The California GOP's latest stunt: splitting the state in two.

Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher seemed to be a sensible person in demeanor, but his "two state" plan divides more than the Golden State.

While there have been various, massively unsuccessful efforts to spilt California into anywhere from two to six separate states, depending who’s doing the proposing, no major California elected official has suggested this, until now.

Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher, who represents mostly rural District 3, is generally viewed as a partisan but perfectly reasonable figure around Sacramento. Educated at Berkeley and graduating at the top of his class at UC Davis law school, Gallagher is, no doubt, a formidable intellect.

But last week, when Gallagher proposed that 35 Inland empire counties become our nation’s 51^st state, it seemed, well, out of character. He said, with a straight face, that it wasn’t “a stunt”.

Uh huh.

Certainly other county-level electeds in California have suggested they’d be better off Red State than dead, and their efforts have led nowhere, as Gallagher’s suggestion will and should as well.

Gallagher even appeared on NPR the other day, sounding eminently sane, while he opined that California would be better off split in two. As I was listening to him, I was impressed with his ability to candy coat the utter BS he was laying down.

There are multiple political obstacles here, both on the state and federal level, and he knows better.

Is this an early Fort Sumter-level salvo in a right-wing fever dreamscape of an American civil war?

Not exactly, but it doesn’t help.

In California, for example, the fanciful State of Jefferson concept has been bouncing around for decades. This fictitious state would consist of most of Northern California, which is the cradle of a lot of fantastical movements, both political and philosophical. Maybe they’ve been hitting the shrooms.

Another separatist movement, “Greater Idaho”, sounds like a Gus Van Sant movie treatment, has very real political activity, but it’s chances of becoming reality are about as likely as the equally implausible ethereal ecotopian country of “Cascadia”. In Oregon, 13 counties have voted to explore this absurdity. And, predictably, the plan went nowhere in the heavily Democratic Oregon Legislature. Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek wouldn’t even take a meeting with “Greater Idaho” proponents, either.

Former Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, an eminently sensible Minnesota native, called these altered states efforts “unrealistic, impractical, and not likely to happen”.

In a similar vein, this week, California, Oregon, and Washington formed an alliance to share vaccine data, bypassing the RFK Junior-gutted Centers for Disease Control. Texas has long floated separatist dogma as well. In 2021, Sen. Ted Cruz spewed similar secessionist drivel. Cruz would be my first deportee. Maybe Cancun?

While separatist hallucinations like this may look good on paper for some voters, Central Oregon Daily reported that “Norman Williams, a professor of constitutional law at Willamette University, has estimated that the Idaho-Oregon state line move cost Idaho somewhere in the range of $18 billion to $20 billion”.

That’s a lot of potatoes, people.

The Greater Idaho political organization noted that “In 2023 the Idaho House of Representatives passed a resolution inviting the state of Oregon to begin border talks, and the Governor of Idaho has publicly supported border talks as well. The movement has previously reached out to the Governor of Oregon, as well as President Trump asking for support in getting border talks between the two states started”.

Anyone can see that President Trump might see Gallagher’s gambit as yet another GOP PR opportunity to politically embarrass Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has recently made a national name for himself trolling the Troller-in-Chief.

In addition, Gallagher’s proposed new state would face astronomically higher costs to any potentially new state than Idaho. Far-wealthier coastal California foots most of the bill for the Inland Empire, and without that economic engine, the new state would be left an Island Empire.

While this saber-rattling Gallagher chooses to engage in plays well in Sutter County, it’s merely that: gestural politics in a theater of the absurd.

Gallagher is an obvious potential member of Congress; the current occupant of the pre-Proposition 50 seat, Rep. Doug LaMalfa, (R-CA), had expressed skepticism in 2020 about the Apollo 11 moon landing. In contrast, Gallagher’s two-state proposal seems relatively sane.

Also please note that any new California state would also conveniently need two new United States senators, a job Gallagher may well aspire to as it’s highly unlikely he’d be elected in Liberal Intact California.

Dan Schnur, a longtime California political operative, observer, candidate, and educator, was one of James Gallagher’s instructors at Berkeley when he was an undergrad. Interestingly, the class was political communications strategy.

Schnur noted that Gallagher was an “extremely smart, extremely hardworking student…(and) as a conservative, as you might guess, at Berkeley, he was somewhat outnumbered. But he was always very good at arguing his beliefs, in a respectful way”.

Did he find Gallagher’s proposal out of character?

“James is smart enough to recognize that this is not a proposal that’s likely to make much progress”.

Gallagher’s gambit may win him political points in the Inland Empire, but this one is a non-starter, and fans flames that aren’t useful in a volatile national political environment Trump is happily pouring gas on from the fire truck.

I wasn't going to put Gallagher in the same league as the deeply cynical and manipulative Rep. Kevin Kiley, (R-CA), who seems to have no true north except self-aggrandizement. Now I will, and that’s a high bar.

Interestingly, there were a few principled GOP legislators, like former Asm. Chad Mayes, and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2022 Republican opponent, State Sen. Brian Dahle. I have spoken to Dahle a time or two, and while I didn’t agree with him, I thought he was likable and refreshing in that he kept it real in interviews.

It’s OK to be a conservative. It’s not OK to add to the Trump smoke and mirrors machine.

.The Civil War ended in 1865 when Gen. Robert E. Lee handed General U.S. Grant his sword at Appomattox Court House. Next time, there might not be just swords – and political posturing masquerading as a serious proposal isn’t just silly.

It’s dangerous.

Trump and his acolytes fan flames they may not ultimately be prepared to extinguish, Gallagher and his fellow enablers will not look back on this explicitly cynical play with anything other than shame.

Maybe.

Trumpism is in power because otherwise “smart” guys like the Minority Leader of the Assembly pull stunts like this, and, let’s be clear, it is, in fact, a stunt.

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Hey, YBs! : Hope you had a great day. My fishing plan exploded in flames, but I’ll hit it tomorrow. Enjoy your evening. — J.