Great Day For Women, Bad Day For The GOP

We examine the havoc caused by the shutdown and its impact on the elections and on Trump's favorability rating.  

Transcript

host-4ha0_2_11-06-2025_134209: 0:00

Welcome to another episode of Inside Golden State Politics. I'm Bill Bosky, former city editor and columnist for the Los Angeles Times, and with us is our executive producer, Nancy Voki. And I'm Sherry Jeffy, political analyst and self-styled medium Maven coming to you from celebrating. The Dodgers of World Series Win Los Angeles needed some joy and we got it. Oh yeah, and, and then there were those. Elections, the first major referendum on Trump 2.0. Count that as Joy 2.0 for Californians and for voters in the great states of New Jersey. Yay. And, and New York City and localities nationwide who wanted well, needed to send Washington a message. Let's hope that Trump and his acolytes in the nation's capital, and I'm talking to you, Maga, Mike Johnson. Get it over to you, bill. Well, in the first place, Sherry, they don't get it. oh. In, in midweek, the White House and the department and the Justice Department, moved ahead. With, its so-called case against, former CIA director, Brennan, showing that they're not gonna quit. In fact, you'll have to, they'll be dragged kicking and screaming, kicking and screaming, from their, appointed, duty, what duty that they haven't been around. Well, Proving that, they've got Obama in their latest iteration of the Brennan plot. They'll continue on with that and with their, with their good case. In fact, that Obama was not born in the United States, is not a citizen and was not eligible to be president for eight years. How do you take back an eight year? Term, I'm not at all sure that's gonna be their major focus. Now they have, now Donny, the mayor elect of New York City, and Trump has already mentioned or twice that he doesn't think that, mom Dami is an American, that he is an illegal immigrant. I mean. Not gonna stop him. They'll use Trump and his Republican buddies service will use the Obama Brennan. Everybody's going to get indicted dynamic to keep the country from not getting the Epstein files. And as long as that continues, it's going to be harder and harder for Trump to deny. There's no reason that they are holding up the Epstein files. It's Alice in Wonderland right now in America, bill. Well, something that's maybe Alice in Wonderland, but for the governor of California. it's a sweet, period. oh yeah. His, his advocacy of Proposition 50, the reapportionment measure, helped not only push it across the finish line, gave it helped give it a runaway victory and. Proposition fifties victory is nuisance victory. And he's emerged from this as, not just a California afterthought or just, some California with nice air. Well, he's, he's emerged from this as a genuine factor in the race for the, democratic presidential nomination, next time around. Absolutely. And, it's given him a huge amount of clout. he's gonna be traveling around the country. He's gonna be speaking. He's become a major, major figure and. He's got one hell of a donor's list, one hell of volunteers list. Should he, when he decides to run for president. I mean, it's he since, well, since he began working. TV and the media on behalf of Prop 50. he's grown up in the polls, as a possible probable candidate for the presidency. I don't think it's coincidence, and I don't think it's an unplanned coincidence, but I have to tell you, bill, I, I've been watching Gavin Newsom. On the media mainly since he became the chief troll of our president, president Trump. And since he became everywhere on the issue of Prop 50, and I do think what he is saying. He believes, and he made a good point that this is about democracy and saving democracy and stopping, kind of an unhinged president from, from destroying democracy. It may not be that dire. But he's authentic. He's perceived to be authentic. He's also perceived to be looking forward to a, a campaign for the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party. But authenticity, he has something, a quality that, I really admire, in a politician and in a ball player and, and a journalist. he was willing, he's willing to, Take a chance for something he believes in. he does take risk. And, he proved that, as mayor of the city of San Francisco, when he performed a gay marriage, when everybody thought that was political suicide, everything he's done for the, to, help the gay community, has been, really gudy. And he was doing it when it wasn't. When it wasn't fashionable. Now of course, it's for a Democrat, it, it is fashionable, but you have, you have to admire a guy who goes out there and is willing, to, take a chance and, who didn't believe, what everyone's saying about, Trump being unbeatable. he looked at Trump and, he saw somebody who was beatable and, that's gonna power him along as he. engages in this long, long battle for the, democratic Presidential nomination. Well, it it, it wasn't so much that he saw him as beautiful, that he did see that he could have the ability to push. Donald Trump's buttons. In fact, it is clear that, if Gavin Newsom is the hero of Prop 50, Donald Trump helped along the way. The polls indicate, and you could see it in the turnout, and you could see it in the people who were waiting to vote, that they were angry, that what Trump promised he didn't do, and he overreached won the economy. Nip didn't happen. Prices didn't go down. They went up two. He broke the White House and on the day that Snap was cut off, he had a Great Gatsby, I guess Holly Halloween party. I don't think the guy understood, let alone read the the Great Gatsby. Or he would know it ended badly and it underscored the 1% versus the 99%. It's clear to me that this is a, both a political and a personal loss for the president. And, he's just moving ahead. as if this hadn't happened, as if there had been no Tuesday. Wow. As if there'd been blame it on somebody else, as if, there had been, no defeat. And, the The Republicans in Congress, are saying the same thing. the, the speaker, speaker Mike Johnson. You mean the chief of staff to the real speaker Donald Trump, don't you? That's right. He's acting as if there was no Tuesday as if there was no election day. he's acting as if everything's just fine with the Republican party. And, Sherry, while we're talking and maybe, eventually it'll be over, but we are now in. The longest shutdown government in American history. Guess whose, presidency had the first, the right before the record was broken, the longest shutdown. Who was that? some guy named Donald Trump. Oh. And the first, Donald Trump, 1.0 35 days in the first, in, in the first incarnation. You bet. This is really starting to hurt. The, large number of flights being canceled all over the country in major airports is are hurting, leisure travelers, vacation travelers. Business travelers, emergency travelers, anyone who has to fly has to wait. Well, and let's not forget, medical care. Medical care and food. Really. That's, right. So he has crippled, definitely crippled our air system. It can't function. Under these conditions. And, as the days go on, unless this, shutdown ends, it will get worse. That's gonna hurt him. It is hurting him right now. That's, what I saw in the results of, Tuesday's election. I think also the, Brutality of, ice of the, immigration cops. Exactly. Both the ice cops and the border patrol, cops who were wading into the big cities, happened to be democratic cities, I saw one the other today, breaking into a, a nursery school. A day school, childcare. Yeah, childcare center. Arresting the teacher. and if, if, there hadn't been somebody to take care of the kids, they would've been left there alone a lot the, ice people care about that, those kind of things. Even somebody who's not pro-immigrant or. Who worries about immigrants or who doesn't like immigrants? They do like kids. They do like mothers. They don't like cruelty, and we're getting into the whole area of, yo, maybe I voted for him, but I didn't vote for this. Exactly. He's gone too far. That appears to be what people are perceiving. They may be, they may want. Something to be done about illegal immigration, but not what is being done by Trump, by ice. and that was shown interestingly, immigration and the economy where his big issues, he's underwater now. According to the polls and those voters who listed immigration and or economy as the major influence on their vote, both cases, both states, and I think also in New York City majority said. Well, we would, we wouldn't mind better abortion. I mean, excuse me, that wasn't an, that wasn't even an issue. Better immigration guidelines, but what's going on now is unacceptable. And 70, 80% of those people voted for the Democrats. In New Jersey and in Virginia, it was a big, I, it's his base, but more importantly, the gains that he made, Trump made among independence among younger men, among, Latinos. They're all skeptical or they're damned angry. About the way he has conducted his policy and himself, the gains he made, among Latino males, which, was the subject of, much discussion by, pundits, including we two seemed to have evaporated. Under the, pictures of the cruelty of the ice agents, against immigrants, that, the. I think that's hard to get that back. Oh, I mean, I agree too. I don't think it's the only reason that he lost the gains that he made in the 2024 election. I think, that, that you could tick up, tick off anything these days and, and there is a growing public dissatisfaction with him. And with the way he is conducting the presidency, and here's the thing of it, you wonder, as I mentioned in my intro, do they understand that the Republicans had more importantly Trump, does he understand that it's, it's not working the way he had hoped it would work, and that is very dangerous. For the Republicans, I think they're very worried now about the maintaining the House of Representatives and there are some analyses which indicate that it's maybe the Democrats won't take over the Senate, but it's not impossible. That they will if Donald Trump and the Republicans continue on the road, they are on. But I think it's important to, to mention the fact that, it's not so much that they ignored the election results. It's Donald Trump's selling us that. Not my fault, it was the shut down. And he just threw the Republican party under the bus saying it wasn't the fault of Trump. But the Republicans are responsible for the, the shutdown. He's flailing. I think he is flailing right now. Well, there's always, has been this, Unpleasant, side to his, personality and his persona. But, you know, speaking of personas and personalities, I thought that the new governor of New Jersey and the new governor of, Virginia, sparkled in their election night, yay. In their, presentations, in their speeches, you know, they looked, and I, and I think it's true, they are so human, when, the, the word is authentic. When, when the governor of New Jersey, Mikey, when she was introducing her kids, she had, yeah. Three kids, I think. Yeah. Three daughters. Three daughters. And one of'em was. The smallest one, the youngest one. And when she got to her, she says, and you who didn't clean up their room this morning? And, the little, and the girl said. I didn't have time. I was busy with other things. I'm working on it. And, and Mikey said if that were my attitude, I wouldn't be a governor of New Jersey. Mm-hmm. And only the second woman, governor. Jersey's history. That quiz, who was the first? Christine Whitman, Christine, Todd Whitman, a Republican. Yeah. Interestingly, she was quite a brilliant, she did well. She did well. Successful governor. Yeah. And I think it helped, but I, I, I'm glad you brought up the women because I, I wanna take time to give a shout out to the new women Governors elect. Not only because, Mickey Mikey Shera is only the second woman governor in New Jersey, but. Span Berger in Virginia is the very first. Woman governor in the state of Virginia's history. Now, mind you, had the Republican candidate won, she would've been right the first, but I like it. And here's something else I've noticed. Both Cheryl and Span Berger have really good qualifications. They, they have public service qualifications, they have military service, they have national security considerations. They, they, they have all the qualifications that any man who, well, not any man as we can see, but that people look for in a male dominated world, but they are women and they sell it and people. Are comfortable with them and I'm damn proud of both of them. Helicopter pilot. CIA Agent. Agent, exactly. That's right. Government knowledge. I think people feel secure because they do have, public service and they, they do have national security creds. I think we're reaching a point, in the next few years where people won't think it's so miraculous that a woman was elected to these jobs in the United States. It will be sort of a o or matter of fact, thing. we're reaching that point, certainly, certainly the victory. Of, Spam Berger. And Cheryl, was a indication, especially, Cheryl, in the polls, was if she won, was gonna win narrowly, but she ran away with the, election. They both did, as did in Virginia, the breadth of their victory, was really something to think about. It's not only that they won, but they really won. They really won big. And that is telling us something about the strength and the viability of, of women running for, public office, in this time, and I think if you look around the country, you'll find, women who were mayors, you and now governors already. Well, now governors, so, and we've had a woman vice president and we had a woman vice president. Yes, we did. Yeah. And when, when do you think we're gonna have a, a woman president bill? How long is it gonna take? I would say that, with the right candidate, not this next coming cycle, no. But, maybe the cycle after that or, or certainly the one after that, you'll see a woman, president, running for president and a woman. When we had a woman running for president, they had too. Right. And, we'll, we'll see a woman, elected, you know, well, I don't know. I'm I, but I do think you're right that there will not be, a woman, a woman of color on the ticket this next round. It's gonna be, I would think it could be, two white males. Could be a white male and a male of color. But I don't know. I think women are gonna have to fight like hell to get back into the competition. I think they, put themselves into the, competition Tuesday. I mean, that means something, you know, it's, well, well, I, I'm not sure it's gonna be these women because, you know, they will have been in office a little more than, I'm not talking about who would be the person who would be the first, woman president. you know, oh, there will be women running, but there, there will be women running and, but there will be women winning because people will start to think, ah, they won't think that much of it. You know, things change. Things change, i'm glad you're coming around to that boy. Oh. Sherry's playing the old, that's the old race card? No, actually gender card. Oh. She's playing the gender card. She's trying to portray me as. This, woman hating, not woman hating, stupid. Just old Sherry, we don't wanna match ages here. Well, no, no, no. I'll kill you. You don't, you, you don't wanna, you don't. It's, it's that simple. You don't wanna get into that. you don't wanna go down that road. You're nasty. But anyway, I, thought that was great. And then the fact, as I said before, the fact that they were both so human. Hey, they're people like us. That's, what you want. You want somebody who you say, well. Like me, Well, that goes back to authenticity, but, and it also, if you're talking about what was really the most powerful issue, I think, or at least one of the two or three most powerful issues, which is the cost of living, the ability to acquire accessibility. these are two women. Who, as mothers, as wives, can speak very legitimately about what's happening to women's rights, what's happening to the abil, the ability of ordinary American citizens to make it. I mean, that I think is the, the one powerful issue that Momani had from day one. His issue was the cost of living in New York City is too damn high and it worked. I'm thinking back to, candidates overcoming, odds. All odds. And I'm thinking of Obama who burst upon the scene unknown, scorned, Black, black guy with a funny name, and he plowed ahead. What happened with Obama? As, as the campaign went on, people who would not picture themselves as voting for a American person for president started thinking, this guy's not bad. Or, this guy's like us. That was what they started thinking, and so by the time he, ended his, presidency. That's the way, that's the way people felt about him. today. he's is the most popular Democrat, Democrat, in, in the country. and, the most influential. Yeah. And, and that's not bad. But I will tell you, I kind of look at it in, in somewhat of a different way. When he gave the speech to the two four Democratic National Convention before he was even elected to the US Senate, he, he just blew the roof off. And it, it isn't so much that he was us. It was that he wasn't them. And that's kind of continued. And that think is one of the problems with Trump. We don't want just, a, a, a president to act the way he acts to overreach, the way he overreach, who deals what he doesn't destroy in the White House. Well, I think we have to think about, Kamala Harris, and, whether she's going to run again and, how she'll be received and, what kind of a candidate she is. I think she misses it as a candidate. And I was thinking, I got one of her, fundraising appeals and she was talking about how she found out that night that she wasn't going to be elected president and she walked downstairs to her family thinking. What will become of the country, or something like that. Yeah. see there's something missing there. With Harris, well, I haven't seen the, the fundraising email. Gee, I didn't get one. but it sounds a little bit, it sounds a little Trump Trumpian if you think about it. Only I can fix it. Is that what it's going to come across as? I would've been a little bit more careful with, The language and the juxtapositions in that, because I read it as what will the country do without me as president? And that's a bit much for anybody. I would've been more humble about my loss or not mention it, Yeah. Or not, nothing requires that you have to mention at this point. Right, right. Just talk about her, her book, which to me clearly means that she's not, not considering. Writing for the presidency. I mean, every candidate who, thinks he or she is the candidate for president comes out with a book. And I read just the other day that, Gavin Newsom will soon have a memoir out. Isn't that interesting? If it is true. Just, I wonder how many people buy those books? Doesn't matter. They talk about it on television, right? They make a book tour. They meet people, they build some more names into their fundraising and volunteering lists, if they're very lucky, not many people will read the books. I mean, her, camel's book really got her in some hot water with Democrats because she. Sort of blamed them for the, the fact that she didn't do better than she did, and that's alienating your own party., It will be very interesting to watch, The next, few weeks, of the Newsom story, he's going down to Texas to speak to a group. he's gonna be traveling around, see where he goes. Is he gonna go into the south, go into the Midwest, go into the places where supposedly people think everyone from California a, a, a lunatic. Yeah. Right. Will he encounter this anti, California feeling? And, who overcame it? Two presidents, the United States, Ronald Reagan. He lived in. The Palisades and, Richard Nixon. Who?. it was a very different time and a very different environment. I mean, think about that, but so they have a lot more to hate than the fact that, it came from California. The voters had a lot more that they could. Work with or against with these guys, and California as an issue, as an obstacle, did not pay a very large role in their victories. It may have paid, played a bigger role in Richard Nixon's, resignation than, than we know.'cause so many of the, the people who were involved in Watergate turned out to be Californians. But, I think at this point in the very, very beginning of the campaign for president in 2028, Support for Gavin won't depend on whether you like or don't like trust or distrust. Californians, We're gonna have to see, first of all, what happens with his maps. The maps that we Californians approved of at the last election, plus every other factor. That's always an influence on the election. Most significantly turnout, organization. The campaign and whether or not it is powerful enough, articulate enough, influential enough, and not only the candidate, but the candidate's opponent. Well, I think what's most important is the candidate. by far, I mean if the candidate is a Turkey, if the candidate doesn't have a good personality, doesn't have something to say. then, then that candidate is, is a non-starter maybe. And, everything else, if the candidate's good, Reagan, for example, if the candidate's good, then everything falls in place, behind him and that, oh, that certainly was what an optimist.. Well, Reagan was elected a couple of times. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah. And, when, the candidate is a personable, is, has a good personality and is able to deliver a message and the message is relevant, then all these other things fall behind him, maybe. Well, Sherry, good discussion. Yeah. I know you don't agree with it, but mm-hmm. the one point I wanna make, what? That I don't agree with what, that it's a maybe that everything will come in, fall into line. I will tell you though, remember the streetcar theory of politics. I don't wanna hear you again. Well, I wanna make this point. Please. Gavin caught it. Well, that's right. But, but maybe too early. They don't have street cars anymore. Jerry. That's, well, politics is a streetcar if you think about it. Okay. We'll see you next week. Bye. Cheers.