Rep. Adam Schiff, right, vice chair of the House Intelligence Committee, ponders testimony. (Photo: AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta)In an overheated political environment where it’s dangerous to stand between some politicians and a television camera, the national spotlight has suddenly fallen on a low-key Californian who implores Donald Trump to be truthful. He is Adam Bennett Schiff, 56, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee.
A fire truck races to an emergency in downtown Los Angeles, 2016. (Photo Alexandre Moraes, via Shutterstock)FairWarning: November’s presidential contest was bizarre in many ways, but there is one peculiarity that pundits haven’t pounced on: The states with the worst rates of traffic deaths in the country went solidly for Donald Trump while Hillary Clinton swept states with the lowest fatality rates. California was 10th from the bottom in its traffic fatality rate — about 8.11 deaths per 100,000 people. The highest was Wyoming, with 24.74 fatalities per 100,000.
Pro- and anti-Trump demonstrators clash at a May 27 rally in San Diego. (Photo: Chad Zuber)Any hope that California would soon settle into some sort of accommodation with a Trump Administration is fading rapidly. During the past two weeks, this happened: President-elect Donald Trump named Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt as his choice to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the federal enforcer of rules governing clean air, clean water, toxics cleanup and other chores. The choice of Pruitt, an energy industry supporter who is skeptical of the impacts of climate change and has sued the EPA over the years, sparked outrage from environmentalists across the country, especially in California.
(Illustration: Tim Foster, Capitol Weekly)From neighbors to family members to local coffee shop baristas, the number one question I’ve received since Nov. 8 is “How did that happen?” Donald Trump’s come-from-behind win shocked about everyone in the political world. Even his own political team. Even Hillary Clinton’s own political team.
Trump offered no evidence about California voter fraud in his series of tweets. Trump spokesman Jason Miller cited a national study done by the Pew Research Center showing that approximately 24 million voter registrations in the United States are no longer valid or inaccurate. However, no one from Trump’s office has shown evidence of “serious voter fraud” in California.
Political strategist Mike Madrid at his Sacramento office. (Photo: Tim Foster)Capitol Weekly chats with veteran GOP strategist Mike Madrid, who offers his thoughts on the impact of the Latino vote in the 2016 election — and how and why the ‘sleeping giant’ failed to deliver for Hillary Clinton. While the numbers this cycle were good nationally for Donald Trump, and for Democrats in California, Madrid has cautionary words for both parties moving forward.
Students at a graduation ceremony at Santa Monica City College. (Photo: American Spirit, via Shutterstock)In an effort to reassure thousands of worried young people, leaders of California’s enormous system of public and private higher education are setting it on a potential collision course with the incoming Trump administration. The California defiance has intensified and become more formalized since Donald Trump indicated he will appoint Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, an avowed hard-liner on immigration, as his attorney general.
A voters hows his badge of independence. (Photo: Joe Belanger, via Shutterstock)Donald Trump is not just the Republican presidential nominee in California. If you got your ballot in the mail, you might have noticed one little oddity: Under Donald Trump’s name you’ll find not only his Republican Party, but also the little known American Independent Party (AIP).
Hollywood Boulevard at dusk. (Photo: Sean Pavone, via Shutterstock)Hollywood and Sacramento are not cities that normally leap into our thoughts at the same time. Sacramento is leafy streets and politics and scorching heat. Hollywood is, well, Hollywood.
Donald Trump, left, stands with Hillary Clinton at the first presidential debate Monday at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. (Photo: AP/Evan Vucci)Within the wide Clinton debate win numbers, we can see variations among key portions of the electorate. The most striking is the partisan breakdown. For Democrats, the Clinton performance was an affirming event – with 90% of registered Democrats saying that she won the debate. Among Republicans, this was flipped, with 57% saying that Trump won.