Last month, California Governor Gavin Newsom gave a forceful State of the State speech in which he blasted chronic right-wing California bashing as “delusional,” stating “the California way of life is under attack.” 

Anti-California stereotyping is hardly new. The “land of fruits and nuts” has often been a target of conservative derision. Previously, that derision tended to focus on cultural issues like the hippie and free love movements or the supposedly out-of-control crime that was a staple of movies like Dirty Harry and shows like The Streets of San Francisco.

While this past criticism could be seen as a natural backlash to California-led social change, or the belated realization that California cities are real cities after all and not mythical places where dreams always come true, this latest version of California hate feels far more sinister.

Instead of fruits and nuts, the current stereotyping utilizes the dehumanizing rhetoric historically used by Nazis in Germany and their counterparts in the US. Today’s tropes regularly describe San Francisco as covered in feces and Los Angeles as infested with rats and other vermin. California in general is described as being overrun with “dirty” or “diseased” migrants from “shit hole” countries forcing out “normal” people. 

Nazis, white supremacists, and others use this type of rhetoric because it works. Associating people and places with disgusting things elicits a deep response in the brainstem that triggers both reflexive avoidance and intense animosity. Disgusting stimuli also shut down much of the cerebral cortex where critical thinking takes place, thereby clearing the path for a fight-or-flight response.

What’s caused this very dark turn in anti-Californian rhetoric? Governor Newsom argues it’s because of who Californians are and what we have achieved. Hyper-diverse California has become an economic and cultural global powerhouse, and that undermines everything Red State MAGA says and stands for. 

What makes today’s California bashing so alarming is that dehumanizing rhetoric is often the planned precursor to political violence. Given regular right wing invocation of “Second Amendment” solutions, it’s hard not to see anti-California propaganda in any other light, especially if they portray Californians as an existential threat.

With Kamala Harris, California’s former Attorney General, as the Democratic Presidential candidate, it’s hard not to believe that anti-California propaganda will only get darker and more widespread. While the Governor seems aware of the danger, the question remains: Is California ready for the onslaught?