How Much Does Trump Hate California? Let Us Count the Ways
(Apologies to William Shakespeare)
First of all, which state could harbor the three million undocumented and potential illegal voters that Trump dreams that he lost by. California not only has some of the most lax voting laws, it has many measures to encourage voting and to make it easy. This is undoubtedly encouraging Trump’s voting suppression commission, which continues traditions from the Southern states, and whose work will now be hidden in Homeland Security, to the detriment of its reputation.
Then there is the Democratic House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi from San Francisco. Then there are the outspoken liberal Democratic female Senators Diane Feinstein (again from San Francisco) and the new Kamala Harris.
California has the largest state population of 37 million, and is 12% or one-eighth of the US population. As such, it has 53 House members, mostly Democratic with 39, and with 14 Republicans. If CA was a separate country, it would have the 6th largest world economy.
Then there is our great and high stature Governor Jerry Brown, who has become the effective environmental leader opposing Trump’s program of maximal environmental and regulatory destruction. This is not to mention Trump’s destruction of any and all international agreements. (Trump’s book, “Art of the Deal”, was ghostwritten. He is not the great Deal Maker, but a great Deal Breaker.). Governor Brown and past New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberger, along with many Cities and States, are pledging to match the US goals in the Paris Agreement.
California is the home to Sanctuary Cities and is a Sanctuary state. It has the largest number of undocumented people, and of DACA employees, who are well organized. They have families on both sides of the border, and strongly oppose building the Southern wall. Non-Hispanic Californians employ these workers and become friends with them. They help raise our kids and are trusted to clean our houses. California kids learn Spanish in school, and are surrounded by Spanish words, names, and history. Our connection with this community is much deeper than just standing on principles. The fact that Trump ran and has continued a campaign of misleading his core supporters that Hispanics are to be feared, is a terrible example of racial prejudice. These people are more settled and have contributed much more to our society than any maximally screened and vetted immigrants would for many years. Trump has directed Attorney General Sessions to somehow withdraw federal funds to California. The AG’s job is of course to see that federal funds continue to be legally distributed to California without interruption.
As a state where most of the population is within an hour of the coast, what has driven this article is the Trump promise of new leasing and drilling for oil in our offshore waters. Rather than promising an era of increased safety, Trump is hazardously removing safety requirements in the oil and gas industries. The infamous Santa Barbara oil spill of 1969 had effectively shut down such assaults on our gorgeous and profitable beaches. Since such oil would only be consumed in California, as well as oil from the ANWR Alaskan wilderness and wildlife sanctuary, it should be up to Californians alone to decide that it is not worth damaging or even potentially damaging our most valuable environmental resource. Californians have the Power to Boycott the consumption of such oil, and effectively discourage any oil company from such renewed drilling. It is unimaginable that any insurance company would insure against the staggering costs of any new oil spill. The desire to drill offshore anywhere in the US has really been offset by the new technology of fracking, where pollution can be controlled, although it is still hap-hazardous in the Trump assault on regulations.
Trump has threatened the premier public University of California, Berkeley, and effectively the entire UC System, because of a mistaken belief that they blocked the foolhardy conservative comedian and rabble rouser Milo Yiannopoulos from speaking. He was blocked by unknown masked men. A few weeks later, the alt-right had to drop this fool because of his fascist comments. Trump threatened to withdraw funds from the UC because of this, which would itself have been restraints on free speech, and a violation of all research contract peer review protocols. Where was Trump’s Extreme Vetting of Milo before making these extreme and illegal promises?
The Trump tax bill is a disaster for California and other Blue states with high state taxes to provide for excellent education and state infrastructure, including New York and New Jersey. These include limiting mortgage deductions for houses whose mortgages exceed $500,000, which affects many coastal areas. It also limits deductions of state taxes to $10,000. Thus Californians pay even more federal taxes than before, to support mostly Republican states that pay a lot less in taxes. This is truly Taxation Without Representation, since no Democrats, nor their States or Districts, were included in writing the tax bill.
Looks like I forgot the sale of recreational marijuana, which is now California legal starting this January. The Attorney General Jeff Sessions has thrown out the Obama guidelines, which respected States Rights. Instead, the Department of Justice is supposedly leaving it up to the US Attorneys in the various districts. The problem with this, is that Trump has just selected these prosecutors with a lot of political bias, and possibly following Sessions predjudice to always give the maximum sentences. It seems that such unguided local bias, would violate the Constitution in the areas of Due Process, and in Cruel and Unusual Punishments. It will probably take years of unfair sentences and high legal costs until the courts can rule on all aspects of these irregularities. The point of having Judges is not only to guarantee fair trials, but to also provide appropriate sentences. Sessions’ substituting his own unreasoned predjudice for all the judges in the country, should justify his immediate removal.
