Newsom Posts Video With High Speed Rail Update
Sometimes the only responsible thing to do is state the obvious: the emperor has no clothes. On Tuesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom offered a near-perfect case study in that old parable as he staged a victory lap for the state’s high-speed rail project—a project that has already consumed at least $12 billion, is projected to require well over $120 billion more, and has been under construction for more than a decade without producing anything resembling a functional bullet train.
We’ve taken another critical step in the track-laying stage for California’s @CaHSRA high-speed rail! pic.twitter.com/qVYw7eJQbn
— Governor Gavin Newsom (@CAgovernor) February 4, 2026
The problem with the celebration was not merely the staggering cost overruns or the endless delays. It was the visual itself. Newsom posed confidently in front of a train and declared progress, but the train behind him was not a sleek, high-speed marvel of modern engineering. It was a conventional diesel freight train. There is no bullet train. There is no completed track carrying passengers at high speed. There is, however, a carefully choreographed photo-op meant to suggest momentum where very little exists.
Gavin’s big reveal… NOTHING‼️
Not a single high-speed track is installed for Gavin Newsom’s TRAIN TO NOWHERE. A monstrous $135 BILLION price tag. And federal taxpayers spent $16 BILLION, for nothing.
Best of luck with your boondoggle @CAgovernor, but federal taxpayers aren’t… https://t.co/LUa3xmJifN
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) February 5, 2026
Critics wasted no time pointing this out. Assemblymember Alexandra Macedo, who represents parts of the Central Valley most affected by the project, summed it up bluntly: a governor standing in front of a freight train insisting “it’s coming” does not make it so. The per-mile cost of the Central Valley route alone now hovers around an astonishing $215 million, a figure that would be laughable if it were not so alarming. Newsom’s visit to Kern County was framed as a celebration of a railhead facility, described as a “critical step” toward track-laying, but Californians have heard variations of this line for years.
We won. Federal funding for the CA High-Speed Rail catastrophe has officially been terminated. pic.twitter.com/TGeD2VfGxk
— Rep. Kevin Kiley (@RepKiley) July 17, 2025
The skepticism is earned. This is the same political figure who once promised to solve homelessness in San Francisco, a pledge that collapsed under the weight of reality. Now, federal officials are openly distancing themselves from the rail project. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy made clear that federal taxpayers are no longer on the hook, and the Trump administration, backed by Republicans in Congress, has pulled more than $4 billion in funding. Senator Rick Scott added what many were already thinking: no amount of smiling changes the fact that there is still no there there.
After 10 years and a $135 billion price tag of wasteful spending for taxpayers, @CAgovernor is standing in front of a freight train that’s not moving and touting his high-speed rail scam as a success. (Note: actual high-speed rail tracks are nowhere to be found in the video.)… https://t.co/7cQNRxYA3o
— Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) February 4, 2026
Mockery comes easily in this case, but the stakes are higher than a viral moment. Early polling places Newsom among the leading Democratic contenders for 2028, and his polish alone may be enough to eclipse rivals like Kamala Harris. That is precisely why this episode matters. The high-speed rail project is not a trivial embarrassment; it is a distillation of Newsom’s governing record—grand promises, breathtaking sums of money, and results that never quite arrive.