ON THE CALIFORNIA CAMPAIGN TRAIL '26: NOTES FROM SEAN FORBES
DAY THREE: August 26th, 2025
LOCATION: Long Beach, CA
WEATHER: 79°F (Clear)
The thought that we are in a "Cold Civil War" hangs over this entire campaign. We are well beyond normal politics at this point; we are far beyond any hope of reconciliation with a federal government that is under the control of what was perhaps flippantly called a "vast right-wing conspiracy."
We are in danger — from ICE gangs, the dismantling of anything of worth from the federal government, and a commander-in-chief who is a rapist and pedophile. Due process and elections, the cornerstones of the old Republic, are being removed from the entire structure.
I've been uncomfortable but able to face facts. We face two enemies — one tangible, one intangible. The Republican Party is an organized criminal organization larger and more entrenched than any Mafia that has ever infested this country. As governor, that is the North Star of governance: the Republicans are the enemy. A fetish for a past that never truly existed is also an enemy.
If you step out of line, you'll face a permanent vacation to El Salvador or Uganda. Don't want to live in a country where you can be bankrupted and ruined for being sick? Want to live in peace? Don't want a kid to die overseas? Don't like people constantly taking advantage of each other? Well, in the United States, you won't be able to do all these things. Because at least 80 million of your neighbors would rather live in a revenge-fantasy than in a community of equals.
Long Beach, California
The 2016 and 2024 elections proved that Californians are locked inside a house on fire, being shouted down by maniacs who want to keep the doors locked. Anyone who votes Republican is an arsonist against democracy — they prefer to handcuff you to them and burn both you and themselves alive.
The Republican Party thrives on violence, distrust, and the constant stamping of a boot on the human face — to quote Orwell — and the ongoing misery of refusing to solve issues except through force and yelling. However, we're fortunate that they are, for the most part, stupid. You see this in Gavin Newsom's reactions, clowning on them in their own style — they are genuinely bewildered by what he's doing.
But trolling alone doesn't accomplish much, except make us feel better. Under this system, the country won't support him — not because he's so egalitarian or progressive, comparable to JFK or FDR, but because they genuinely hate California as much as an enemy country.
Years of propaganda have painted California as the antithesis of America — full of homeless people, overtaxed, and letting crime thrive (despite contrary statistics and historical trends).
They hate us because they see us as America trying to improve in the smallest ways. Unlike the tangible threat of the Republican Party, the intangible enemy is nostalgia for a past that never really existed. They are in love with the image of the white picket fence, the 1980s, moral superiority, and faith in a secular messiah.
They do not want California, because as faltering, incompetent, and stumbling as it may be, it's moving toward the future — trying to distance itself from a false and romanticized past. California, despite its flaws, acknowledges that the past was never what they believed it to be.
True Californians believe that government should serve the majority and actively try to improve lives. As faltering and imperfect as California is, it takes steps toward a better future and doesn't wallow in make-believe. That's why they hate us.
"As California goes, so goes the nation" — and these enemies are working day and night to ensure we don't lead the way. Because if California advances, the Republicans and their nostalgia would be challenged.
VoteCNP.org
