Beginning of the end...

California Lt. Gov.: Even if Trump wins, 'beginning of the end' for GOP

By Nick Gass

Even if Donald Trump is elected as the next president of the United States, it's "the beginning of the end" for the national Republican Party that nominated him, California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom predicted Thursday.

Pointing to his own state as an example, Newsom discussed the difficulty of having two Democrats running in the general election, in no small part due to the state's so-called "jungle primary" system and the dearth of registered Republican voters. The share of people who declined to state their party affiliation is within a few percentage points of registered Republicans, Newsom told POLITICO Playbook's Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman at an event in Philadelphia.

“That’s how badly Republicans have done. And by the way, here’s your national—I mean, if folks haven’t paid attention to this, then they’re missing the biggest story in America. The Republican Party [in California] was walking dead in 1994 with Proposition 187," Newsom said.

Newsom was referring to the ballot initiative supported by then-Republican Gov. Pete Wilson that passed in 1994, which banned undocumented immigrants from using most of the state's public services and to create a citizenship screening system.

“The Republican Party, that was the end of the Republican Party. What Pete Wilson did with the xenophobia and the negative attitude, all this sort of anti-crime backlash," Newsom added, calling it “one of the most aggressive anti-immigrant propositions in American history."

Court cases effectively killed the law, while the state repealed the subsequently unenforceable sections in 2014.

"But it was also the time of three strikes, fear, loathing, dystopia," Newsom recalled, remarking that "the contours of that time" are "so similar" to the national debate in 2016.

"But what’s happened to the Republican Party [in California] since? You can mark that period. Now it’s a cautionary tale, isn’t it, of what’s happening right now," he said.

While conceding that neither party is doing particularly well and that more people are generally unaffiliated, part of a larger national trend, Newsom called it "an important case study, and it will be a punctuation point after this election."

"Even if Donald Trump’s successful, it’s the beginning of the end if this rhetoric persists in the Republican Party," Newsom said.

Newsom later suggested some sympathy, and perhaps even pity, for Republican leaders in Congress.

“It's pretty clear that guys like Paul Ryan get that" the party needs to adapt, Newsom said in response to an audience question, adding, "He’s just in a straitjacket right now. It really is almost sad watching him.

It is "comical," Newsom continued, invoking President Barack Obama's Wednesday speech, that Republicans at last week's convention applauded "what Donald Trump has to say and we’ve been saying a lot of the same things for years, and we’ve been attacked.”

He also warned, Republicans must act and “and they better do it quickly because this damage is real”

“The kind of cynical politics of divide and conquer, that’s shameful stuff and I don’t know—people live their life like that, but I don’t know how they look back and feel good about themselves," Newsom said. "It’s not my kind of politics and the extent it’s theirs, they’re gonna pay a huge political price for it. Not just a personal price.”

As far as Trump saying he would like to win in California, Newsom, like Gov. Jerry Brown at a POLITICO event on Wednesday, was sharply dismissive.

“It’s laughable. No, I mean but honestly. … I know you’re not supposed to say that … it’s laughable. It really is. I mean, everything we’re about [in California, he’s opposed to," Newsom said. “I mean, everything he’s about, we are not. … There’s a secret sauce in California, and I hope people pay attention to it."

"But he’s not going to win California. Not even close," Newsom said, before adding, "I hope he tries. Because I want him to waste his time and energy in California because I hope he loses. So, Donald Trump, I think you have a great opportunity.”