Governor Newsom fired off another one of his Twitter rants yesterday, this time in response to the well-documented raid on an illegal pot farm in Southern California. And as usual, he wrapped it in a gaslight sandwich—with a side of virtue signaling and extra blame for the “right-wing misinformation machine.”
Let’s be clear: the issue here isn’t whether a “grant” was announced or whether developers are being “mandated” to rebuild entire buildings. The issue is that Gavin Newsom continues to preside over a collapsing state where illegal pot farms are rampant, housing is unaffordable, energy is unreliable, crime is out of control, and taxpayer dollars are redirected toward politically favored initiatives with little accountability. And somehow, when these facts surface, his response is to accuse critics of lying.
So let’s dissect the governor’s statement—and get real about what’s happening in California.
1. “Just a total and complete lie.”
That’s how Governor Newsom described the pushback over the Palisades recovery grants. Not “an oversimplification.” Not “a misreading of the bill.” Just straight-up “lie.” You can always tell when a progressive governor is on the ropes—they start swinging at phantoms.
But Governor, respectfully: No one’s lying about the raid on the illegal cannabis grow. No one’s lying about the spiraling costs of doing business in your state. And no one’s lying about your housing policies quietly creating de facto mandates via grant carrots and regulatory sticks.
This isn’t “misinformation.” It’s reality for California farmers, landlords, builders, and small-town mayors trying to comply with a patchwork of state mandates, housing targets, and environmental codes while you play cleanup man for the chaos you helped create.
2. “NO LAWS HAVE CHANGED to require new low-income housing.”
A clever deflection—true in a lawyerly sense, but irrelevant in practice.
You don’t need to change the law when you already have an alphabet soup of regulatory agencies—HCD, CARB, CEQA, Cal Fire, etc.—that can reinterpret or condition grants, permits, and inspections based on shifting political priorities. And lately, that priority is “climate equity,” “environmental justice,” and—you guessed it—more subsidized housing.
Anyone who’s ever dealt with a state grant process knows how this works: your funding is “optional,” but only if you don’t care about rebuilding, recovering, or surviving. When your home is lost to a mudslide or wildfire, and the only viable rebuild path includes “affordability elements,” that’s not a suggestion. It’s coercion in bureaucratic wrapping.
3. “NO MANDATES to rebuild entire buildings as affordable exist.”
You don’t have to mandate it outright when you create regulatory conditions that force the choice.
Let’s talk about the Palisades—or Altadena, or Paradise, or any number of California communities that were destroyed or disrupted by fires in recent years. In many cases, these were working- and middle-class areas—not tech campuses or luxury towers. And when the time comes to rebuild, developers are told: “Sure, you can build back—but only if you add units for the income bracket we like.”
These mandates may not be written in all-caps legislation, but they are very real in planning meetings, in housing commission memos, and in the footnotes of CEQA reviews.
In a state where nearly every new development is already cost-prohibitive due to labor rules, environmental impact reviews, and zoning delays, tacking on “affordable units” to rebuild what was destroyed isn’t optional—it’s a way to kneecap the process unless it serves a political agenda.
4. “The state announced a grant, which developers can CHOOSE to apply for.”
That’s like saying you “chose” to buy bottled water during a hurricane when FEMA only dropped crates at Walmart.
Yes, technically developers can choose to apply for these grants. But in practice, when your community has been ravaged by a fire or flood, and private capital won’t touch the risk, you’ve only got two options: accept the state’s terms or delay recovery indefinitely.
The Newsom administration knows this. They design these grants to push localities into compliance with “regional housing needs” targets—targets that are often dictated by state-level commissions unaccountable to the voters.
So let’s stop pretending this is a benevolent offer. This is top-down housing policy disguised as disaster recovery.
5. “It’s absolutely shameful how the right-wing misinformation machine continues to weaponize the recovery…”
Governor, what’s shameful is the condition your state is in.
- Illegal cannabis grows flourish under your nose while legal operators drown in red tape.
- You pushed for marijuana legalization and now seem shocked that black-market grows are undercutting licensed dispensaries and corrupting local enforcement.
- You defund police departments, then blame them when criminal networks thrive in Humboldt, Mendocino, and beyond.
- You lock down the state for two years, drive away thousands of small businesses, then hand taxpayer money to equity-based “recovery” grants with strings attached.
And when local leaders or conservative voices raise concerns? They’re labeled as liars, obstructionists, or right-wing zealots.
Here’s a newsflash: criticizing your policies isn’t misinformation. It’s oversight. It’s accountability. And it’s something sorely missing in Sacramento these days.
6. What Really Happened at the Pot Farm
Let’s revisit that raid—because this isn’t just about zoning or disaster grants.
The pot farm in question was illegal. Not gray-area. Not “borderline compliant.” Just plain illegal. It wasn’t paying taxes. It wasn’t following water usage limits during a historic drought. It wasn’t regulated. And when local authorities raided it, they were met with resistance from individuals connected to criminal operations.
So of course the media downplays it. And of course Newsom pretends the only real story here is “misinformation” about a housing grant.
But everyday Californians—especially in rural counties—are living with the consequences: water theft, fire hazards, human trafficking, and cartel-linked enforcement crews protecting these grows. Ask any sheriff in the Central Valley. Ask the people of Siskiyou County. They’ll tell you this isn’t fiction. It’s the Newsom legacy in full bloom—green, lawless, and subsidized.
Final Thought
Gavin Newsom wants to run for President. That much is obvious. But if he does, he should be prepared to answer for the state he’s leaving behind.
A state where disaster recovery means “you get help only if you build what we tell you to build.”
A state where criminals run illegal pot farms while small businesses choke on regulation.
A state where accountability is labeled “misinformation” and dissent is branded “shameful.”
In the end, no tweet thread can paper over the fact that California is on the brink—and it’s not because of the right wing. It’s because the people in charge keep gaslighting the citizens they claim to serve.
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Aaron Ackerman is a sophomore at Georgetown University studying political science and infrastructure policy. He writes for Direct Line News and is originally from Fairfield, Connecticut.
Endnotes:
- California Housing and Community Development (HCD) – RHNA guidelines
- CEQA review impacts on housing delays: [LAO Report, 2022]
- Siskiyou County Sheriff report on cartel pot farms, 2023
- CalMatters coverage of “affordable housing conditions” tied to state grants
- California cannabis licensing gap – State Auditor, 2022
Aaron Ackerman is a Contributor for Direct Line News – Aaron can be reached at Aaron.Ackerman@mcgopclub.com
Direct Line News is a Maryland-based free-access publication committed to the Republican reform tradition.
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