Gov. Gavin Newsom presides over a broad set of self-inflicted challenges –– each one a monument to bad policy, grandiose ego, and questionable priorities as he struts around the nation and the world.
His freshly released book, Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery, basically sums it up: He sprints toward bigger stages while the job he actually signed up for gathers dust.
Now in middle age, Newsom is still in a hurry, but … not to fix the state he’s supposed to govern.
Instead of rolling up his sleeves to face the mess, Newsom jets off like a teenager dodging curfew, for international photo-ops, Davos schmoozing, elite summits in Munich, and now his new book tour that’s basically a rolling campaign ad.
Since taking office in 2019, he’s racked up dozens of out-of-state jaunts, to destinations such as El Salvador, China, Brazil, Italy, Davos, Munich, Nashville, Atlanta, Rock Hill, and, this very weekend, Miami.
A look at Newsom’s excursions over the years shows a restless state executive.
While Californians wrestle with homeless encampments, $6+ gas amid the shuttering of refineries, and insurance companies fleeing the state, the governor is busy playing global influencer and future presidential hopeful.
Call it absenteeism with frequent-flier miles; it’s certainly not governing.
Homelessness sprawls across sidewalks like an unwanted house guest that won’t leave. Despite the state throwing billions of taxpayer dollars at the problem, nearly a quarter of the entire country’s homeless population is in California.
Newsom in 2019 took a $44,000 trip to El Salvador, the tab covered by donors, as the tents multiplied. It’s about priorities, clearly.
Here at home, the cost of living is punishing, like perpetual hail. We face high median home prices, electricity up to twice the price of the national average, and gas consistently $1-2 higher per gallon than elsewhere in the nation, thanks to taxes and green mandates.
Newsom’s response? He flew to China in 2023 to lecture the world on climate while Californians decided between groceries and paying the electric bill.
Another issue: his pandemic mismanagement. Newsom’s lockdowns tanked jobs and kids’ education, while $33 billion in EDD fraud vanished into thin air. The gov’s hypocritical maskless dinner at the French Laundry became a national meme.
Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters
California Post News: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, WhatsApp, LinkedIn California Post Sports Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X California Post Opinion California Post Newsletters: Sign up here! California Post App: Download here! Home delivery: Sign up here!Page Six Hollywood: Sign up here!
Then he disappeared for nearly two weeks in 2021 with a vague “family obligations” excuse. His type of leadership looks different, apparently.
In 2018, Newsom promised 3.5 million homes by 2025; the state delivered maybe 640,000 to 868,000. Housing affordability in California ranks 49th nationally (only Hawaii is costlier).
He was off in Italy in 2024 preaching sustainability while families here got priced out of the state.
And then there are his reckless green energy policies: We endure the highest gas and electricity prices in America, refinery closures, and dependence on foreign oil, with $7-8 per gallon gas on the horizon.
Newsom fled to Brazil in late 2025 for climate talks while blackouts loomed and wallets emptied.
Also in 2025, wildfires raged, insurance companies bailed, and communities struggled to rebuild. More broadly, the state continues to face high taxes, high costs, and high drama.
Newsom’s answer? Jetting to Davos in January 2026 and Munich last month, even as the White House called him out for “ditching duties.”
Violent crime, meanwhile, is up to 51% above the national average while the governor fights reforms that voters actually want.
And California’s public schools are in free fall. Less than half of K-12 students are proficient in reading and barely more than a third meet standards in math.
So Newsom recently kicked off his book tour in Nashville, Atlanta, Rock Hill, and now Miami this very weekend, because nothing says “fix California schools” like peddling a memoir in primary states.
Like the Pharoah ignoring the 10 plagues destroying Egypt and Nero fiddling while Rome burned, Newsom is the antithesis of a strong leader who takes charge and solves problems.
And while the governor’s at it, his jaunts around the globe offer a masterclass in accruing cringe-worthy moments: gaffes that make you wince, racist remarks that alienate entire groups, snide insults to hosts, casually tossing Jewish concerns aside with sloppy genocide commentary on foreign wars, and casually proposing international trade deals as though California were its own country.
Every stop adds another entry to the blooper reel.
The actual benefits to Californians and their businesses? Not so plentiful.
Newsom’s tour is sold as “more than a book,” with outreach to rural red areas, midterm support for Democrats, and a chance to “listen” and counter national Republicans.
Events are ticketed ($50-$80, book included). His team insists it’s strategic, that elevating his profile somehow lifts California’s national standing on climate or health care.
Reality check: There’s zero evidence of immediate economic juice, no tourism boom, no new investments, no federal dollars raining down from these stops.
The memoir is heavy on personal narrative, light on actionable fixes for the crises back home.
Time spent fund-raising in Atlanta or chatting in Rock Hill is time not spent on homelessness encampments, skyrocketing premiums, oil refineries leaving, or families fleeing the state.
Any supposed long-term upside? Future political leverage and an amplified progressive brand: It all remains pure speculation tied to a 2028 maybe.
For now, the only clear winners are Newsom’s book sales (juiced by his giveaways, of course), his donor network, and his personal brand.
California’s people and businesses? They’re stuck paying the bills back home while he’s out collecting applause, and awkward headlines, in someone else’s state (or country).
Newsom’s an absentee governor (in a hurry) who stands for little beyond his own wealth, and ambition, and aggrandizement.
The sad irony is that even when he’s home, he still doesn’t seem to get much done.
Richie Greenberg is a political commentator based in San Francisco.
The post Gavin Newsom’s long record of absenteeism appeared first on New York Post.
