‘Sparkle Beach Ken’ Is Too Kind To Gavin Newsom

Being Gavin Newsom means never having to explain yourself  — being able to hurl accusations and nonsensical claims with nary a follow-up from the press. Newsom’s foray into the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, is a case in point.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent took notice of Newsom loitering around Davos, quipping, “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.” Bessent then noted that Newsom was, “here this week with his billionaire sugar daddy, Alex Soros.”

But Newsom still made a splash.

“Trump,” he weirdly enthused, “Is a T-Rex; you mate with him or he devours you.”

The California governor, widely expected to run for president in 2028 after he terms out of office this year, correctly figures that if he stays on offense, his own dismal record will be ignored — even if that offense is odd, off-putting, or oblique.

And what a record it is, from manageable fires that burst into catastrophic wildfires due to bad policy (blamed on climate change, of course) to soaring homelessness to scores of billions of dollars in stolen government assistance, Newsom might have a lot to atone for — if the media-industrial complex decided to do their jobs.

Telling Whoppers

Instead, Newsom makes claims that are rarely fact-checked, like his last whopper-filled State-of-the-State address on Jan. 8, in which the governor asserted, “We are not retreating. We are a beacon. This state is providing a different narrative. An operational model, a policy blueprint for others to follow.”

In one sense, Newsom is right — California is the epitome of the progressive left operational model, the blueprint for others to follow — and, home to San Francisco and UC Berkeley, the one place where democratic socialism might first work.

But as former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher noted, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” And the Constitution prohibits states from printing money, reserving that for the federal government.

Unfortunately for Newsom, California is looking at an $18 billion deficit, $5 billion more than last June, “despite improvements in revenue,” according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, which went on to note in its November fiscal outlook report that, “we estimate costs in other programs to be about $6 billion higher than anticipated… (with) structural deficits [growing] to about $35 billion annually due to spending growth continuing to outstrip revenue growth.”

So it turns out that giving illegal aliens free health care is expensive. Whodathunkit?

California Republican Party Chairwoman Corrin Rankin panned Newsom’s speech, saying, “Governor Newsom told Californians that homelessness is down, crime is at record lows, schools are improving, and Los Angeles is recovering after the Palisades fires. (He) painted a picture of a California that exists in his imagination.”

“Imagination” is a kind word in this instance. In his speech to the California legislature, he claimed, “California, 2025, unsheltered homeless, 9 percent reduction. First time in almost two decades.” But you don’t measure what you don’t measure, with the claimed reduction of street homelessness a phantom generated by a lack of counting — Sacramento County, population 1.6 million, and other communities skipped a full count of the street homeless as federal rules only require a full count in even-numbered years, thus rendering year-to-year comparisons problematic.

So, how does California, the “beacon” on the Pacific, stack up against the U.S. and its peer states? Pulling from federal statistics from the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis, we see that Newsom’s hype doesn’t survive first contact with reality.

Looking at real GDP growth from the first quarter of 2019, when Newsom took office, to the second quarter of 2025, the latest period available, it’s clear that California’s economic growth lagged behind that of the U.S. — and significantly behind its two prominent red-state rivals, Florida and Texas. Florida clocks in at 29.7 percent growth followed closely by Texas at 28.2 percent. America grew its economy 16.3 percent in the same period while California lagged behind the nation with 16.1 percent — but, at least ahead of New York at 12.1 percent.

Real personal income growth tells a similar story. Real personal income measures the number of people in a state, and income they receive adjusted by a state’s cost of living. Looking at 2019 to 2023, the latest year for which data is available, we see California lagged at an anemic 5.6 percent, just ahead of New York at 4.6 percent but far behind the leader, Texas, at 14.3 percent, with Florida at 12 percent.

And lastly, on the share of people living in poverty, per the census’ Supplemental Poverty Measure — a calculation that takes into account the cost of housing and the value of non-cash government assistance, unlike the Official Poverty Measure — we see California in the lead as it has always been since 2009, when the Supplemental Measure was first rolled out. If there is any consolation for California in the most recent census survey, the Golden State tied with Louisiana for having America’s highest cost-adjusted poverty rate.

So, the next time you see Newsom flail his hands and arms around like an inebriated Jedi knight trying to tell you these aren’t the facts you’re looking for, don’t fall for it — if Newsom’s lips are moving, he’s lying.