On Tuesday, President Donald Trump remarked that California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) would never make it as a presidential candidate due to the state’s costly and incomplete high-speed rail initiatives as well as his inadequate handling of wildfires.
Trump made these comments during a press interaction while hosting newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
He discussed Newsom in relation to public infrastructure investments.
In California, there’s this train project meant to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles, overseen by Gavin Newsom. Have you heard of Gavin? That train has seen the worst budget overruns. Things are completely out of hand. Initially, they planned to go to San Francisco, but now they’re stopping 25 miles short of both cities. This absurd project is ballooning to hundreds of billions of dollars—much of which shouldn’t have been spent in the first place. They could have just provided free limo services instead, which would have saved them millions. They have planes that can do the job for a fraction of the cost. And highways, of course. Gavin has been involved in this project, and honestly, I’ve had my moments with him. We had some success getting water to California—something he was reluctant to manage. If they’d listened to me, they might have prevented some of the fires that spread in Los Angeles. It’s wild to think about this project; I’ve seen a lot of wasted money, but this is the most extreme example. It’s hard to believe they’re spending 30 times the original budget. It was supposed to be straightforward. I think the media really ought to cover this. I’d actually like Newsom to run for president. It could be entertaining, but frankly, I doubt he will, considering this whole mess.
During the first 100 days of Trump’s second presidency, Newsom has filed lawsuits against the administration 15 times.
