Gavin Newsom’s 1-minute fact-check on Fox News is a work of art
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has made a recent pastime of humiliating right-wing luminaries like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. So it’s no surprise that when he appeared on Fox News Thursday night, Newsom made quick work of host Brett Baier’s attempts to push the sexist right-wing talking point that Vice President Kamala Harris is a soft-on-crime commie.
Baier brought up California’s Proposition 47, approved by voters to decrease the number of prisoners by reducing penalties for some nonviolent drug crimes and petty theft offenses. The resulting law raised the threshold for felony theft to $950. It didn’t make stealing legal or unpunishable, despite conservative claims to the contrary.
“Which is, by the way, the 10th toughest threshold in the United States of America, meaning you can steal up to $950 of goods and it will be charged as a misdemeanor,” Newsom informed Baier. “You can steal $2,500 in the state of Texas,” Newsom pointed out. “Why you're not focusing on those other 40 states is beyond me. Tenth toughest felony threshold in the United States of America. That is a fact.”
The $950 threshold has become a major talking point for convicted felon Donald Trump (who has done zero time for his criminal offense) over the past couple of weeks. During a press conference at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf course last week, the GOP presidential nominee blathered and lied about the law.