ridden streets of the Tenderloin and members of the public walk right up to him.

I’m glad at least one person was able to ask the governor about his plans for handling the fentanyl crisis. @war24182236 broke the news that Newsom was walking through the Tenderloin. https://t.co/I7nuBoG6tB

— Emily Hoeven (@emily_hoeven) April 20, 2023

California Congressman Mike Garcia (CA-27) did have some proactive answers on how to begin to resolve the fentanyl epidemic. Newsom should take some notes, but we already know he won’t.

I’ll tell you what you can do @GavinNewsom, you can encourage your friend @POTUS to secure our borders & support law enforcement so they can stop this drug. & Intercept/deny precursor shipments from China to Mexico. Fentanyl kills 100k annually. Your non-answer is disrespectful. https://t.co/KMDrzxKSb7

— Rep. Mike Garcia (@RepMikeGarcia) April 20, 2023

Garcia wrote:

I’ll tell you what you can do Gavin Newsom, you can encourage your friend POTUS to secure our borders & support law enforcement so they can stop this drug. & Intercept/deny precursor shipments from China to Mexico. Fentanyl kills 100k annually. Your non-answer is disrespectful.

Newsom’s non-answer reflects his inability to give a damn about anything except how his shadow presidential campaign is going. So far, not so well, and we need to keep it that way.