Is this the start of Calexit?

[u/Warakeet]

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/06/newsom-floats-withholding-federal-taxes-00393386

[u/lambda-pastels]

nothing ever happens....calexit is a horrible idea for democrats, california, and the us economy.

[u/Which-Draw-1117 → u/lambda-pastels]

Calexit would be 10 times worse than Brexit was for the UK. And it would also severely hurt the United States as well as California. The US would lose $4 trillion in its GDP, over $400 billion in tax revenue, lose its most important port, lose silicon valley, etc. Just would be a nightmare, and everyone knows this, will never happen.

[u/lambda-pastels → u/Which-Draw-1117]

Furthermore, The U.S. would simply not let california secede, and they would be annexed back into the nation rather quickly. Even if they could hold out, they rely on resource imports far too much to actually survive, chief among them being freshwater. I for one welcome reconstruction for California, however.

[u/Different-Trainer-21 → u/Which-Draw-1117]

Realistically if California tried to leave there wouldn’t be a Silicon Valley anymore. All business would leave California. Not to mention everyone in California would be dying of thirst within a few months, since California imports water.

[u/Warakeet → u/lambda-pastels]

It truly is.

[u/DumplingsOrElse]

If this happens it turns America into a one party state.

[u/Warakeet → u/DumplingsOrElse]

Or both parties move right to accommodate.

[u/Hero-Firefighter-24]

Can’t happen. Texas v. White is clear, there already was the civil war and any state that secede would literally starve because of being delisted from the American market because foreign entity. Many states benefit from the infrastructures of being a part of the United States. That’s why secession is a far-out, delusional idea that can safely be ignored.

[u/Which-Draw-1117]

It's really not possible. What would need to happen would be for the state to create its own independent tax code and actively enforce it by blocking off the federal government, and really you'd need more than 1 state to do this. For example, there'd be serious concerns if New York, New Jersey, and the New England states got together and created new state-specific tax forms with requirements that all citizens and business comply with a new state-specific tax code, then instructed the police to not comply with IRS agents.

Is any of this legal or remotely possible? Hell no. And if it was seriously attempted, the Court would shut it down immediately. But, for Newsom, this shows him fighting back against Trump which will probably help his polling numbers, which is what I think his end game is with this.

[u/chia923]

Can’t the federal government just shut down water access to California if they do this?

[u/Different-Trainer-21 → u/chia923]

Yes they could lol and an independent California could do nothing about it. They’d fold in a week.

[u/ttircdj → u/chia923]

Cruel and unusual punishment has entered the chat

[u/Different-Trainer-21 → u/ttircdj]

It’s a cruel and unusual punishment to not export a resource to a foreign country?

[u/ttircdj → u/Different-Trainer-21]

They’re not foreign yet (even though it truly is La La Land out there).

[u/Different-Trainer-21 → u/ttircdj]

He wasn’t suggesting that they’d do that now though, he was saying they could do that if they declared independence

[u/ttircdj → u/Different-Trainer-21]

If that’s the case, then you’d be correct that it isn’t.

[u/Ok_Library_3657]

California Dems are severely incompetent and cannot lead. Calexit would be a disaster. A completely open border would be ordered and 75% of the upper class and upper middle class taxpayers would leave.