‘He Sits Atop A Failed State’: Scott Jennings Roasts Gavin Newsom’s ‘Opportunistic’ Anti-Trump Rant

Republican strategist Scott Jennings tore into Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California Tuesday night on CNN, saying Newsom’s speech was an effort to launch a presidential campaign.

Newsom delivered an eight-minute diatribe, claiming President Donald Trump “commandeered” National Guard personnel and “chose escalation” hours after Democratic Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles declared a curfew for parts of the city following five days of rioting when United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents carried out an operation at a Los Angeles-area Home Depot. Jennings, who appeared via video link while in Israel, told CNN host Kaitlan Collins, a former Daily Caller White House correspondent, that Newsom appeared willing to “coddle” illegal immigrants. (RELATED: Democrat Mayor Finally Slaps Curfew On Parts Of LA After 5 Days Of Riots)

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“It’s amazing to me. First of all, this guy is the governor of a state, and it has got one of its most important cities burning on his watch, and he’s out here launching a presidential campaign,” Jennings told Collins. “There’s no other way to listen to what happened and not conclude that he just launched his presidential campaign on top of this lawlessness that’s going on in California. He governs a failed state. He sits atop of a failed state, and he sits, I guess, at the leadership right now of a political party that’s wanting to coddle the illegal invasion of our country, that’s causing what’s happening.”

“It’s not particularly controversial for Donald Trump to enforce federal law, our immigration laws, and, yet, to Democrats and Gavin Newsom, it’s an affront to them for the president of the United States to enforce federal law,” Jennings said. “He went down a litany of things that have nothing to do with what’s happening in California. All that’s happening in California is that a bunch of foreign nationals have occupied large swaths of the United States. One city is burning, and the president of the United States is trying to bring order. That’s all that’s happening.”

LOS ANGELES: Group is still pretty big since they started walking around 4pm out here. Almost an hour till curfew now @DailyCaller pic.twitter.com/ahM9oQqstt

— Hailey Grace Gomez (@haileyggomez) June 11, 2025

Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDowell told reporters that almost 200 people were arrested Monday during the press conference where Bass declared the curfew over part of downtown Los Angeles.

Jennings, who is traveling in Israel and had said in a Monday post on X he wouldn’t be on TV, doubted that Newsom would gain traction from the speech. (RELATED: Scott Jennings Chimes In From Abroad To Tell Dems He Told Them So About Left-Wing Violence)

“We get this litany of complaints from Gavin Newsom about everything, about how much the Democrats in California have failed,” Jennings said. “I don’t think it’s going to resonate with the American people. I think it’s going to look opportunistic, and people are going to wonder why in the world is the governor of California complaining about Harvard when one of his cities is on fire?”

HAPPENING NOW: Streets are lined with LAPD. Appears that multiple groups are still active @DailyCaller pic.twitter.com/gg3I0c4Qxq

— Hailey Grace Gomez (@haileyggomez) June 10, 2025

Rioters vandalized at least five self-driving vehicles, setting two of them on fire, ABC7.com reported. Video posted to social media Saturday showed an individual, whom the FBI identified as Elpidio Reyna,  in a Monday night post on X, throwing rocks at the windshields of vehicles containing ICE agents.

The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to Reyna’s arrest on charges of assault on a federal officer.

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