The recently released deluge of “Yes on 50” ads on TV feature a lookalike actor and cartoon caricature of Trump claiming he hates California.  All the while, Gavin Newsom urges Californians to vote against Trump’s assault on democracy.

Really?  Holding onto a popularly elected and less partisan means of drawing congressional districts, instead of turning the reins of power back over to already entrenched hacks, is anti-democratic?  It’s really just anti-Democrat. 

Just at the end of the ad is a brief note that hedge fund billionaire Tom Steyer is the moneybag behind its airing.  He also tried and failed to be the Democrat nominee for president in 2020.  Though he may not be as wealthy as George Soros, they both represent a modern phenomenon: the Leftist Billionaire.  What a country!

Under the heading of “Timing is Everything,” the above-mentioned ad blitz hit the airwaves just as Trump was bringing elusive peace to a seriously troubled Middle East.  To say that our president has thus experienced a historically exceptional surge in popularity would be an understatement.

When Newsom first pulled Prop. 50 out of his yin-yang as a countermeasure to a similar effort in Texas, it seemed he was wringing blood out of a turnip.  California has long been gerrymandered mostly to the max.  Squeezing any more Democrat seats out of it, even if the process is made legal, would be more than just difficult — especially due to out-migration.  The state lost a seat after the last Census, for the first time ever.  Meanwhile, Texas is gaining population — and is thus poised to add to its footprint in Congress.

On the dark side, the impending election will be mostly done by mail.  It used to be that voting in California in person required nothing more than just a walk around the block.  Since COVID, however, in-person voting sites have been few and far between.  Voting by mail is orders of magnitude easier than in person — though chain-of-custody issues persist.

As an unintended consequence, Newsom’s image may well wind up tarnished, even though this Prop. 50 stunt was concocted to do exactly the opposite.  In spite of a shrinking tax base, his anti-Trump ploy is sucking an additional $282 million out of a seriously tortured budget.  For what?  Trump is already a lame duck...politically, that is.

What is actually being revealed is that Newsom and the rest of his pack have nothing else left on which to rally their troops than hatred for Trump.  They’re going to need more than just good luck for that to work.

Image: Gavin Newsom.  Credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.