On August 28 and 29, California Governor Gavin Newsom unveiled two sweeping initiatives that together mark a sharp rightward turn in state policy and expose the Democratic Party’s deepening complicity in the destruction of democratic rights. As he portrays himself as a bulwark against President Trump, Newsom is in fact laying the foundation for a massive expansion of state power against the working class and the poor.

Under the guise of public safety and compassion, the Democratic governor has placed the California Highway Patrol (CHP) at the center of two major new enforcement regimes: a statewide “crime suppression” expansion and a “homeless encampment clearance” task force.

These measures are being marketed as alternatives to Trump’s deployments of federal forces into major U.S. cities, but in substance, they mirror their basic functions. Far from opposing the authoritarian measures emanating from Washington, Newsom’s actions mimic them, signaling a growing alignment between the Democratic Party and the Trump administration on the fundamental issue: the use of state repression to deal with the social crisis created by capitalism.

On August 28, Newsom announced the expansion of CHP “crime suppression” teams into six major regions: San Diego, the Inland Empire, Los Angeles, the Central Valley, Sacramento, and the San Francisco Bay Area. This initiative builds on earlier deployments in Oakland and Bakersfield, where CHP officers have conducted aggressive sweeps targeting so-called “organized crime,” retail theft, drug dealing, and auto theft.

Newsom insisted the strategy represented a “California-led” approach, one that avoids Trump’s federal militarization of urban policing. Yet this distinction is entirely cosmetic. Rather than rejecting the deployment of armed forces against working-class neighborhoods, Newsom has preemptively normalized it at the state level. “We’re working with local law enforcement, not overriding them,” he declared.

The reality is that this represents a major expansion of policing powers, redirecting state resources into paramilitary-style operations. Despite boasting about “falling crime rates” across California, Newsom is doubling down on “law-and-order” policies—a transparent attempt to preempt Trump’s propaganda and deflect Republican attacks. The message to the ruling class is unmistakable: California Democrats are prepared to be just as “serious on safety” as the fascistic Trump administration in Washington.

On Friday, Newsom unveiled the State Action for Facilitation on Encampments (SAFE) Task Force, a multi-agency initiative to dismantle homeless encampments across California’s ten largest cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Oakland, and Fresno.

The task force represents a significant escalation of Newsom’s campaign of criminalization and repression against the poor. It builds directly on his signature policy of violent sweeps, infamously showcased last year when Newsom personally staged a publicity stunt, when he was filmed assisting police as they tore down encampments and destroyed the belongings of homeless residents.

Six state agencies will be mobilized, but once again the CHP serves as the enforcement spearhead. Teams will forcibly clear encampments along highways, underpasses and public spaces, while Caltrans physically destroys tents and other belongings.

The Office of Emergency Services and Health and Human Services are tasked with “logistical support” and “health access,” but no significant funding has been allocated to actually house the displaced.

Newsom wrapped the announcement in “compassionate” rhetoric, insisting “no one should live in dangerous or unsanitary encampments.” Yet his plan does nothing to address the underlying causes of homelessness: skyrocketing rents, stagnant wages, mass layoffs and the destruction of affordable housing. The state is mobilizing police forces to sweep poverty out of public view while offering little more than token placements into chronically underfunded shelters.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass immediately praised the initiative, claiming it “complements” local efforts and will “make real progress” on encampments along state-owned land. Her endorsement exposes the bipartisan nature of the assault on the poor. While homelessness continues to rise nationally, California Democrats have embraced nearly identical policies to those of their Republican counterparts: police-driven mass clearances and the criminalization of poverty.

Newsom has attempted to portray these measures as a “softer” alternative to Trump’s deployments of federal forces, which have triggered widespread outrage. But in practice, in the name of “public safety” the role of the CHP in both initiatives underscores the central thrust of Newsom’s agenda: the normalization of militarized policing.

The Democratic Party will not oppose Trump’s fascistic offensive. On the contrary, its alignment with the Republicans’ core agenda stems from the class interests the two parties share. A leaked private strategy call of Democratic mayors earlier this month reveals the degree of panic gripping the political establishment.

Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, head of the Democratic Mayors Association, bluntly warned his colleagues: “If we’re passive and hemming and hawing about democracy and all that stuff between now and 2026, we’re going to get our asses kicked. We have to start now.”

Rather than mobilizing opposition to Trump’s coup, Bibb urged a “serious-on-safety, serious-on-cost messaging strategy” designed to mimic Republicans’ attitude to crime.

Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber was even more explicit in his contempt for democratic principles, declaring: “The public’s perception is that if you send in the troops you’re strong, if you debate statistics, you’re weak… The way you feel is more important than what we tell you the stats say.”

This call lays bare the reality: the Democrats are not preparing to resist authoritarianism, but to accommodate it. Their concern is not defending democratic rights, but aligning themselves with the demands of the financial aristocracy—not “the public’s perception”—by adopting the very law-and-order posture that Trump has weaponized.

The events of the past week in California expose the broader shift of the entire political establishment sharply to the right. Facing an escalating social crisis—declining real wages, mass homelessness, soaring debt and widespread opposition to Trump’s policies—the ruling class carries out repression.

It is within this context that Newsom’s recent tweet offensive against Trump must be understood. Seizing on the federal government’s 10 percent acquisition of Intel, Newsom launched a series of bizarre attacks on Trump, imitating his loud, fascistic style and sarcastically declaring:

“ALL HAIL CHAIRMAN TRUMP! WITH HIS GLORIOUS 10% PURCHASE OF INTEL, THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF AMERICA ENTERS A BOLD NEW ERA OF GOVERNMENT-RUN BUSINESS.”

For Labor Day, he escalated his rhetoric, claiming,

“With his takeover of U.S. companies like Intel, this Labor Day America is praising CHAIRMAN TRUMP, our nation’s leading Socialist!!”

The absurdity of this line of argument speaks for itself. But what is not absurd is their political purpose. Newsom combines mockery of Trump with an appeal to anti-communism. By falsely equating Trump’s federal intervention in private industry with “socialism,” Newsom signals his alignment with the financial and corporate elite and underscores the Democrats’ role in defending capitalist property relations at all costs.

In this, Newsom and Trump are united. While Trump mobilizes federal forces to expand the machinery of state repression against the population as a whole, Newsom is deploying the CHP as his own domestic shock troops—invoking “organized crime” to justify heightened policing. Both parties target vulnerable populations, immigrants for Trump, the homeless for Newsom, to test out authoritarian methods of rule in defense of the capitalist class.

The intensifying political crisis in the United States expresses itself not only in Trump’s increasingly authoritarian measures but also in the disintegration of democratic norms across the entire political establishment. The ongoing gerrymandering war between Democrats and Republicans is yet another manifestation of this deep rot. Both parties are weaponizing redistricting battles to entrench their own political power and suppress popular participation.

The implications of these developments are grave. As the United States approaches the 250th anniversary of its founding, the democratic rights won through the American Revolution are under systematic assault. There is no faction within the political establishment—Democratic or Republican—that represents a defense of democracy.

That defense cannot and will not come from within the existing political establishment. It rests on the independent political mobilization of millions of workers, immigrants, and youth on the basis of a fight for socialism against both capitalist parties and the financial oligarchy they serve.