How Gavin Newsom has failed California and set fire to his own political prospects

“It has to be, it has to be, of course,” he said when she told him he was doing nothing.

There were red flag warnings and yet, Bass was in Africa and Newsom was out to lunch. Why wasn’t he micromanaging their preparedness and their water supply.

When Dervish asked to hear the call, “because I don’t believe it,” Newsom, who was clearly not on a line with anyone, then switched tact. He said he was trying to get ol’ Joe on the horn but he had no service. He explained that he had tried five times and was walking around looking for a signal.

It’s like he and the epically feckless Karen “I’d rather be in Ghana” Bass had made a political suicide pact for 2025.

“I’m literally talking to the president right now to specifically answer the question, of what we can do for you and your daughter,” he said with all the blessed chutzpah of Jan Brady speaking on the phone with George Glass.

Actually, Gov., you should have ensured the local folks had it sorted as risks were well known.

“Why was there no water in the hydrants, Governor? Is it going to be different next time?” she asked.

This all stops with the top, even if it was a “local” issue. This apocalyptic inferno wasn’t some freak accident in a backwater that no one could find on the map. This was Los Angeles, home to millions, and a city that remains under constant threat of wildfires.

“Look, the local folks are trying to figure that out,” he told Cooper.

And for all his talk about tolerance, he was cold and dismissive to Dervish. Sometimes being a leader means listening and being a soft place to land. Expressing both confidence and humanity.

Take Ron DeSantis, who every year is faced with a destructive hurricane season. He is an extremely competent crisis manager who prepares for the worst, marshals all resources and communicates extremely effectively with Floridians.

She was desperate and grief stricken. She was also – like so many in her neighborhood – angry.

Newsom, who was very high in the dem’s presidential depth chart, spectacularly failed this moment on both a political and a human level.

It’s likely, though, he still does have a standing reservation at the French Laundry.

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