Sad Trombone Warms Up for Gavin Newsom 2.0 As More Bad News Hits Amid 2028 Speculation

Though none of them have confirmed they're running, prospective 2028 Democrat contenders have been kicking it into high gear since the beginning of the year, as we've seen, for instance, with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, whose failed vice presidential run in 2024 alongside Kamala Harris appears to have made him interested in possibly making the same mistake twice - this time potentially at the presidential candidate level.

While Walz's appearances in different states have predictably been nothing short of embarrassing, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been on a bit of a reinvention tour of sorts, trying to give off the appearance of being a moderate Democrat on issues like so-called transgender "rights" rather than the flaming leftist version he's presented to California voters since his early days (beginning in the late 1990s) as an elected official in the Golden State.

But while Gavin 2.0 is the Democrat who is giving off the most "I'm gonna challenge JD Vance in 2028" vibes with recent moves and pivots he's made, he's not only lost control of the Democrats in his state, but is also accidentally conceding that California's long-running homeless crisis can be laid directly at his and his fellow Democrats' feet.

And now, as the tantrum-prone Newsom continues to paint a picture of himself that is at odds with reality, he's been hit with even more bad news about his statewide "leadership" - further confirmation that under decades of Democrat rule, California continues to be the top state people are fleeing, and for completely understandable reasons:

This trend is largely driven by the state's high cost of living, including expensive housing and high taxes, alongside concerns about economic challenges and natural disasters.
By the numbers: California continues to lead the country in outbound moves, with its cost of living nearly 50% above the national average, according to data. Average rent prices were obtained from RentCafe, and average home values were obtained from Zillow.
Reports from California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office indicate that housing prices are nearly double the national average, with typical mortgage payments around $5,500 per month.
This stands in stark contrast to the state’s median household income of $96,334 annually, or $8,027 per month before taxes.

Of the top 20 cities for move-outs, California accounts for seven. https://t.co/5mI8lO7AqC
— FOX 11 Los Angeles (@FOXLA) May 26, 2025

The numbers were based off of a just-released report from the 2025 PODS Moving Trends data analysis, which focused on the time frame between January 2024 and March 2025:

Many of the cities and areas topping the list — Los Angeles, Northern California, South Florida, Long Island (part of the greater NYC area PODS services), and San Diego — have a combination of high costs of living, low housing affordability, increased natural disaster risks, and overcrowding. With the cost of living continuing to fuel many major moving decisions, it’s not surprising that some of the most expensive metros in the country are losing residents to areas with less congestion, better access to nature, and lower costs of living.

This is information that will, of course, be used against Newsom in the event of a run for president (as we saw in his November 2023 debate with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis) if he was to make it beyond the primary, but the primary itself will likely include attacks on him on this very subject from Democrats like Walz, who have other "leadership" issues of their own for which to answer.

In any event, I'm settling in with popcorn in hand as this all plays out, because even though we're a long way off from 2028, we're not far away at all from the next Trump Derangement Syndrome-driven Democrat cringe session.

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