Oh, what a tight, smug, little club of self-satisfied leftists they have running California.
In response to news that another major business was pulling up stakes and fleeing the state based on its onerous business conditions, a creature employed by the state in Gov. Gavin Newsom's office as his "rapid response" deputy director, put out this bon mot:
The CEO is worth $7.48 billion dollars … so I’m gonna take that comment with a grain of salt. https://t.co/scTeuwJNCr
— Brandon Richards ???? (@BrandonRichards) July 19, 2025
And ad hominem attack -- that's his response. And this thing gets paid $189,414 for it.
It was in response to this exchange between the official account of In-N-Out, the quintessential California burger chain that is moving away from the state, and Newsom himself, whose public relations team was spinning the state as some kind of great place to do business:
The CEO stated doing business in California isn't easy due to the states policies and agenda. https://t.co/8ZQcSFQuLJ
— ᶠᵃⁿ In-N-Out Burger (@innoutburger_) July 19, 2025
And it's far from his only whopper -- a cursory check shows that some others can be seen here, here and here.
Actually, Newsom's state has a serious problem of productive people and businesses fleeing. Chevron, SpaceX, Palantir, McAfee, Oracle, Tesla, Hewett-Packard, and Charles Schwab are all long gone. A recent study from the Hoover Institution found that 265 major businesses have left the state since 2018 and you can bet that number is higher now.
According to PJMedia:
Unless you're California-weird, this number should jolt every bureaucrat in Sacramento—wandering around like they're groping through dark hallways, looking for more things to tax. One hundred forty Californians pack up and leave their state every single day. Not for vacations or work assignments; they're fleeing, escaping, or unplugging from the once-golden state that's been dimmed by the dimwits.
The number 140 each day translates to more than 50,000 people in 2023, according to the latest information.
That news should be devastating for most people, as the population of a mid-sized city is disappearing every year. For them, this isn't news, it's their new reality.
Up until now, they've been confident illegals could fill the void and keep the congressional seats as a result numerous, but President Trump's border crackdown has put paid to that dream.
Fact is, they're shriveling, and sport one of the nation's highest unemployment rates to boot -- and the big reason is their policies.
They should be hanging their heads in shame at the fact that businesses and residents are voting with their feet, but they haven't got to that level of introspection yet, the kind third-world countries have done long ago. They are still convinced they are king and the rest of the country can't wait to be like them, to follow their 'model' as Newsom touts.
This is far from the first time they've done this kind of catcalling at businesses that don't want to be around them anymore.
When Elon Musk couldn't take the state's lockdowns anymore and moved his Tesla operations to Texas, California powerbroker Lorena Gonzalez hurled a huge, bellowed f-word at him, drawing the quiet response of "message received" from Musk.
That same sentiment exists with Newsom and his paid minions. It's disgusting.
Image: X screen shot