trump is what he is because of republicans. when mccarthy, nunes and all the other nasty,vicious republicans, and the destructive gop are wiped out in california his feet will be completely cut out at the knees in california. his ghastly abuse of power and quid pro quo in ukraine, china and russia is the absolute last straw for californians.
22
"he (Trump) is being hammered...by attorney general, Xavier Becerra....Mr. Becerra had filed or joined 60 lawsuits against the Trump administration,.."
Three cheers for Mr. Becerra. Hip, hip, hooray, Hip, hip, hooray, Hip, hip, hooray.
42
As a relatively new resident of California, I find Trump's petulant attacks on my state as galling as his attacks on my democracy and his attacks on my fellow citizens who don't look, pray, or love in a GOP approved manner. But then almost everything Trump does or says is designed to hurt some segment of America. It's what he does.
Ego maintenance by degrading others, recreational cruelty, revenge fantasies, ... if it wasn't for grifting, Trump's entire day would grudge driven.
For those Americans who take pleasure in Trump's authoritarian attacks on "liberals" and blue states, keep in mind that Trump turns on everyone and everything. Without exception. It's who he is.
The clock is ticking for every American.
247
We are in this mess because of the electoral college.
Despite the voices of 3,000,000 more folks who rejected this con artist liar. The criminal was installed by republicans in the electoral college anyway. Like they say..
What could go wrong ?
Well for starters, look at the last time the electoral college installed the loser of the election.
"W".
Tired of W's war yet? and what about that small problem of $trillions$ of dollars in debt? and many, many crippled veterans (Still counting) after he invaded the wrong country?
28
Elsewhere in the Times, Pulitzer Prize columnist David Leonhardt opines that "things are going quite poorly for Donald Trump." Let's hope the current trend continues.
14
Trump extorts the President of Ukraine to dig up dirt on his political opponent. He speaks with China (Xi) about Biden AND Warren as the polls show that they would beat him soundly. It shows him to be a frightened, unpatriotic, treasonous man. Never, I think, have we seen a president with so little regard for America or its citizens. This is our fault, though. We relaxed. They're all the same, some thought. Now we all have to pay for the madness. Because they are not all the same.
Our biggest failure? The Republican Party. The GOP has turned out to be a bunch of cowards, hiding like rats under a rock, afraid to answer questions about a president who's begging foreign countries to help him win the 2020 election.
Of course he hates California. We see what he really is. He is unfit to serve.
16
Don't kick a gift horse in the mouth, Trump.
3
Gee Editorial Board of the New York Times.
You do NOT RESIDE in California so how the heck would YOU know about our air quality.
Let me supplement the list of factors which effect the air of California and the entire Pacific Coast.
1) Pollution emissions from China. China's industrial pollutants cross the Pacific and do land on our great State.
2) burning of farm land. In fact, prior to the Tubbs and the 27 other major simultaneous fires of 2017, farmers in Yolo County were burning their farmland in anticipation of making it fallow. I know because I had a huge verbal argument about those fires and their air pollutants with the State and County Air Quality Control District for Yolo.
3) SUVs and TRUCKS. Remember, California and Washington and to a limited extent Oregon have ports which receive goods transported from Asia, mostly China, which are then transported up to Washington and over to the Mid West and East Coast. Clearly, the editors have not witnessed the vast number of trucks on Highway 5 of the Pacific Coast.
3) Little or variable public transportation. We have it but nothing competes with a personal vehicle in terms of transportation costs and most of all time. Thus personal auto pollution is a huge factor.
4) The State is a BASIN. Look at a geographical map of California. Technically, most of California IS A DESERT. The entire middle of California is desert. The Sierras act as a barrier to all the moving air from the Pacific Coast.
5) arson
8
"Meanwhile, as Mr. Trump’s handmaiden, Mr. Wheeler has done the reputation of his agency no favors."
Ouch! But how apt as a desciption for all those sycophants in this administration who live to serve (or service) their master. Well played, NYT!
4
More abuse of presidential power. To think our taxes support Trump supporters in red states - secession never sounded so good!
10
Where would Trump by if not for Twitter??
6
It's a vendetta, the president is on a retribution mission to nowhere.
California will always be bigger than the small man in the oval office chasing his tail.
Bring it on, short timer.
10
CA is powerful enough to tell him what he can do with all of his hate.
11
Not only California...
6
Don't follow anything the guy says Californians...obey NO rule that comes out of his circus tent...what is he going to do?
Subpoena you?
7
More reasons to punish CA: Pelosi, Schiff, Waters, Speier...
3
Pro wrestling to John Wick to FBI "disruption" to Boltonian Foreign Policy to Tea Party to MAGA - (white) grievance solved in a way that "use[d] power unusually quietly, expertly, and aggressively."
https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/vice-vs-the-real-dick-cheney
Hey Trump: We'll win.
8
Gotta love that picture.
1
Great cartoon
2
As a look out my window and watch the long crawl of Friday night traffic heading out to Palm Springs or Vegas on the 10, I would ask Mr. Trump to do us both a favor. If you hate CA so much, stay in DC with your helicopters, limousines and entourage. Your wealthy cronies can send you the check.
3
Thank goodness for our method of electing our President.
NY and CA may not like it, but a lot of us do. We look on these states with the same attitude that they have towards us and our President.
These two states do not represent the feelings of the nation. In fact, they are utterly out of touch.
Clinton won CA by about 4.3 million votes, and NY by 1.9million. Take these away and she lost by 3.4 million
i.e., Clinton lost in the 48 states besides CA and NY by 3.4 million votes).
I think this illustrates very well, their being out of touch with the rest of the nation.
The electoral college served those 48 states, very well. We don't want CA & NY determining our future, especially when their desires conflict with ours so fundamentally.
18
@Raz You do know that CA and NY represent about 20% of the US population. God forbid they have a say in how the country should be governed. The same argument can be made that rural populations dont represent urban populations, perhaps we should not count them. Maybe we would all be doing better if we didn't have such hostile attitudes towards eachother. But the current administration cant win elections with an inclusive campaign given it's policies are detrimental to it's base, therefore it must whip up fear to maintain control of the base.
159
@Raz There is so much wrong with this argument, but all I'm going to say is that 3 million more people voted for Donald Trump in CA than there are actual people in Montana. Are all those Trump voters in CA out of touch, as well? I'm guessing not, since they voted as you had.
75
@raz
Why is this important? Has Trump deported these states. I’m sure he thinks he can!
I know Clinton won all of CT’s electoral votes. I’m sure there are others.
27
Trump is the most malicious man alive, I think. But how can Republicans, who have yelled and thumped their chests about the evils of federal overreach for literally my entire adult life, see Trump's move against California as anything but an extreme abuse of Federal authority? They can't. It will cost taxpayers millions. It will cost carmakers millions and millions more. It will dirty the environment and cause years worth of harm. There is no justifiable argument for it. So it's down to this: extreme partisan vindictiveness overrides anything like financial sense or ideology. The Party of Lincoln is not just dead, it's arisen again as a parasitic, evil zombie.
618
@Brannon Perkison: In fact, it hasn't been "The Party of Lincoln" since it adopted the "southern strategy' in the 1960;s.
79
@Brannon Perkison
The Party of Lincoln? Lincoln trumped federal government over state government. Before Lincoln, the U.S. was known as "these United States". After Lincoln, " the United States". Lincoln's Republican Party had nothing in common with today's Republican Party.
17
@Brannon Perkison After Trump made up a conspiracy story. He then started spending millions of tax payer dollars to search for evidence from other governments (Ukraine, China) to support this story using weapons and money to sweeten the deal, or pull out of the deal if these leaders of countries don't come up with negative evidence against his opponents. I don't think there were justifiable arguments for these actions either. Yet, "Here we are!"
24
And today Trump ended the moratorium on oil exploration on federal lands in California. mostly in the central San Joachim Valley and the northern coast.
Trump should be held accountable both for soliciting election help from foreign countries and retaliating against Americans who do not support him.
457
@Rob Vukovic : i wish the newspapers of integrity would publish every day the names of the top three money makers on these deals that provide massive income fir very very few at the expense of the entire nation. Publish those names, those corporations and the individuals who profit. It is a step towards fair practice.
98
@Rob Vukovic It is worse than that. The BLM is also going to allow new drilling in the San Joaquin Valley and Central Coast counties such as Monterey. https://www.sfchronicle.com/environment/article/Trump-administration-opens-California-to-new-oil-14491295.php
California is beautiful but environmentally fragile. What the Trump administration is doing through the EPA, HUD, and BLM is pure revenge. He can not pretend to be the President of the USA. He represents only his base.
49
@Rob Vukovic - You can bet there will be federal lawsuits (Northern and Eastern Districts of California) to obtain an injunction pending resolution on the merits and, if the request is denied, it will be appealed to the Ninth Circuit, which has a lot of established case law to rely on.
As far as accountability by Trump -- his day is coming - the truth is coming out rapidly (I need a score card) and although most would like to see him gone today (then indicted, etc), our democracy seems to be holding, IN SPITE OF GOP COWARDICE. (Sorry for yelling -- wanted to highlight the cowardice part). Unless the GOP house & senate grow a spine (ha!) we'll be stuck with him until next year. Just gotta stay aware
32
I agree with this column in many points.
I think he knows he isn’t going to win and figures picking on us liberal, fraudulently voting Californians looks good to his supporters who think we’re elitist, excessively diverse, politically correct and weird. We are one of the coastal expressions of what it means to be an American- that’s part of why so many come here from other states- they like the cultural breathing room. It’s not for everyone but doesn’t have to be.
To him, bashing this place and it’s people comes without cost because he knows he’ll never have the support of the state. But the division he relies on and sows, unfortunately echoed here by the understandable sentiment of some Californians who say “we’d be fine without the (insert region that’s more conservative)”, does have a cost if you care about the future of our country. Someone willing to squander the hope of unity and connection, built up through generations, in cases more promise than practice but still an aspiration, for petty personal gain, is not worthy of any office, much less President. In the future, there will be great women and men of conviction and commitment to restore the esteem in which we hold the office. Some may already be campaigning. It is our responsibility to keep faith with and improve on our founding principles and uphold our common values all the while doing everything we can to rid our country of this malignancy.
216
@John L - Well said, sir! The President's rhetoric and actions sowing division please our adversaries the most. When people speak of "not needing" other parts of our great nation, whichever parts they may be and from whichever part of the political spectrum - it only serves to redouble the efforts of certain "folks in basements" to continue to sow dissent, discord and disunity.
49
@John L
Lincoln was kinder to the South than Trump is to us.
16
Nicholas Konrad should not use a black bear to play with California's flag. Trump can stay because 4M of us voted for him and more than that will in 2020. MAGA!
3
Trump's behavior has always demonstrated the psychosis of narcissism and increasing paranoid behavior (DSM 5th Edition, see definition of both mental diseases). What is increasingly manifest is Trump's growing inability to see the fall-out / consequences of his actions and orders, his uncontrollable anger and outbursts, and his paranoia.
Taken together with Trump's long time obesity and high fat diet for which he takes medication, one must ask if Trump has experienced a series of right brain TIAs (mini-strokes) that have left cellular damage to the right brain.
Right brain is responsible for emotions of empathy, understanding nuance, ability to see 'the big picture' (see the potential consequences of actions) and right brain moderates anger and paranoia.
Left brain can focus on only one issue at a time and sees that issue in binary terms (no nuance, no concern for potential consequences). It is responsible for anger and paranoia.
Trump's domestic fight with California, the 5th largest economy in the world, the state responsible for at least 50% of job growth since the 2007-08 economic collapse, the state responsible for guiding the USA into a cleaner environment (e.g. removing lead from gasoline) and reducing work related injury (CAL-OSHA guided OSHA), and the most resilient economy of any state, demonstrates Trump's left brain dominance over a right brain that may be damaged by TIAs or other event.
2
Everybody in California should pay their federal taxes into an escrow account and let Kamala sue the federal Government and tie up that money until justice is served to our compatriots on the west coast.
5
The biggest villain here is the Electoral College. If it weren't for the Electoral College, presidential candidates might actually care about California, in order to get more people to turn out and vote for them. But to the current president, California is a lost cause and therefore a punching bag.
I read many articles about how people in North Carolina, Arkansas, and similar places feel marginalized by the federal government. To those people, I say, try being from a state where the federal government actively hates you and steals your money. I can't listen to endless grievance from the people from those rural states, since they have all the political power.
8
"For the last few weeks, Mr. Trump has been deep into retaliation mode, occasionally for reasons of policy, more often out of pique."
The president's vendetta against one state over most others is one of the ugliest things I've ever seen in my lifetime. Punishing voters who don't vote for you? What happened to government for all the people, not just Republicans?
It's not only sick, it's counterproductive, akin to the State Department crackdown on email classification while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State. It's straight out of Kafka to accuse employees of misclassifying emails because they were reclassified later on.
On clean air, California finds itself in the same bind: the president prevents the state from applying tough emission standards, then nails them for air pollution levels.
The only emotions this man seems to feel are hate, anger, self pity, and retribution. Translating that into public policy is beyond bizzare, it's evil.
6
This is among many reason that I look fervently to the day that the Republican Party goes by way of the Whig Party!
3
When a bully attacks one person, it affects us all.
Similarly, when a bully attacks one state, it affects all states.
History teaches this lesson time and again. We just refuse to learn.
3
Good. Trump should show Californias what a great president can and will do.
2
As a 32 year resident of Olympia, and proud of it, I was pleased to read that others are looking to Sacramento, Albany and Olympia for leadership in climate change. But to then read that The NY Times had to correct itself after calling Seattle the capital of Washington? Shame!
3
I can remember when the people of L.A. voted to raise their sales tax to bring in almost 1 billion to help fight the rampant homeless problem. This is what Californians do—help the “least among us.” We aren’t doing enough sometimes, but at least we try. We have a heart, unlike the red states.
4
40% of the USA budget comes from California....what wd happen to Trump's budget if CA decided to be late -- or better yet, to w/hold funds --in retaliation towards Trump's over reach?
6
Ho hum. It's just another example of Trump abusing his power with the comfort and aid of his Republican enablers.
3
California is far from perfect. It gave America Nixon and Reagan, and now McCarthy and Nunes. Scandal and hypocrisy writ large.
But none them have a track record of motormouth lying, unceasing corruption and flat out treason comparable to what now disgraces the White House.
California has a lot of house-cleaning to do for sure.
But where oh where is the sense of shame in the State of New York?
How hard can it be to set up a picket line and shut down Trump Tower?
Or have his words about Putin up on a giant neon placard in Times Square?
Or to have persuaded at least some of the nearly 3 million New York Republicans, who voted for disaster instead of for a real Republican like Johnson or McMullin in 2016, sign a letter of apology to America?
One would think that a salesman, er con man, like Trump would just make friends with the big state.
He tried doing that with Un and NK to no avail, but at least CA is in the US.
If he only had an ounce of brain matter or heart tissue...
1
The reasons why Trump is a terrible president are many, but to me the most egregious one is his childish retribution waged against anyone who disagrees with his backward world view. Our federal government is now run on the same principles which govern children on the playground or at times even beneath that. There is no logic to it, just meanness and spite.
2
The corrupt wannabe autocrat in the White House is using his coal lobbyist EPA Director, Andrew Wheeler, to tell California how we have to stop driving our Teslas and quit cleaning our air and water, while we in turn are working hard to make our state hydrocarbon free. We don't begin to understand how lobbyist Wheeler has the time to focus on the Golden State, while he leading the Koch and Sullivan's Flat Earth Society's assault on the science of climate change.
California is the 5th biggest GDP on earth. so it's clear that Trump will attempt to have his stooges (Kudlow, Navarro and Lighthizer) hurt us with his petty trade war. We are glad that the states he is hurting the most with his nutty, erratic nationalistic trade war are the Midwest farmers and Appalachian miners that have voted for the con man grifter who has gone bankrupt six times.
Californians are, in the main, well educated, diverse, multi-cultured and religiously tolerant Americans. We are globalists, who enjoy prosperity and work hard to unite our communities. We are toiling together, with the countries of the Pacific Rim, and the world in general, for our common benefit, and a good future for our children.
For all these good reasons, the vast majority of Californians are not Evangelicals or white supremacists, or NRA gun nuts. We are in the main Democrats or Independents. And we are very thankful that our state is a "Trump Free Zone".
3
CA has the lowest literacy, highest poverty, largest illegal immigrant population, highest state tax rate and among the worse (possible tie with NY) banana republic state government - for example, the AG and his 60 politically inspired lawsuits that he will lose, but still spend substantial tax money to administer. Unfortunately, CA "leadership" appears to be spreading to other states. Many of us in California are hoping that Trump, or whoever, will impede its progression - unlike what you read in the NYtimes, I do not know of anyone who supports the current California state government, including many who consider theirselfs "liberal"
3
Unfortunately, the politics of division the President and his administration wishes to spread continue to fester. We must resist the desire to play their game! We are (as someone once said) Stronger Together.
And please, we need to be careful about something: too many comments here seem to begin with the idea that California is a "donor" state (i.e., sends more to the national government than it receives). It currently is not:
https://www.governing.com/week-in-finance/gov-taxpayers-10-states-give-more-feds-than-get-back.html
http://worldpopulationreview.com/states/donor-states/
I love and admire California, but we shouldn't continue with this perceived inaccuracy.
And, like many states, California has its pluses and minuses - but, in the end, all our minuses are outweighed by our pluses when we stick together and avoid sowing the President's disunity!
Seriously, if it was possible don't you think California would secede from the United States? There is another oped essay in the Times today about rural Arkansas. The implicit theory in that article is that the rural South and the mega metropolis' of California are entirely different countries. We could split the country down the middle between metro hi tech dynamo regions and the hinterlands but California is a coherent political entity which has been in existence for 170 years. California can do it.
In the larger national framework, regime change awaits Washington D.C. I can't wait.
2
Never been more proud to be a Californian.
2
California is in the grips of people with more allegiance to foreign interests than our own. Why else would they have sanctuary cities?
Trump is doing what earlier presidents should have done but didn't -- bring the state back into our fold and take care of our citizens, instead of pandering to illegal aliens who live a better life than our own homeless citizens.
3
Having just read this article and its 'companion' piece in this current iteration of the NYT: "In the Land of Self Defeat" the US of A is looking more like the dystopia of "The Hunger Games" than ever. The longer Trump remains the POTUS, the more America is being precipitated towards becoming a failed state.
Please wake up very soon from this Rip van Winkle nightmare and get back on track. So many of my best thinkers, artists and writers called America home. Their legacy deserves so much better than this Trump tyranny.
2
We will never vote for him.
2
I´m surprised the form that the Times -and its readers- try to boycott theTrump administration. Rare for ourselves here in Uruguay with wide open press free, and a liberal non religious population, we pay respect for the president of all of us.
D. Trump is the president of all of you. And represents the majority. If you don´t respect this, you don´t respect your fellow americans.
Don´t like it ? vote for another guy when the elections but meanwhile respect the authority elected.
3
You say that Californians don't vote for Trump but in fact in 2016, 4,483,810 Californians voted for Trump.
Are you in some competition with Trump as to who lies more?
2
Besides his jealous antipathy toward California for his electorate loss here, California is home to his latest nemesis, Speaker Pelosi.
I am sure it only adds fuel to his fire.
You Times editors are being far too civilized when you call what Trump does "governing."
I can understand the slip of the mental dictionary there,to insert a familiar word for something so atrocious it defies definition, but please try. You have to try, you know? Trump does his thing, but he does not "govern" not by any stretch of the imagination. Govern is to regulate, limit, to protect, geez, you know?
May I continue this precision in language memo with the clarification of violence? Elsewhere in this edition you mention people in Trumps conspiracy, like Stephen Miller and his deranged attacks on anyone not white.
Now let's say Stephen Miller attacks my wife's citizenship, tries to deport her. That's a violence to my family, where Miller does his violence from within your 24/7/365 guarded and secure pollyanna world of no punching in the mouth.
Miller believes he's never, ever going to be confronted by me or anyone like me, and according to you and your pollyannas, he should never, ever, ever, have to fear me sticking my fist into his ugly mug.
That's not right, this is not violence.
You attack me, my wife, family, under the guise, the thin veneer of "governing" and believe you're going to be forever protected against a punch in the mouth by the pollyanna mistaken definition people, you're wrong.
Here, a punch in the mouth is communication.
Our world would be a lot nicer if people like Miller and Trump knew their punch in the mouth was coming, you enabling pollyannas.
Are you forgetting another possible reason to punish California: the two biggest thorns in Trump's side, Pelosi and Schiff?
2
California now has the world’s fifth largest economy.
If Trump were a shrew businessman and “stable genius, you would think he would consider that one of the nation’s jewels.
1
San Francisco already did so on another matter. So should the California State Legislature:
Declare Donald Trump a "Domestic Terrorist."
2
“But no similar threats were sent to three dozen other states that, according to The Washington Post, contain counties that failed to meet those national benchmarks for air pollution. Nor were any threatening letters sent to the estimated 3,500 community water systems elsewhere in the country that failed to comply with federal water quality standards.”
Because Trump is personally vindictive.
We see this with every action he takes and every word he utters. He fires Comey because Comey would not do his bidding. He berates anyone who he disagrees with. And there’s always another score to settle.
Kind of like a Mob Boss. The Leader of the Free World.
Trump is Putin incarnate. No wonder he hates Obama.
1
The illustration for this article is brilliant.
1
California's biggest fan is Devin Nunes and hopefully, he will get voted out of office.
Nunes is also Trump's apologist and will say and do anything for Trump.
Boot Nunes out of office in 2020.
This state has a lot of problems but most sane Californians understand that Trump's petty and vindictive mind wants to destroy the state's economy, environment and do what he can to drag us into the gutter with states, especially in the south, who are enamored by this lying, con-man psychopath.
2
Reagan once said Hispanics were Republicans who didn't know it yet. I have found that, like the GOP, Hispanics are averse to taxes. They also have the lowest rates of volunteerism in America. And, many of them believe that public lands are a waste. And, they have a low opinion of welfare.
So, what are you fighting for, Democrats? You're gonna win the election, and lose the war.
2
California: seventh largest economy in the world. San Francisco area: sixth largest economy in the world. Los Angeles: 1/3 Asian, 1/3 Hispanic. Trump will not begin to make an impact on this state. It is the American cash cow and a view of the future.
53
California is Trump’s Hong Kong.
2
¡Viva, California!
1
Our federal government today requires an enemy in order to function. It’s the Democrats, the Squad, and on and on. Now it’s California. So it goes.
I am really looking forward to the much less divisive administration that will follow this one in 2021.
11
"Resistance" is a two way street.
California can't have it both ways.
5
America is not and never was meant to be a democracy.
America is a very peculiar kind of republic. A divided limited different power constitutional republic of united states.
Every state has two Senators from a half million people in Wyoming and 39. 5 million Californians. Presidents are selected by the Electoral College. Members of the Cabinet and federal courts are nominated by the Electoral College President without the advice and consent of the House of Representatives.
The majority of votes that Hillary Clinton won in California don't matter nor count in any other state in allocating meaningful Electoral College majority votes.
Mr. Melania Knavs Trump beat Mrs. William Jefferson Clinton. Elections have consequences. There is a Republican majority in the Senate and on the Supreme Court.
6
While there is no doubt that Trump is taking malign actions against California for political purposes under the guise of "protecting the environment" (among the greatest examples of presidential chutzpah since the beginning of our Republic), the Opinion by The Editorial Board is weakened by the fact that its position is stated in a vacuum of references as to how Trump has been treating other States, like (favored) Texas, with respect to pollution issues.
For example, California represents 12% of the U.S. population, yet its CO2 emissions represent 9.26% of total emissions per capita. By contrast, Texas represents 8.52% of the U.S. population, yet its CO2 emissions represent a whopping 23.59% of total emissions per capita. Florida represents 6.305% of the U.S. population, yet its CO2 emissions represent 11.22% of total emissions per capita. Ohio represents 3.55% of the U.S. population, yet its CO2 emissions represent 17.86% of total emissions. The list of Red State superpolluters goes on and on. Yet the "administration" does nothing newsworthy to rein in the superpolluters, while brazenly going after California in order to gain political points with Trump's base.
Needless to say, offering these types of comparisons in the Board's Opinion would have made a far stronger case for the fact that Trump's attacks on California have shown undeniably partisan favoritism.
17
Unless you are suggesting that Trump was aware of the statistics you cite, then the spiteful motives of his actions remain clear. That you can defend them after the fact does not undermine the position that he is singling California out for retribution. Much like he did with his tax policies that heavily punished certain blue state citizens.
4
@ALB
In any case, the easiest way to improve the air is to decrease motor emissions. It is beyond hypocritical to simultaneously ditch California's tougher emissions standards and tell California that it's air is too polluted.
2
“Californians fear that more such warfare lies ahead.” I’m a Californian. I am not fearful. I am resolute. California has already been sustained by courts in over half of our legal battles with Trump. We will continue to work hard to combat global warming and take care of our environment. We will outlast the Trump nightmare.
27
I am one of those people fortunate to live part-time in CA. I am fortunate because I have wonderful neighbors and great weather. But the mythology about California exceptionalism is simply a myth. After decades there is still no acceptable mass transit, the state’s economy relies on importing water from elsewhere (making leaving the Union a silly pipe dream), homelessness has made San Francisco unlivable, and the inland portions of the state (where I suspect most of those posting have never visited), much like Upstate NY, might as well be another country. Whether Trump is petulant or not, the state has not solved any of its major problems, taxes are crazy, housing is scare, new start-ups are looking elsewhere, and without the good weather nobody would stay.
6
If Trump wins re-election don’t be surprised if a serious secession movement takes hold in California. This is not a state, it’s a nation whose rights are being threatened by minority rule imposed by small rural states and authoritarian Republicans.
19
Drug paraphernalia and human waste on the sidewalks is pollution and a public health hazard regardless of the source or reason.
The federal government has the right to enforce those laws and has jurisdiction over immigration laws and enforcement.
California has no right to violate, obstruct or claim exemption.
If states can go their own way regarding federal law, how will the federal government ever enforce gun restrictions? It cuts both ways.
4
@CNNNNC
I have not seen any scientific measurements proving that runoff from homeless encampments is a bona fide environmental issue. It's crazy that the media has not brought up this issue -- for some bizarre reason it's assumed that the administration comes armed with volumes of data proving that this is the case. When does the administration ever have actual data? They govern with their emotions.
Think about it this way. Let's assume for a minute that our waters do actually fall below federal standard. Even if this is the case, SF has a few thousand homeless people, which is egregious, but this is still <1% of the population. More likely, any E. coli in our waters has more to do with wild animals, feral cats, and dog walkers than the homeless people.
Hold the administration accountable to show scientific proof for its grievances.
3
Haven't the Republicans been the party of "Stes Rights" forever?
1
@CNNNNC
Did you READ the article? Other states that VOTED for trump have the same issues yet he's only going after the states that didn't support him. Your state is one of the states that has adopted the CA emission standards. Will you be so dismissive when he levels his attacks on the state of CT which is also suing him for abuse of power and other impeachable offenses? Time will tell.
2
Yogi famously said “nobody goes there any more, it’s too crowded”.
People have “voted” with their feet and businesses have “voted” with their jobs. Flyover country is dying under Republican policies of intolerance, environmental negligence and low taxes that result in inadequate services. Yet, they gladly take their socialistic bailouts from the rest if us.
17
California should abide by the Federal Regulations just like every state should. When It doesn’t it should be punished. California likes to make its own laws when it suits the state and then ignore the Federal laws. Can’t have it both ways. The states actions have created a crisis in affordable housing and created an health hazard in San Francisco and LA. Why doesn’t the state apply its resources and efforts to solve these serious problems?
5
California is not alone. The Trump tax bill hit states in the Northeast especially hard by setting limits on federal deductions for state taxes. Most of the Northeastern states, which are full of blue voters, pay for their "socialist" programs like good public schools with state income taxes. As one economist told me, the bill was a great big middle finger to New England. New York and New Jersey.
And we are well aware that, like California, we send a lot more money to Washington than we get back, effectively funding the so-called receiver states which look a lot like the former Confederacy.
It is not a pleasant feeling to be feeding the hand that hates you, but right now that would be a minor concern. As many of these comments indicate, Trump has called into question the very Union itself.
29
Two thoughts emerge from this editorial about Donald Trump’s ongoing and intensifying battle with California. First, if American presidents were not elected under the antiquated electoral system, Donald Trump would be currying the favor of California like a puppy dog.
Second, California is so big and diverse, its progressive tendencies do not stop the emergence of far-right conservatives like House Minority Leader, Kevin McCarthy, and former Chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Devin Nunes.
Okay, there is a third thought provoked by this editorial, and it is more important that the previous two.
Donald Trump did a terrible disservice to the nation by most of his cabinet appointments and most of his choices to head federal agencies. Few have been worse than Andrew Wheeler, the former lawyer for the coal industry who now heads the Environmental Protection Agency.
Wheeler is now determined to use the EPA to make life miserable for Californians. What a disgrace!
25
@sdw "... if American presidents were not elected under the antiquated electoral system..."
In fact, Trump and his inflatable wife would have ridden back up that escalator long ago.
1
To trump political favoritism is the name of the game. If you do what he wants which is vote for him he will pat you on the back and drop a crumb, but challenge him and he will give you the back of his hand. It is not only about California, but now about foreign powers that will persecute his rivals. This is the Quid Pro Quo that Trump denies, but is evident in everything he does and says.
But in the end Trump does nothing for anyone but himself. And trying to bring California down is part of his attempt to build his own ego. Success by others is a threat to himself and thus his endless attacks.
12
These actions should be additional grounds for Impeachment. This is another example of Trump's failure to meet his sworn oath "To Defend and Protect the Citizens."Penalizing California by sanctioning them for having too much pollution, and suing them to create more is both absurd and vindictive. When will the Republican Representatives recognize that these actions are "just wrong" and will hurt citizens for generations to come?"
11
The exploitation of California by the U.S. government under Trump is unbelievable. In the best of times, California is fleeced for money that goes to the poor states (sic.), and our citizenry is under-represented in the U.S. senate and the Electoral College in favor of less populated states. This egregiously unfair situation has to be changed. We need our money right here to combat air pollution and water issues and to protect endangered species. We need fairer representation in the U.S. Senate and in the Electoral College. Otherwise this exploitation will continue into the future and worsen with future Trumps.
9
Trump and his Trumpets are vindictively going after California this week. It is time to support those who are resisting the petty "get even" of Donald Trump. Real people are being hurt by the actions of a man unfit to be president. Real damage is being done to the land, the air and the water where millions of Americans live and work.
From his first day in office, Trump made it clear he would only govern on behalf of those who voted for him. He would make no attempt to unite the USA. His judges and other appointees made clear how much they "hated" Democrats in their confirmation hearings. Trump's time as president will be remembered for his ugly behaviour to citizens of the USA, to foreign allies and to the men and women who are career civil servants of the federal government.
Worst of all Trump has divided the voters of the USA by his language of violence, mockery and lies. He is not smart or skillful about many things but he knows how to create fights between USA citizens who have common interests. The more citizens fight each other, the more Trump wins. Trump will be out of office someday; the damage he has done will be healed.
11
It may well be that Trump is willing to write off California's electoral votes, just to gain revenge and appeal to his heartland base.
But is he really willing to write off all of California's numerous seats in the House of Representatives? National Republican donors and lobbyists must be groaning with dismay at the idea of writing off all of those House seats just to satisfy the childish whims of an adolescent president.
4
Numerous seats ? Only 7/53 seats are currently red in California. Probably the most lopsided of any major state. NY 5/27 are red. Illinois 5/18.
With its rich pluralist cultural ethos, innovative zeal, technological advancements, environmental concerns, and participatory democratic governance if California offers a true picture of the American dream, it also holds a mirror to Trump as to how in putsuit of his ugly personal agenda and self-aggrandisement he has turned the same promising American dream into a nightmare for the Americans. This contrast and Californian rejection of Trump is bound to be a sore in the eyes of Trump to make him blind to see the reality let alone appreciate the Californian effort to turn the idea of America into a possibility.
7
Yeah, Trump should just work his backsliding voodoo on the states cynical enough to give him their electoral votes. California represents everything Republicans are against, bright, optimistic and future-oriented, as opposed to dull-witted, pessimistic and blindly devoted to the past.
1
Trump can be the moronic bully that he innately is but the tide of history, and of demography, is on our side. The rest of the country, particularly those in rural states small in population who relish their inordinate, and grossly unjust, influence in the Senate and Electoral Colllege, should realize that California will not be infinitely patient with this nonsense. As a nation, California would be the world's fifth largest economy, at least an order of magnitude greater importance to the US than Great Britain is to the EU.
As a long term resident of California who only recently escaped (but still work in the erstwhile Golden State), I can attest to the fact that childish pettiness runs both directions. Yes, President Trump has behaved with less than presidential aplomb when dealing with California, but so too have California's politicians behaved as adolescents in taunting the president with silly lawsuits, mostly in an effort to pander to their childish "progressive" base who delight in antagonizing the president, even as such effort accomplish little or nothing, apart from retaliatory executive actions. Alas, our state and country are run by pathetic children, but we elected these clowns, so we get what we deserve.
7
Give us an example of a “silly” lawsuit.
1
Trump is a mean-spirited little man. He is all about destroying. Destroying the environment, destroying the middle class, destroying Obama’s legacy, destroying the rule of law, destroying our friendships with allies, destroying our DOJ. In as much as California can resist him and his Republican wrecking crew, it is to be applauded. Kudos!
4
Trump is a very sick man. His ego literally requires him to perform the most selfish, most egregious acts he can think of, and when he gets away with it, his ego again swells, egging him on to even greater acts of self-aggrandizing lunacy. It even requires him to constantly defy death with the worst diet a man his age could ever eat.
But attacking the largest economy in the USA may be the final straw. In fact, I don't think California has even begun to fight.
3
To be honest, most Californians don't really care that much about Donald Trump. He is little more than an entertainment, and a poor one at that. We have more important things to do here, in the greatest State in the Union, than waste our time with his nonsense.
4
As part of his job as an amoral, criminally bankrupt autocrat, Donald Trump has performed well in dividing families, towns, states and countries. His hatred of California is just part of this mantra. It’s time to impeach and remove him from office. He has done more damage to the United States domestically and internationally than has ever been seen before and it just well may be too late to put the genie back in the bottle.
2
As a former Californian I can confidently say that California is permanent, while Trump is quite temporary. California is leading the country into the future with its technology and innovation. The state is a laboratory of new ideas. Trump is just an old man yelling, “Get off my lawn.” And it’s definitely not his lawn.
12
So let me get this straight. On the one hand: Try to overrule the State’s ability to impose fuel standards, which improve air quality. On the other: pursue the State for clean air violations.
All while undoing the clean air standards at a national level and not pursuing other states for similar “violations.”
The neck. The gall. The sheer shamelessness of this “administration” ...!
1
Isn’t this a stupid approach to politics? Instead of making policy to appeal to California voters, he takes step to offend and widen the rift. What a novice.
6
I warned in 2016 that what trump really wants to do is deport every immigrant legal and illegal, and his or her parents and grandparents. Many millions of people, maybe half the nation. He is getting ever closer to doing that every day.He has taken away food stamps and health care, and today he has announced he will deny visas to immigrants who cannot purchase health insurance. Only rich, white immigrants will be able to obtain visas. He wants to make america white again.
1
California is unique and progressive, so it, like other PC-thinking states, doesn't have to follow laws created by the Congress. That's all you have to know.
3
I am writing this comment from reading the headlines. So here goes. I thought about the grudge governing and wedge policies among states by Trump earlier. However, I don’t really think Trump himself has the creativity to invent nor the savvy of how to implement such petty minded, low brow, short sighted spiteful stuff. Who are the folks who dream up stuff like the cap on property taxes which affect inordinately NY, NJ, Mass & Calif the big blue states which contribute so much to the federal budget ? Trump is good at marketing and even running some resorts with his kids. But I doubt he could put together a ham and cheese sandwich by himself.
1
@Suburban Cowboy
That’s the question. Which monied interest is pulling the strings?
California for all its liberal posturing has some of the worst air and water pollution in the
US, coupled with a massive homeless problem and a boat load of excuses why, but it’s unfair for Trump to point this out. Poor California!!!
Instead of all the excuse laden rhetoric and whining that Trump is picking on them they should address the issue head in and fix it.
5
@George
And trump should stop actively trying to undermine California’s efforts to address those issues with spiteful federal government overreach.
7
@SP, Poor air quality, water pollution, and growth in homeless residents do not happen overnight. These problems existed before Trump was elected. De Blasio is no better. Just an empty suit liberal out for personal gain. In my 50 years of living in Manhattan, this is the worst homeless problem in decades. Their lining the gratings to stay warm and dry. Another incompetent liberal with delusions of grandeur. Murphy is heading NJ down the same path.
3
If California’s air is so bad, why remove our right to set our own, more strict, pollution standards? It makes no sense.
1
One reason for California's poor air quality is the prevailing winds push the emissions from Asia across the Pacific to where the particles are blocked by the Rockies. We all are one planet.
8
Funny how Republicans go on and on about "State's Rights" until the States are doing something they don't like. They're hypocrites and are quickly making themselves irrelevant. The future isn't going to be pretty for their kind.
11
The illustration is quite deceiving and an inaccurate portrayal of Trump and California. Trump’s rump and belly should be much larger.
3
I hope the red states are looking at how they cold be treated if Democrats sink to the levels Trump has sunk. California will be vindicated as millions of other Americans join the 2,4 million Californians who did not vote for Trump. Short of disenfranchising millions of voting Americans Trump is history in 2020. People will laugh off this planned Socialist label he plans on trowing at Americans and that is pretty much all he has. His economic miracle was a lie fro the get go. The debt is exploding and now growth is slowing.
4
Time to withhold payment of federal taxes?
8
Alas President Nixon inflicted the same curse on Massachusetts when it was the only state to vote against him. Massachusetts was much more vulnerable than than California is now.
2
Classic State vs. Federal Government. Trump thinks he's the state and as such he can crush his fellow citizens to satisfy a black hole in his soul. are there any other explanations for his performance.
In the meantime Trump will continue trampling the norms and making the abnormal, normal. Trashing everything to fill an unfillable void in his soul. He will be gone soon, one way or another.
1
Seattle is not the capital of Washington state. That would be Olympia. Love, a naturalized, indigo-blue American citizen of undeclared origin
2
I recall that Mayor Daley of Chicago made sure not to replace the streets in Republican areas. Good to know we now have a President who is cut from the same cloth.
To paraphrase a spokesman for one of my state's non-profit conservation organizations - and they are aplenty - Trump Inc are the agents of Mordor. One more vindictive, thuggish, vengeful act by this egomaniacal bully taking up valuable space in the Oval Office. And Wheeler? Just as corrupt and amoral. So, come on, Mr. Trump, let's have it out. You do not know what you are up against. It is not only the Democrats but also many Republicans and Independents who are fiercely protective of our natural resources. On so many levels we will fight you, and bring the number of lawsuits to 61 plus. You dare to threaten us, citizens of these disjointed United States for whom you took an oath to defend and protect. We will not let you endanger our land, our water, our earth, and most of all our health and that of the generation to follow.
1
This sociopath isn’t interested in what’s best for our Nation. In order to prop up his fragile, immature ego he must try to destroy the success of others ( even when it has benefited the Nation) or find ways to attack those who disagree with him or God forbid, voted against him( which if I recall were more people than voted for him). So, he is intent to harm over half our Country and take the rest down with his incompetence as well. Well, at least he’ll destroy the GOP in California.
1
Trump will be long gone before any of his backward proposals get implemented. California is much more resilient than he is.
1
Today the IRS informed Calif counties they they will not pay the fees assessed by the State to record and release tax liens. The IRS decided that $15 is too much and they will only pay $10. Petty little bully, using the government as his attack dog. I am hoping my county refuses to record the liens unless they pay the bill!
2
John Perry~ So what do you do to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions?
I’m thinking a response is the sound of crickets.
I suspect that you know very little about Environmental laws and their purpose, let alone how/why subsequent legislation addresses congressional intent, nor the FED-State relationship, implementation, and enforcement. Your “CA has too many waivers” comment is just silly.
2
Cal-Exit !
I'm tired of our tax dollars going to less prosperous red states. Red states complain about big government, and then recieve more tax dollars than they contribute.
CA, OR, WA and HI should form their own country. Like minded people who actually have good economies and want to take care of the environment.
Let trump and the rest of trumperdom make their own way.
4
Perhaps Seattle was mentioned because we are all feeling sleepless who are opposed to Trump.
1
California is the most successful and progressive part of the US, and Trump hates it!
1
Before long trump will threaten to withhold (i.e. steal) billions more from California if they don't manufacture dirt on the Bidens. Indeed, when you look at what Biden did ... um, um, on the moon, yea, the moon ... its almost as bad as what they did in Ukraine. If California were surrounded by water, no doubt he'd follow Christie's lead and close a few bridges down.
This is not the first POTUS not to be president of all Americans. But he sure is the first and most vindictively anti-the-Americans who did not vote for him president.
I'm surprised obvious politically and personally vindictive actions and theft of a states resources aren't an impeachable offense. If it were acceptable, then any blue president could inflict a lot of damage to poor red states. Obviously, the only true impeachable offense to Republicans is for a Democrat to be overwhelmingly elected as president.
The EPA has not just been "deployed as an instrument of political retribution" but to inflict real world physical harm to American citizens, their environment and their homes. Trump now wants to open up California to fracking to truly devastate and inflict as much harm as possible can against as many of those who voted against him.
I hope trump becomes persona non grata and barred from entering California, blue states and foreign ally countries he abused as POTUS. Indeed, he should be the first disgraced president to be forcefully exiled ... to Russia - he can bunk down at one of Putin's many dachas.
1
Soon, sadly, we will be separating.
1
When people in red states say California is a failure because of the homeless problem (some of it imported from their states), I suggest that if California got back the many billions of extra dollars that we send to the Federal government that we don't get back, we could put a serious dent in our homeless problem. $20+ billion would go a long, long way towards helping out our 140,000 homeless.
They red-staters would have to give up some government handouts for that to happen. You OK with that? I've never gotten an affirmative response yet. They just sort of wander away without commenting.
6
When Massachusetts was The Lone Star State it did not receive showers of blessings from the winning candidate.
You call his anti environmental actions “policy” they’re not. They’re just an expression of his Obama grudge.
That petulant, vindictive and jealous child who occupies the White House must be voted out. But let's not forget Moscow Mitch and Leningrad Lindsey, and a number of other aiders and abetters in our Senate. I hope the people in those states see how the current system of Republicans protecting a Republican president NO MATTER WHAT must end.
4
It's not so much that I want California to secede, it's that I want to get rid of the red states. Maybe some version of Greater Canada would be the best option. If Trump wins a second term somehow, it's over.
1
LOL, Trump doesn't govern in California. Or anywhere else, for that matter. He has no clue what governing means.
trump and the republicans don't care about california. they raised our taxes drastically by imposing the salt limit. I know of one case where a person received rsus, the irs immediately taxed her at the grant price, then the rsus lost most of their value and could not be sold, and because of the salt limit her taxes went up by 35,000 and there are many such stories. even my aunt, a retired 80 year old teacher saw her taxes go up. hopefully the last remaining republican will get swept out of office in california in 2020. trump and the gop are poisoning california's air and water, and endangering many species. their policies have considerably worsened the effects of climate change already. inequality is considerably worse since trump, and the gop senate majority and the 2017 tax bill. prescription drug prices and insurance deductibles have shot up since 2017 when trump and the gop tried to revoke obamacare, and 2 million have lost their insurance. people in the 35 to 60 age groups are unable to find a job after losing one. manufacturing is in a recession and the global economy is slow because of trump's trade war. trump's foreign policy is 'give me dirt on biden or i will withhold aid from you'. his iran and korea policies are a disaster. the fed is propping up the economy with rate cuts. the economy is in a rut and grew much better under obama. he is trying to keep america white by curbing immigration and fighting crusade against islam with his muslim ban
very few people win again an angry grizzly least of all one who was afraid to do his duty in Vietnam
Along with this article about the president’s continuing vendetta against the state of California and its attempts to combat climate change, in the past twelve hours I have read George Conway’s excruciating in depth analysis in “The Atlantic,” of Trump’s unfitness for office, and this morning, the NYT’s article about the embittered, willfully ignorant, self-defeating “only-Trumpers” of Van Buren County, Arkansas. These three soul-destroying articles convinced me more than ever, that if Trump survives impeachment and is re-elected for four more years with a Republican senate and more Supreme Court nominations a strong possibility, America as we have known it will not survive.
And Pelosi and Schiff are showing Trump what happens to a mean-spirited, corrupt President -- with the overwhelming, untouchable support of the people of California.
1
As the Civil War came to a close, it would have been so easy for Abraham Lincoln to punish the South for its insurgency and the loss of life and destruction it caused. But instead, he understood the need to bring the country together, to allow it to heal, and showed respect and mercy in how he dealt with the South and its leaders.
Trump had a similar opportunity after the election. Instead, aided for his first two years by a Republican majority in Congress, he chose division and punishment. He decided to govern the red parts of the country and punish anyone and any state who didn't vote for him. I would suggest that everything bad that has happened since then started from that decision.
History often repeats itself, and I have begun to believe Trump and others in his party truly want his loyal red states to secede from the union again. This time, however, I think many blue staters might pack them a lunch and send them on their way. Which would you rather have--New York, California and Massachusetts, or Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma, Arkansas and West Virginia? The Blues get the Ivy League universities and global trade; the Reds get college football and all the coal they can mine. Doesn't seem like a tough choice.
3
There is no way to stop some of his disastrous acts, like packing the courts, etc and his rage against Cal and much else but to develop civic organs and nonprofits to for example stop further denuding of Wade, the environmental proyections etc.
And to continue to register Dems and to vote in numbers never seen before in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Penn, and if possible in Ohio and Florida.
In the long run, our democracy is long overdue for improvement and tecno fixes are not the way to do it.
One reason it does not work is that there are so many checks and balances that almost nothing absolutely needed gets passed in Congress.
2
Were the Trumpists going to consolidate power at national level after 2020, there would be the strongest case for a secession of the entire Western seaboard.
California, Oregon and Washington would make a progressive Super-state that would rapidly establish itself as a global beacon of democracy, advanced education, science, research, innovation, environmental protection, technology and industry. If Trump keeps on provoking and abusing California’s patience, he might just get what he deserves.
17
@Andy Your Western Super-state can no exist as a separate entity. The Western seaboard enjoys the economic largess of the Asian Pacific Rim. (A financial conduit of trade.) Has so for several decades, as America has economically off-shored. Secession attempts would stop that practice immediately. And then, the environmental fragility of the region would become immediately apparent. Most specifically water consumption.
3
I frequently hear about red states complaining that CA looks down on them and makes fun of them. I live in CA and I seldom hear anything like that. I wish I could say it is because we are so polite…which we often are. It is just that Californians are so busy with their own lives, they don’t pay much attention to what is going on elsewhere except for politics. Conversely, I frequently read about red states grumbling about us.
6
"They don't pay much attention to anything going on elsewhere." I'm not so sure that's something to be proud of.
They’re not grumbling, they’re jealous. But whatever. It’s good to be California.
2
@jsj Long Beach, California. Home to the Port of Long Beach, and the adjoining Port of Los Angeles. The two largest container ports in the nation. Visit, watch America economically bleed out to the Western Pacific Rim.
I am a Californian, and I'm not surprised at Mr. Trump's actions. But I do hope that Trump's Supreme Court appointees will side with the Constitution when some of these cases get there, instead of siding with the man who guaranteed them a lifetime job. Pretty hard to do, you know, if you're human.
The constitution gives underpopulated states an unfair advantage, and the GOP exploits it to the hilt.
10
It is not just California. Washington, Oregon and Hawaii are equally anti=Trump. If refuses to leave office after he loses a second term, do not be surprised if talk of the "Pacific States of America" takes a serious term.
17
@Brad
Sounds good to me.
Another example of retaliation against CA and other high tax Democratic states - NY, MASS, NJ - is the inability to deduct state income tax against Federal taxes since the 2017 tax plan. Residents in “Blue states” including CA feel the pain - for many of us, our taxes went up (significantly). As a Californian, this specific change in the tax plan seemed to be retaliatory for residents of states that didn’t vote for Trump.
17
It was retaliation.
@Teresa Wright
Of course it is.
I am weary of my tax dollars being spent on lawsuits to fend off Trump’s malicious attempts to roll back protections for our air, our land, our water, and our people. But given our sad state of affairs, I am proud of Xavier Becerra and grateful he is on our watch.
29
I think Trump has been so belligerent towards Calf, particularly farmers in the valley, that Nunes and McCarthy could lose their seats next year.
26
@Dolly Patterson
As a Californian those two are on my s list. Truly disgusted. I will fund their opposition and I recommend others do so. I think it’s time they find another state to live in. They don’t belong here.
3
1. Get rid of the electoral college.
2. Rework representation in the Senate.
Now.
23
An easy fix is to reapportion the us House of Representatives. If every congressional district was equal at say 500,000 population, California would have 80 representatives instead of the 53 we have now. Wyoming would Still have it’s single congressman. Expand the house to realistically represent all the people. The senate can take care of itself.
4
There is some merit to making smaller Congressional districts, thus increasing the number of House Representatives. At this point, unless I am totally off base, there is a demographic body politic shift to a more solidly blue lower chamber of Congress. The one that proposes most bills and control the budget. This idea of expanding the number of house seats has been done before and can be done again without Constitutional amendments I believe.
1
California has the world's 5th largest economy. 40 million Californians produce more GDP than 1 billion Indians. California has lead the US recovery with 25% of all economic growth over the past decade with only 12% of the US population.
Fiscal conservatives should be embracing California as one of the most successful economies of the past decade. Trump is just jealous California is doing so well & most Californians are happy with the great weather & interesting mix of Veeda!
23
As a Californian and a lifelong liberal, I'll just say that California was around long before Trump became the Current Occupant of the White House, and it will be around long after Trump changes his place of residence from the White House to another federal facility that is not so well furnished.
37
Lately I have been considering the benefits of returning to strong federalism. The blue states would be far better off if the federal government stopped taxing and regulating us. Then we could put our resources into our state government and local communities.
If Trump has broken the federal government and the separation of powers, I say let it die. The red states can fend for themselves.
Here in Washington state we can protect our environment, welcome the immigrants UW educates, and protect human rights- hopefully build better public schools. We can build healthcare as well.
23
I'm tired of my taxes subsidizing other states, states that are heavily Trump backers. California gets well less than $1 of federal return for each $1 of taxes we send to the feds. We need that to be $1 to $1, or we should withhold and escrow the tax revenues. Let Trump realize how much of the "great economy" he brags about is due to California's contribution. We have the same two Senators as Wyoming, or Alabama, or even Kentucky. So we should contribute no more than those states do to federal revenue. No taxation without representation!
58
If I were the head of Ford, Volkswagen, BMW and Honda I would tell Trump and the EPA that they plan on continuing making their vehicles more energy efficient and meeting previous standards set by California, it's not like Trump can do anything about it.
35
We did not vote for him and won't vote for him in 2020. But he keeps coming back here to beg the very wealthy Californians for money.
35
"There have been times in the E.P.A.’s long and controversial life when it fell down on the job by abdicating its regulatory responsibilities, as it did during Ann Gorsuch’s reign under President Ronald Reagan."
For those keeping score at home, Ann Gorsuch is the mother of Supreme Court Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch.
You know Neil. He's the guy who sits in the chair that Antonin Scalia held and which Merrick Garland, by right, ought to have been elevated to.
55
With respect to Trump trying to blindside California emission standards, California can circumvent the Trump administration in a variety of strategies. For example:
1. Mandating a zero emissions vehicle licensing requirement for all cars licensed in California to be phased in over the next 10 years. At that time, all old and new cars licensed in California will be electric or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Zero emission vehicle sales will increase and their prices will come down.
2. Taxing vehicles $1000/year that do not meet California emission standards.
Let the car manufactures produce polluting cars. They will either not be sold in California or they will be heavily taxed in California. Car manufacturers will have to follow California's lead.
15
I do not understand why the democrats do not play hard ball back on this issue. They can jut say - Trump can roll these standards back, but as soon as we are in power, we will reinstate them and NOT grandfather in anyone who was working on the reset Trump standards. So, industry, if you backslide to Trump's rules, you better be prepared to immediately leap back to the Obama standards - just as a matter of future planning... The car industry understands where we need to move to, which is why automakers were endorsing California's rules.
19
Trump’s strong arming of California has just shown that Republicans in fact don’t support states’ rights over the federal government.
44
Albany cares about air quality? That must be why Cuomo has been on the warpath to close, and has succeeded in forcing the shutdown of the Indian Point Nuclear Generating Station, a plant that generates 2100 megawatts of power with zero emissions. He's replacing, or thinks he replacing, all that power with a natural gas plant. He's dreaming. More burning of fossil fuel. Cuomo cares about air quality?
4
Trump loves everything gold except the Golden State. And I love that--state rights!
12
djt does not govern, he bullies. he and his republican party have been doing this for 40 years and will continue to do it as long as the US electorate stays at home on election day and/or believes what they hear, not what they see,
The only treatment for this malady is to vote the republicans out of office in 2020. Go ahead and investigate the corruption over the next 12 months, but do not neglect going to the election poll in 2020.
26
California has some of the worst inequality in the country and a vastly disproportionate number of homeless. From a national leader it has become a mere outlier. No one needs lessons from it.
8
Can we have our federal money back to fight the problems? Or do we have to keep supporting the entire country with our taxes?
41
No hum. what would USA do without our economy?
1
What else did you expect from President Spite ?
Spite forms the basis of every public policy position he has.
The guy and his supporters are nothing more than a giant bucket of spite.
36
Perhaps Californians ought to en masse withhold Federal income taxes.
26
Amen!
The stench of corruption emanating from the White House stinks far more than the Tenderloin in SF or Skid Row in LA. The explosion of homeless people in California can be traced directly back to the Reagan era and the reduction of the social safety net so it is too bad that the current batch of "giving things to people in need is a moral hazard" thugs are only feigning interest for petty political points.
35
@JS Yes, I remember saying I never saw a homeless person in America until Reagan became governor of CA.
4
@JS As govenor, Reagan shut down a number of state hospitals and cut funding for counties to care for the influx of people from these hospitals to their counties. This is the Reagan Era of which you write?
3
For Trump it’s never policy, just personal.
The sadder thing is to see his enablers trying to help with a straight face.
The reality of destroying years of progress for pique is too much to consider.
17
Just more examples of this so-called President using the powers of his office not for the common welfare of the country but for his
personal political gain, clearly abuse of Presidential power.
Trump should be imcpeached and removed from office.
24
As the nation, starting with Reagan and in overdrive with trump/mcconnell, inches toward a fascist oligarchy I am fortunate to make that transition as a resident of California.
With our economy, financial resources, agriculture and energy we are likely the only state that could truly stand on its own.
31
"President Trump may be forgiven for feeling the same way about California" this is part of a sentence in today's editorial. Why should Pres. Trump be "forgiven" for anything?
23
It's plain as day that Donald Trump is exceedingly jealous of the wealth, the peaceful diversity, the beauty, and the democratic voting power within the Golden State. Not only is it plain to see, but it's actually rather pathetic that this grown man has chosen to act on those jealousies, as an 8-year old revengeful brat would do. Trump's denial of climate change, combined with his childish willful egotism, would create a dismal and polluted future for us Californians, if he had his way. Fortunately, as our state government, and the polls in 2016 showed, the majority of us are having none of it, and will continue on using basic common sense to deal with the reality of climate change.
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We love our priceless natural beauty; value and welcome immigrants; and believe in the importance of education. Of course Trump hates us.
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Cali is a huge funder of the federal gov't and much of the money it sends to Washington is sent to red states, which use Cali dollars to subsidize their state governments. Three times a day, red state conservatives should get on their knees and give thanks westward.
37
Didn't Mr. Trump at some point let loose with the "I want to be everyones president" bromide? Worth just as much as any other noise coming from his mouth, or thumbs.
12
California is one of Washington's cash cows. California pays the bills in this country. I am a firm supporter of states' rights. Let's keep California money in California.
When the alt-right complains about the treatment of the United States in the U.N., I can relate. We have tremendous problems here in California that could be fixed, if we could be granted the right of self-determination. (This does not necessarily mean secession, only a measure of autonomy, such as enjoyed by the Trentino-Alto Adige in northeastern Italy.)
Warning to Trump and the Washington bloodsuckers: "Don't bite the hand that services you. (Unless you ask first, and are given explicit consent.)"
544
@Padonna - Preach. California has the sixth largest economy in the world. Imagine what we could accomplish if we didn't have to pay for all the red states that are hoovering up our tax dollars, insulting us as coastal elites, and saddling us with a Republican senate and president. Our tax dollars at work, people.
Also, the midwest in particular is always preaching about how they're real Americans. Which, fine. If they're real Americans and we're not, then they don't have any claim on our non-American tax dollars either.
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@Padonna
A better idea is a regional compact along the West Coast (Environmental, housing, education, medical costs are really more regional, not isolated to California). Or, an interstate compact for blue states, with support to blue districts within red states. There are many existing compacts that could be expanded or modified.
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@Padonna
So many people say we have to compromise or reason with rural voters. The only problem is that the power to reason usually requires an educated populace. It should come as no surprise then that the least educated states in our country overwhelmingly voted for Trump. Sad.
24
In the run-up to the 2016 election, I announced to my 36 email friends both left and right that Democrats have a tendency to protect the environment while Republicans have a tendency to destroy it. I told my friends that I was a one-issue voter and, as much as I was exasperated by the idea of Hillary and Bill Clinton occupying the White House again, I voted for Hillary. What I learned was that Environmental Protection is a great way to cut through the onslaught of media noise and be squeaky clear about your motive for voting for Democrats.
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@poodlefree Right on! We all need to adopt a single issue to distinguish ourselves that we can try to convince random people. My favorite is “Well your party used to be about tearing down walls rather than building them. What happened to that?”
8
Also, Hillary Clinton’s four million vote margin in the state more than accounted for his national popular vote loss.
This is exactly why we have then electoral college. So that a couple of states don’t decide. California is a vary poorly run corrupt state probably only behind New York and Illinois.
7
@San - That would be so different from what we have now, where a couple of swing states decide the outcome of every election.
As to your other point, I don't think you know very much about California or how it is governed. Unlike the federal government, which is drowning in debt, we are running a multi billion dollar budget surplus. Our governor has not sought to corrupt elections unlike the president. Nor has he sought to profit off his office or brought his children into government in clear violation of anti-nepotism laws, again unlike the current president.
I haven't always been Newsom's biggest fan but he's made me eat my words since taking office. The emissions deal negotiated with major automakers was a master stroke and he continues to press for programs to help Californians and to uphold our values. California has plenty of problems, but it is neither corrupt nor poorly run.
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@San Its actually one of the best run states. They have problems like all states do, but their upside is off the chain. And for 75 years as California goes, so goes the nation . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtNbMD96xgY
2
It is apparent to anyone living here in God’s Country (California), that The Donald will do anything to punish us for voting so heavily against him in 2016. Now, with the prospect of an even more severe defeat, The Donald is incentivized all over again. Keep it up Donald (and followers), and we may just succeed and tell you that we’re leaving the Union. WIth the world’s fifth leading economy and even more promising times ahead (given the public policy of inclusion, the nation’s leading system of higher education, energy independence and constructive support for the less fortunate), California’s loss to the Union may hurt The Donald’s legacy more than anything else that comes to mind. So, keep it up, Donald (and followers), and you might find all of California telling the United States we no longer will participate in the charade the federal government has become under our Dear Leader.
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@Mark Larsen - That’s exactly the kind of sentiment that the administration wishes to foment, and that makes our adversaries happy. Please remember, as others have commented, that any divide wouldn’t be clean and would be followed by a schism of California itself, as the areas away from the coasts wouldn’t likely go.
The lesson from Brexit, if anything, is that these types of fantasies only serve to divide, harm and weaken republics, when what we need to do is unite to overcome the current administration’s pettiness.
And one more thing: check the latest stats from Governing magazine and website: California, despite what many here assume, is not a donor state at this time.
2
My point here is that The Donald’s politics have overwhelmed any semblance of good governance. Just look at the California circumstance. I think our national leaders need to understand that, pushed far enough, the Union will fail. Just look around. It’s happening in plain sight.
4
@Mark Larsen The Union probably should just let California go. It would likely be a third world country in a few decades or something like Mexico, with a lot of illegal immigrants, homeless people and a huge gap between the rich and the poor.
1
As a Californian, trump’s actions are tyrannical. We contribute a ton of federal income taxes and get far less back than we put in. Now trump is denying us the very programs that our taxes fund. That is a type of tyranny. If trump stays president much longer, it wouldn’t surprise me if the calexit movement really gained momentum.
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And Washington and Oregon will follow.
14
@Theo Baker CALEXIT! We deserve better, Trump's swamp stinks.
2
@Tanya best new country ever.
2
California is probably the most valuable piece of real estate on the planet. However, it is the most segregated. The people who own property in wine country, coastal beachfront, and areas where building restrictions are law to keep out working poor people,evolved into a haves and have nots state. California would do better by sharing their wealth with all of their citizens.
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@Pepperman
Nearly everything left of value (besides the views and weather) is portable. Keep picking at the tech giants and we will see the true value.
2
@Pepperman that’s because oureconomy is ridiculously successful, creating a lot of very rich people. Of course maybe if we didn’t have to send off billions to basket cases like Kansas or Kentucky to keep them solvent, we have enough to go around
3
I just enjoyed the first of three days in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, at Warren Hellman’s glorious gift to us, the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. On a cloudless 75 degree day, I began to think, I’m more patriotic about the San Francisco Bay Area than I am about the whole country and, then, I quickly corrected myself. Even if that were the case, it would only be because this area and for the most part, California as a whole, is far closer to attaining the ideals, principles and spirit of our democratic experiment than most of the rest of our nation. I can only imagine how that irks and gets under the skin of an oafish authoritarian like the low-life-in-chief. The only thing more smugly satisfying would be if he and Pence were both impeached, leaving our very own, honorable Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, as President. Long may the great state of California rankle him.
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Donald Trump's microphallic personality is evident in all his decisions and utterances, but it is especially evident in his singling out of California, where he wishes to oppose the will of its voters.
38
And, of course, it must stick in Mr. Trump’s craw that his two most powerful adversaries are from California, Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff. We’re proud of them here.
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By dividing Americans because of their political differences, Pres Trump is using the power of the presidency to weaken the republic.
34
As someone born and raised in California and now living abroad for many years looking in on the current insanity that is US Politics; I can’t help but wonder if the time isn’t right for an independence movement. A real California Republic would no doubt please the majority of Californians as well as most conservative voters in the South and Midwest who love to denigrate California. Seems like a win-win to me!
38
Large sections of the state would not want to come with such as the northern counties which already want out to form the state of Jefferson because of the dictatorial tendencies of of the Bay Area and LA. The Central Valley where most the food is grown which is still republican would also most likely not want to come along. The new state would not be so great with out those areas and all the natural resources they provide and would probably beg to be let back into the union very quickly.
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@Shawn
The breakup would not be so popular, as the Brexit people are finding out. Half of the land in California is owned by the United States. If California were to secede, would they leave behind the federal land or would they buy the land from the US?
California has a sixth of the population, and they are on the hook for one sixth of the national debt. Their share would be due and payable at the time of independence.
Medicare is not available to people living outside of the US.
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@ebmem no, the federal government would lose title. Consider it a down payment on the reparations you owe us
1
That's the thing about Donald Trump - the indication that all the anger and rage and vindictiveness is hiding nothing underneath: in his business life the Trump organization was able to crush contractors and bankrupt companies after bleeding them dry, leaving millions upon millions of dollars unpaid, independent contractors themselves bankrupt, lives ruined.
At worst he gets eight years in office.
The mighty State of California will be around long after this administration has faded into infamy. All California has to do is hold on tight, hew to the law, and keep providing bright futures for its inhabitants.
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Wheeler's letter about ground water contamination came with zero proof, no monitoring, no metrics to back up his claim. Not surprising with this unscientific administration. And it shows that Wheeler would rather waste his time and our money creating letters such as this rather than actually doing his job.
15
I no longer live in California, but I fully support its Resistance. Pro-Trump supporters have a very short, selective memory - otherwise they’d realize California (and the Northeast to some extent) has always led the way - it is our future, our dreams, even when it’s flawed. No wonder, of course, that conservative reactionnaries can’t stand it.
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@ml
Interesting statement. Half of the people in the US who have chronic exposure to unhealthy air live in California. The overwhelming majority of the remaining half live in NE blue states. That constitutes leadership?
Look at cities with poor residential water quality: Flint, Newark, NYC, Chicago. Name a single city from the EPA database that indicates children from Republican controlled cities are being poisoned by their municipal water supply.
Look at NYS's infrastructure needs. The overall average for states in the US is that the states pay 70% of road infrastructure costs, with the federal fuel excise tax covering 25% and the federal government topping off another 5%. Tennessee covers 90% of its infrastructure, not even getting back what it pays in federal fuel tax while NY gets 40% of its costs covered from the federal trough.
NYS dumps one million gallons of raw sewage into the waters of America every year.
States governed by conservatives have better conditions: fewer unfunded public pensions, clean air and water, low taxes. The "Resistance" should be addressing corruption and inefficiency in their own states and cities instead of pretending Trump has anything to do with their misery.
2
Michigan had a Republican governor when the Flint water crisis began. In fact, two of the Republican emergency managers were charged with felonies.
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@ebmem
Despite the glaring false equivalence of comparing infrastructure needs of a State like New York versus a State like Tennessee, Tennessee ranks 12 out of 50 compared to New York at 31 out of 50 in dependency on Federal dollars. Your math, and therefore your assumptions, are wrong.
By the way, you might wanna ask East Tennessee how that fracking is working out for them … glass houses ...
4
It has become clear that Trump is bent on destroying all institutions and guardrails that protect our health, economy and national security. Anyone that claims that this administration has not thrown away the Constitution and broken their oaths of office are collaborators.
We saw this happen in Germany and now we are seeing the rise of Fascism occurring in our own country, fueled and enabled by a Republican party so terminally ill they will never recover their foothold as a political party.
I have lived half of my life in California and we all better realize that the stakes for saving our Republic have never been higher. There is no more room for complacency at the voting booth or taking democracy for granted. And if we must, we have to protest until Congress holds this corrupt administration accountable.
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@Anonymous Agreed. There are so many qualified Democratic candidates.. to the barricades! And let's not ignore the judicial system: 5 of Clarence Thomas's clerks are now ensconced for life in high courts around the country.
In the years after WWII with labor unions and a semblance of fairness in pay, voters knew that only the Democratic Party cared about the "common good". Today we must count on a resurgence of voters who take the time to remember that and to realize that the Republicans are destroying our country.
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@MGL
When was the last time Republicans took to the barricades when they lost an election? That you fear the democratic process and advocate for violence is clear evidence that Democrats fear democracy.
You are kidding yourself if you believe that the growth of unions, at the encouragement of FDR during the 1930's, had anything to do with Democrats caring about the common good. The minimum wage and unionization was encouraged to prevent Black men migrating from the South from competing with white men for jobs. Even in today's municipal transportation, public safety and other government unions, women and black men are paid less than white men.
What we saw in Germany was the government taking control of industry via fiat, similar to Obama ignoring the law and imposing new regulations unsupported by legislation.
Did it never seem odd to you that no new immigration or environmental laws were passed under Obama, even when he had a majority in the House and a supermajority in the Senate, but he was somehow able to write new law granting him, personally, infinite power?
Democrats were delighted with the benevolent dictator doing what they wanted without the need for messy legislation. Republicans, even those who agreed with some of the policies, were smart enough to recognize that dictators are benevolent until they aren't, and by then it's too late.
1
@ebmem of the United States has democracy, Hillary Clinton would be President now. It also wouldn’t tolerate all the Republican cheating and voters suppression.
4
California - land of the 9th Circuit finds itself out of step with a conservative administration - sounds good to me.
Thank goodness for the electoral college.
9
Say what you will about California, but it us the fifth largest economy in the world. And, it helps subsidize the red states who have outsized influence in the electoral college you hold so dear. Without the help of tax revenues from states like California, some of those red states would be about on par with Somalia.
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@David Simon
California is not subsidizing the rest of the country. That is what your politicians have told you to justify why you pay such high taxes. And even with your high taxes, you have underfunded your government pensions.
1
@ebmem - California is absolutely subsidizing the rest of the country, including your own state, which is 17th on the list of biggest takers from the federal government.
As a general FYI, no, politicians are not lying to us to justify high state taxes, which go to the state's budget and have nothing to do with contributions to the federal budget. I'm thankful for California and the quality of life here every day of the year, including the days when I write my checks for state income tax and property tax. What we object to is our federal share (no different from rates in any other state) going to support red states who foist regressive government on us with disproportionate representation in the Senate and Electoral College.
25
I’m fed up. As an individual who holds an advanced degree in public administration, I have always believed in the good of government, and in the need to pay taxes for the benefit of the whole. As a liberal Democrat in a big D, donor state, I can not believe what I am about to suggest....that it is high time that states like California, New York, Washington, and New Jersey withhold their federal tax dollars from the federal government. If the Trump Administration is going to play an unfair game of hardball with us, it is only fair (if not particularly patriotic) we respond in kind.
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@Aubrey Mayo -- I thought of that myself (for a while now), but there's so many interconnections between the state and fed that I don't think it would be feasible. But yeah, the "blue" cities & states that trump is targeting do pay a substantially larger part of revenue into federal coffers than most of the "red" states.
22
@Aubrey Mayo It's time perhaps the make a credible threat re: separation. It's time for the bear to poke back. It's time for bootstraps people to see who wears the pants in this relationship. It's time for our resentment to be respected. It's time to talk about a divorce. People need to wise up. Water and military are the obstacles. It will make our continent weaker. But perhaps it is time to discuss what it will mean to live in a post coast world.
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@Aubrey Mayo
Couldn't agree more. Until our presidential votes count as much as everyone else's.
11
Well, if that's the case -- no doubt New York City will be next.
11
But meanwhile, California is not intimidated while it keeps the lights on for what our country can be in the future.
While Trump and his administration run the country like a banana republic, California sees the future In terms of climate change solutions, pursuing equal opportunities and acting like it is the 6th largest economy in the world.
The Golden State is leading the way through this morass created by Donald Trump and the GOP.
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@JT FLORIDA I'm born & raised northern Californian, and I love this state. So do a lot of others, as our population is huge (too crowded in cities for me) and diverse. As our state goes regarding consumerism, as California goes so goes the rest of the nation (eventually). We care about our beautiful state and don't want to see harm come to it or its citizens. I live in the woods with many republican voting neighbors; and they are disgusted not only with trump, but also with the GOP representatives, including the one representing my district.
Thanks for the support for California!
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@denise brown: Hang in there. Our long national nightmare will be over within the next year.This whole investigation of Trump’s quid pro quo extortion, bribery and pay for play with foreign leaders is much different than the M
Jelled investigation.
He’s on the run and so is the GOP. Keep the lights on California!
12
Denise, I'm gonna chime in with my brethren from Florida, JT.... you hang in there.
I was born and raised in middle class NJ suburbia, and California has always been a magical place to me. Beautiful, with very friendly people. Interesting trends always seem to start in California, then spread to the rest of the country. Don't go changin'!
11
California very openly hates Trump, and to an extreme rarely seen in politics.
Therefore, it deserves what it gets, or doesn't get.
Politics is an art of compromise. California is too full of its own righteousness and arrogance to compromise, or even care in the least what happens to the rest of us in flyover country.
So, good for the Electoral College.
10
You’d better hope California continues to have a successful economy, otherwise the whole country will suffer. And, for the record, everyone I know here in California (liberal and conservative) cares very much about our fellow Americans in the whole country, including the “flyover” states. We pay high taxes knowing that not all of it ends up in our own state, and we are okay with that because we want the whole country to succeed. So I’m sorry to hear that you wish the residents of California ill - I am proud to say that we don’t feel the same way.
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@Mark Thomason Call me when MI is the 6th largest economy in the world. We have compromised. Has the other side? Last time I checked, the Overton Window is over on the hard right now. We've compromised enough. Pay what we do, and we shall speak of what you have contributed. We've sacrificed enough.
57
California is the rest of us. Keep that in mind. California welcomed me over 20 years ago from New York. While here I’ve met more than a few people from the flyover states. - more people actually from the flyover (your term) states than other progressive regions of the US. Ponder that.
37
We will resist him in the hills, the valleys, the mountains, and the cities of our state, California. We California patriots do understand the difference between right and wrong and our state will uphold the principles and ideals of democracy, no matter where the trump states decide to go. This isn't secession (yet) but it's going to be the closest thing to it, ongoing.
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@J.Sutton No need to secede. The majority of America is with you!
5
Meanwhile, there's another article on the page about the "disrespect" folks in rural areas feel towards wealthier urban areas. The system we have now is basically like this: Large, populous states are responsible for the majority of our economic might. However, due to our current government's structure, smaller states and rural areas have an outsize say in how the nation is governed.
The GOP, meanwhile, has become blatantly casual about expressing its disdain for people who don't live in red districts. One of the most common refrains in the aftermath of the disastrous (for Trump) midterms was that the losses were in areas that weren't all that "Republican" to begin with. In other words, the needs of people who aren't Republicans aren't really significant.
Thus far, the residents of larger states seem to be content to let the insults and the disrespect hurled our direction pass with a little grumbling. But for how long, I wonder?
73
@TGF Considering that, for the USA, the Pacific coast is one of the geese that lays golden eggs, damaging it too extensively could be short sighted.
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@Andrew
Where California leads, the US follows. That can be good or bad. But that is why they hate us.
2
@Andrew
Nobody, including Trump, has ever accused his base of being smart.
1
Note: The National Popular Vote bill is 73% of the way to guaranteeing the majority of Electoral College votes and the presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in the country, by changing state winner-take-all laws (not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution, but later enacted by 48 states), without changing anything in the Constitution, using the built-in method that the Constitution provides for states to make changes.
It requires enacting states with 270 electoral votes to award their electoral votes to the winner of the most national popular votes.
All voters would be valued equally in presidential elections, no matter where they live.
45
@mvymvy
This is crazy. Just go to a simple popular vote election. Then we can call ourselves a democracy!
3
During a recent visit to California I expected to see solar panels on every public school, and every other public building. I thought that there would be almost no power plants burning fossil fuels like natural gas. Remembering cities in other states like Boston, I expected that there would be wind turbines everywhere. Unfortunately I saw less environmentally favorable projects than in states like Texas and Iowa. I guess if someone else is not paying for appropriate climate laws and infrastructure, California is a lot of talk and little action.
10
@Richard Wright —
Clearly, you saw very little of California on your recent visit. But you’re to be forgiven, as ours is a very large state — indeed, the third largest by square miles in our union.
While you’re throwing stones at your perceived lack of our state’s record on environmental quality, I’ll just point out that we’re number 5 on US News’ overall Natural Environment rankings, while Wyoming comes in at number 17. So, being that your state is the least populated in the entire union, what’s your excuse for coming in so low in these ratings?
Perhaps you should spend more time at home looking at how you can improve your own efforts rather than belittle ours.
347
@John P John, as your "neighbor" just a little north of SF, I say, "Well said, and thank you." I am not so forgiving as you, however, when I consider the "sources" of criticism of our very large, highly populated, and diverse state. I love California, as I do the Bay Area. And I will defend it like I would my own children. We are being treated so unfairly by a vengeful man who is the result of an arrested development in mind and soul. Let us stand behind our Attorney General and fight for our natural resources and the health of not only our environment but also for our own health and that of our children's and grandchildren's.
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@Richard Wright
Our state I believe is over 30% renewable with over 30 million people and growing. We plan to be 100% by 2050.
Ae you guys still trying to penalize wind generation?
48
When W. Bush "won" in 2000 I said to myself, well, they won't be able to govern as if California and New York don't exist. But that's *exactly* what the Republicans do, except when they pause to raise taxes on Democratic states.
93
In 1961 the Republican presidential nominee, the right-wing Arizona senator Barry Goldwater, surveying the progressive tendencies of voters in New York said “Sometimes I think this country would be better off if we could just saw off the Eastern Seaboard and let it float out to sea.” Now it is the Western states California, Oregon and Washington bordering the Pacific are wondering would if they be better off politically sawing the Western seaboard from the USA because Trump has made the USA into the Lost States of America. These states give out more to the US Treasury than they take in. Collectively they will be the fifth or sixth largest economy in the world. Just pondering.
77
And, for the most part, the Northeastern states as well. I was born and raised in the more middle part of the country. But I really do not understand the acrimony that seems to drive the thinking and voting there.
41
@PK2NYT @Mary It would be interesting if the Left Coast and the Northeast left the union taking Amazon, Apple, Google, Tesla, Netflix, Twitter, Facebook, Wall Street, Ivy Leagues, wineries, and much of the produce with us, not to mention Federal income tax that pay for stuff in states where people want government out of Medicaid.
65
on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis, trump proves himself a small, mean man unworthy of the presidency. Make America Great Again? Only if we survive the trump era.
210
It's true that Mr. Trump discriminates against California, which is why he'll lose in court. But he seems to forget that California is the most populous state, which means that the one out of three Californians who support him are being hurt by that discrimination. Perhaps he's aiming for three out of three Californians voting against him.
64
Somehow Trump has forgotten that after an election he is the president of the entire United States, not just the states where he won the electoral vote.
The idea that he would override a states option to have higher emissions standards not only ignores history (Ca. has done this before) but seeks to punish a state simply because they didn't vote for him.
So where are the "conservatives" in the GOP that typically stand for federalism? Where are the 'states rights' advocates?
One more reason for impeachment. Despite his oath of office Trump is incapable of upholding the constitution and carrying out the laws of the land.
He is temperamentally incapable of being president of all the people.
267
@Drspock
"Somehow Trump has forgotten that after an election he is the president of the entire United States, not just the states where he won the electoral vote."
Nope. Trump was always about Trump and his "Family."
50
@Drspock: Trump is under the delusion that he is the CEO of the United States, and therefore each and every one of us works for him. He could not possibly formulate the thought that he is supposed to work for us, because nothing in his crabbed and narrow existence would allow such an idea to germinate.
13
@Drspock The fact of the matter is that Trump only considers himself to be president of the people who voted for him. Everyone else is an enemy.
7
Only the bizarre world of Trump world can these be true:
Trumps EPA, sent a letter to the state accusing it of failing to meet federal air quality standards and threatening to withhold billions in federal highway funds if California did not do more to clean up its air.
JUST AFTER
Trump decides last month to challenge California’s historic right to set its own fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas standards to be lower than what Trump wants.
I guess that is the point of this column – to point out how his decisions come from his pettiness if you are not 100% loyal.
Let’s add this to George Conway’s recent detailed iteration of how trump is not fit for his office. (in the Atlantic)
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@JK
California needs to do more to clean up the air. It’s awful here.
Stricter regulation, lack of enforcement, does not produce results.
California has a waiver available for everything!
1
@John Perry:
"Stricter regulation, lack of enforcement, does not produce results."
Here in Birmingham, Alabama, we have had an extremely hot summer which hasn't ended. Just this week we had a run of 95-100-degree days and Orange Alert Ozone Action Days.
The local topography helps create inversion layers that trap auto exhaust and allow smog to cook. (The near absence of mass transit, and cheap land values that encourage urban/suburban/exurban sprawl don't help.)
But air pollution is an inter-state regional problem. Believe it or not, some of Birmingham's air pollutants waft over from the highways, oil refineries, and petrochemical plants of Houston, Texas. That's a straight-line distance of over 900 miles.
ADEM (Alabama Department of Environmental Management) has no jurisdiction over what happens in Texas. Our state-level enforcement efforts — of whatever intensity and efficacy they might be — are undermined by what goes on in the next state over, and the one beyond and the one beyond that.
The fact that _many_ urban areas across the country do not comply with EPA air pollution standards (such as they are) is a reflection of _inter-state_ non-cooperation & non-compliance. This is despite the Clean Air Act of 1970, the 1990 CAA Amendments that govern "acid rain," and more recent efforts at controlling mercury emitted by coal-fired power plants all recognizing the regional nature of air pollution.
You have problems in Landers? Look west to LA and the prevailing winds.
5
Just a quick correction--the capital of Washington is Olympia, not Seattle.
It's obvious Trump is trying to punish California. Why else would his administration tell California it can't set it's own auto emissions standards and then tell it that it's failing when it comes to clean air? Why is California singled out for homelessness when other states have similar problems?
It's obvious this is punishment and retaliation from the President, but it's not quite as clear as to what exactly he hopes to achieve with this. Does he figure that Californians will suddenly vote for him if he takes this action? This is just another case of Trump doing things that have no logical reasoning or plan.
95
@Cub There is a great deal of logic to Mr. Trump's dislike of California - you either give me your complete praise and support, or I will do everything I can to punish you with all the power at my disposal.
5