California Governor Gavin Newsom’s unhinged press conference outburst this week may go down as the most revealing moment of his political career—not because it offered solutions, but because it exposed the frustration, hypocrisy, and raw desperation of a leader presiding over the collapse of his own promises.
Standing before reporters to unveil his May budget revisions, Newsom tore into local governments, demanded accountability, and thundered about the moral outrage of homelessness in California. But the outburst, laced with emotion, wild gesturing, and borderline profanity, served more as an indictment of his own administration than the cities and counties he targeted.
That question—blurted out in exasperation by Newsom himself—might be better directed at the man in the mirror. Newsom has been at the center of California politics since 2004, when he became mayor of San Francisco and announced a “10-year plan to end chronic homelessness.” Fast-forward to 2024, and the state is home to half of the nation’s entire homeless population. Nearly 200,000 people sleep on California’s streets, sidewalks, and freeway underpasses. Encampments that he now calls a “disgrace” have existed throughout his time as mayor, lieutenant governor, and now governor.
Gavin Newsom just went on a completely unhinged rant wondering how politicians get reelected that leave homeless people out on the street to die. pic.twitter.com/xkLBEZaLGW
— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) May 14, 2025
So yes, Governor—how do you keep getting reelected?
Newsom raged about cities not doing their jobs. What he didn’t address is the $24 billion his administration spent on homelessness over the last five years with no clear accounting of where it went. A scathing state audit confirmed what many suspected: no measurable progress, no centralized oversight, and no strategy. Meanwhile, homeless deaths, encampment-related fires, and violent crime have only increased.
The irony here is overwhelming. Local governments depend on state budget allocations to fund social services, shelters, and addiction treatment programs. Yet Newsom just cut funding for Proposition 36, a voter-approved initiative that mandates treatment for addicted individuals as part of sentencing—a core tool in any serious attempt to address root causes like addiction and mental illness.
One of the most jarring moments in Newsom’s press conference was his anecdote about a young man he encountered while doing “Project Homeless Connect” near the 405 freeway. “I found out the next day he was dead… I felt like a fraud,” he admitted.
He’s right. He should feel like a fraud.
But instead of owning the consequences of two decades of failed leadership, Newsom deflected, deflected, and then deflected some more. His moral outrage now, in 2025, rings hollow to Californians who have been sounding this alarm since the early 2010s. The state’s housing-first approach, refusal to enforce anti-camping ordinances, and decriminalization of quality-of-life crimes under the guise of compassion have created a sprawling humanitarian crisis masquerading as social progress.
The reality is that this isn’t about a sudden moral epiphany. It’s about focus groups, falling poll numbers, and national ambition. Voters are angry. They don’t trust politicians. They’re tired of being told that it’s compassionate to let addicts die with dignity in a tent next to a school. Newsom knows it—and now he’s scrambling to pivot his brand from aloof technocrat to tough-talking reformer.
But Californians aren’t buying it. They’ve seen the pattern too many times: the impassioned speech, the urgent press release, the bloated budget proposal, and the inevitable return to status quo. Rinse, repeat.
The only thing scarier than this montage of Gavin Newsom vowing to solve homelessness over the past 2 decades is when you realize that the $24 BILLION he evaporated is just from the last 5 years… pic.twitter.com/MCbc46lHaK
— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) November 25, 2024
