Photo: Alamy
Despite its blue fixation, President Trump told audience members at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that Republicans “would win California” if their elections were not “so corrupt,” and if “God were the vote-checker.”
The president insinuated that many of the state’s residents were upset with their Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom, claiming that his policies have “destroyed” the once-thriving Golden State.
Trump first criticized Newsom, whom he called an “idiot,” for allegedly encouraging illegal migrants to come to the state, claiming the governor promised them pension funds, along with free healthcare and education, all while restricting water for legal, taxpaying residents.
The president then accused the governor of selling Californians “a hell of a line of crap,” suggesting that he could defeat Newsom if he ran for president “because he’s destroyed California.”
“The place is failing. They don’t have water,” he said, as shown in footage posted to X by The Post Millennial on Saturday.
Trump later promised that he would not let Newsom “get away with that any longer,” adding that he believed Republicans would likely “win California” in elections if they were not “so corrupt.”
“You know, I gave a speech up there,” Trump stated in reference to remarks he gave in Northern California. “We had like, 100,000 people show up. I said, ‘What the hell is going on over here?'”
“I always hear Republicans can’t win California,” the president continued. “I will tell you—if God came down, and God was the vote-checker, I believe we would win California.”
Trump then criticized a recent election measure from California, in which all residents are sent a mail-in ballot, regardless of whether they requested one or not, arguing that ballots “get sent out to people unknown.”
The president further claimed that if California’s elections were not “so corrupt,” that he and other Republicans would do “very well” in the state’s races.
“I think I would do very well in California,” he said. “I think I would do well in a lot of places, because it’s common sense.”
California has served as a reliably blue state for over three decades, voting Democrat in every presidential election since Bill Clinton in 1992.
Trump lost the state by 30-points in his previous two presidential bids. However, California’s 2020’s election oversaw the most votes cast for a Republican candidate in the state’s history, with more than six million votes for the 45th president.