580% OVER BUDGET: The Most Expensive Train in the World

The John Phillips Show

This episode of The John Phillips Show dives into California politics, focusing on Governor Gavin Newsom's strategic maneuvering around Kama

Key takeaways

• High-speed rail is not an infrastructure project but a vehicle for political patronage and financial abuse.
• Governor Newsom's public statements about Kamala Harris reveal strategic manipulation rather than genuine support.

Main topics

• California high-speed rail corruption
• Governor Gavin Newsom's political maneuvering

Notable quotes

"This would be seen as embezzlement in the real world, but in California government, it's just an inappropriate reimbursement."

Conclusion

The episode reveals that California's high-speed rail project has become a symbol of

Transcript preview

Speaker 5 (0:00) For many of us, going further isn't a choice. It's a feeling we can't ignore. Because ambition has a way of outgrowing where it began. Turning dreams into direction. Every journey brings us closer to the life we imagine. So, where will your journey take you? Etihad. Beyond Borders. Speaker 8 (0:30) Some might label us right wing. We say clip our wings and just call us right. It's the John Phillips Show. Speaker 2 (0:44) It's the John Phillips Show. 800-222-5222 is telephone number 1-800-222-5222. Broadcasting live today from Vancouver, British Columbia, Mr. Randy Wings in Culver City. Speaker 3 (1:00) John, I have posted what I consider to be the dumbest poll we will ever conduct at johnnydontlike.com just for bleeps and giggles. The poll question is, Bob Bonta? Bob Bonta. And your answers can be Rob Bonta, Bob Bonta, Bobbert Bonta, or Bobbethy Bonta. And currently with 39 % of the vote, Bobbethy Bonta is winning. Bob Speaker 5 (1:26) Bonta. Speaker 2 (1:29) That's what Spencer Pratt's calling him too. Speaker 3 (1:32) Bonehead Bob Bonta. Yes, that was the replay segment we just played here while you were somewhere. We're broadcasting live every single day at johnnydontlike.com or, of course, on KABC and KSFO and on the weekends on KMJ and Fresno. But we really want you to watch the live stream every single day. There's a lot of shenanigans going on here and in the chat room at johnnydontlike.com. That's Johnny with a Y. Speaker 2 (1:58) It is our pleasure to welcome our next guest to the program. He is the assemblyman representing Fresno in the California state legislature. You can follow him on X at David Tongueypaw. Assemblyman David Tongueypaw, welcome. Well, it's great to join you. Can Speaker 1 (2:15) you guys hear me okay? Oh, we can hear you just fine. Perfect. Well, but I think you missed out on Beto Bonta, just like Beto O'Rourke changed his name so that way he could appeal to the Latinos. Speaker 2 (2:29) All right. Well, so much to get to today. Let's start out with that CNN video where Jake Tapper interviewed California Governor Gavin Newsom. They were out fly fishing, I guess, trying to catch their dinner. And over the course of that interview, Gavin Newsom said that if Kamala Harris were to run for president, he would not run. I listened to that and I came to two conclusions. One is he's a liar, liar, pants on fire. I don't believe him for a second. And the second thing is what he's trying to do is he's trying to nudge her to make her decision faster because she took forever to decide that she wasn't going to run for governor. And because of that, other candidates couldn't get endorsements or raise money. paralyzed the field and it prevented some people from even jumping in the race. And he thinks if she takes forever to ultimately decide against it, that would hurt him. So he's trying to push her to decide fast. Speaker 1 (3:36) 100%. I think that's where he's either trying to clear the field or create a plan that really makes it normal. Because what he knows is that the vice president has a significant name advantage over him. She has a campaign advantage in the primary, and he needs her to make a decision. But what I think it really reveals is that he is not capable. to be the next president of the United States. Because if you wanted to be president, you would think that you were the best person for the job regardless. You wouldn't say, I won't run if they're the person. So I think this only shows weakness, and it also shows that he's afraid of her. Speaker 2 (4:16) And you can tell, and they compliment each other publicly all the time, but in her book, she wrote about her calling him to ask for his endorsement when she was going to run, and he sent her to voicemail. And then he had a bunch of different stories as to why he sent her to voicemail, none of them being consistent. And she took that as a slight, and she took it as a slight enough to put it in her book. And you can tell that there's a cold war that's going on between the two of them. And if they were to directly go up against one another, that cold war would go hot in a second. Speaker 1 (4:55) I think you're 100 % right. And I think there's a lot that Governor Newsom is actually placating to. And the main reason why is because we saw back in the 2020 to the 2024 Democratic Convention and primary, Governor Newsom wasn't part of the entire party planning. He was in the crowd. trying to play favors because they had lost him quite a bit. And he comes from the old Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Dianne Feinstein tree. But there is a war coming right now between the progressive DSA Democrats and the institutional old school JFK Democrats. That civil war is coming and he is trying to play both sides. and it's not going to work. The Jacobins from the French Revolution gave the guillotine to everybody, and he has gotten the guillotine in the party, and yet he's still trying to find his way because he hasn't realized that he is part of that elite institution as a white, privileged male who grew up with billionaire families that he doesn't fit into this modern-age Democratic Party. Speaker 2 (6:04) You recently made a video with Nick Shirley about the boondoggle that is high-speed rail in California. Not long ago, Julie Watts of CBS Investigates did a piece on the auditor of high-speed rail where she interviewed this individual who said that he could not get the materials that he needed to do his job. He couldn't get the personnel that he needed to do his job. And despite the fact that Sacramento keeps throwing up every imaginable roadblock in front of this guy, he still found all kinds of waste, fraud, and abuse being spent by high-speed rail, including first-class airplane tickets, Uber Blacks to go one mile in downtown Sacramento. I guess there's nightclub expenses in Washington, D.C., and cigar club expenses in Washington, D.C. We have no train. We have no tracks. We have no completion date. But apparently they have all the money in the world to live like royalty. Speaker 1 (7:07) Well, exactly. In the real world, this would be seen as embezzlement, inappropriate spending after you were trusted with funds. But in the state of California and in government world, this is just an inappropriate. reimbursement and payments that was awarded so don't we see that that's the problem and now the auditor and the inspector general is simply asking for more tools to analyze this entire project and guess what there's a bill sitting on his desk and we don't believe that the governor is going to sign it because there were very controversial things originally in that bill that would allow certain portions of the project of high-speed rail to actually become non-public if it threatened the actual forwarding and the advancing of the actual project to be held in confidence. That was actually taken out of the bill and then put in a budget bill. So now all that's left in this bill is more additional staff for the inspector to find out more. And he was able to discover this with his hands tied behind his back. They can't sign this. There's no way they can sign this because think about what he'll find when he has a full staff to go after the entire thing. Speaker 2 (8:25) The legislature has been hesitant. By legislature, I mean the Democratic majority. The legislature has been hesitant to pull the plug on this or really rein it in in any way, shape, or form. You look at the makeup of that high-speed rail board, and you find a bunch of termed-out Democrats who are now sitting on that board, and I assume they're enjoying all of the spoils. How much of that do you think plays into the fact that they're hesitant to rein this in when they know at some point there's a sell-by date for all of them and they would love to end up on the high-speed rail board where they could go expense all of their nightclub activity? Speaker 1 (9:09) Well, the biggest issue with this project is that this infrastructure project actually hasn't become an infrastructure project. It's become a jobs project, which means you just... say that you're doing something and instead of giving everybody shovels to dig a hole you give them all spoons to just keep them busy and what's really happened right now is that high-speed rail is being used as a justification tool to launder money legally by changing some of the laws but by legally laundering money to then backfill elected officials and politicians because the building trades are some of the largest donors to the same groups to get what they want on high-speed rail let me tell you this for a fact i am the vice chair for the state budget this is not anything that i'm saying that is a conspiracy i am in the legislature 16 billion dollars has been spent on california high-speed rail 6 billion of that 16 billion has gone to simple change order delay fees. What that means is we paid contractors $6 billion to not work on the high-speed rail, and that went directly towards their pockets in settlements that also have turned around to become the largest donations to the majority in Sacramento. That is a fact. That is not... That is it. They've used your money to pay contractors to do zero work because they couldn't get through the actual plan that then became massive donations. That didn't go pay wages. That didn't pay any of the carpenters or steel workers or anybody else there. That was a way to handle. those who wanted this contract to protect the politicians that keep awarding the funds, just like you talked about with these boards. Like the Tire and the California Energy Commission has a former elected official on there, Nancy Skinner. She gets paid $200,000 a year for a board that meets seven times a year. That is it. And four of those meetings happen in the month of October. This is exactly what you're talking