In this episode of Democrats Say the Darnedest Things…

Before we get to the latest delusional (lying) claim of self-aggrandizing California Governor Gavin Newsom, let’s prep, first, shall we? According to the Cato Institute, the no-longer-Golden State ranked 48th out of 50 states in overall personal and economic freedom in 2021.

This comes as no surprise. California is one of the least free states in the country, largely because of its long-standing poor performance on economic freedom, personal freedoms, gun rights, and high level of taxation. Moreover, as Cato noted:

Regulatory policy is more of a problem for the state than fiscal policy. California is one of the worst states on land-use freedom. Some cities have rent control, new housing supply is tightly restricted in the coastal areas despite high demand, and eminent domain reform has been nugatory.

The state even mandates speech protections in privately owned shopping malls. Labor law is anti-employment, with no right-to-work law, high minimum wages, strict workers’ compensation mandates, mandated short-term disability insurance, stricter-than-federal anti-discrimination law, and prohibitions on consensual noncompete agreements. Occupational licensing is extensive and strict, especially in construction trades.

The state is tied for worst in nursing practice freedom. The state’s mandatory cancer labeling law (Proposition 65) has significant economic costs  [and] California is one of the worst states for consumers’ freedom of choice in homeowner’s and automobile insurance.

And we haven’t even gotten to California’s Internet Censorship Office, or plan to ban the sale of new gas-powered passenger vehicles by 2035.

Yet, out trots Newsom to tout the non-existent “freedom for all” of his out-of-control state, which continues to see the exodus of its citizens to Texas, Florida, and elsewhere — to escape the Democrat-controlled state’s “freedoms.

As investigative journalist Daniel Greenfield snarkily put it — and I mean that as a compliment — “You can do anything in California except open a business, walk down the street, or buy a home.” Here’s Newsom, celebrating the Democrat-controlled state’s “freedoms,” while resisting forces he claims want to take the nation backward,” as transcribed by the Sacramento Bee:

More than any people, in any place, California has bridged the historical expanse between freedom for some, and freedom for all. Freedom is our essence, our brand name — the abiding idea that right here anyone from anywhere can accomplish anything.

Sure it is. As Greenfield further noted, Californians can accomplish “anything,” except “work freelance, drive a truck, buy a car, get disposable utensils, buy a fur coat, install a gas stove or any of the tens of thousands of things that the Democrat one-party system has banned in some or all of the state.”

While lying his head off, Newsom “forgot” to mention that California’s population has decreased every year he’s been in office, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle:

California’s population continues to dwindle. The state’s population declined by 114,000 people from about 39,143,000 in 2021 to 39,029,000 in 2020, new estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau show. It marks the third straight year that California has reported a loss.

As is the case with most Democrats, like Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, and Adam Schiff, Newsom is a serial liar who believes, as do all leftists, that the bigger lies he tells and the more often he tells him, the more low-information rank-and-file Democrat voters will buy his nonsense, hook, line, and sinker.

While we’re at it, let’s toss in Newsom’s stance on sex predators — as in teachers who groom students —  via Politico (emphasis, mine):

[Newsom] compared a controversial Florida law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis that bars teaching LGBTQ topics — the so-called Don’t Say Gay law — with a failed 1978 California ballot initiative that sought to prohibit gay teachers. Unlike other states, Newsom said, California safeguards freedoms like “the freedom for teachers to teach, freedom from litmus tests about their political party or the person they love.”

Finally, Greenfield mocked:

Why are you leaving the home of freedom? Why? Do you have something against systemic racism, child abuse, mentally ill vagrants smoking crack, high taxes, and no legal rights whatsoever, you reactionary bigot? You’re taking the nation “backward.”

Sometimes, the most hilarious among us don’t attempt to be funny at all. And Gavin Newsom’s case, his unintentional comedy is downright tragic.