California Governor Gavin Newsom took a bare-knuckled pugilistic approach in a combative appearance with Sean Hannity on Fox, repeatedly challenging the conservative host’s assumptions about the state of the nation.
Facing a question about how his state’s liberal policies allegedly hurt his state’s economic power, Newsom — irritated and perplexed — asked Hannity: “What are you arguing for, Mississippi’s economic policies?”
Newsom asserted that California was on its way to being the “fourth largest economy in the world” — that’s not measuring it against other states, but other countries.
Then Newsom dropped a truth bomb that continues to be largely overwritten in the national narrative by a distracting focus on the culture wars. Newsom tossed this economic fact in Hannity’s lap, with a lit fuse:
“71 percent of the GDP in America are blue counties. Progressive policies. Seven of the top ten dependent states are your states. We’re subsidizing your states because of your policies.”
Newsom: 71% of the GDP in America are blue counties. Progressive policies. Seven of the top ten dependent states are your states. We’re subsidizing your states because of your policies pic.twitter.com/f1XFDuPLIV
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 17, 2023
Hannity squirmed and took offense — “I’m in New York,” he responded pridefully, “you’re not subsidizing anything for me.”
Then, remembering the cameras were on and who was watching, Hannity tried to walk back on his reaction: “I’m getting the hell out of New York, though. Mississippi, Alabama, I’m all for it over New York or California.”
Hannity, who reportedly makes nearly $40 million a year, has not offered a timetable on his plans to move to Mississippi from New York, where, perhaps significantly, he chose to raise his children.
