The Democratic governor of California has just announced a “Marshall Plan” to rebuild Los Angeles after the fires.
Since the start of his career, this former businessman with progressive positions has established himself as the antithesis of Donald Trump.
Unsurprisingly, the president-elect who is preparing to return to the White House has made it his main target in managing the disaster.
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Los Angeles plagued by historic fires
In the sights of the future administration since the start of the Los Angeles fires, Gavin Newsom is almost the exact opposite of the president-elect. However, they have one thing in common: their undeniable business acumen. Before becoming mayor of San Francisco, the Santa Clarita University graduate made his fortune in the wine industry thanks to PlumpJack Winery, a company founded with the financial backing of tycoon Gordon Getty. Produced in the prestigious Napa Valley, his Cabernet Sauvignon rivals European wines and allows him to open boutiques, hotels, restaurants… A lucrative business which he gave up to enter politics.
Supporter of Willie Brown, the first black mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom succeeded him in 2004. A self-proclaimed progressive, he campaigned on strong themes such as the fight against poor housing, education, health and the environment. Once elected, he signed his first coup on a national scale by legalizing homosexual marriage in this city, the cradle of LGBT struggles, despite opposition from the local Supreme Court.
Contested management of Covid
From 2011, he rose to the post of lieutenant governor, president of the Senate of the richest state in the United States, before taking charge eight years later. Many observers make him a potential opponent of Donald Trump during the 2020 presidential election. But the Covid 19 pandemic puts his leadership to the test when he imposes one of the strictest confinements in the United States, attracting the wrath of the Republican electorate and small business owners. To the point of putting success story in danger.
In 2021, he is the subject of a revocation procedure, authorized by Californian law when 12% of voters from the previous election demand it together. At the end of a “recall ballot”, two thirds of voters decided to keep him in his post, allowing him to pursue one of the most progressive policies in the United States, making California, for example, one of the The strictest states regarding the carrying of weapons. Or one of the pioneers in the development of renewable energies.
Behind the scenes, Gavin Newsom’s private life has a “soap opera” flavor. During his tenure as head of San Francisco, he was married to Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former lawyer and prosecutor who became a star journalist on the conservative Fox News channel. Since 2018, she has shared the life of… Donald Trump Jr, the eldest son of the president-elect who has just appointed her United States ambassador to Greece.
His ex started his life again with Jennifer Siebel, a documentary filmmaker with whom he had four children. In 2022, she was among the women who testified against film producer Harvey Weinstein at his trial in Los Angeles, accusing him of raping her during a business meeting early in his career.
A governor “in resistance”
Last November, the name of the governor of California came back to everyone’s lips when Joe Biden abandoned the race for the White House. He who has always defended the latter, including when his own camp was publicly worried about his health, will line up without flinching behind Kamala Harris. It was finally in December that he distanced himself from the outgoing man, criticizing his decision to pardon his son Hunter in his legal cases.
Following the re-election of Donald Trump, Gavin Newsom’s California took the lead in a “resistance” of Democratic states against the future Republican administration. Across the Atlantic, states can indeed ask federal judges to freeze the policies of the administration in power when they are likely to violate the Constitution.
Trump called him ‘scum’
California alone has filed more than 100 lawsuits against Donald Trump’s policies during his first term. The Republican billionaire had notably tried to cancel the federal exception allowing the “Golden State” to impose its own pollution standards, stricter than elsewhere in the territory.
“We intend to stand with states across the country to defend our Constitution and uphold the rule of law“, launched Gavin Newsom on November 6. On his TruthSocial network, Donald Trump quickly reacted, calling the rebel governor a “scum”accusing him of “stop all the great things that can be done to make California great again“.
Some have literally lost their lives, children have lost their schools, families are torn apart, churches have burned down, and this guy wants to politicize it all?
Gavin Newsom after Donald Trump’s attacks
This was all before the Los Angeles fires. On January 8, Donald Trump was quick to tear apart his opponent with the physique of a Hollywood star. “It’s all his fault!“, he wrote on his Truth Social network, accusing him in particular of having restricted the use of Northern California waters by Southern California to protect an endangered species of fish. A vague theory to which Gavin Newsom replied solemnly.
“People are fleeing. Some have literally lost their lives, children have lost their schools, families are torn apart, churches have burned, and this guy wants to politicize all of that?”he said on CNN. “There are many things I think about and want to say, but I won’t. I stand with the President of the United States today.“
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While Joe Biden has pledged that the federal government will finance all of the state’s emergency spending for the next 18 months, Gavin Newsom announced at the end of the week the launch of a “Marshall Plan” in order to rebuild the areas of Los Angeles ravaged by the flames. An envelope of 2.5 billion dollars, taken from state funds. But also a temporary relaxation of environmental standards to facilitate the work.
The management of the post-fire will not have an impact on the medium-term political future of Gavin Newsom since under a 1990 law, he will not have the right to run for a third time. mandate in November 2026. On the other hand, his success could be decisive in his participation, or not, in the race for the Democratic nomination for the 2028 presidential election.
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