There is no doubt the president is not popular in California. The vote in the 2016 presidential election and polls indicate that. But, the fight between Donald Trump and California won’t find resolution until the 2020 presidential election. Whose side the rest of the country is on would best be settled if it’s a Californian who faces Trump in that election.
Sure, we’re getting ahead of ourselves, but there is little doubt that Trump intends to use his stand against California as a platform on which to run for re-election. Immigration reform, sanctuary cities, oil drilling, gun issues, taxes and a number of other positions will serve Trump’s platform versus what he called in his California visit yesterday, a state “out of control.”
California is the future, we are told. What happens here will happen in the rest of the country next. Some politicians hope to explore that theory when they take California-labeled sensibilities into the presidential campaign of 2020. It will be interesting to see how far that takes them.
California politicians, left-wing activists and many in the media like to portray California as the “resistance.” A number of California Democrats would like to take the resistance national and battle Trump one-on-one for the right to call 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue home.
Senator Kamala Harris, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and billionaire activist Tom Steyer all have taken steps that indicate a possible White House run. Others may be interested as well, especially Governor Jerry Brown after Trump said yesterday, “The governor’s doing a terrible job running the state of California.”
If a Californian should capture the Democratic nomination then voters across the nation will decide the verdict of so-called “California values” versus Trump’s way
But first a Californian would have to capture the primary. Look to the Democratic presidential contest of 2020 to resemble something like the Republican battle of 2016—a debate stage with 10 to 15 contestants.
And, a Californian better win the home state primary, which comes early now. That may not be easily done if three or four Californians are vying for the nomination.
But, as stated at the beginning, we are getting way ahead of ourselves. We are still in the early rounds of this heavyweight fight.