Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders expertly mocked her Democrat counterpart in California, Gov. Gavin “Hair Gel” Newsom, in a video posted Monday which showed just how many people are ditching the Golden State for greener pastures in the “Natural State.”
She was responding to Newsom’s bizarre declaration that “we should not be on the defense as a Democratic Party. The Republican Party should be on their heels.” It’s an odd thing to say for a man who is presiding over the devastating decline of the state he’s supposed to be running.
Sanders wasn’t about to let that one go and responded with four words: “All that in heels.” Then the video just rips into Newsom, showing–despite his smugness–how his decisions have led to a mass exodus from the state.
Watch:
When Newsom says, “We should not be on the defensive as a Republican… a Democratic party,” you can see he flubs the line. But then a little guy pops from the corner to sarcastically say, “You sure about that?” That definitely gave me a laugh.
We next cut to a woman’s high-heeled shoe– presumably belonging to Sanders–marching across what appears to be a brick walkway as pulsing music plays. A newscaster intones, “But the numbers are staggering. We lost 500,000 people in California.”
Indeed, the state lost a record 407,000 residents just between July 2021 and July 2022 alone.
Next, text appeared on the screen saying, “ARKANSAS RANKED #5 FOR INBOUND MOVERS IN 2022-23,” citing “HireAHelper’s 2022-2023 U.S. migration report.” With the magic of the internet, I was able to find that report, and it indeed shows that Arkansas is in the fifth spot when considering percentage, or ratio, while California is number two in people leaving by that measure. Cali is #1 in the overall volume of people exiting, however.
I’m not a statistician–let’s just say the numbers are pretty good for Arkansas and pretty awful for the guy who’s always throwing potshots at red states.
The slick spot then touts the lowest unemployment rate in Arkansas’ history, a $150 million tax cut, and the “top five starting teacher salary in the nation.” I’m not Glenn Kessler, reality-challenged fact checker for the Washington Post, so I’m not going to investigate each and every claim in the ad, but let’s just say things seem to be going in the right direction for Arkansas.
The same cannot be said for California–a walk down any street in downtown Los Angeles or San Francisco will tell you that.
All in all, I think it’s an awesome ad, and kicks some well-deserved sand into the face of Newsom, who has an obsession with tweaking governors like Ron DeSantis of Florida and Texas’ Gregg Abbott. Each and every time, he gets embarrassed, but for some unknown reason, he keeps doing it.
In fact, it’s not even the first time he’s tangled with Sanders–he tweeted in February after her rebuttal to Biden’s State of the Union speech, “While @SarahHuckabee touts public safety, here is what she skips over: Arkansas has one of the highest murder rates in the nation.” What he skipped over, however, is that Sanders had been in office for only a month. By contrast, he’s been in office since 2019 and so his state’s dire circumstances can clearly be laid at his feet.
Also, if there’s anyone who shouldn’t be criticizing other governors about crime issues, it’s Gavin Newsom–crime is now a lifestyle in California, and it’s jumped 6.1 percent since 2021 alone. Visit a 7-Eleven at your own peril.
This ad is exactly how conservatives and Republicans should be reacting to Newsom. We all know that Biden is unfit for office, and VP Kamala Harris is arguably even less so. Newsom is the next obvious choice for the Democratic nomination, and despite his long resume of failure, he has a knack for getting elected.
Sanders, Abbott, DeSantis, and others need to keep exposing his horrible track record and make sure he never gets the chance to do to the nation what he’s done to California.
Related->
Jealous Gavin Newsom Continues to Obsess Over Ron DeSantis, Says He Needs ‘a Little Humility’
Debate Takeaway: CA Gov. Newsom Is a Slick Used Car Salesman, but You’ll Drive Away in a Lemon
Team DeSantis Issues ‘Digital Postcard’ Ripping Blue State Governors’ Disastrous COVID Policies