Victor Davis Hanson Drops the Hammer: Newsom’s Response to L.A. Riots Just Ended His Career

To the Left, it’s a protest. To the rest of us, it’s a takeover—and Hanson says Newsom’s weak response just sealed his political fate.

Over the weekend, Los Angeles reached a boiling point.

What began as a protest against ICE operations, quickly descended into something more violent.

Victor Davis Hanson laid out what happened with brutal clarity.

“This weekend we saw rioting in Los Angeles up against ICE for its efforts to apprehend illegal aliens and employers who were hiring illegal aliens.”

At first, the crowds were manageable. But then, as tensions flared, the scene unraveled.

“The riots started out, initially without very many numbers, but then they turned violent.”

“Throwing rocks at cars, torching cars, defacing government buildings and attacking law enforcement.”

This wasn’t just political unrest. It was a city under siege.

And to Hanson, the real story was what didn’t happen—leadership stepping in to restore order.

Instead of decisive leadership, Hanson said, California’s top officials poured fuel on the fire.

He focused in on Governor Gavin Newsom, who condemned the immigration enforcement effort as “reckless” and claimed it was driven by an “arbitrary deportation quota.”

But Hanson argued that Newsom’s words weren’t just tone-deaf—they were politically disastrous.

He says these destroyed any pipe dream fantasies Newsom had of ever becoming president.

“Gavin Newsom then gave a series of editorializations that I think have ruined his chances ever to be a serious national candidate.”

The math, Hanson explained, tells a very different story than Newsom’s narrative.

“Gavin, Gavin, 12 million people came into the country illegally. That was 3 million a year. That was 250,000 per month. That was over 8,000 a day. They have not been able to deport more than a thousand on most days, sometimes 500.”

To catch up, he said, the U.S. would need to deport 8,000 people every day for four years straight.

“So it’s not a quota. It’s an effort to stop an invasion.”

And when Newsom objected to the Trump administration nationalizing California’s National Guard, Hanson reminded viewers that the law is clear—and precedent is already set.

“You think that JFK said to George Wallace… would you please let us nationalize your guard so you can be removed from stopping African-American people going to the University of Alabama? No!”

But beyond legal arguments and political rhetoric, Hanson warned that the optics are what will cost Democrats most.

It wasn’t just the rioting.

It was what people saw on their screens—something that’s already shifting public sentiment in measurable ways.

“You’re going to lose the optics, Democrats, Left, and immigration protesters, if you have a lot of people here illegally and they’re waving—not the American flag, but the Mexican flag as they’re committing acts of violence.”

He pointed out the contradiction voters are noticing.

Violent rioters are waving the flag of the country they fled—while attacking the infrastructure of the country they refuse to leave.

“Think of the logic: I am waving the flag of the country under no circumstance is I want to return, but I am attacking the officers and the infrastructure of the country that under EVERY circumstance I want to stay in.”

And it's not just anecdotal.

Polling already shows the public is pushing back on the narrative.

“That might explain why, in the midst of all of this negative publicity, a CBS poll taken to show that people were outraged showed that just the opposite.”

“54% of the American people are for continued deportations.”

While the media focused on Trump’s deployment of the National Guard, Hanson argued the real story was Governor Newsom’s refusal to act.

“So you know what is really reckless, Gavin? You know what is chaotic? It’s you, you, you. You did not intervene to stop the violence.”

He explained that Trump’s response wasn’t about making headlines—it was about preventing another summer like 2020, when unchecked riots left a devastating mark on the country.

“Donald Trump does not want to see a May, June, July, August, September 2020.”

Then came the numbers.

“$2 billion in property damage. 35 people killed. 1500 officers assaulted. Precinct burned, courthouse burned, historic church burned.”

To Hanson, the choice was clear: either restore order or risk reliving the chaos. And yet, as violence returned to the streets of LA, leadership once again went missing.

He even called out Mayor Karen Bass, who had been out of the country as her city burned.

“What is your argument, Karen Bass… now that you're not in Ghana and you're here in the United States during a burning? Is it burning is okay? Whether it's burning a car, burning them whole neighborhood down and you don't act?”

VDH closed it out with a reality check.

This wasn’t just a simple policy disagreement—it was a full-blown indictment of California’s failed Democratic leadership.

He argued that allowing lawlessness to spiral without stepping in is a direct violation of the oath officials take to uphold public safety.

“If you take an oath to enforce the laws… and you do nothing, then you are forsaking your oath of office.”

Then he challenged Newsom and Bass directly: What’s the actual plan?

“And secondly, Mayor Bass, Governor Newsom, would you please tell us what is your position on 12 million people who entered the United States illegally, who are residing illegally at a time when the country is running a $2 trillion deficit, and your state at one point recently owed $75 billion that it did not have?”

“What is your solution? Is it to let one more million in? Three more million in? Five more million in?”

He also questioned their silence on the estimated 300,000 to 500,000 illegal aliens with criminal records.

And what about the optics, he asked, of rioters waving foreign flags while torching American streets?

“Burning things and committing violence about the country they want to stay in, but waving the flag of the country they do not want to return to.”

Hanson pointed to growing support for taxing the $63 billion in annual remittances sent to Mexico—an idea gaining traction as frustrations mount.

By the end, Hanson made it clear—he doesn’t believe Gavin Newsom has a political future after this.

“You took your centrist rebrand and lit a fuze. You blew it up.”

“In a moment of crisis, you didn’t lead—you poured gasoline on it.”

That was painful.

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