{"id":24243,"date":"2026-02-23T00:13:48","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T00:13:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=24243"},"modified":"2026-02-23T00:13:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T00:13:48","slug":"trumps-reign-of-terror-must-end-california-democrats-plot-national-return-to-power-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=24243","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Trump\u2019s reign of terror must end\u2019: California Democrats plot national return to power | California"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Fury at Donald Trump<\/a> was the coin of the realm, as thousands of California<\/a> delegates, activists and elected officials gathered in San Francisco this weekend, emboldened by a string of victories and confident the Golden State would help deliver a power check on the president in the upcoming midterm elections.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Democrats<\/a> streamed through the Moscone Center convention complex, sporting lanyards emblazoned with Gavin Newsom<\/a>\u2019s name and tote bags adorned with one of Nancy Pelosi<\/a>\u2019s favorite aphorisms: \u201cWe don\u2019t Agonize, we organize\u201d \u2013 symbols of a party in transition as the former speaker approaches retirement<\/a> and the term-limited governor eyes<\/a> a presidential campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump\u2019s reign of terror must end,\u201d declared Pelosi in her remarks, whose long legacy<\/a> Democrats honored throughout the weekend with tributes and speeches to their \u201cforever speaker\u201d.<\/p>\n

Adam Schiff, the California<\/a> senator and a longtime Trump antagonist, invoked the grizzly bear on the state flag as a warning to the current administration: \u201cWhen you poke the bear, the bear rips your fucking head off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Come November, he declared to a packed hall, \u201cthere will be a reckoning\u201d.<\/p>\n

Across hours of fiery speeches and caucus meetings, speakers touted the resounding success of Proposition 50<\/a> last year \u2013 the state\u2019s redistricting counterstrike to a Republican gerrymander<\/a> in Texas. This, they argued, was a testament to California\u2019s role both as a \u201cblueprint\u201d for the national party and a bulwark against the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Senator Adam Schiff speaks at the California Democratic convention in San Francisco, on 21 February.<\/span> Photograph: Jeff Chiu\/AP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Democrats nationwide are furious with the president after more than a year of sweeping policy changes \u2013 massive healthcare cuts<\/a>, a sprawling deportation campaign<\/a> and the use of federal power to target<\/a> political opponents and blue states. But in California, the clash has felt personal.<\/p>\n

The state, long cast by Trump as a liberal \u201chellscape\u201d, is governed by some of his most prominent political adversaries \u2013 leaders who champion environmental protections<\/a>, immigrant rights<\/a>, abortion access<\/a> and expanded healthcare access<\/a>. In June Trump deployed the national guard and troops to the streets of Los Angeles \u2013 a preview of what would to come in Chicago, Minneapolis and other blue cities.<\/p>\n

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With California on the vanguard<\/a> of the national resistance to Trump 2.0, Democrats embraced a new crop of rising stars. In the hall, Representative Robert Garcia was treated like a celebrity. The ranking Democrat on the House oversight committee, Garcia has become a leading voice in investigating the Trump administration and pushing for a release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. At a progressive caucus meeting, Congressman Ro Khanna<\/a> was cheered as he pushed for accountability for the \u201cEpstein class\u201d.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s return to power also opened the door to a new, more combative rhetorical posture with plenty more swearing and trolling<\/a>, a nod to Newsom, whose all-caps, no-holds-barred mockery<\/a> of<\/a> Trump<\/a> and his administration has catapulted him to the national stage.<\/p>\n

The contest to succeed Newsom loomed large over the gathering, as convention-goers fretted that California\u2019s sprawling field of candidates<\/a> had yet to produce a frontrunner, with only a handful of months left before the June primary.<\/p>\n

California\u2019s jungle primary system, in which the top two vote-getters advance regardless of party, has heightened anxieties that two Republicans could slip through a fractured field, locking Democrats<\/a> out of the governor\u2019s office in the country\u2019s biggest blue state.<\/p>\n

Emphasizing the Democratic National Committee\u2019s commitment to remain neutral in a contest between Democrats, DNC chair Ken Martin urged the party to \u201cunify as quick as possible behind a candidate\u201d in the governor\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do have to just make sure that we don\u2019t shoot ourselves in the foot, so to speak,\u201d Martin said.<\/p>\n

In several recent opinion polls<\/a>, conservative commentator Steve Hilton<\/a> and Riverside county sheriff Chad Bianco \u2013 both Republicans \u2013 lead the pack, followed by the congressman Eric Swalwell<\/a>, billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer<\/a> and former congresswoman Katie Porter<\/a>, with a sizable share of voters still undecided.<\/p>\n

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None of the Democratic candidates for governor won enough of the delegates to secure an endorsement, according to results posted on Saturday night. Swalwell clinched roughly a quarter of the delegates, followed unexpectedly by Betty Yee, the former state controller, with 17% and former health and human services secretary Xavier Becerra<\/a> with 14%.<\/p>\n

In their speeches to the convention hall, the gubernatorial candidates took turns assailing Trump and pledging to shield Californians from the \u201cchaos\u201d and \u201ccruelty\u201d that his administration has unleashed on the Golden State.<\/p>\n

Porter flipped her trademark whiteboard toward the hall and asked the delegates to repeat the message scrawled in black marker. \u201cFuck Trump!\u201d they chanted. Swalwell, meanwhile, vowed to use the office to \u201ckeep Donald Trump<\/a> and ICE out of our streets and out of our lives\u201d.<\/p>\n

In an interview, Yee argued that Sacramento needed more than an anti-Trump crusader \u2013 the state needed a governor with the experience to \u201cfix\u201d its chronic budget deficits<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the price of admission to this race is that you have to fight Trump,\u201d Yee said in an interview. \u201cBut I think we have to do more than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the Moscone Center, the backdrop of San Francisco<\/a> only underscored the party\u2019s competing impulses over how to counter the Trump administration and take on Silicon Valley billionaires who have forged a stronger relationship with the president in his second term.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Attendees hold signs against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement during the California Democratic convention in San Francisco, California, on 21 February.<\/span> Photograph: Manuel Orbegozo\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The growing divide between Democrats and Silicon Valley is especially fraught in California, a state that is heavily dependent on the tech sector and where political leaders have long cultivated ties with industry executives. But as the politics of Silicon Valley shift right<\/a> and leading executives pump money<\/a> into local and state races, many Democrats are sounding the alarm about the unchecked power they say these companies hold.<\/p>\n

In a speech at the convention, Lorena Gonzalez, who leads the president of the California Labor Federation union, warned Democrats that it was time to stop \u201cbending the knee\u201d to the same tech titans who had helped put Trump back into power.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s an enemy here and it\u2019s not just Trump,\u201d she said in an interview. \u201cThe reason we\u2019re back with Trump again is because we didn\u2019t take on the structural issues that were really affecting working-class people.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the party wrestles with these internal divides, the internal tug-of-war over how Democrats win back power is playing out in districts like Randy Villegas\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Villegas, a progressive political newcomer endorsed by Sanders, is running against Jasmeet Bains, a moderate Democratic state senator who frequently bucks her party, including<\/a> on the redistricting plan that made Republican congressman David Valadao\u2019s district more Democratic-friendly. \u201cOur race is very much a fight for the soul of the Democratic party,\u201d Villegas said.<\/p>\n

Outside the convention, the party\u2019s ideological \u2013 and tactical \u2013 fault lines were on full, theatrical display. A group of young activists dressed as snails and other spineless sea creatures demanded Democratic leaders \u201cgrow a spine and use it\u201d to protect trans kids and immigrant families. As delegates left the venue, a costumed mollusk passed out business cards that warned: \u201cTrumpism thrives when Democrats rush to meet cruelty in the middle.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

#Trumps #reign #terror #California #Democrats #plot #national #return #power #California<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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