Something about a bankrupt home goods store calling out the Golden State has left Californiaâs political elite scramblingâand the chaos might be exactly what weâve come to expect from a state that treats job creators like enemies.
Bed Bath & Beyond, or rather its newly rebranded parent company, just made a move that sent shockwaves through the liberal establishment: it publicly declared that it has zero interest in doing business in California ever again. Not now, not later. Not even for appearances.
The statement came straight from CEO Marcus Lemonis, who didnât bother with corporate fluff or political tightrope-walking. His words were blunt: California is simply too overregulated, too expensive, and too hostile for any sane business to operate in. No stores. No leases. No plan to ever return.
And itâs not hard to see why. Lemonis laid it all outâcrushing taxes, mandated wage hikes, and an endless thicket of regulations that make it nearly impossible to employ workers or serve customers without losing your shirt. For a company trying to rebuild after bankruptcy, the math just doesnât add up in the Golden State. So theyâre out.
Rather than address the legitimate concerns from a national brand, Governor Gavin Newsom chose the only move left in his increasingly shallow playbook: mockery. With the finesse of a moody teenager, Newsom jumped on X and posted a snide one-liner dismissing the company entirely. âThe company that already went bankrupt and closed every store across the country two years ago? Ok.â Thatâs it. Thatâs the leadership. Sarcasm and eye-rolling in the face of economic decline.
But not everyone in California Politics is playing along with the governorâs smug dismissal. San Jose Mayor Matt Mahanâalso a Democratâseemed to recognize that when a company with name recognition publicly blacklists your state, maybe itâs time to start listening. Mahan called the situation âseriousâ and said California needs to stop shooting itself in the foot. He even had the nerve to suggest that cities like his are trying to clean up the mess Sacramento keeps making. That was enough to trigger Newsomâs communications team into full attack mode.
Izzy Gardon, the governorâs spokesperson, fired back with an insult so sharp it bordered on personal. He said the company was just seeking attention and accused Mahan of falling for a PR stunt. Then, to drive the knife deeper, he reminded everyone that San Jose ranks 99th out of 100 major U.S. cities for business climateâjust one step above Washington, D.C. And yes, he brought the receipts in the form of a screenshot. Because thatâs what California leadership has been reduced to: trolling their own mayors with headlines and Twitter dunks while the rest of the country watches jobs and companies flee the state.
This isnât just an embarrassing episode between political rivals. Itâs a window into a state government unraveling under the weight of its own arrogance. Newsom, who once styled himself as the progressive torchbearer of the nation, is now reduced to clapping back at failed retailers while 1 million Californians remain out of work. He isnât fixing the systemâheâs circling the drain, unable or unwilling to confront the ugly reality that businesses are sick of being strangled by Californiaâs tax-happy, regulation-obsessed bureaucracy.
The cracks are getting harder to paper over. This isnât a one-off incident. Itâs part of a broader trend: companies leaving, voters getting fed up, and even fellow Democrats beginning to distance themselves from the stateâs economic policies. When mayors have to publicly challenge their own governor just to defend job creators, you know the wheels are coming off.
The truth? Newsomâs house of cards is wobbling. Fast. And no amount of smug social media posts is going to stop the slow-motion economic exodus.
The post Bed, Bath, and Beyond CEO Responds To Newsomâs Social Media Post appeared first on Red Right Patriot.