{"id":329862,"date":"2026-05-23T23:18:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T23:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/329862\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T23:18:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T23:18:17","slug":"tom-steyer-proves-things-can-get-worse-than-gavin-newsom-in-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/329862\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Steyer proves things can get worse than Gavin Newsom in California"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tom Steyer proves one thing about California politics<\/a>: As bad as things get, they can always get worse.<\/p>\n

After Jerry Brown, a true intellectual whose ideas were often at odds with reality, we got Gavin Newsom, an ideological fashionista driven by vainglory and ambition.<\/p>\n

The two combined to create a California reality that worked for their friends \u2014 greens, oligarchs, nonprofits and public employees \u2014 at the expense of pretty much everyone else.<\/p>\n

Now our political descent seems to be accelerating. Unless Steve Hilton pulls off an unexpected miracle, our likely next governor will either be the utterly uninspiring Xavier Becerra<\/a> or, even worse, private-equity-billionaire-turned-progressive-firebrand\u00a0Tom Steyer.<\/p>\n

\"Tom<\/p>\n

Tom Steyer proves one thing about California politics: As bad as things get, they can always get worse. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\"After<\/p>\n

After Jerry Brown, a true intellectual whose ideas were often at odds with reality, we got Gavin Newsom, an ideological fashionista driven by vainglory and ambition. Anadolu via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Under Becerra, a man who impresses few here or anywhere else<\/a>, we will get a zombie Newsom, a faithful follower of the familiar priorities of the all-powerful Democratic machine. Steyer, on the other hand, represents something even more lethal: One environmental lawyer called him \u201ca raging narcissistic lunatic\u201d who would make Newsom seem, well, like Pete Wilson.<\/p>\n

To my shock, recent casual conversations with upper-class Democrats show a hard-to-explain attraction for Steyer.<\/p>\n

To be sure, Steyer is polling third, behind Becerra and Hilton.<\/p>\n

But Becerra, besides being a nonentity, is threatened by a scandal involving his own campaign funds<\/a>. Tom Steyer is spending millions, and even tens of millions, to convince the public that Becerra is just another corrupt machine politician.<\/p>\n

So, what would happen if Steyer became governor? As a longtime funder of enviro groups,\u00a0he would no doubt double down on climate stupidity \u2014 accelerating the destructive drive to net zero emissions, stifling what is left of our once-powerful fossil fuel industry, and forcing future housing development<\/a> by building the pack-and-stack housing most Californians do not want.<\/p>\n

\"To<\/p>\n

To my shock, recent casual conversations with upper-class Democrats show a hard-to-explain attraction for Steyer. Getty Images<\/p>\n

At a time when \u201capocalyptic environmentalism<\/a>\u201d is losing its grip, with even New York<\/a> reconsidering its climate goals, and Newsom<\/a> is\u00a0looking to keep some remnant of our oil and gas industry, Steyer is unlikely to budge \u2014 and he might even expand the green machine.<\/p>\n

Steyer continues to claim \u201cgreen energy\u201d is cheaper, which would be something of a surprise to consumers in Britain, Germany and California, all places where gas and electricity prices are among the highest in the world.<\/p>\n

Steyer can\u2019t change because he is environmental zealot, a convert-turned-inquisitor with a cause. His green fixation\u00a0was the basis for his ridiculous, and ridiculously expensive (to the tune of roughly $200 million<\/a>) presidential ego trip in 2024. He would be unlikely to rescue California from its self-imposed energy crisis; it is doubtful he would allow private refineries to operate for long, permit nuclear power, or approve a pipeline<\/a> that would bring American gas into the country.<\/p>\n

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More dangerous still, Steyer seems to be rehearsing to become California\u2019s own Juan Per\u00f3n. Unlike Newsom, Steyer, with an estimated fortune of $2 billion, has no need for support from the oligarchs or public sector union money. Indeed, one reason Newsom allies oppose Steyer, my sources say, is that his wealth insulates himself from the need to appease them.<\/p>\n

Yet that same independence would allow a Gov. Steyer to be reckless, particularly with taxpayer money. He\u00a0made his fortune\u00a0on such things as coal and private prisons, but\u00a0has shown a willingness to adopt the furthest-left positions on such things as the wealth tax, single-payer health care, and data centers. Having made his money, he seems fine with making sure middle-income California taxpayers, already burdened, pay up big-time\u00a0for his quasi-socialist dream.<\/p>\n

\"Steyer<\/p>\n

Steyer continues to claim \u201cgreen energy\u201d is cheaper, which would be something of a surprise to consumers in Britain, Germany and California, all places where gas and electricity prices are among the highest in the world. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Steyer takes the old Leninist idea of \u201cuseful idiots\u201d to an extreme. He has allied with the most radical elements of the Democratic Party, recruiting the same people who helped socialist Zohran Mamdani<\/a> become mayor of New York.<\/p>\n

Even the ferociously anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic Cenk Uygur is now in the Steyer camp and seems to be winning over influencer Hasan Piker, another public figure of the same ilk<\/a>. Steyer is alleged to have spent large sums<\/a> on recruiting other Internet personalities.<\/p>\n

Since eco-hysteria does not play so well, class warfare, waged against his own class, seems to be his idea of a winning formula. And given California\u2019s enormous inequality today, this may appeal more to voters than the milquetoast gentry progressivism of the Newsom-Becerra crowd.<\/p>\n

It all sounds so absurd that it could work.<\/p>\n

As in the run-up to New York\u2019s mayoral race, the party establishment was unable to find an even halfway appealing candidate. Kamala Harris, Sen. Alex Padilla, Rob Bonta \u2014 all could have pushed Steyer into single digits. Becerra, a presumptive \u201cfrontrunner,\u201d is still far from a shoe-in.<\/p>\n

Sadly, the two Democrats who might have turned things around \u2014 former LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan \u2014 have failed to break single digits. Both have appeared willing to take on the many progressive NGOs that have backed Steyer, as well as tackle the corruption and insane rule-making dysfunction that is all too evident in Sacramento. But in the end, they could not keep up with either the machine or Steyer\u2019s mega-bucks.<\/p>\n

Now we have a significant chance of actually making things worse. Becerra will be predictably bad, but not outrageously so. Reality will find its way to him, or at least with his advisers and donors.<\/p>\n

In contrast, Steyer \u2014 free to do as he pleases \u2014 could take the final steps toward the annihilation of the California middle class, a man unmoored to any reality but his own.<\/p>\n

Joel Kotkin is the presidential fellow in urban futures at Chapman University and Senior Research Fellow at the Civitas Institute of the University of Texas at Austin.<\/p>\n