Gavin Newsom blasts Trump and Bessent as ‘dumb and dumber’ while unveiling $350 billion state budget

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday proposed a revised budget without a deficit for his last year of office and the next, laying out a $350 billion spending plan that includes little new spending but also avoids major cuts. Newsom is eager to safeguard programs that have defined his tenure as the leader of the nation’s most populous state and one of the world’s largest economies. As he gears up for a possible presidential run in 2028, the Democrat is promoting the budget as fiscally responsible, saying it protects California’s values but also builds up the state’s rainy day funds — a pointed rebuke to critics who say the state spends more than it has. The state’s spending has grown more than $100 billion since 2020, according to legislative budget analysts. “We’re cutting deficits. But we’re not cutting corners,” Newsom said. Newsom can’t seek a third term and will leave office in January. Revenues, driven mostly by the booming stock market and the artificial intelligence industry, are $16.5 billion higher than projections in January. That will help the state avoid a $2.9 billion deficit projected in January, guarantee no budget hole next year and cut the shortfall the following year in half, his office said. Newsom also wants to set aside $9.7 billion in a holding account to help balance future budgets. California faced tens of billions of dollars in budget deficits several years in a row, forcing painful cuts last year such as a rollback on a promise to provide free healthcare to low-income immigrants without legal status. Nonpartisan budget analysts previously projected the state will see budget holes upward of $20 billion each year in the next few years. Newsom and the analysts sometimes differ in their estimations. Still, Democrats are bracing for federal funding cuts in healthcare and the impacts of high costs on everything from gas to energy because of the war in Iran. State officials repeatedly have said California can’t backfill all t