‘We’re Trying to Address Dominating Issue of Localism’ Gov Gavin Newsom (CA-D) Said Dems ‘Own’ Lack of Housing Production;’ Newsom v HUD Sec Turner? Plus Sunday Weekly MHVille Headlines Recap
Before pivoting in Part I to Governor Gavin Newsom’s (CA-D) recent remarks and other headline topics it can be useful for thinkers to pause and ponder the following. ‘Shell games.’ Deception and misdirection. Paltering and posturing. These are some of the terms that have been used by analysts to describe various U.S. political, economic, professional, and industry issues that include housing and manufactured homes but candidly go beyond manufactured housing and “MHVille.” There are those who have observed that solving a crisis would mean losing that crisis as an issue. So, a person, organization, or governmental entity engages in this or that effort that seems plausible but when examined more closely fails to solve the underlying problem that they claim to be addressing. Former Chicago Mayor and President Barack Obama’s (D) Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel well known mantra: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.” There are those who have observed that the devious can take steps beyond merely using a crisis that happens to occur. Some believe that this or that crisis has at times been deliberately fostered and/or preserved in order for ‘the grift’ of federal money to flow to it for the claimed purpose of solving a problem which in hindsight drags on for years longer than should be the case.
Those notions should be held in mind during this Facts-Evidence-Analysis (FEA) report while exploring Gov. Newsom’s recent remarks which are surprising to many on the left and right for their apparently frank stances for the potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate.
Part I: ‘We’re Trying to Address Issue that Dominates and That’s Localism’ – Several Pull Quotes from Governor Gavin Newsom (CA-D) per Sources as Shown
1) In a discussion on left-leaning HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher are the following pull quotes reported by right-leaning Breitbartin a report under the headline below are the pull quotes shown.
> Newsom: ‘We Own’ Failed Governance in CA That I Said There’s ‘New Day’ on Last Year, But ‘Also Own the Response’ of Reform
On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said that Ezra Klein’s book is “an indictment of liberal governance and leadership, and he attacks California, rightfully, in many categories and respects, the high-speed rail, as it relates to housing production, and we own that. But we also own the response” of trying to fix it.
Host Bill Maher said, “[When] you were here last time, we talked about regulations, you said, oh, ‘it’s a completely new day.’ That’s a quote from you, ‘completely new day.’ You said you were working on it.”
Newsom responded, “[L]ast week, you had Ezra Klein on, which was incredibly important. He had a book called ‘Abundance’, which really lays out a very condemning picture of liberal governance in this country, and the fact that we are process-focused and not outcome-focused. … And so, it’s our job to eliminate as many of those thickets as possible.”
2) Newsom also said this. Bold is added by MHProNews for emphasis.
“…So, I couldn’t agree more with Ezra, it’s an indictment of liberal governance and leadership, and he attacks California, rightfully, in many categories and respects, the high-speed rail, as it relates to housing production, and we own that. But we also own the response. 42…reform bills I’ve passed, there [are] 20 bills we’re working on right now. We’re trying to address the issue that is the issue that dominates, and that’s localism.”
3) In another spotlight of that same episode of left-leaning HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher was this from right-leaning Newsmax.
California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom described his own party as “toxic” and suggested the Democratic Party needs to be more than just the anti-Trump party if Democrats hope to recapture the American electorate.
4) Newsmax also used this pull-quote from Bill Maher’s show on HBO.
“The Democratic brand is toxic right now,” Newsom said before highlighting a recent NBC News poll that showed Democrats with a 27% favorability rating, the lowest in over 30 years. Newsom, seen as potential 2028 presidential candidate for the Democrats, has been trying to position himself as an old-school Democrat who doesn’t resort to “cancel culture” when dealing with Republicans.
“We talk down to people,” he said. “We talk past people.” Newsom acknowledged the problem with cancel culture is that it has backed the Democratic Party into an “echo chamber.”
“These guys are crushing us,” he said.
Despite the backlash, Maher expressed his desire to see Newsom run for president and applauded his efforts to talk to the other side.
“This idea that we can’t even have a conversation with the other side?” Newsom asked, pointing the blame to member of his own party.
“You have to. They won,” Maher answered.
Bill Maher grilled Gavin Newsom over California’s regulations and told him to “DOGE the sh*t” out of the state’s bureaucracy.
Newsom attacked his own, calling the needless regulation “an indictment of liberal governance and leadership,” adding “we own” years-long delays on… pic.twitter.com/8yVhmEJZ6T
5) In a separate but related post on Breitbart was this.
On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said that the state has regulatory issues with building housing, “We own it, we have a responsibility to do something about it.” But regulations and lawfare are misused “on the other side of the political aisle as well.”
After saying there has been progress on high-speed rail and that the biggest issues were eminent domain and environmental issues, Newsom stated, “[A]s it relates to getting housing done and dealing with the supply-demand imbalance to deal with the affordability crisis, that explains more things in more ways on more days about California’s challenges, 100%, we have to have that same mindset, and we’re moving in that direction very aggressively. We own it, we have a responsibility to do something about it.”
Newsom continued, “But remember, it’s interesting, those rules were established in the 1970s by Republicans.” After blaming some of California’s issues on legislation signed by Reagan, he continued, “NEPA, that was Nixon. Clean Air Act, Nixon, Endangered Species Act, interestingly, Nixon. But it’s been weaponized. This lawfare has been weaponized, and Democrats, we need to call that out. But it’s also abused, again, on the other side of the political aisle as well.”
Part II – Additional Information with More MHProNews Analysis and Commentary, plus Sunday Weekly MHVille Headlines in Review
1) Gov. Newsom had a legitimate point in his remarks about Nixon. While it may well be true that Republican President Richard M. Nixon “weaponized” parts of the federal government, and that should not be overlooked or downplayed, it is also obvious that that occurred over 50 years ago. Yes, Republicans like Nixon or George W. Bush (43) There are those who point out that in the early 1970s Nixon ‘weaponized’ the IRS. That was cited in a potential article of impeachment before Nixon resigned to avoid impeachment. The Conversation said it this way.
Shortly before Nixon resigned in 1974, the House Judiciary Committee cited his abuse of his power over the IRS in an article of impeachment.
2) But two wrongs don’t make a right. The fact that some Republicans (e.g.: Presidents Nixon, both presidents Bush) and some Democrats (e.g.: Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and the Biden-Harris era) have weaponized or inserted agendas into the federal government are reasons to consider the wisdom of the founding fathers who wanted to keep the federal government small. While DOGE’s efforts to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in federal spending is a start, it ought to be considered how those abuses occurred in the first place. There is over a century of history involved, such as “racist progressive” Woodrow Wilson (D). See the reports below for more insights.
An objective look at big federal government in the U.S. is clearly being shown to be a breeding ground for waste, fraud, and corruption. Perhaps equally important, it routinely fails to solve the problems that some agency or department are supposed to be fixing or addressing.
3) HUD Secretary Eric Scott Turner said that HUD is failing at its “core” or primary task. That was a blunt but accurate way to put what HUD’s own researchers (see MHLivingNews report linked in recaps below) said that for 50 years under both Democrats and Republicans have talked about this or that housing plan but the underlying problems have remained.
4) But that backdrop or outline tees up the apparent tension referenced in part of today’s headline. HUD Secretary Turner (R) has effectively said that local officials know best. Gov. Gavin Newsom (CA-D) said on Maher’s show that localism and its regulatory regime are among the underlying problems to the housing crisis. Let’s note that Newsom may be speaking truth without taking the obvious step necessary to make the rapid solution to his point possible. What does that mean?
5) Congress in a widely bipartisan fashion enacted the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act (a.k.a.: MHIA, MHIA 2000, 2000 Reform Act, 2000 Reform Law). A key provision of that 2000 Reform Act was its so-called “enhanced preemption” provision. That federal preemption would allow HUD to invoke an override of local barriers to inherently affordable manufactured housing.
6) Governor Newsom (CA-D) and HUD Secretary Turner (R) each could essentially invoke the 2000 Reform Law’s enhanced preemption provision in order to allow the construction and placement of more affordable manufactured homes. As MHProNews and MHLivingNews has said for years, ironically, CA is a kind of proving ground to just how rapidly routinely invoking preemption could be used to accelerate the private sector production of more affordable housing. Invoking preemption need not require more federal (or state) spending. While a locality might exercise their right to litigate such an imposition, in one of the rare cases that the 2000 Reform Laws federal preemption was invoked the locality simply accepted the evidence in the matter and complied.
7) While Newsom pointed to laws passed in his state to make more housing production possible. What Newsom didn’t do is point to the legislation that Barack Obama’s Vice President and former Senator Joe Biden (D) was a co-sponsor of, namely, the MHIA and its federal preemption provision. There were plenty of opportunities for Democrats and Republicans to put federal preemption to work (see headlines for the week in review for more).
MHProNews Note: depending on your browser or device, many images in this report can be clicked to expand. For example, in some browsers/devices you click the image and select ‘open in a new window.’ After clicking that selection, you click the image in the open window to expand the image to a larger size. To return to this page, use your back key, escape or follow the prompts.
8) Put differently, Sec. Turner and Gov. Newsome each need to look at the obvious places of agreement and disagreement and could find common ground in the 2000 Reform Act.
More bluntly, there is no need to wait to pass a law when the law needed already exists. It was passed by a widely bipartisan majority (see Copilot screen grab, above).
The law that if applied routinely and robustly to solve the pressing need for more affordable housing already exists.
The potential effectiveness of the law is demonstrated by the CA ADU experience.
Because factory-built housing is the fastest and lowest cost way of making potential into reality, this ought to be a place that bipartisanship could reign. Additionally, since conventional site builders can’t meet the price point or volume, they logically should not be a bar to pressing the enforcement of federal preemption under the MHIA 2000. None of this is new. What would be new is to take what is known and actually put it to work.
More could be said about Newsom’s efforts to thread a political needle about admitting a pattern of years of Democratic errors, his apparent attempt to tap into the MAGA/America First energy, and still holding on to progressive and leftists. For example. A case could be made that Newsom is the latest to admit that Democratic policies on housing haven’t been working. Progressive New York Times and video commentator Johnny Harris said in more detail something similar to what Newsom admitted. Namely, that past polices didn’t work.
With no further adieu, let’s turn to the MHVille headlines in review from 3.23 to 3.30.2025. MHProNews notice. While every article is deemed important enough to have invested hours (or days) developing that topic for our readers, the Saturday report on Key Performance Indicators is one of the ‘don’t miss’ items. Even if you read it yesterday (or whenever you saw it), it is worth reading again.
Note: all third-party views are their own. MHProNews presents thought-provoking items to get the mental juices flowing. Connor’s columns weave potent quotes with a unique blend of thoughtful comments and analysis, but they are his views.
Notice: when articles have similar featured images that DOES NOT mean that they are identical. They are not. Articles that appear similar on the Patch or MHLivingNews tend to be shorter and routinely have insights not found in the longer articles on MHProNews. Clearly, the longer articles have more facts, insights, and analysis than the shorter ones do.
Telling the truth as best as it can be known at the time it’s reported ought to be a journalist’s best defense and best offense too.
Telling the truth as the facts-evidence-analysis (FEA) and reason supports said truth ought to be respected even if it may initially be unpopular with wide numbers of individuals and interest groups.
The consistency of truth telling ought to be an apparent and reasonable as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west every day.
When some basic truth in the U.S. is violated – be it business, economic, political, religious, or moral truth – it should be reported as such by media that has an interest in the long-term success of American society.
Here at MHProNews, through years of painstaking efforts, we have developed a reputation for accuracy, transparency, logically and evidence-supported analysis.
xAI’s Grok suggested the notion that our unique style of reporting has been transparent and factually accurate. Grok suggested: “It’s not just Trust Us-It’s Check Us.” Check us for accuracy. Check us for logical and evidentiary consistency.
The ‘reward’ for stubbornly following evidence, even when there was initial pushback, has been to build the largest and most read trade media in manufactured housing. Who said? How about the evidence checked by 3 different AI platforms? According to their fact-checks, MHProNews has more than 6x the COMBINED traffic to MHI and their allied bloggers.
There is always more to know. On a programming note, there have been several pending items that will be part of our plan for this upcoming week. They include some BIG deals that have curiously not been reported by MHI and several of their allied bloggers. The Good Lord willing, let’s look into that and more in the days ahead.
Our son has grown quite a bit since this 12.2019 photo. All on Capitol Hill were welcoming and interested in our manufactured housing industry related concerns. But Congressman Al Green’s office was tremendous in their hospitality. Our son’s hand is on a package that included the Constitution of the United States, bottled water, and other goodies.
Tony earned a journalism scholarship and earned numerous awards in history and in manufactured housing.
For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com.
This article reflects the LLC’s and/or the writer’s position and may or may not reflect the views of sponsors or supporters.
