Sports analyst Stephen A. Smith, whose blunt declarative side has manifested in criticism of political figures, blasted California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom for criticizing President Donald Trump at the World Economic Forum summit in Davos, Switzerland.
Newsom sharply criticized Trump, dismissing Trump’s address as “boring,” “insignificant,” and largely empty rhetoric, particularly on Greenland. He argued the United States was operating under the “rule of Don” rather than the rule of law, claiming democratic norms had eroded. Newsom urged global leaders to stop being “complicit,” mocking their deference as “pathetic.” He also attacked Trump’s tariffs as harmful, criticized weakened institutional pushback, and positioned California as a counterweight on climate and clean energy policy.
“Gavin Newsom, respectfully, what are you doing?” Smith asked rhetorically. “You’re the governor of the state of California in the United States of America. Why are you over in Davos, Switzerland, talking to folks and speaking negatively about the president of the United States?”
“I have no problem with Gavin Newsom being candid and open about his feelings about our president on United States soil,” he continued. “To go over to another country, Switzerland; to go over there and to be in the presence of other European leaders speaking against the president of the United States, I’m not down with that. Y’all might be; I’m not down with that — at all.”
“Say whatever you want here, as a governor from the opposite of the aisle of a state in the United States on American soil, fine,” he declared. “But I’m one of those people, when we go somewhere else, it’s America first. Our problems are our problems. But we ain’t taking dirty laundry outside. &#8230; You don’t go on a world stage to disrespect your own house, which is the United States of America. I don’t like that at all, not even a little bit.”
“Now, I know that sounds juvenile,” he said. “I get that. Very simplistic in the eyes of a lot of people, but some things are worthy of being simple. I understand you trolling Trump. I understand that you&#8217;re aiming to run for the presidency in 2028. But we got problems here in the United States. And don&#8217;t tell me they don&#8217;t exist in California. But specifically when it pertains to sanctuary city, sanctuary state, border issues, safety in the streets, and I&#8217;ll be damned if affordability ain&#8217;t at the top of the list in the state of California. It&#8217;s expensive as hell. And a lot of it has happened on Gavin Newsom&#8217;s watch.”
<iframe loading="lazy" title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bJafpp0HsDM?si=fLrwMf2OWKw8VjqQ&amp;start=562" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

Stephen A. Smith

Stephen A. Smith Unloads On Newsom: Don’t Trash America On A World Stage

Davos

Donald Trump

Gavin Newsom

World Economic Forum

California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom was denied entry into the official headquarters for the U.S. delegation in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum, his press office said on Wednesday.
The governor, a nemesis of President Donald Trump, was scheduled to speak to the media outlet Fortune for an event sponsored by the USA House in Davos, but wasn&#8217;t allowed inside the venue, POLITICO <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/21/newsom-administration-alleges-state-department-pressure-in-davos-cancellation-00738966">reported</a>. USA House, which is set up in a 19th-century church, has been recognized by the United States as the official headquarters for U.S. delegates in Davos this week for the World Economic Forum.
&#8220;Under pressure from the White House and State Department, USA House (a church acting as the official US pavilion) is now denying entry to @CAGovernor Gavin Newsom to speak with media after Fortune — the official media partner — invited him to speak,&#8221; Newsom&#8217;s press office <a href="https://x.com/GovPressOffice/status/2014023173033910527?s=20">wrote</a> on X.
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told The Daily Wire, &#8220;No one in Davos knows who third-rate governor Newscum is or why he is frolicking around Switzerland instead of fixing the many problems he created in California.”
Newsom has been in Davos during the World Economic Forum this week, where he has spoken to the media and bashed President Trump. Trump mentioned Newsom during his World Economic Forum speech as the governor looked on. The president was touting his record on cracking down on crime when he <a href="https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/2013986705196372460">added</a>, &#8220;We will help the people of California &#8230; I know Gavin was here. I used to get along so great with Gavin when I was president. Gavin&#8217;s a good guy, and if he needed it, I would do it in a heartbeat. We did help them a lot in Los Angeles early in my term when they had some problems.&#8221;
After Trump delivered a speech to world leaders on Wednesday, Newsom called the speech &#8220;remarkably boring&#8221; and &#8220;remarkably insignificant.&#8221; On Tuesday, the California governor ripped world leaders for what he viewed as actions appeasing Trump.
&#8220;It&#8217;s time to stand tall and firm,&#8221; Newsom said. &#8220;I&#8217;ve seen this in the United States. The supine Congress playing both sides. &#8230; It&#8217;s time to have principle. It&#8217;s time to stand tall and strong.&#8221;
“I can&#8217;t take this complicity — people rolling over,&#8221; he added. &#8220;I should have brought a bunch of knee pads for all the world leaders. Nobel Prizes that are being given away. I mean, it’s just pathetic and I hope people understand how pathetic they look on the world stage, I mean, at least from an American perspective. It’s embarrassing.”
Trump administration officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, have spoken to audiences gathered at the USA House in the Swiss Alps town this week. Earlier on Wednesday, Bessent <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/21/newsom-administration-alleges-state-department-pressure-in-davos-cancellation-00738966">ripped</a> Newsom while speaking at an event, saying, “I was told he was asked to give a speech on his signature policies, but he’s not speaking because what have his economic policies brought? Outward migration from California, a gigantic budget deficit, the largest homeless population in America.”

Left In The Cold: Newsom Says He Was Denied Entry To U.S. Delegation HQ In Davos

Trump Administration

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz ended his campaign for re-election, a stunning reversal and likely the end of the political career of a man who many pundits projected would be the Democratic nominee for president as early as 2028.
But if a once-popular governor can be toppled by widespread welfare fraud, where does that leave other Democratic presidential hopefuls?
The revelations of staggering levels of fraud in Minnesota — and Walz’s preemptive exit from the big stage — should send a chill down the spines of Gavin Newsom, Josh Shapiro, and JB Pritzker, who are likely sitting on powder kegs of fraud themselves. What are the odds that Tim Walz is an outlier among blue-state governors with the exact same political philosophy and ideology? Unlikely.
Federal prosecutors allege more than <a href="https://minnesotareformer.com/2025/12/18/u-s-attorney-fraud-likely-exceeds-9-billion-in-minnesota-run-medicaid-services/">$9 billion</a> in Minnesota Medicaid dollars were stolen by scammers primarily from the state’s Somali community, an enormous sum, equivalent to roughly three-quarters of <a href="https://nbs.gov.so/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Somalia-GDP-2024-release-text-v3-2025.pdf">Somalia’s GDP</a>. Investigations are ongoing, and the real total loss may be even higher.
Welfare programs are an enormous money pot that inevitably attracts scammers. And the bigger the pot, the bigger the potential payoff for thieves. With state budgets the size of those in California, Illinois, and New York, not to mention Democrats’ general posture toward welfare expansion, it would be truly shocking if there were less fraud in those larger states.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins requested data from the states on who is receiving food stamps early last year, including identifying information like Social Security numbers and, importantly, immigration status. The Trump administration has previously discovered that more than one million people were illegally receiving <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/cms-doge-identify-wasteful-duplicate-medicaid-enrollments.html">Medicaid in multiple states</a> — and it’s likely the same with food stamps and SNAP benefits. Individual states are not able to detect this kind of fraud: only the federal government can find it by comparing recipients across the states.
But Democrats have refused to help the Trump administration find fraud. In fact, <a href="https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-sues-trump-administration-over-illegal-demands-states">in July</a>, 22 blue states sued to block the Trump administration from requiring the data. Democrats want the federal government to pay for food stamps without knowing who is receiving them.
Tim Walz and the other 21 governors have all seen the information they are currently hiding from the feds. In the absence of transparency from these elected officials, federal investigators, journalists, and citizens of goodwill all need to keep digging until the American people get the truth and law enforcement can bring fraudsters to justice.
Food stamp fraud is a known fact. According to the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO), more than <a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-25-107753.pdf">$10 billion</a> in the food stamp program is wasted every year — <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap/key-statistics-and-research">more than 10%</a> of the program. Some blue states have even higher error rates: Massachusetts and D.C. overpay by an average of more than <a href="https://fns-prod.azureedge.us/sites/default/files/resource-files/snap-fy24QC-PER.pdf">13%</a> — and New York and New Jersey aren’t far behind at more than 12%. That means that one out of every eight dollars in these states is wasted — and this is just the waste, fraud, and abuse that we know about.
Nearly <a href="https://thefga.org/research/categorical-eligibility-in-food-stamps-is-fraud-by-design/">every Democrat-run state</a> in America also uses an accounting gimmick called Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility, or BBCE, to hide its own erroneous payments from the federal government. BBCE means that if someone receives a non-monetary TANF benefit, like a brochure or the number to a welfare agency hotline, the state assumes that they qualify for food stamps, too, without bothering to check their assets to see if they are actually eligible. The result is an explosion in the welfare state, costing taxpayers more than <a href="https://thefga.org/solution/promoting-work-over-welfare/bbce/">$11 billion per year</a>, with the benefits going to people with liquid assets well above the limits set in federal law.
The good news is that, thanks to a new law signed by President Trump, states with high error rates can no longer waste federal tax dollars with impunity. States with food stamp payment error rates over <a href="https://www.sas.com/en_us/news/press-releases/2025/november/payment-integrity-food-assistance.html">six percent</a> are now legally required to start paying back a small part of the cost of the program. Left-wing Massachusetts could owe more than <a href="https://www.wwlp.com/news/massachusetts/understaffed-dta-faces-steep-snap-penalty-risks/">$250 million per year</a>. Deep-blue Maryland may be on the hook for more than <a href="https://marylandmatters.org/2025/12/03/maryland-may-face-more-than-300-million-in-new-snap-costs-due-to-high-payment-error/">$300 million</a>. This is a great first step, and not only will it help repay federal taxpayers, but it will also encourage states to finally get their act together and stop wasting money.
As the old story goes, criminals rob banks “because that’s where the money is.” And there are no bigger pots of money than the federal treasury and the bloated budgets of blue states. Attorney General Bondi and investigators across the country are beginning to look at where the real money is — and the fallout could bring down the entire top-tier slate of 2028 Democratic presidential nominees.
* * *
Adam Gibbs is the communications director for the Foundation for Government Accountability.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Opening Day Of World Economic Forum (WEF) 2026

Welfare Fraud Threatens Top-Tier Democratic Presidential Nominees Ahead Of 2028

Welfare Fraud Threatens Top-Tier Democratic Presidential Nominees Ahead of 2028

2028 presidential election

Democrats

Elections

Fraud

J.B. Pritzker

Josh Shapiro

Minneapolis

Minnesota

Somalis

Tim Walz

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent fired back at California Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom after Newsom mocked him for being “smug.”
In a Fox Business interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Bessent was discussing the Trump administration’s plan to limit or ban large institutional investors from buying single-family homes to ease supply shortages and keep housing more affordable for individual buyers.
The administration has floated measures to restrict big institutional investors (such as private equity firms and large corporate landlords) from purchasing single-family homes, since these entities have been accused of buying up large numbers of houses and reducing supply for regular buyers.
Bessent was explaining that any guidance on this policy would need to distinguish between true small “mom and pop” investors and large investors.
He used an example of a hypothetical small investor, saying, “We’re going to give guidance, at some point, to see, what is a mom and pop. Someone, maybe your parents for their retirement have bought 5, 10, 12 homes. So we don’t want to push the moms and pops out; we just want to push everyone else out,” meaning larger, institutional buyers.
Newsom mocked Bessent, writing on X, “Could this smug man be more out of touch?”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Could this smug man be more out of touch? <a href="https://t.co/GUqqi5KoNB">https://t.co/GUqqi5KoNB</a>
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) <a href="https://twitter.com/GavinNewsom/status/2013744283136991407?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Bessent fired back:
<blockquote>
Governor Newsom, who strikes me as Patrick Bateman meets Sparkle Beach Ken, may be the only Californian who knows less about economics than Kamala Harris. He&#8217;s here this week with his billionaire sugar daddy, Alex Soros, and Davos is a perfect place for a man who, when everyone else is on lockdown, when he was having people arrested for going to church. &#8230; Shame on him. He is too smug, too self-absorbed, and too economically illiterate to know anything. &#8230; Let me know if you need any further clarification.
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
California Governor Gavin Newsom called the Treasury Secretary smug. Today in Davos the Treasury Secretary responded.. and I have to quote this: &#8220;Governor Newsom, who strikes me as Patrick Bateman meets Sparkle Beach Ken, may be the only Californian who knows less about economics…
— Edward Lawrence (@EdwardLawrence) <a href="https://twitter.com/EdwardLawrence/status/2013916326801068099?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 21, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Newsom never lived a middle-class financial life as an adult; his career wasenabled by elite patronage, not grassroots entrepreneurship, as his father, William Newsom, a judge and political insider, was close friends with Gordon Getty, heir to the Getty oil fortune. Getty bankrolled Newsom’s first major business ventures, providing hundreds of thousands of dollars in startup capital.
Earlier this month, AP <a href="https://apnews.com/article/california-budget-gavin-newsom-last-year-deficits-6811fe4519bac5145f4002959690a280">pointed out</a>, “California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said the state faces a $2.9 billion budget deficit this year &#8230; It’s the fourth year in a row that the nation’s most populous state faces a multibillion-dollar budget deficit. This year’s shortfall comes despite growing revenues fueled by stock market gains and investments in artificial intelligence.”
Bessent came from a working family; his father was a real estate developer who experienced financial ups and downs. Bessent later earned a B.A. in political science from Yale University in 1984, then moved into finance.

MixCollage-21-Jan-2026-08-46-AM-5567

Bessent Fires Back At Newsom After ‘Smug’ Jab

California

Scott Bessent

Treasury Department

I don’t think Republicans will waltz to victory in 2028.
I don&#8217;t think Democrats will waltz to victory in 2028.
It&#8217;s going to be a dogfight.
And problems exist inside both parties.
The Republican Party is divided on some major issues, ranging from the involvement of the state and economics to foreign policy. The record of whoever is the Republican nominee will also come up for scrutiny.
I&#8217;ve discussed the problems facing the Democratic Party before, which are pretty obvious: There&#8217;s a big divide between the radical base and the moderation they&#8217;re going to need to win.
Gavin Newsom may well be their presidential candidate. He wants to campaign as the guy who cooperates with ICE, as the guy who wants to be at least moderate during the transition. Newsom also wants to be fairly moderate on foreign policy, and doesn&#8217;t want to engage in a lot of the same sort of rhetorical radicalism of his own party.
Will the base allow him to do that? I don’t think so. He&#8217;s been able to hide it so far by attacking Trump. I&#8217;m not sure how long that will last. So that&#8217;s one problem for him. And of course, the other problem is his record in California. There will be a lot of Willie Horton-type ads that come out against Newsom as he runs for the presidency.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2348?contentProgram=The%20Ben%20Shapiro%20Show&amp;contentType=ShowEpisode&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;location=Home%20Tab&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Home%20Featured%20Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
The problem for the Republicans is that Gavin Newsom is a very talented guy. I don&#8217;t think there&#8217;s any doubt when you <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2348?contentProgram=The%20Ben%20Shapiro%20Show&amp;contentType=ShowEpisode&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;location=Home%20Tab&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Home%20Featured%20Carousel">watch my interview with him</a>. He is good on his feet, and slippery when he needs to be. He also does a convincing imitation of a pro-capitalist moderate. If you think that&#8217;s an imitation, maybe that&#8217;s the real Gavin Newsom, and he has had to slather it over with radicalism to get where he wants to go.
Here&#8217;s what I would urge for both parties: Perhaps you ought to take a look at what the American people want. Look at the closeness of every American election for the last 12 years and think to yourself: &#8220;Maybe if I tacked toward the middle, maybe what Americans really want is normalcy.”
It’s possible the primary structure prevents normalcy from taking the floor. But as we&#8217;re seeing from the polling data, more and more Americans are identifying as independent. And the reason for this is because all they want is a return to normalcy.
I think the reason President Trump won in 2024 is that he was by far the most normie candidate – by far.
Joe Biden was not a normie candidate. He was dead on his feet and a radical. Kamala Harris was not a normie candidate. She was an empty suit and a radical.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump took the middle position on nearly every issue. Will Republicans do the same, or will they be so high on their own supply that they go rhetorically radical over and over and over for no apparent reason?
Pursuing mainstream policy is going to be the big battle of 2028.

Governor Newsom And San Francisco Mayor Lurie Announce New Funding For Homelessness And Mental Health Ffforts In The City

2028: A Dogfight For The Middle

Ben Shapiro

Democratic Party

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Opinion

Just months after California was rocked by violent anti-ICE riots, California Governor Gavin Newsom claims that his state “cooperates” with federal immigration authorities.
Newsom made the statement during an interview with The Daily Wire&#8217;s Ben Shapiro, who pressed him on California’s sanctuary state status and his history of anti-ICE rhetoric. Most recently, Newsom’s press office <a href="https://x.com/GovPressOffice/status/2009067671124627833">suggested</a> that the shooting of a woman driving her car toward an ICE agent in Minneapolis was “state-sponsored terrorism.”
“We work very directly with ICE as it relates to [California prisons]. California has cooperated with more ICE transfers than probably any other state in the country. And I’ve vetoed multiple pieces of legislation that have come from my legislature to stop the ability for the state of California to do that,” Newsom said.
“ So when it comes to the issues of violent criminals, when it comes to felons, people that are being released from the largest state system in the United States of America, California cooperates with ICE,” he added.
While Newsom told Shapiro that California prisons had handed over 10,000 illegal alien felons to ICE, the data during his tenure as governor tell a different story.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/GavinNewsom?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GavinNewsom</a> REFUSES to tell <a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@benshapiro</a> if he thinks boys can become girls:
Shapiro: &#8220;The fundamental question&#8230;is the question that you&#8217;re not wanting to answer, which is whether boys can become girls.&#8221;
Newsom: &#8220;Yeah…I think…I&#8217;m for the grace of God…Yeah.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/Lse5fNw3SY">pic.twitter.com/Lse5fNw3SY</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/2011954165728047375?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 16, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<a href="https://cis.org/Vaughan/Which-Sanctuary-Jurisdictions-Have-Released-Most-Criminals">According</a> to the Center for Immigration Studies, from October 1, 2022, to February 6, 2025, 52% of all ICE detainers — requests for local law enforcement to hold illegals arrested for crimes — were in California. The total number was over 13,000, well over the next highest total of 2,946 (Illinois).
Newsom also talked tough on handing over violent offenders, but during that same time, law enforcement in his state released at least 29 illegals facing homicide charges or convictions. Additionally, local law enforcement have pointed to state sanctuary city policies for hamstringing their ability to reach out to ICE when they arrest illegal aliens for crimes.
During his interview with Shapiro, Newsom admitted that it was a “fair” criticism to knock his press office for accusing ICE of committing terrorism and criticized calls from fellow Democrats to completely abolish the agency.
Newsom’s admission came after Shapiro told him his office accusing ICE of terrorism “makes our politics worse” and “our ICE officers are obviously not terrorists.”
After the Minneapolis shooting, Newsom claimed that ICE was acting as President Donald Trump’s “personal police force” and had “rampaged” America.
“His administration has driven extremism and cruelty while discarding basic safeguards and accountability,” Newsom <a href="https://x.com/CAgovernor/status/2009049140689313876">claimed</a>. “His reckless crackdown must end.”
In September, Newsom signed legislation aimed at barring ICE officers from wearing masks while they conduct operations. The bill came as ICE officers have faced a surge in harassment, assaults, and violent threats.
That law came after Los Angeles was rocked by violent riots as law enforcement officers were attacked and vehicles were burned after ICE started conducting operations in the area. The riots prompted President Trump to send in the National Guard to protect federal operations.
Newsom <a href="https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/06/07/100856/">claimed</a> that the move was “purposefully inflammatory” and would “erode public trust.” Those riots ended up costing more than $30 million, including more than $1.4 million in property damage.

MixCollage-15-Jan-2026-03-32-PM-9857

Months After Violent Riots, Gavin Newsom Tells Ben Shapiro That ‘California Cooperates With ICE’

Illegal Immigration

Politics

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration is probing the California Community College Athletic Association over allegations that its transgender policy violates Title IX, The Daily Wire can first report.
The Title IX Special Investigations Team, a joint project of the Department of Education and the Department of Justice, has initiated an investigation into the association over its policy stating that “a trans[gender] female&#8230;or non-binary student-athlete who has completed at least one calendar year of testosterone suppression treatment&#8230;may compete on a women’s team.”
That policy caused at least three female athletes to be discriminated against on the basis of sex, according to a complaint submitted to the Office of Civil Rights, since a male athlete was allowed to participate on the women&#8217;s volleyball team and use the women&#8217;s locker rooms at one of the member colleges during the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
“The fact that a Community College Athletic Association has a ‘Transgender Participation Policy’ is a stunning indictment of our culture,&#8221; said Kimberly Richey, the assistant secretary for civil rights. &#8220;Women’s sports are for women. Yet California’s Governor Gavin Newsom — despite admitting the truth on a podcast — continues to put ideology above the safety of and fairness for his own students.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_1028413" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-trump-admin-probes-california-association-for-violating-trans-policy/us-justice-sports-transgender-lgbtq-discrimination" rel="attachment wp-att-1028413"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1028413" class="wp-image-1028413 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2255538637-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2255538637-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2255538637-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2255538637-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2255538637.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon speaks outside the US Supreme Court on January 13, 2026, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Oliver Contreras / AFP via Getty Images)</div>
The complaint also alleges that the California Community College Athletic Association ignored female students&#8217; when they raised concerns about the impact that male students have on female sports.
DOJ and the Education Department say that the association has an obligation to uphold Title IX&#8217;s sex-based protections, given that it receives federal financial assistance in California.
&#8220;The Trump Administration will not tolerate policies that erase women’s rights,”says Richey. “The Title IX SIT looks forward to investigating this matter to ensure every woman has equal access to educational programs and athletic opportunities—because fairness and safety are non-negotiable.”
DOJ and the Education Department created the Title IX Special Investigations Team in April 2025 in order to expedite enforcement of its investigations into incidents like this. In fact, the team&#8217;s first investigation was actually into the California Department of Education.
Richey&#8217;s comments about Newsom referenced the California governor&#8217;s remarks on the issue of fairness in women&#8217;s sports: in March 2025, when Charlie Kirk was a guest on Newsom&#8217;s podcast, Newsom distanced from the notion that men should be in women&#8217;s sports — something he has championed for years — calling the concept &#8220;deeply unfair.&#8221;
“Would you say no to men in female sports?”Kirk asked the California governor.
“I think it’s an issue of fairness, I completely agree with you on that,” Newsom responded. “It is an issue of fairness — it’s deeply unfair.”
The remark caught many politicos and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle by surprise, given that Newsom has celebrated his state&#8217;s law allowing boys in girls&#8217; sports, and additionally celebrated when conservative groups failed to repeal that very law.
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases dealing with men in women&#8217;s sports and spaces, West Virginia v. BPJ and Little v. Hecox. The results of the cases will decided whether 27 states can keep laws in place protecting women’s privacy in bathrooms and other spaces.
&#8220;As we await the Supreme Court’s rulings in Little v. Hecox and State of West Virginia v. B.P.J., we remain steadfast in enforcing Title IX as it was intended, rooted in biological reality to ensure fairness, safety, and equal access to education programs for women and girls across our nation,&#8221; Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said on the steps of the court on Tuesday.
&#8220;As President Trump has made clear,&#8221; she added, &#8220;America is in its Golden Age, one where female students and athletes have equal access to fair and safe competitions and female-only intimate spaces, free from divisive and discriminatory ideologies.&#8221;

Screenshot 2026-01-15 at 11.41.12 AM

EXCLUSIVE: Trump Admin Probes California Association For Trans Policy

Department of Education

Attorney General Pam Bondi fired a warning shot Thursday after a federal three-judge panel <a href="https://apnews.com/article/california-redistricting-prop-50-allowed-to-use-a0c801e8c8c50700f71ab7f4c44f244f">ruled</a>, by a 2–1 margin, that California may use its newly minted congressional map — a voter-approved redraw designed to juice Democrats’ prospects in the 2026 midterms. Bondi made clear the fight is far from over, writing on X that California “impermissibly drew its new congressional map based on race,” calling the move unconstitutional and pledging that the Justice Department is reviewing “all legal options.”
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We disagree with yesterday’s 2-1 ruling on California’s redistricting map. California impermissibly drew its new congressional map based on race. That’s unconstitutional. We are reviewing all legal options.
&mdash; Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) <a href="https://twitter.com/AGPamBondi/status/2011786293659717863?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2026</a></blockquote>
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The ruling rejected challenges from state Republicans and the DOJ, both of which argued that the map violated the Constitution by using race — particularly to favor Hispanic voters — as a driving factor in redrawing district lines. The panel instead accepted California Democrats’ insistence that the map was drawn for nakedly partisan purposes, a distinction that has become legally decisive since the Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that partisan gerrymandering presents a “political question” beyond the reach of federal courts.
Proposition 50, pushed aggressively by California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom and approved decisively by voters in November, could hand Democrats as many as five additional House seats. Newsom, widely viewed as eyeing a 2028 presidential run, framed the effort as retaliation for a Texas mid-decade redistricting plan backed by President Donald Trump. Republicans currently hold just nine of California’s 52 House seats, making the Golden State a tempting battlefield in the escalating national map war.
Democrats celebrated the ruling as a win for voters, with Newsom dismissing the lawsuit as a “weak attempt to silence” them. Republicans were less sanguine. California GOP chair Corrin Rankin vowed an appeal to the Supreme Court, arguing that the dissenting opinion — authored by Trump-appointed Judge Kenneth Lee — more accurately reflected the law and the facts. Lee warned that at least one district was drawn using race “to curry favor with Latino groups and voters,” undercutting the majority’s claim that the map was purely partisan.
The decision lands amid an increasingly brazen, state-by-state arms race over redistricting. Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio have moved to redraw maps mid-decade, while a judge forced Republican-run Utah to adopt a Democratic-leaning district. Notably, the Justice Department has sued only California.
The stakes are unmistakable. House Democrats need just a handful of seats to flip control of the chamber, potentially grinding Trump’s agenda to a halt and opening the floodgates to congressional investigations. With Republicans holding a razor-thin majority, California’s maps may prove decisive — or become the next front in a Supreme Court showdown over whether “partisan” gerrymandering is simply racial gerrymandering by another name.

Department of Justice 12/4/25

Bondi Vows To Fight After Court Greenlights California’s ‘Unconstitutional’ Redistricting Map

Bondi Vows DOJ Fight After Court Greenlights 'Unconstitutional' California Redistricting Map

Pam Bondi

Redistricting

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday morning that his administration launched a fraud investigation into California in the wake of the federal government&#8217;s Minnesota fraud probe.
Trump accused California under Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom of being worse than Minnesota when it comes to corruption. Minnesota, another Democrat-run state, that has come under the microscope in the past month over a welfare fraud scheme and allegations that Somali-run daycares have been inflating their enrollment numbers to receive more taxpayer funding.
&#8220;California, under Governor Gavin Newscum, is more corrupt than Minnesota, if that’s possible???&#8221; Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115848359372759872">wrote</a> on Truth Social. &#8220;The Fraud Investigation of California has begun. Thank you for your attention to this matter!&#8221;
The president did not specify what the fraud investigation would look into or which federal agency would lead it. A White House official told The Daily Wire that there was &#8220;nothing to add to the President&#8217;s post.&#8221; In a statement shared with The Daily Wire, Newsom&#8217;s office called Trump &#8220;a deranged, habitual liar.&#8221;
&#8220;This is not complicated. He spends his days posting whatever garbage his shriveled little brain can cough up — and Fox News dutifully treats it like the Lord&#8217;s scripture,&#8221; Newsom&#8217;s office added. &#8220;Meanwhile — in the actual world where adults govern — Gavin Newsom has been cleaning house. Since taking office, he’s blocked over $125 BILLION in fraud, arrested criminal parasites leaching off of taxpayers, and protected taxpayers from the exact kind of scam artists Trump celebrates, excuses, and pardons. Gavin Newsom runs a state. Donald Trump runs his mouth and little fingers.&#8221;
Trump&#8217;s comment on a fraud investigation into California comes a day after two Republicans in the state sounded the alarm on a potential scandal that they claim is wasting up to $250 billion a year. Steve Hilton, who is running for California governor, and Herb Morgan, who is running for state controller, said on Monday that the state&#8217;s welfare program under Newsom has become a bank for &#8220;corrupt cronies and political front groups,&#8221; The New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/01/05/us-news/california-at-risk-of-250-billion-fraud-gop-candidates/">reported</a>.
&#8220;This is what you get from 16 years of one-party rule. Corruption, fraud and abuse on an epic scale. Gavin Newsom and the corrupt Democrat machine have stolen our money and handed it out to corrupt cronies and political front groups,&#8221; Hilton said.
Trump has clashed regularly with Newsom during his second term in the White House, going after the Democratic governor over his response to the Southern California wildfires and the violent demonstrations against federal immigration enforcement in Los Angeles County.
Immediately after being sworn in for a second term in January, Trump ripped Newsom&#8217;s handling of wildfire prevention and called him an &#8220;INCOMPETENT GOVERNOR&#8221; following the deadly fires that ripped through L.A. County last January.
Then, when anti-ICE demonstrations broke out in L.A. in June, Trump blasted Newsom for doing a &#8220;horrible job&#8221; to quell the riots and deployed the National Guard and the Marines. Trump also <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/09/donald-trump-on-arresting-gavin-newsom-id-do-it-00394530" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> he would support his border czar, Tom Homan, in arresting the California governor over accusations that he was impeding federal immigration enforcement.
Newsom, who is viewed as one of the frontrunners to become the Democratic presidential nominee in 2028, continues to condemn Trump&#8217;s immigration operation and his deployment of the National Guard in California. During an interview on Monday, Newsom accused the president of committing fraud and <a href="https://x.com/GovPressOffice/status/2008389201231048783">said</a> that Trump&#8217;s National Guard deployment last year pulled troops away from important work, such as protecting the Southern Border and wildfire prevention efforts.
&#8220;He impacted all of those public safety efforts,&#8221; Newsom said. &#8220;For what? For a show. [Troops] sat there playing video games in many cases, total boredom. &#8230; They [were] sitting there in the armory doing nothing, costing you taxpayers. You want to talk about waste, fraud, and abuse, Mr. President? One-hundred-plus million dollars wasted because of the fraud you perpetuated and the abuse of your authority.&#8221;
After a federal appeals court ruled against Trump&#8217;s National Guard deployment in California, Trump said late last month that troops would be withdrawn from multiple cities across the United States, including Los Angeles. The appeals court ruling came after the Supreme Court declined an emergency appeal from the Trump administration when a lower court blocked Trump&#8217;s attempt to deploy troops to Chicago. Trump argued that the National Guard deployment to multiple U.S. cities &#8220;greatly reduced&#8221; crime and warned, &#8220;We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again &#8211; Only a question of time!&#8221;

Gavin Newsom/Donald Trump

Trump Says Fraud Investigation ‘Has Begun’ In Newsom’s California: ‘More Corrupt Than Minnesota’

Editor’s note: This week, we’re reprinting some of our best stories from the past year. In this piece, originally published in June, former college president Greg Salsbury recounts the cost of California’s failed leadership.
* * *
Perhaps it is fitting that legendary Beach Boy and California native son Brian Wilson would pass away in the same year that a New York Times headline would ask, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/11/us/california-turmoil-resilience.html">“Is the California Dream a Mirage?”</a>
The social, environmental and economic disaster that is California has been mushrooming for decades now, with any improvements in the near term looking about as likely as a working bullet train from the north to the south in that state. The litany of negative facts emerging for the state is accompanied by descriptors such as “worst,” “first,” “record,” “ballooning,” “unsustainable,” “disaster,” and “mismanagement.” These ills are detailed in the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/california-assemblyman-explains-how-state-has-mismanaged-fire-prevention-policies-as-wildfires-rage">myriad</a> <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/bad-policy-served-as-kindling-for-californias-wildfires-forest-water-management-social-justice-c5b94a4f?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=ASWzDAif-IufnKaxHOP49zFGTHPZhQuqrXUEi-2TLq3CTiNpkYvlSDqNxFWNzK60iAw%3D&amp;gaa_ts=685d8562&amp;gaa_sig=3-LfR_GHU3tLPG-o-YsVjgoRNU1-opiK9zrnQzURPOZIBNcm7OIKeIV5kTdTHBKbOeKnRJ-BbcIcuJq-0ipu3Q%3D%3D">articles</a> <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/01/11/opinion/catastrophic-wildfires-left-la-in-ashes-due-to-californias-failing-liberal-leadership/">pointing</a> to California’s failed leadership.
Consider the overall economic situation. California went from a state budget surplus of <a href="https://www.hoover.org/research/after-100-billion-surplus-california-now-faces-73-billion-budget-deficit">$100b to a deficit of $73b</a> in just three years. This was driven in part from its decision in February of 2020 to escalate spending significantly while it was <a href="https://www.ppic.org/publication/whats-behind-californias-recent-population-decline-and-why-it-matters/">losing jobs</a>, and for the first time since receiving statehood in 1850, population. Between 2010 and 2023, the state saw 9.3 million people leave while only 6.7 million arrived — with a disproportionate number of the “leavers” in the high-income, high-tax-paying category.
California had the distinction of being rated as the very worst state in which to do business by <a href="https://chiefexecutive.net/california-is-the-worst-state-for-business-2014/">Chief Executive</a> magazine — for ten years in a row. Others were more positive with The <a href="https://sbecouncil.org/2019/05/06/new-report-sbe-council-ranks-50-states-according-to-public-policy-and-tax-climates-for-small-business/">Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council</a> seeing them as only the second worst state, and the <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/best-worse-states-entrepreneurs">Cato Institute</a> placing them at 48th out of 50 for entrepreneurs.
<a href="https://californiapolicycenter.org/reports/worsttobest/">The California Policy Center</a> concludes:
<blockquote>“For anyone operating a business in California – small, medium or large – the experiences of the last twenty years have been challenging, and it gets worse every year. California’s regulatory environment, its high taxes and exorbitant fees, and the overall cost of doing business are the toughest in the nation. Many businesses have voted with their feet, moving their operations to more welcoming business environments.” </blockquote>
According to WalletHub.com’s report “<a href="https://wallethub.com/edu/best-places-to-retire/6165">Best &amp; Worst Places to Retire (2025)</a>,” which examined 182 cities across the U.S., four out five of the worst cities in which to retire are in California.
The story is equally daunting in a host of other arenas for the state — education, illegal immigration, water, violent crime, theft, housing, insurance, energy, environment, assorted taxes and fees, cost of living, state employee pensions, healthcare, and more. <a href="https://www.consumeraffairs.com/movers/%23editorial">ConsumerAffairs</a>, a consumer news and advocacy organization, compared all 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. across five categories: affordability, economy, education and health, quality of life, and safety. California ranked as the single least desirable state to move to. Their conclusion might have been influenced by seeing that, compared to all other 49 states in the nation, California has the:
<ul>
<li>Highest <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2023/demo/p60-280.html">poverty rate</a></li>
<li>Highest top marginal <a href="https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/state-income-tax-rates/">state income tax rate</a></li>
<li>Highest <a href="https://www.redfin.com/blog/most-expensive-states-to-buy-a-house/">median home price</a></li>
<li>Highest <a href="https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/state-gas-tax-rates-2024/">gasoline tax</a></li>
<li>Highest number of federal <a href="https://www.datapandas.org/ranking/welfare-recipients-by-state">welfare recipients</a></li>
<li>Highest amount of <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dem-states-blame-most-nearly-400-million-unemployment-fraud">unemployment benefit fraud</a></li>
<li>Highest number of <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/07/22/what-we-know-about-unauthorized-immigrants-living-in-the-us/">illegal immigrants</a></li>
<li>Highest percentage of <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/map-states-most-high-school-dropouts-1872310">high school dropouts</a></li>
<li>Highest rates of <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/human-trafficking-statistics-by-state">human trafficking</a></li>
<li>Highest <a href="https://247wallst.com/special-report/2024/02/13/this-is-the-state-with-the-most-homeless-people-every-state-ranked/">homeless population</a></li>
<li>Highest level of <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/dataviz/pension/comparative_view/table/">state pension shortfall</a></li>
<li>Highest level of <a href="https://www.consumeraffairs.com/movers/states-people-are-moving-to-and-from.html">net exodus</a> from the state</li>
<li>Highest <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/630090/states-with-the-average-electricity-price-for-the-residential-sector-in-the-us/">cost for kilowatt hours</a> in the continental U.S.</li>
</ul>
While many folks have wryly referred to California as, “the most expensive weather in the world,” an increasing number of people are rethinking that cost — especially when the weather itself is now regularly accompanied by wildfires, mudslides, and earthquakes.
The <a href="https://hgbr.org/californias-economic-challenges-a-growing-exodus-and-policy-concerns/">Hampton Global Business Review</a> concludes, “The allure of California’s beaches and innovation hubs might not be enough to counteract the growing disenchantment among its residents and business leaders.”
While all of this is more than sobering, contrary to the popular narrative, the untenable situation in which the state now finds itself cannot be blamed solely or even largely on the handful of people who have occupied the top leadership roles or even the few thousand in mid-tier management/political roles for the state. To be sure, many of those people have largely been far worse than feckless; they have been actively counterproductive — perhaps even maleficent. But blaming leadership is like blaming guns for shooting homicides. They could not have performed this disservice without the active support of the California voters.
Time and time again, California voters continue to check the box for more of the same people who continue to inflict damage on them for decades now. But more importantly, they knowingly do so. No objective observer can credibly argue that Californians have been fooled or misled by their leaders or the outrageous decisions they have made, or failed to make.
The great scholar, author, and life-long California resident Dr. Victor Davis Hanson has for years <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/28121811-the-decline-and-fall-of-california">detailed</a> the disastrous results of many of these decisions — from eliminating fire-preventing forest management, to not only failing to build appropriate dams but blowing up existing dams and eliminating reservoirs, to promoting unchecked and mass illegal immigration.
There was likely no more clarifying moment of truth on this point than when Governor Gavin Newsom faced a recall. His record was damning. There was the bungled and hypocritical mismanagement of the COVID virus response — complete with vaccine shortages, maskless French Laundry dinners with friends, and arbitrary business closure guidelines, a budget deficit that was more than double his own projection, and most importantly, the ignoring or exacerbation of most of the long list of the aforementioned maladies destroying the state.
Not only did the recall effort fail miserably, with Newsom receiving a convincing approval mandate of 62% of the vote, but he was then solidly re-elected in 2022 with nearly that same margin. California voters, no doubt painfully aware of all of these issues essentially said, “Yes, yes, yes! Give us more of this!”
But suppose for just a moment that Newsom had been recalled, that perhaps he had skewered one of the sacred cows big enough to motivate his ouster. Perhaps he drove a diesel car, or contended that there is something wrong about allowing a 250lb biological male athlete to compete with women, or suggested that maybe the unpunished shoplifting limit should be reduced from $950 to say $500, or publicly stated that illegal immigrants are not entitled to the same rights as U.S. citizens. Who would voters have suggested take his place? It almost certainly would have been another entity not dissimilar to Newsom in any significant way.
All of this is exacerbated by the fact that so many logically thinking, hard-working, patriotic Americans are leaving California if they can. With each passing year, the state is left with an increasingly left-leaning voter base — and they like it that way.  Thus, it is folly to believe that California’s ills can be solved as simply as replacing a few, key incompetent leaders. California’s failed leadership is not nearly as problematic as its failed follower-ship. And that is a far harder nut to crack.
Brian Wilson made a career writing songs about the abundant fun, fun, fun available in the Golden State. Were he with us today, begrudgingly or not, he would have to admit that clearly, daddy took the T-Bird away.
* * *
Greg Salsbury, Ph.D. is former president of Western Colorado University and Board of Advisor member for <a href="https://starrs.us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">STARRS.US</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Newsom best of

Best Of 2025: California Had Fun, Fun, Fun — Until Voters Took The T-Bird Away

Business

Immigration

Jobs

Small Businesses

Taxes

California’s Department of Motor Vehicles has <a href="https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/news-and-media/california-dmv-extends-date-of-nondomiciled-cdl-action">delayed</a> plans to cancel about 17,000 commercial driver’s licenses held by individuals unlawfully living in the state, giving them an extra 60 days before the licenses are revoked. The extension follows a lawsuit from leftist immigrant advocacy groups, which argue the move is needed to protect people’s ability to work.
The DMV announced Tuesday that it is pushing back the January 5, 2026, revocation deadline to March 6.
Federal officials, led by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, blasted the Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, accusing California of ducking accountability after issuing licenses that did not comply with federal law and endangered public safety.
Duffy responded to the news by writing on X: “Gavin Newsom is lying. The deadline to revoke illegally issued, unvetted foreign trucker licenses is still January 5. California does NOT have an ‘extension’ to keep breaking the law and putting Americans at risk on the roads.  Miss the deadline, Gavin, and the @USDOT  will act — including cutting nearly $160 million in federal funding.”
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Gavin Newsom is lying. The deadline to revoke illegally issued, unvetted foreign trucker licenses is still January 5.
California does NOT have an “extension” to keep breaking the law and putting Americans at risk on the roads.
Miss the deadline, Gavin, and the <a href="https://twitter.com/USDOT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@USDOT</a> will act —…
&mdash; Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecDuffy/status/2006203195165462545?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 31, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The potential loss of $160 million in transportation funding is on top of $40 million already withheld from California for failing to enforce federal English-language requirements for truckers. Duffy argues the state was caught ignoring rules requiring proof of lawful presence and work authorization tied to the duration of a license. Federal audits found that some licenses remained valid long after their legal status had expired, while in other cases, officials couldn’t even prove that immigration status had been checked.
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Federal scrutiny intensified after a deadly Florida crash in which an illegal immigrant truck driver made an illegal U-turn and killed three people. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said California gave &#8220;an illegal alien a Commercial Driver’s License” who had no “legal right” to be in the United States.
That tragedy highlighted the consequences of weak licensing safeguards. Rather than acknowledge systemic failings, Newsom’s office lashed out at Duffy online, <a href="https://x.com/GovPressOffice/status/1988672753793388708?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">accusing</a> him of lying — even though the DHS and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) identified serious compliance problems, forcing California to finally act.
In reality, California only began revoking the licenses after federal pressure, not out of concern for safety or the rule of law. Even now, the DMV’s  “extension” is being <a href="https://apnews.com/article/commercial-drivers-license-immigrants-california-0eb0b6849e65ae9671fc250109173f83">celebrated</a> by leftist advocacy groups, while trade associations and federal regulators stress that unvetted or ineligible drivers should never have been licensed in the first place. Trucking groups back Duffy’s push to ensure drivers are legally authorized and sufficiently fluent in English to safely operate massive commercial vehicles on American roads.
Newsom’s response, attacking the messenger rather than fixing the system, contrasts sharply with Duffy’s emphasis on enforcement, public safety, and accountability. Duffy has consistently maintained that California violated long-standing FMCSA rules and that his emergency actions were needed because the state refused to comply until penalties loomed.
Meanwhile, California officials continue to frame the conflict around worker protections instead of public safety and legal compliance — despite DHS publicly stating that California issued a CDL to a driver with “no legal right” to be in the country.
In short, the issue reflects a clear divide: Duffy is insisting on law, safety, and federal standards, while Newsom is prioritizing political messaging over serious regulatory failures that could, and already did, cost lives.

MixCollage-31-Dec-2025-09-33-AM-6389

‘Newsom Is Lying’: Duffy Slams California Over License Extension For Illegal Drivers

Department of Transportation

Drivers Licenses

Sean Duffy

Even as many Americans are poised to see the benefits of the tax cuts written into President Donald Trump&#8217;s signature One Big Beautiful Bill, only a few states have fully adopted the most popular provisions into their own tax codes — and two, New York and Illinois, are actively blocking them.
Under the legislation, American workers will not pay federal income taxes on qualified tips, overtime pay, and car loan interest. Senior citizens will see an enhanced deduction of $6,000. But in a majority of states across the country, those changes will not automatically be rolled into the state tax code, meaning taxpayers may not see the full advantage intended by the provisions in the law.
According to a <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/12/26/us-news/here-are-the-blue-states-blocking-trumps-popular-tax-cut-provisions/?utm_campaign=nypost&amp;utm_social_post_id=634548005&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_social_handle_id=17469289&amp;utm_source=twitter">report</a> published by the New York Post, only four states have fully adopted all of the new tax breaks: South Carolina, North Dakota, Montana, and Idaho. Governor Jared Polis (D-CO) said that because of the way state taxes work in his state, the majority of federal tax cuts would automatically apply to state tax filings.
&#8220;Claims that Colorado is refusing to adopt the majority of tax changes from H.R.1 [One Big Beautiful Bill] are not accurate,” a spokesperson for Polis told The Post. “All tax cuts in H.R. 1 are automatically incorporated into state tax code unless there is specific action to decouple.&#8221;
The reason Colorado&#8217;s state taxes align with the federal tax code is that they are based on federal taxable income — meaning the state only taxes the amount of income remaining after all federal tax breaks are applied. Other states that use the same process are South Carolina, Iowa, North Dakota, Idaho, Montana, and Oregon.
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The majority of states rely on Adjusted Gross Income (AGI), which does not reflect any federal tax cuts, and would have to take legislative steps to allow the cuts included in the recent legislation to trickle down to the state level.
&#8220;Some states start with federal taxable income, so most of the new deductions flow through automatically unless lawmakers opt out,” Adam Michel, director of tax policy studies at the Cato Institute, told the Post. &#8220;Many more states—blue and red—start with adjusted gross income or run their own tax system, which means they don’t pick up these new deductions unless they affirmatively pass a bill to do so.&#8221;
Arizona <a href="https://www.azleg.gov/press/house/57LEG/1R/250123GRIFFINHB2081.pdf">passed a law</a> exempting taxes on tips already, and similar bills have been proposed in New Jersey and North Carolina.
Several solidly blue states <a href="https://tax.thomsonreuters.com/blog/state-decoupling-from-federal-tax-provisions/#three-paths-forward">have indicated</a> that they won&#8217;t take those steps, claiming that doing so would quickly lead to budget shortfalls. California, for example, will not adopt the new tax breaks because officials believe the state would lose too much revenue to manage the current budget. In New York and Illinois, where static conformity laws would have caused the tax cuts to automatically transfer into the state tax code, the states are requiring an &#8220;add-back&#8221; for any deductions related to taxes on tips or overtime in order to protect revenue streams.

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