Tech and finance oligarchs led by speculator George Soros provide essential money and media. Soros is the right’s favorite devil. But in Gascón’s case, the founders of Netflix, Instagram, and Google and their families also have deep pockets. These are not stupid people, and their companies’ success in channeling suggestible minds is remarkable. Woke billionaires want to live in sovereignties responsive to their interests. Their self-conviction as bishops of good is untempered and complete.

Whatever the motivation, Soros’ initiatives to legalize marijuana and elect radical district attorneys have been extremely effective. The communications complex known as Hollywood and Silicon Valley can work the unicorn crowd and it is getting better at it all the time. Why these oligarchs wish to wreck municipal legal systems and societies that have been good to them remains unclear, but it feels like well-orchestrated sedition.

California — long a magnet for eccentrics and marginal people — might be reaching a tipping point. Social services and weather still make for a freeloader’s paradise, but the exodus of taxpayers and human capital speeds up. The Wall Street Journal reports a sudden dramatic drop in people moving to California, especially the Bay Area. The number of new arrivals plummeted 45 percent between March 2020 and September 2021, while exits increased by 21 percent. The Rockies, Florida, Texas, and Maine are among favored destinations.