The question is. . . Where did all that money go? ❓❓🔥❓❓
This political cartoon exposes the truth about Gavin Newsom’s watch in California.
The money did not just disappear into thin air.
It leaked out through broken agencies, failed oversight, reckless spending, and a political machine that never seems to hold itself accountable.
California’s Employment Development Department became one of the most infamous examples of government failure during the pandemic, with billions in unemployment payments later flagged as potentially fraudulent.
The Department of Labor is now probing California’s unemployment system over fraud and improper payment concerns.
Then there is homelessness spending.
California spent $24 billion over five years, yet a state audit found the state did not consistently track whether the money actually worked.
Hospice fraud has also been under scrutiny, with congressional investigators raising concerns about weak oversight, questionable billing, and a massive increase in providers in Los Angeles County.
California officials say they have cracked down, but the fact that the problem got this big in the first place tells you plenty.
And now watchdogs are putting the broader number at $180 billion in taxpayer money lost or targeted through fraud, abuse, waste, and government failure.
Newsom and his defenders can argue over the exact math, but they cannot argue with the pattern.
The pattern is obvious.
Under Newsom, California keeps pouring money into systems that reward insiders, contractors, activists, bureaucrats, nonprofits, and political allies, while regular taxpayers are left holding the bag.
That may also explain why he never seems truly outraged by it.
The people benefiting from this broken system are not his opponents. Many of them are part of the coalition that keeps Democrats in power.
And with Newsom clearly eyeing a future presidential run, the last thing he wants is a national conversation about California becoming a case study in fraud, waste, and one-party mismanagement.
So the excuse machine keeps running.
The money vanishes.
The taxpayers pay.
And somehow, it is always Trump’s fault.