In June 2026, former Newsweek and Time Magazine editor (and one-time plagiarist), now current CNN host Fareed Zakaria made a stunning admission about the Golden State: “How California became a study in failed governance.” To his credit, Zakaria has not been afraid to discuss issues which the Left hides and the Democrat Party runs from, like the strong connection between Muslim majorities and rising terrorism.
On October 2, 2026, CNN’s Elex Michelson interviewed his colleague about this article, whose subject was timely with the current election season in California.
Yes, Zakaria has argued the obvious. If you want to see what failure in the face of opportunity and plenty looks like, look at California. The more compelling aspect of his admission is that a liberal pundit in the national media is willing to state the obvious. We all agree: California is dysfunction writ large. There is more to the story, but at least Fareed states what his colleagues won’t acknowledge.
To his detriment, however, Zakaria outlines a bunch of solutions that miss the mark and cover up the real reasons for California’s precipitous and public decline. At the outset of his interview, he claims that California projects and programs have come to a standstill and can accomplish nothing because of “vetocracy” throughout the state government, i.e., some apparatus or decision-maker or rule frustrates any effort for reform, growth, or change. For this term, he properly credited social scientist (and Trump-hater) Francis Fukuyama.
Explaining his argument, Zakaria points out that the bullet train approved by California voters in 2008 would have been built by now, but for the constant environmental challenges. Homelessness could have been solved if local leaders had cooperated with the state and left-wing homeless advocates wouldn’t block enforcement measures with endless lawsuits. Reforms to improve public safety, road repairs, and education could all take place if there wasn’t the relentless interest-group hustle that stopped everything.
On the surface, this “vetocracy” argument makes little sense. The California Democrat Party hegemon running the state legislation has held veto-proof supermajorities since 2016. Republican opposition can only show up, speak up, and vote “No!” on the worst stuff (sometimes, they vote with the rest of the supermajority on bad stuff!), then cash their checks and campaign for another two years to do the same rigmarole over and over. The Democrats have carte blanche power to do whatever they want. They could pass laws to streamline the bureaucracy, expedite change, enact better reforms, and fire the executives responsible for accomplishing those tasks.
But they don’t.
Zakaria’s larger theme that California Democrat leaders want to do the right thing, but can’t, is completely out of touch with reality. As a lifelong California resident, I have no idea what Zakaria is talking about, and why should he? He resides on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, another bubble of the uber-rich and well-connected, a well of Deep Blue political arrogance detached from the concerns and consequences of Democratic policy. He loves California, but how many times has he visited? Has he ever lived there?
Regardless of California’s constant struggle, endless delays and frustrations to get anything done, the problem isn’t that everyone wants to work together but fails because of the bureaucracy. The supermajority Democratic powers that be love the red tape, the litigation, the delays, the incompetence, the virtue-signaling without virtue. They play into the will and wishes of their major donors: labor unions, left-wing interest groups, and the endless brigade of bureaucrats who consistently vote Democrat.
Performative politics among California leaders is the rule, not the exception. Picture lame-duck (and long-shot, no-chance presidential aspirant) Governor Gavin Newsom posing for well-timed photos in front of big media journalists (in reality, propagandists) while picking up some trash along the 405 freeway. Thanks, Gav, you picked up some garbage. How about enforcing the vagrancy laws on state property so that illegal homeless encampments don’t pollute our roads? Some twisted statistics, empty comparisons, and some jabs at President Trump dominate Democratic pols attempting to make a difference.
There are other problems with Zakaria’s take on California’s failed politics, or rather politics of failure, including his fawning treatment of liberal voters. Zakaria claimed that somewhat educated people vote for Democrats. They can’t be educated in any meaningful fashion if they are voting against their own interests. Failed public safety measures (including lack of coordination among departments) led to the Pacific Palisades inferno. The other issues (homelessness, year-round wildfires, rising crime) grow worse year by year, yet those educated keep voting for the same politicians who never fix the problem. That’s insanity.
When Michaelson asked why the voters keep voting for the same failed party leadership, Zakaria dodged their bad thinking and smeared Republicans, particularly President Trump. He faulted their lack of “openness” to diversity, immigration, and trade. He claimed that Republicans are “not friendly to market economics.” What does he think of Democrats, then?
Zakaria won’t accept that the Democrats own the failures, and Trump’s ascendancy in the Republican Party does not absolve them. Towards the end of his interview, Zakaria actually claimed that the Democrat Party’s heart is in the right place. Are you kidding me? If they have a heart, it’s dedicated to the rich getting richer off government cronyism and cash (how do “public servants” like Nancy Pelosi and Gavin Newsom get so rich having served most of their adult lives in government?), pandering to diabolical identity politics (LGBT celebrations, transgender sanctuary state laws, reparations for African Americans in a state which entered the union as a Free State), and non-stop Trump bashing. That’s former AG and current gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra’s favorite sport, by the way, but at least his Republican opponent ridiculed him for such weak answers in the face of California’s growing problems.
Adding insult to his failed policy prescription, Zakaria praised recently-elected San Francisco mayor Dan Lurie as a “cry for help” from the voters in The City fed up with the broad array of failures. Crime rates have dropped, homelessness has decreased, and a more moderate, pro-Lurie board of supervisors has taken power. However, the open-air drug markets persist, major conferences are not returning, and small businesses have not bounced back. Lurie is moderate compared to the Democratic Socialists of America, but simply dialing down the dysfunction should not be the best standard for better governance.
Worst of all, Zakaria actually praised DSA New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani. The former CNN contributor can identify all the problems with California he can find, but to suggest that a vile, communist, antisemitic perennial college student turned big-city mayor is focused on basic issues is preposterous: the rise in hate crimes, onerous tax policies, government-run grocery stores, failed rent-control policies, and hands-off approaches to the police department all reveal a boy mayor trying to fill shoes he cannot fit.
Democrat powerbrokers from Sacramento to San Diego follow the Mamdani model, generating failure and incompetence due to their “progressive” vision, all while ignoring reality, diminishing losses, and hiding the truth about the plagued state, but at least they feel good about themselves. Their vision is right, reality be damned.
When a political class celebrates such failure as success, why would they change it?