California Governor Gavin Newsom faced a grilling as guest on The View, Tuesday. Meghan McCain in particular, didn’t soften the blows, as she bluntly called out the Democrat’s failed policies and leadership that forced record numbers of Californians to flee the state.
She came out swinging, asking the Governor to defend his draconian mandates and lockdowns, comparing his state unfavorably to Florida, which has taken the opposite approach to the virus:
Well, Governor, news outlets like the AP are pointing out that California and Florida have virtually identical virus rates. Even though California has strict rules and Florida essentially has been wide open. Florida also has a booming economy, including real estate market, and much lower unemployment rate than California, 4.8% versus 9%. I also have to point out that California has the lowest percentage of kids in schools, and the seventh worst mortality rate. I would much rather live in Florida than California right now. How do you explain that?
Newsom gave a selectively truthful answer defending his strict mandates that haven’t helped his constituents avoid infection, unemployment or death any better than Floridians:
We have -- our positivity rate is three times less than Florida, at the current moment. We have a lower death rate than Florida. We have a lower case rate than Florida, and this pandemic -- the story still needs to be told, but that said, let's be just candid about this. Florida and California are very different in every way, shape and form, and in this respect, most importantly the issue of density.... I think what we've done is save lives. California is a dense state, and California was impacted by this pandemic early, and I'm very very pleased with the work we've done, and I say we because it's led by local health officers. It's led by science and data.
But McCain wasn’t done. She pressed him again at the end of the show, on his state’s homelessness crisis and Californians moving, fed up with Democrat policies:
Governor, your state has the second highest unemployment rate of any state in the country, and some of your state's biggest companies and wealthiest residents including one of the world's richest men, Elon Musk, are moving out and heading to states like Texas, Arizona and Nevada. Over 135,000 more Californians left the state than moved in between July of 2019 and 2020. You're actually about to lose a congressional seat, and U-Haul prices to move out of California reportedly spiked due to the extreme demand. Friends of mine in California really hate living there, and are really leaving in big numbers for a lot of different reasons including the homelessness problem. What is it about your policies that are causing so many people to flee your state?
Newsom responded by reciting a laundry list of innovation and start-up businesses in his state, while rationalizing the unemployment rate as it due to being a high tourism state affected by the pandemic.
On that note, Joy Behar also asked about the recall election:
So, Governor, you say that this recall effort has ties to the same extremist groups that stormed the Capitol, but organizers claim more than a third of signatures are from Democrats, independents and unaffiliated voters mad that your pandemic policies shuttered businesses and schools. Are both true?
Newsom wouldn't acknowledge the latter part of the question but instead blamed the recall effort as led by "Q-Anon conspiracy theorists" and "right-wing militias."
The other hosts pressed him from the left or asked critical but neutral questions. Sara Haines asked the Governor about attending a maskless dinner party while his state was shut down. Joy Behar asked if Andrew Cuomo should resign, and if Newsom would “mandate” the COVID-19 vaccine in his state. Sunny Hostin pressed him from the left for not picking a black woman to fill Vice President Harris’ vacated Senate seat.
Despite the tough interview, the Democrat received plenty of praise, too. Whoopi Goldberg opened the interview fawning over his leadership despite facing a recall election:
What is this really about? Because I think you've done a pretty damn good job in this gigantic state of keeping it together in circumstances where you didn't get a lot of help. So what is this really about, and are you concerned?
Later, Hostin griped that Republicans supposedly weren’t getting as much negative attention from the media as Newsom and Cuomo were:
You know, I just think it's very interesting that there's been this intense focus on democratic governors like yourself, but a very limited focus on Republican governors like DeSantis who was accused of hiding the true death counts of COVID in his state as well as favoring his political donors when it comes to disseminating the vaccine…
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Read relevant transcript portions below:
The View
3/16/2021
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Welcome back. California Governor Gavin Newsom is facing his sixth recall campaign since taking office, but now he's fighting back against the latest movement to push him out for his pandemic response with a movement of his own called Stop the Republican Recall. Good morning, governor.
GOLDBERG: Now you're in the process of being recalled by constituents -- some constituents who say they have more than 2 million signatures to force a special election against you. Now Democrats including President Biden are standing by you. I want to know as a former Californian person, what is this really about? Because I think you've done a pretty damn good job in this gigantic state of keeping it together in circumstances where you didn't get a lot of help. So what is this really about, and are you concerned?
GAVIN NEWSOM: ...It's less about me. It's more about California and our values -- Democratic party values, issues related to the browning of California, immigration, issues related to low carbon green growth, our climate policies, issues related to our advancement to end the, you know, death penalty or increase minimum wage or advance pay equity. I say that quite literally, that's what's at stake in this election, and this recall. Guys like me come and go. At the end of the day, these principles are what we're fighting for.
JOY BEHAR: So governor, you say that this recall effort has ties to the same extremist groups that stormed the Capitol, but organizers claim more than a third of signatures are from Democrats, independents and unaffiliated voters mad that your pandemic policies shuttered businesses and schools. Are both true?
NEWSOM: Well, the chief proponent of this, and forgive me. This is just objective truth. The chief proponent of this recall petition supports putting microchips into migrants, into immigrants. The other proponents, the chief, the top ten proponents that are behind this are members of the three percenters, right wing militia groups, the the proud boys, supported the insurrection, are folks that quite literally, enthusiastically support Qanon conspiracies, and so that's the origin here. Now as it relates to the people that signed this petition, it just takes one-quarter of people that supported Donald Trump to put a petition and the ballot, rather, recall. We’re just 1 of 19 state in the country that has this process, but we have the lowest threshold in America, and you all, very familiar, we had a recall not too many years ago in 2003, and so Whoopi, it goes to your original question. Am I worried about it? Of course, I'm worried about it. The nature of these things, the up or down question, some nature of the question is challenging and vexing. So we're taking it seriously. I have to do my job every single day, but I'm going to fight this thing because I'm going to fight for California values and the things I hold dear, and I think the vast majority of Californians regardless of their political stripes hold dear.
SARA HAINES: Governor, back in November you faced backlash for attending a maskless, mostly indoor birthday dinner at the ultra exclusive restaurant the French Laundry which went against your own recommendations to avoid gatherings and wear masks while much of the state was still under lockdown. You admitted this was a mistake, but do you worry and see the concerns people have that it might make it harder for naysayers to take this virus seriously when you proceed as you did?
MEGHAN MCCAIN: Well, governor, news outlets like the AP are pointing out that California and Florida have virtually identical virus rates. Even though California has strict rules and Florida essentially has been wide open. Florida also has a booming economy, including real estate market, and much lower unemployment rate than California, 4.8% versus 9%. I also have to point out that California has the lowest percentage of kids in schools, and the seventh worst mortality rate. I would much rather live in Florida than California right now. How do you explain that?
NEWSOM: We have -- our positivity rate is three times less than Florida, at the current moment. We have a lower death rate than Florida. We have a lower case rate than Florida, and this pandemic -- the story still needs to be told, but that said, let's be just candid about this. Florida and California are very different in every way, shape and form, and in this respect, most importantly the issue of density. It's profoundly significant as it relates to the disease spread, the disease burden, particularly multigenerational households. Just consider L.A. alone. Its density is seven times greater than that of Miami. So I'm not here to critique other states. Quite the contrary. One, Texas notably made a terrible, reckless mistake on setting down the gauntlet on removing masks, not implementing strategies to enforce or be more aggressive on mask wearing, and at the same time, I think what we've done is save lives. California is a dense state, and California was impacted by this pandemic early, and I'm very very pleased with the work we've done, and I say we because it's led by local health officers. It's led by science and data, it's led by an iterative process where we're open [indiscernible] so we’re not ideological about our approach.
JOY BEHAR: Okay, good. President Biden has directed states to make all adults eligible for the vaccine by May 1st, but a new poll found nearly half of Trump supporters, 47%, won't take it. Okay? California has a long established anti-vaccine movement, and if vaccines are the key to getting back to normal, how will you convince anti-vaxxers to get the shot? Can you mandate it also?
NEWSOM: No. I mean, it's the right question, and by the way, it's the anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers, not just the mega Trump donors and the Newt Gingrichs and Mike Huckabees, and Devin Nunez’s, in addition to the militia members, the conspiracy theories. I'm familiar with the challenge, but that said we're not seeing the hesitancy in respect to people trying to get these vaccines at the moment. I think you're right. When we look forward six weeks when we go from a scarcity mindset where we're getting about 1.7 million doses a week. We administered 1.7 million doses last week. We designed a system to more than double that when the does become available, our only concern is and we have to go to abundance in six weeks. This issue of hesitancy, or flatout resistance will present itself as a profoundly significant issue, particularly in light of variants that are entering in…
…
MEGHAN MCCAIN: Governor, your state has the second highest unemployment rate of any state in the country, and some of your state's biggest companies and wealthiest residents including one of the world's richest men, Elon Musk, are moving out and heading to states like Texas, Arizona and Nevada. Over 135,000 more Californians left the state than moved in between July of 2019 and 2020. You're actually about to lose a congressional seat, and U-Haul prices to move out of California reportedly spiked due to the extreme demand. Friends of mine in California really hate living there, and are really leaving in big numbers for a lot of different reasons including the homelessness problem. What is it about your policies that are causing so many people to flee your state?
