California Governor Gavin Newsom stands at a press conference at Raleigh Studios unveiling a vast expansion of California’s Film and Television Credit Program on October 27, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Mario Tama / Getty Images)
By Michael Schwarz November 26, 2024 at 10:44am
Revolutionary-era French statesman Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand once quipped that his country’s exiled Bourbon monarchs had learned nothing and forgotten nothing.
Today, in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election, Democrats have begun channeling their inner Bourbons.
According to the UK’s Daily Mail, slick-haired Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, whose aristocratic sensibilities once prompted him to exempt himself from his own COVID restrictions, plans to take action tantamount to retribution against Tesla CEO and Trump ally Elon Musk — a plan denounced as “foolish” by Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California.
Newsom’s plan would allow for a state tax rebate on the purchase of electric cars.
The plan, however, would reward only those purchasers who buy from struggling EV manufacturers. Tesla currently dominates the California EV market with a 55 percent market share. Hyundai and BMW rank second and third, respectively, at 6.4 percent and 5.5 percent.
In other words, whoever crafted Newsom’s proposal did so very obviously with the idea of targeting Musk’s Tesla.
“Even though Tesla is the only company who manufactures their EVs in California! This is insane,” Musk wrote Monday on his social media platform X.
Even though Tesla is the only company who manufactures their EVs in California!
This is insane. https://t.co/EhVeG2TYqT
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 25, 2024
Do you think Gavin Newsom is a good governor?
Khanna, a progressive Democrat, actually agreed with Musk’s assessment.
“Tesla makes over 550,000 vehicles in Fremont in my district & employs over 20,000. Let’s not play politics with keeping manufacturing in California,” the congressman wrote.
“It would be foolish to exclude Tesla. Have we learned nothing from snubbing @elonmusk at the Biden EV summit?” he asked.
Tesla makes over 550,000 vehicles in Fremont in my district & employs over 20,000. Let’s not play politics with keeping manufacturing in California. It would be foolish to exclude Tesla. Have we learned nothing from snubbing @elonmusk at the Biden EV summit? https://t.co/I0Jzx51eP7
— Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) November 26, 2024
Of course, President Joe Biden’s vindictiveness toward Musk has gone far beyond publicly and hypocritically ignoring the Tesla CEO’s contributions to the EV industry.
Thus, Khanna is mistaken if he thinks that simply including Musk in the Biden administration’s EV and climate-related schemes would have prevented the Tesla CEO and free-speech champion from gravitating toward Trump.
In fact, an X user and former Democrat operative who replied to Khanna painted a much more complete picture.
“How did we become the party of censorship, Liz Cheney and cruelly and capriciously killing pet squirrels?” the user wrote.
I have been a Democratic since I was 13. I have been Paid staff, an elected officer in my state and worked on more campaigns and recounts than I can remember. Not this year. How did we become the party of censorship, Liz Cheney and cruelly and capriciously killing pet squirrels?…
— Kelly Wright (@mrkellywright) November 26, 2024
Moreover, one can understand why the congressman would try to protect 20,000 jobs in his district.
On the whole, however, Khanna certainly had it right about Newsom’s foolishness.
And that foolishness highlights a larger dynamic that could produce a civil war inside the Democratic Party.
Democrats have spent nine years positioning themselves as little more than a deranged, petulant and tyrannical alternative to Trump.
Thanks to Musk’s X, Democrats and their minions in the establishment media have lost their effective monopoly on information dissemination. Their lies and heavy-handed tactics backfired. Trump won, and they now find themselves in the proverbial wilderness.
Thus, Democrats’ prospects now depend on whether they adopt the sane approach advocated by Khanna, or whether they follow the Bourbon Newsom into oblivion.
Michael Schwarz holds a Ph.D. in History and has taught at multiple colleges and universities. He has published one book and numerous essays on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Early U.S. Republic. He loves dogs, baseball, and freedom. After meandering spiritually through most of early adulthood, he has rediscovered his faith in midlife and is eager to continue learning about it from the great Christian thinkers.
Michael Schwarz holds a Ph.D. in History and has taught at multiple colleges and universities. He has published one book and numerous essays on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Early U.S. Republic. He loves dogs, baseball, and freedom. After meandering spiritually through most of early adulthood, he has rediscovered his faith in midlife and is eager to continue learning about it from the great Christian thinkers.
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