California Gov. Gavin Newsom, one of the most skilled and competent politicians in America, faces a recall election tomorrow basically because he went to a fancy restaurant and had his picture taken without a protective mask during the pandemic.

  And the leading contender to replace him is the radio talk host Larry Elder, a Libertarian who has never run anything, let alone the country’s most populous state.

  Last November, at a time when he was encouraging people to isolate, Newsom went to an event at French Laundry, an expensive and exclusive place in the heart of California wine country, engaging in the kind of social mixing he had publicly discouraged to fight spread of the coronavirus. It was a mistake that caused an uproar.

  Then news broke that the state Employment Development Department had been paying unemployment benefits to convicted murderers, other state prisoners, and local jail inmates. As much as $400 million had been paid to 21,000 prisoners.

  The whole thing ballooned into a conservative movement to remove the Democratic Newsom because of their disagreement with his handling of immigration, taxes, stopping the death penalty, and the state’s homelessness crisis. 

  Newsom faces recall at a time in American history when politics have come unglued from fact and truth. It’s the age of the Big Lie about the 2020 election and the January 6^th insurrection that attempted to topple the US government.

  Running to take Newsom’s job is a cohort of California characters that also includes Angelyne, the Los Angeles billboard celebrity, and Caitlyn Jenner, who as Bruce Jenner won the 1976 Olympic decathlon. 

  Forty-six candidates filed to run, including experienced Democratic and Republican politicians, an aircraft mechanic, a bail bondsman, a psychologist, and a hairstylist. Among them is Republican John Cox, who lost to Newsom in 2018 by nearly 24 percent of the vote.

  Newsom has held public office since he was 28. As mayor of San Francisco he married same-sex couples before such marriages were the law of the land. He was lieutenant governor before he was governor. As governor, he’s been holding the line on unpopular mask mandates to keep Covid-19 from spreading in public schools.

  It looks like Newsom will survive so conspiracy theorists and right win media are already spreading tales about fraud before the vote is counted. Fox News  Valkyrie Tami Lahren claimed, “The only thing that will save Gavin Newsom is voter fraud.”

  At the moment, the opponent polling highest is Larry Elder with an average of 30 percent. And ironically, he also held a campaign event at a restaurant that has resisted Covid precautions. He complained to The Washington Post  that, “Gavin Newsom and his allies have painted me as some kind of an extremist.” 

  Elder would repeal pandemic mask mandates, establish a school “voucher” system, eliminate the minimum wage, and suspend the California Environmental Quality Act. The candidate, who is black, said in one appearance that an argument could be made in favor of reparations for slave owners whose legal “property” was taken from them after the Civil War.

  Jenner is running as anti-regulation and anti-tax. Interestingly she is not on the side of trans sexual women like herself competing in women’s sports. “Biological boys should not be allowed to participate in girls’ sports,” she says. After all, she’s a conservative. 

  Angelyne’s platform says she would have an annual masquerade ball “for people to dress up like a governor!” 

  Voters will be asked just two questions on the recall ballot: First, “yes” or “no” on whether to recall Newsom. Second, who should replace him.

  This morning, Newsom has majority approval in the polls, an average of 60 percent wanting to keep him. If he gets it at the ballot box,  he remains in office.   

  But here’s where California’s recall law reads as if it was written by stoners. If 51 percent elect to remove Newsom, the replacement candidate with the most votes becomes governor. Then in all likelihood, Larry Elder with 30 percent or less would replace Newsom. It’s not politics, and it’s not just California. It’s that part of America that has escaped the gravity of facts and sense.