The Big Picture –
By Glynn Wilson –

COULTERVILLE, Calif. – As more than half the people in America continue to watch in shock and horror on 24-hour cable television news and the web as the mad king dictator-in-chief dismantles the White House East Wing for a gold-laced ballroom and unravels democracy as we know it, a new rising star emerges victorious in the Golden State.

California Governor Gavin Newsom proclaimed victory in Sacramento on Election Night Nov. 4 as voters approved Proposition 50 to redraw the state’s congressional district map to gain maybe five more seats in Congress next year. The win at least offsets the corrupt redistricting effort that started it all in Texas, where five new Republican seats are expected to result from that effort.

Democrats are also celebrating in Virginia, New Jersey and New York as they took back governor’s seats and elected a Democratic Socialist Muslim for the first time as Mayor of New York City.

“Last night was a great night … for everyone … not just the Democratic Party,” Newsom said. “But what a night for the Democratic Party! We are a party on its toes, no longer on its heels — from coast to coast — from sea to shining sea. Here in California, we passed Proposition 50 by an overwhelming margin with a historic turnout.”

But he warned supporters and Democrats across the country not to be naive about Trump’s plans for a total takeover of the United States.

“Donald Trump understands his position and unpopularity,” Newsom said. “So he will continue to work to rig the midterm elections before one single vote is cast. We are seeing him take action all across this country: Redrawing maps in Missouri, North Carolina, Indiana and inevitably in Florida.”

But that is not all, he said.

“…we saw 4,000 National Guard troops federalized in the state of California. We saw active duty Marines not sent overseas, but sent to the second largest city in the country. We said it was a preview of things to come. And it is happening now.”

When he kicked off this campaign at the Democracy Center, Trump sent his private police force “that increasingly appears to have taken an oath to Donald Trump, not the Constitution … to intimidate,” he said. “Just yesterday, in Los Angeles, Donald Trump called up the border patrol and sent them to Dodger Stadium to suppress the vote in America’s second largest city.”

“But it didn’t work,” he said. “California sent a message to Donald Trump: no crowns, no thrones, No Kings.”

According to coverage in the New York Times, California voters agreed to aggressively redraw the state’s congressional district lines to wipe out as many as five Republican seats, “delivering a major victory for national Democrats hoping to wrest control of the House … in 2026.”

Newsom championed the ballot measure as an emergency response to Trump’s efforts to press Republican states across the country to redraw their own boundaries for political advantage. It passed by a 2-to-1 margin with more than seven million votes counted. Republicans conceded defeat, but vowed to sue.

Republicans currently hold a mere three-seat majority in the House, and control of the chamber is the Democratic Party’s best chance to take any power in Washington next year and thwart Trump’s agenda in the second half of his second term. If they could retake control of the agenda back in the House, and gain a majorty in the Senate too, they could impeach Trump, again, and this time vote to convict him and remove him from office.

Once the Department of Justice is restored, he could also be tried, convicted and face the prison time he so richly deserves.

Fresh off his win Tuesday night, Newsom called on other Democratic-led states to band together and pursue the same course as California in order to stop Trump next year.

“We need the state of Virginia,” he said. “We need the state of Maryland. We need our friends in New York, in Illinois, in Colorado — we need to see other states, with their remarkable leaders, that have been doing remarkable things, to meet this moment head-on as well.”

Newsom raised more than $100 million in three months for a campaign that cemented his status as one of the nation’s leading antagonists to Trump, the Times reports, “and his position as a serious potential Democratic presidential contender in 2028.”

His office’s all-caps social media posts that mocked Trump’s caustic style with dripping sarcasm went viral.

At a time when Democrats have been searching for a win against President Trump, Newsom gave them one.

“The result has sharply lifted Mr. Newsom’s political profile at a moment when he is considering running for president,” they report. “And it has provided what many Democrats praised as a road map on how to fight for a party that remains adrift one year after Mr. Trump captured the White House.”

“It shows that he can get stuff done,” said the chairwoman of the South Carolina Democratic Party, Christale Spain, who hosted Newsom on a swing through her state in July. “Democrats want somebody to fight back. He’s pushing back and fighting back. That is what is helping him break through.”

Newsom said Trump does not believe in free and fair elections.

“It is not complicated,” he said. “It is self-evident to anyone paying attention. And it won’t stop. This is just a preview of things to come.”

So get up, stand up, and “stand up for the right,” as Bob Marley sang. “Don’t give up the fight.”

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