California governor Gavin Newsom has revealed his “biggest fear” about US President Donald Trump. The Democrat politician has regularly clashed with the President during his time in office.
Back in June he urged Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan to “come and get me” after he said he would arrest anyone willing to interfere with the National Guards and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests. The raids from ICE sparked a wave of protests in California last month.
“It’s a felony to impede law enforcement doing their job,” Homan said. Before Newsom tweeted: “Trump’s border czar is threatening to arrest me for speaking out. Come and get me, tough guy.”
Now, on the Diary of a CEO podcast, Newsom has said he takes a “firm” stance on anyone targeting “vulnerable communities”. He said: “I don’t like people scapegoating vulnerable communities. My why is standing up for ideals and striking out injustice.
“It defines nine out of 10 things for me, personal, professional, standing up for ideals and striking out injustice. It’s just to me, unjust to see people demeaned and belittled and to see vulnerable communities used as pawns, to talk about alligator whatever in Florida and talk about immigrants and demean them in ways and say they have to zig and zag if they want to avoid getting killed by an alligator or mocking people with disabilities.
“That’s where I stand firm. Right now, my biggest fear is that if you asked about how our country is, I feel like Trump has opened that overturned window in a way that I’m very concerned to get back to find our better humanity.”
Trump recently dubbed a new immigration facility in Florida Everglades as “Alligator Alcatraz”. The President joked that the facility would teach detainees “how to run away from alligators” that live alongside pythons and crocodiles in the surrounding wetland if they attempted to escape.
He said: “Snakes are fast but alligators, we’re going to teach them how to run away from an alligator if they escape prison. How to run away? Don’t run in a straight line, run like this [making a zig zagged gesture]. You know what? Your chances go up about one per cent.”
Around 3,000 people are expected to be detained at the facility. It is thought the facility will cost around $450m (£332m) a year to run.
Trump meanwhile has also come under fire in the past for mocking people with disabilities. During a campaign rally in 2015, he mocked reporter Serge Kovaleski, who suffers from a congenital joint condition, at a rally by performing an impression of him.
It came as Trump used a 2001 article to back up widely disputed claims that "thousands" of Muslims in New Jersey celebrated 9/11. Trump also referred to opponent Kamala Harris as “mentally disabled” during the campaign trail.
