Commentary

Steyer’s Declaration of War on America

Posted on by Bill McCarthy

The Billionaire’s Illegal Pledge to Jail Federal Agents and Torch California’s Last Scrap of Sanity

Folks, Tom Steyer is what happens when a hedge-fund billionaire gets bored counting his billions and decides to play revolutionary from his California mansion. The guy who walked away from Farallon Capital to virtue-signal about climate and inequality is now the leading Democrat in the governor’s race, and his latest campaign stunt isn’t just outrageous—it’s flat-out illegal. On April 15 he dropped a manifesto titled “How California Can Put ICE in Jail,” complete with a five-point plan to abolish a federal agency, prosecute its agents for doing their jobs, and release every illegal immigrant currently detained. This isn’t policy. It’s a billionaire throwing a temper tantrum against the federal government he can’t control, promising to turn the Golden State into an armed sanctuary fortress that treats Border Patrol and ICE like the mafia.

And that’s just the headline act. Steyer’s entire platform is a laundry list of left-wing fantasies that run straight into federal law, federal enforcement, and basic constitutional reality. If—by some miracle of voter amnesia or Republican infighting—he somehow squeaks into the governor’s mansion, California won’t just keep sliding into the Pacific. It will accelerate straight into open rebellion against Washington, with lawsuits, standoffs, and economic self-immolation as the featured attractions.

The Anti-ICE Insanity: Treating Federal Law Enforcement Like a Street Gang

Steyer’s big reveal last week wasn’t subtle. He called ICE a “criminal organization” engaged in “indiscriminate racial profiling” and “violence, intimidation, terrorism, and the murder of Americans” to prop up Trump’s agenda. His solution? Abolish it outright in California and treat its agents the way Eliot Ness went after the mob: state prosecutors hauling them into court for every enforcement action, jailing leadership and foot soldiers alike, and expanding protections that amount to shielding illegal immigrants from deportation.

The five points boil down to this: unleash California’s legal machinery against federal officers, release every detained migrant, and declare the state a no-go zone for immigration enforcement. Masked agents “terrorizing Californians”? Steyer wants them stopped cold. This isn’t sanctuary policy on steroids. It’s a direct order to state and local officials to interfere with federal operations, prosecute agents for enforcing duly passed immigration law, and nullify federal authority inside California’s borders.

You don’t need a law degree to see the problem. The Supremacy Clause exists for a reason. States can’t abolish federal agencies. They can’t order their cops to arrest federal officers for doing their jobs. They can’t unilaterally release people the feds have detained under federal statute. Steyer knows this. He’s just banking on the same activist judges and media cheerleaders who’ve papered over every previous blue-state defiance. This time the stakes are higher: a sitting governor openly inciting interference with immigration enforcement at the exact moment the Trump administration is finally securing the border.

The Rest of the Grift: Tax Hikes, Housing Hallucinations, and Single-Payer Delusions That Collide With Federal Reality

Steyer’s other promises sound less radioactive until you realize they all depend on defying federal pushback or ignoring basic math. He wants to build one million affordable homes in four years by “streamlining permitting, bulk purchasing materials, and using union factories.” Never mind the environmental reviews, federal land issues, and the fact that California’s own regulations are the single biggest reason housing costs are insane. He’ll close corporate tax loopholes and reform Proposition 13 so big business pays its “fair share”—code for jacking up commercial property taxes and chasing away the very companies that keep the state afloat.

Electricity? Break up the utility monopolies to slash bills by 25 percent while still pushing the same green mandates that drove rates sky-high in the first place. Education? Free from pre-K through college, paid for by soaking the rich and corporations. Health care? Full single-payer, because the last time California flirted with that it collapsed under its own weight. Throw in a “Golden State Sovereign Wealth Fund” funded by stricter AI and tech regulations, and you’ve got the complete billionaire populist package: tax the productive, regulate the innovative, and promise everything for free.

Every one of these runs headlong into federal policy under Trump. Energy dominance means no more green roadblocks from Washington. Tax-and-spend schemes that chase businesses out will accelerate the exodus already happening. Single-payer dreams crash into federal health care law and funding realities. And the housing push? Good luck when federal courts start striking down the very regulatory shortcuts Steyer needs to pretend he can deliver a million units.

If the Fluke Happens: Open Rebellion, Federal Crackdown, and California’s Final Collapse

Assume the impossible—Steyer wins the top-two primary and the general in this fractured field. The moment he takes the oath, the lawsuits start flying. The Department of Justice under Trump won’t sit idle while a state governor orders the arrest of federal agents. Expect immediate federal injunctions, civil rights actions against California officials who comply, and possibly National Guard or federal marshals protecting ICE operations. Steyer’s “put ICE in jail” plan becomes a constitutional crisis faster than you can say “sanctuary state on steroids.”

Businesses already fleeing high taxes and crime will hit the gas pedal. Energy policies that ignore federal deregulation will keep blackouts rolling while the rest of the country booms. The one-million-home promise will collapse under lawsuits, cost overruns, and the same NIMBY resistance that’s blocked every previous effort. Single-payer will blow another multi-billion-dollar hole in the budget, forcing either massive tax hikes or service cuts that hit working Californians hardest.

The result? Accelerated decline. More families and companies bolting for red states with actual rule of law. Higher costs for everyone left behind. And a governor reduced to grandstanding press conferences while federal authorities simply enforce the law anyway. California already leads the nation in homelessness, crime, and business flight. Steyer’s agenda doesn’t fix any of it—it supercharges the failures that got us here.

California’s Choice: More Progressive Fantasy or Basic Reality

Steyer isn’t some fresh face with new ideas. He’s the same billionaire activist who spent years chasing presidential glory and climate crusades before deciding Sacramento was the next stage. His promises aren’t bold—they’re delusional. They pit state power directly against federal authority in ways the Constitution forbids and history proves disastrous.

Voters in the June primary have already seen the field thin out. Republicans remain competitive because Californians are exhausted by one-party experiments that deliver tents on sidewalks and businesses on moving trucks. Steyer’s war on ICE and the rest of his platform isn’t leadership. It’s surrender to the same radical impulses that turned the state into a cautionary tale.

If he somehow wins, the only winners will be the lawyers, the fleeing taxpayers, and every other state smart enough to welcome California’s refugees. The rest of us will watch another blue-state meltdown in real time—proof positive that when progressives run out of other people’s money and federal guardrails, they always double down on the same failed playbook. America First doesn’t need another lesson in what not to do. California’s voters still have time to avoid it.

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