Gavin Newsom’s latest stunt—assembling a so-called “objective review” panel to dissect California’s COVID-19 response—is nothing short of a taxpayer-funded farce designed to whitewash his own catastrophic blunders.
In his recent appearance on the Shawn Ryan Show, Newsom bragged about commissioning this self-audit, complete with interviews of critics and comparisons to other states, admitting California was “more aggressive and more restrictive.” But let’s call it what it is: a desperate bid to rewrite history and deflect blame for the devastation he unleashed on millions of Californians.
We don’t need his handpicked experts or cronies poring over decisions he himself made. That’s like asking a fox to investigate why the henhouse is empty. What we desperately need is a fully independent truth and reconciliation commission—impartial, transparent, and empowered to hold accountable those who turned a public health crisis into a parade of power grabs and hypocrisy.
Warnings about this nightmare rang out from the very beginning, but they fell on deaf ears in Sacramento. Back in the early days of the pandemic, as mandates slammed down like edicts from a petty tyrant, voices on national platforms were already exposing the flaws.
“The Ingraham Angle” dissected the absurdity of blanket lockdowns and school closures, arguing they inflicted more harm on kids and the economy than any virus containment they promised. “Fox & Friends First” hammered home how these policies ditched basic science and common sense for raw fearmongering. Outlets like The Daily Wire spelled out in brutal detail why confining healthy people to house arrest—while elites flouted the rules—was not just ineffective but downright destructive to society. These critiques weren’t fringe; they echoed from respected experts like Dr. Marty Makary, now leading the FDA, and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, now at the helm of the NIH—both of whom challenged the one-size-fits-all approach early on, advocating for targeted protections over mass shutdowns.
Take the school closures, for instance. California had some of the longest in the nation, keeping kids out of classrooms for over a year in many districts. Why? Not because of ironclad evidence that schools were super-spreaders—but at the behest of powerful teachers’ unions who demanded indefinite shutdowns, holding our children’s futures hostage to their political agendas.
The result?
Massive learning loss that we’re still grappling with today. California’s test scores plummeted, erasing years of progress and hitting low-income and minority students hardest. A Kaiser Permanente study revealed shocking weight gain among young children during the pandemic, with kids aged 5 to 11 packing on an average of over 5 pounds—leading to a nearly 9% jump in overweight and obesity rates. Depression, anxiety, and even suicides among youth spiked, all because Newsom prioritized union demands over kids’ well-being. If that’s not negligence bordering on criminal, what is?
Then there’s the economic carnage. Businesses shuttered overnight, dreams crushed under the weight of endless restrictions. People were essentially imprisoned in their homes, yet Newsom had the gall to dine mask-free at French Laundry with lobbyists. Photos of that infamous 2020 dinner party exposed the raw hypocrisy: rules for thee, but not for me. He partied with the elite while the rest of us suffered, our livelihoods evaporating. And now, in that same podcast, he sheepishly admits shutting down beaches and parks was a “very bad idea in retrospect.”
Retrospect? We knew it then! Forcing people away from fresh air and exercise during a respiratory virus outbreak was idiocy on steroids, yet he doubled down, turning California into a cautionary tale of overreach.
This isn’t just about past mistakes; it’s about preventing future ones. Newsom’s panel, allegedly “stress-testing” his own policies, is a biased joke that will inevitably conclude with a pat on the back and maybe a few token apologies. We’ve seen this playbook before—politicians investigating themselves always ends in self-absolution.
What California—and America—needs is a genuine truth and reconciliation commission, modeled after those that healed wounds in South Africa. Independent experts, no ties to Sacramento insiders, with subpoena power to drag out the emails, the union backroom deals, and the lobbyist influences that drove these disasters. Let victims testify: the parents who watched their kids regress academically, the business owners bankrupted by whims, the families torn apart by isolation. Hold hearings where Newsom and his enablers face the music, not in a friendly podcast, but under oath.
Imagine the revelations: How much did union donations sway school policies? Why ignore data from less-restrictive states like Florida, which saw similar health outcomes without the economic apocalypse? And what about the vaccine mandates that coerced parents and workers, despite emerging evidence of risks? These points were hammered by critics, warning that blind adherence to “the science” was really just following the money and power. An independent commission could force real reforms, like term limits on emergency powers, protections for dissenting scientists, and compensation for those harmed by mandates.
Californians are fed up with being guinea pigs for failed experiments. The failure to heed early warnings from experts like Makary and Bhattacharya—now in positions to reshape federal health policy—underscores the arrogance of it all. An independent reckoning isn’t optional; it’s essential to restore faith in leadership and ensure such devastation never repeats. The kids still catching up, the businesses gone forever, the lives upended—they demand no less than unflinching truth.
No more excuses, Gavin; the history you can’t rewrite speaks for itself.
You can follow Houman David Hemmati, M.D., Ph.D on X @houmanhemmati
