On Monday morning, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), who routinely clobbers leftist politicians on Twitter when they assert something outrageous, targeted California governor Gavin Newsom for his ridiculous pronouncement in his State of the State address that a way to solve the rampant homelessness in his state was to have doctors write prescriptions for housing.
Newsom tweeted a snippet of the address, writing, “Doctors should be able to write prescriptions for housing the same way they do for insulin or antibiotics.”
Doctors should be able to write prescriptions for housing the same way they do for insulin or antibiotics.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) February 21, 2020
Cruz decided he had heard enough fanciful nonsense, tweeting, “This is the Leftist mind: write a slip of paper & a house will magically appear. Never mind that the person doesn’t have a job, the contractor can’t get a CA permit to build the house, rent control has caused a housing shortage & homeless people are crapping on the doorstep.”
This is the Leftist mind: write a slip of paper & a house will magically appear. Never mind that the person doesn’t have a job, the contractor can’t get a CA permit to build the house, rent control has caused a housing shortage & homeless people are crapping on the doorstep. 🤡 https://t.co/giz3z7vHFB
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 24, 2020
Newsom also tweeted:
10 million Californians—1 in 4—suffer from some type of behavioral health condition. It’s not a narrow issue. It’s not a new issue. Physical health and brain health are inextricably linked. And our healthcare system has been designed to treat only one of those.
Let’s be clear: Massive failures in our mental health system and disinvestment in our social safety net—exacerbated by widening income inequality and our housing shortage— has led us to where we are today: too many Californians left to live on our streets.
10 million Californians—1 in 4—suffer from some type of behavioral health condition.
It’s not a narrow issue.
It’s not a new issue.
Physical health and brain health are inextricably linked.
And our healthcare system has been designed to treat only one of those.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) February 21, 2020
Let’s be clear: Massive failures in our mental health system and disinvestment in our social safety net—exacerbated by widening income inequality and our housing shortage— has led us to where we are today: too many Californians left to live on our streets.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) February 21, 2020
Cruz eviscerated that, too, writing, “Maybe stop giving them needles that they leave en masse in public parks? And refusing to prosecute them when they engage in theft or vandalism? How ‘bout drug treatment programs instead?”
Maybe stop giving them needles that they leave en masse in public parks? And refusing to prosecute them when they engage in theft or vandalism? How ‘bout drug treatment programs instead? https://t.co/r7MXQ5rJYl
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 24, 2020
What made Newsom’s remark about doctors writing prescriptions especially ironic is that it was obviously framed as a soundbite. Yet in that same State of the State address, Newsom stated, “The State of California can no longer treat homelessness and housing insecurity as someone else’s problem, buried below other priorities which are easier to win or better suited for soundbites.”
Yet Newsom framed the issue by using a soundbite of his own.
As The Daily Wire has reported:
A December report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) revealed that homelessness is on the rise in the U.S. and that Democrat-controlled California was the main force driving the increase in the U.S. homelessness rate.
“While the rest of the country experienced a combined decrease in homelessness in 2019, significant increases in unsheltered and chronic homelessness on the West Coast, particularly California and Oregon, offset those nationwide decreases, causing an overall increase in homelessness of 2.7 percent in 2019,” HUD said in a statement. “Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia reported declines in homelessness between 2018 and 2019, while 21 states reported increases in the number of persons experiencing homelessness. Homelessness in California increased by 21,306 people, or 16.4 percent, which is more than the total national increase of every other state combined.”
In January, Newsom admitted, “Let’s just be candid; the state of California has been nowhere to be found on the damn issue of homelessness … It’s happened on our watch over the last decade; in particular, it’s really gotten bad over the last decade. And we were just slow to respond.”