Heart & Soul Conversation #12 ……Come Garden With Me

CNN commentator and longtime GOP insider Scott Jennings tore into California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday, accusing him of launching a presidential campaign “on top of this lawlessness” in Los Angeles.

The fiery remarks from Jennings came moments after the Democratic governor delivered a nationally televised address accusing Trump of unleashing a “military dragnet” across Los Angeles. But Jennings wasted no time unloading on Newsom over what he mocked as a “litany of complaints” in his speech.

“It's amazing to me,” Jennings said on CNN. “First of all, this guy is the governor of a state, and it has got one of its most important cities burning on his watch, and he's out here launching a presidential campaign.

Jennings blasted Newsom for pivoting from Trump’s military deployment in Los Angeles to broader attacks on the federal government, misinformation and political control.

“He went down a litany of things that have nothing to do with what's happening in California,” Jennings added. “We get this litany of complaints from Gavin Newsom about everything, about how much the Democrats in California have failed.”

The CNN conservative commentator blasted Newsom’s address as “opportunistic.” Newsom, in his video message Tuesday evening, warned that “the moment we have feared has arrived,” and called the president’s actions in his state a threat to democracy.

But Jennings quickly dismissed the Democrat’s framing of the fast-moving events.

“All that's happening in California is that a bunch of foreign nationals have occupied large swaths of the United States,” Jennings said. “One city is burning, and the president of the United States is trying to bring order. That’s all that's happening.”

Jennings added: “And people are going to wonder, ‘why in the world is the governor of California complaining about Harvard when one of his cities is on fire?’”

Watch the video below via CNN or at the link here:

California Gov. Gavin Newsom delivered a blistering rebuke of Donald Trump on Tuesday, accusing the president of unleashing a “military dragnet” across Los Angeles and targeting vulnerable residents under the guise of law and order.

“This moment we have feared has arrived,” Newsom proclaimed in a televised address Tuesday.

“California may be first, but it clearly will not end here,” the Democratic governor added. “Other states are next. Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes.”

Newsom said Trump’s federal agents were arresting “dishwashers. gardeners, day laborers and seamstresses” – far beyond the stated goal of apprehending violent criminals.

“That's just weakness. Weakness masquerading as strength,” he said. “Donald Trump's government isn't protecting our communities; they're traumatizing our communities, and that seems to be the entire point.” But he added: “California will keep fighting.”

He announced that the state had filed an emergency court order Tuesday to block the use of military forces for domestic law enforcement. The new action follows a legal challenge California filed Monday over what he called Trump’s “reckless deployment” of troops.

“Trump is pulling a military dragnet all across Los Angeles,” Newsom said Tuesday.

Newsom also warned that Trump has taken “a wrecking ball to our Founding Fathers’ historic project – three co-equal branches of independent government,” and also saved a jab for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).

“Speaker Johnson has completely abdicated that responsibility,” Newsom said.

Watch the video below via CNN or at the link here:

In the wake of the shooting death of Minnesota state representative Melissa Hortman (D), CNN anchor Sara Sidner pressed Florida Congressman Randy Fine (R) if his own heated rhetoric is part of the problem.

“House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries says he will meet with congressional leaders from both parties this week to discuss heightened security for lawmakers after the politically motivated shootings in Minnesota, calling the violence a ' wake-up call,’” Sidner said before introducing Fine Monday.

“You're hearing from other congressional Democrats who are asking for more police protection after that assassination and attempted assassination of lawmakers in Minnesota,” Sidner said before asking Fine, “Would you vote to grant more security for all members of Congress? “

“I don't agree with Hakeem Jeffries on much, Sarah, but on this I do,” Fine said.

“I do want to talk to you about some of the rhetoric,” Sidner said, “because there's a lot of talk about rhetoric and how this gins people up. A few years ago, you were called out for calling a school board member a whore in a text. You've called one of your congressional colleagues a terrorist. Are you part of the problem here?”

“Well, look,” Fine deflected. “I think what people write in private text messages to each other is one thing. If I had said that in a public message, I'd understand. But I do think there are issues.”

Fine then took aim at a recent Instagram post made by former FBI head James Comey that Donald Trump's allies claimed was a call for the president to be killed, saying, ”I mean, that is a call for violence when people are waving signs that say, 86, 47. I think we've heard this discussion about taking down the temperature after President Trump was assassinated twice, and I don't think people are getting the message." He was actually referring to attempted assassinations of Trump.

“Are you not getting the message, too?” Sidner interjected, “Is it fair to say that the way that you speak to your colleagues, what you say about them, and the fiery rhetoric that you also use, is also an issue?”

“It's a fair point,” Fine said, “but I think fiery rhetoric is different than a call for violence, calling evil for what it is, calling danger for what it is, acceptable. It's when you cross that line and you say, and that person should be killed. That's never a line that I've crossed, nor do I think it should be done.”

Fine later said the problem is that “these people are crazy. This guy in Minnesota, he's going to turn out to be crazy, and when crazy people hear these things, these problems, these problems do well up.”

Sidner replied, “That's something that the courts will have to determine. Obviously, in looking at his history, his friends and family certainly do not think that.”

Watch the full interaction below or at this link.