The governor of California has been having a few hard days. His high approval of last year has plummeted. Now, he is facing the very real prospect of losing his job, as the recall effort crossed the signature threshold to trigger an election. By November, the state might have a new leader.
This was all Newsom’s doing, though. He hammered the state with heavy COVID restrictions. He went further than most states, shutting down schools, churches, and most businesses. Despite that, cases and deaths continued to be high.
What made matters worse was the fact that Newsom appeared to be breaking his own rules. Months ago, he was called out for dining indoors with a large group, despite restrictions.
That outraged many residents, who couldn’t even leave their homes. Now, even with a recall looming over his head, Newsom appears to be doing the exact same thing.
Newsom posted a video to his TikTok account with celebrity George Lopez talking about where to look for coronavirus vaccine eligibility. Newsom and Lopez were in Fresno, Calif., and are inside Los Amigos restaurant.
A separate video of Lopez was posted to the Los Amigos restaurant’s Facebook page. Lopez was endorsing the restaurant’s food.
Fresno is in the most restrictive purple tier, which does not allow for indoor dining. [Source: Fox News]
Newsom’s office quickly tried to spin the bad news, claiming that although he was at the restaurant for an hour, he did not eat there. Users begged to differ online:
Regardless of whether or not he ate, it doesn’t matter. Newsom created tough rules to limit gatherings inside restaurants. Thousands of businesses have been shut down, with countless Americans out of work. The state hasn’t bothered to do much to help these residents, only compounding the problems. Yet Newsom has no problem showing up at one of these places of businesses for a TikTok video, unconcerned with his own rules.
Then, when he is called out for it, he dismisses complaints with excuses.
This is exactly why the once-popular governor is facing a recall election. California residents are tired of being mistreated, lied-to, and forced into their homes. They want their kids to have normal lives, going to school and playing with their friends. They want to go to church without fear of getting arrested. And they want to just go to a restaurant to have a meal–something that Newsom apparently can do whenever he wants.
Don’t be surprised to see this add fuel to the recall election fire. Rivals will be using this video to hammer Newsom. The tone-deaf governor will be forced to watch this repeated again and again until November, as Republicans remind voters of what kind of man they have in charge.
But will California residents kick him out of office? I can’t say for sure, but Newsom certainly isn’t helping himself.
