If you squint closely enough, you can detect Gavin Newsom edging ever so slightly to the right in preparation for running for president in 2024. (Pay no attention to his disavowal of a 2024 run the other day; he only ruled out challenging Biden. If Biden withdraws on his own, Newsom 2024 will be on!) He opposed a recent proposal to raise incomes taxes yet again on the top 1 percent of income earners in California. And he’s suddenly demanding California cities get tougher on homelessness. In fact if you look closely some liberal California cities—even Berkeley and Oakland—are clearing out some of the more conspicuous homeless encampments. They are doing this very quietly, so as not to upset progressives.

I wonder how Newsom is going to react to the news that the commission he set in motion to study whether California should pay reparations for slavery has reported in with a recommendation that all descendants of slaves in California should be granted $223,200 per person, at an estimated total cost of $569 billion.