With one statistic Gavin Newsom eviscerates Huckabee Sanders's attempt to slam California

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, erstwhile Trump mouthpiece, current AR Governor, and ride-or-die MAGA fangirl, fired off a dismissive tweet favorably comparing Arkansas to California.

She crowed (with a link to a Fox appearance):

What’s happening in California would never happen here in Arkansas because we value order over chaos.

President @RealDonaldTrump does too, which is why he is doing what Governor Newsom won’t.

Newsom considered this inanity. And retorted with one salient fact:

Your homicide rate is literally DOUBLE California’s.

Newsom is literally correct. According to the CDC’s Health Statistics, California has a homicide rate of 5.9 per 100,000 residents. Arkansas has a rate of 11.8.

Newsom teaches Democrats a valuable lesson. Keep it short, to the point, and painful. Liberals don’t need a Senate leader writing a “strongly worded letter.”

Or a House Leader who is still trying to figure out how to fight: “I’m trying to figure out what leverage we actually have.”

I suspect that many DKers are not thrilled with Newsom’s move to the center. Perhaps others think it is a good idea. But I take Abraham Lincoln’s position when Ulysses Grant was hemorrhaging men and materiel outside Vicksburg in the winter of 1862/63. “I can’t spare this man; he fights. I’ll try him a little longer.” 

Democrats are legendary fretters. They also place a premium on ideology. So be it. People are the way they are. And what you stand for counts. But America teeters. What the country needs now are warriors out there swinging.

Let AOC and Bernie Sanders et al. fight the progressive fight. Let Newsom and his fellow travelers fight the centrist fight. But let’s remember who the enemy is.

In 2028, the Democratic Party will select its presidential standard-bearer. But only if the country reaches 2028 as a functional democracy. Keep it up, Gavin — and all the others on the left willing to enter the fray.