Residents flee California as Newsom lockdowns destroy economy
Former acting DNI Ric Grenell joins 'Fox News Primetime' to discuss impact of Gov. Newsom's COVID response amid recall calls
A Los Angeles Times columnist wrote last week the idea there's some mass exodus from California is a fantasy created by conservatives, particularly Texas ones -- but a Lone Star State lawmaker is pushing back.
"Gloating dispatches report an exodus of millionaires, billionaires and hard-pressed members of the state’s middle and working classes — their U-Hauls piled high like Dust Bowl refugees — supposedly depopulating California, hollowing out its COVID-stricken economy and leaving this once-promised land to sink tragically into the Pacific," L.A. Times columnist Mark Z. Barabak writes.
"Never mind the reality," he wrote. "There is no exodus."
GAVIN NEWSOM'S FATEFUL DECISION TO LOCK DOWN CALIFORNIA ONE YEAR AGO TODAY
Barabak didn't end his argument there and went on to criticize Texas for its policies.
"California has come to be the capital of Blue State America, a land where residents pay higher taxes in support of more generous services, embrace a credo of live and let live, and condone stiffer regulations to give greater protection to the environment," he wrote. "That stands in contrast and direct competition with Red State America, where the governing philosophy is lower taxes, less regulation and social conservatism. (In Texas, the red-state capital, residents have been known to burn their furniture to stay warm when the under-maintained power grid fails.)"
In a statement to Fox News on Tuesday, Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said "best of luck" to the liberal newspaper.
"There can be no doubt that Americans are moving to Texas in large numbers due to pro-growth, pro-liberty policies," Rep. Roy said. "But if the L.A. Times wants to convince their Californian readers that everything is fine in their state, I wish them the best of luck. Let liberal Californians stay and keep voting for the policies that drove the state into the ground and let Texas stay Texas. Because the story you will not read is a story about Texans flocking to California."
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom, D., imposed one of the strictest pandemic lockdowns in the country last year. That decision, compounded with the state's high taxes, convinced major companies to to relocate some of their operations to more business-friendly states like Texas, including Tesla, Oracle, and Hewlett Packard Enterprises.
California is "a forest of redwoods" where "the little trees can’t grow," Tesla CEO Elon Musk said.
While one L.A. Times writer didn't buy the exodus, some high-profile residents have fled the state.
"LA Ink" star Kat Von D revealed in December that she's relocating her family part-time from Los Angeles to Indiana due to California's "tyrannical government overreach," comedian Rob Schneider recently expressed his intention to "part" with California due to the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic," actress Busy Philipps told Shondaland in a November interview that she was relocating to New York City over growing health concerns, James Van Der Beek revealed his family would relocate from Beverly Hills to Texas, and Marvel star Josh Brolin and his wife, Kathryn Boyd, reportedly left Los Angeles after purchasing a $3.25 million home in Georgia.
Last year, comedian and podcast host Joe Rogan announced he would relocate from California to Texas.
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"I just want to go somewhere in the center of the country, somewhere [where] it’s easy to travel to both places and somewhere where you have a little bit more freedom," Rogan said on his podcast.
Rogan said Los Angeles is "overcrowded" and suggested "it’s a real issue when you look at the number of people that are catching COVID because of this overpopulation issue, when you look at the traffic, when you look at the economic despair, when you look at the homelessness problem that’s accelerated radically over the last six, seven, ten years."
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Newsom was called out as a hypocrite last year.for mandating lockdowns while dining out with friends for a birthday dinner at the expensive French Laundy restaurant, without a mask, flouting two of his own policies. He later apologized.
Fox News' Brian Flood and Jullius Young contributed to this report.
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