On Wednesday, Ron DeSantis gave a speech that smelled deeply of the opening salvo in the next presidential campaign.  He did so by declaring Tuesday’s “blue tsunami” an “extinction level event.”  The remark was rhetorically dramatic and way over-the-top, but it was designed to be.  It is a sound bite that will reverberate as long as DeSantis is a candidate – in waiting or in actuality.  Yesterday, Gavin Newsom likewise fired his opening presidential salvo on the other side of the aisle, but he did so not with mere rhetoric; he did so with action.  Action that returns to him the “honorific” I awarded him during the pandemic – Emperor, er, Governor Newsom.

Yesterday, Emperor, er Governor Newsom commuted the sentence of every death row prisoner in the State of California – over 500 individuals.  The power to commutate sentences is granted to the governor of California in the constitution of that state.  It is undeniable.  But it has historically been reserved for individual cases, carefully considered, where the Governor felt clemency was due or earned.  But this was a commutation of a very different sort.  This was not an act of mercy towards an individual – this was a statement of policy and a dictatorial act.  Newsom declared the death penalty as “out of line with California values.”  That’s policy, not forgiveness.

The death penalty has long been a part of California law.  It has long been controversial.  There have been numerous attempts to do away with it, the latest in 2016. All…have…failed.  So who the h&^% is Gavin Newsom to decide what is and is not a “California value” when the voters of California have declared at every opportunity given to them that they want the death penalty in the law?

Consider – everyone of those death row inmates in California, has been investigated, prosecuted, tried before a judge and jury in both the guilt phase and the penalty phase – and subject to decades of appeal before the penalty is actually carried out.  With the stroke of a pen Emperor, er, Governor Newsom has made all of that work, effort, and expression of justice null and void.  He defies not only California voters, but the work of police, prosecutors and defense attorneys, judges and jurors.  Serving on a death penalty jury is a major chore and sacrifice as the trials last for weeks at a minimum.  Newsom the Almighty cares not a whit about any of that and he does so for the sake of his presidential ambition.

Tuesday’s electoral results are unquestionably due in some part to the great migration of Californians out of that failing state.  This is most evident in the Texas results, where many Californians have gone, and the Tennessee results where six House seats flipped red to blue and all of them in the areas of Tennessee where migrants out of California are landing.  Why in the world these former Californians would take the roots of their state’s dysfunction with them is beyond explanation.  But undoubtedly, Emperor, er, Governor Newsom will try to use it to his advantage in the forthcoming presidential race.   I can almost hear him saying, “I turned California into a dysfunctional nightmare just so people would leave and take their Democratic votes with them.  Aren’t I a genius?  Vote for me as President!”

Unfortunately, his opening salvo in what will be an excruciating campaign disqualifies him from office.  Political stunts in such circumstances are common, but this is a deeply undemocratic stunt.  This is a nullification of the rule of law and an usurpation of power by the chief executive. I thought it would take a while for the damage from the tsunami to become fully evident but it turns out we only had to wait about 36 hours.  Newsom is feeling so empowered by the result that his first lame-duck act was to undo by fiat the will of the people of California.  It was a shameful act, it was gross overreach, it defies the rule of law if it is not outright unlawful, and it disqualifies him from reasonable consideration for the White House.