« Don’t California my Arizona. » It is one of the signs brandished in Arizona by the faithful of Donald Trump, who reproach the Californian newcomers of attacking their way of life and of wanting to transform “their” state into a socialist haven. The slogan is also valid for many neighbors or competitors of the Golden State. « Don’t California my Nevada », « my Texas ». Or, more daring variant, « Don’t californicate my Oregon ».
All of these slogans carry the same message: if the Democrats are growing in power in the states of the American West, it is Californians’ fault. “They move in with us with their garbage cans”, assaulted Sabrina Robidoux, 60, a grandmother from Phoenix, met on October 3 in the crowd of a few hundred people who were sorry for the cancellation of Donald Trump’s visit to their state, due to Covid-19 and hospitalization.
It was only a postponement. Sunday October 18 and Monday October 19, Donald Trump is back in the West. Not, this time, to try to seduce the Latinos, but to try to save traditionally republican regions which should not need a new visit from the candidate, two weeks before the poll. Carson City for example, in northern Nevada, in the midst of an economic and technological boom. Or Prescott, in the northern heights of Arizona, where Barry Goldwater, the father of anti-government conservatism, launched his presidential campaign in 1964; also where John McCain had finished his in November 2008 – McCain, whose widow Cindy took up the cause for Joe Biden.
To believe that California, Donald Trump’s preferred target, is taking revenge. Some of the historic strongholds of Republican individualism are bowing under the number of millennials arriving from Los Angeles or Silicon Valley; retirees or immigrants who can no longer afford the cost of housing in the Golden State.
A rush to the west in reverse
They are not all, far from it, progressives in evangelization mission for the wealth tax advocated by Democrat Bernie Sanders, but they are changing the balance of power in their new residences. Their “values” are those of the defense of the environment, of multiculturalism, of health insurance for all.
To which the Republicans of the neighboring states add the “plagues” which they do not wish to see imported into their homes: high taxes, regulations on pollution, homeless in the streets, abortions financed by the taxpayer. “In California, parental consent is not required for minors. In Arizona, sex education is not compulsory in school. What do we have in common with our neighbors? “, thus questions the very conservative Center for Arizona Policy which defends the ” fundamental values ” of life, marriage and religious freedom.
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