EPISODE · Aug 5, 2026 · 1H 7M
Newsom's High-Speed Rail Contradiction, Explained
from California Underground: Your Sane Insight into California Politics · host California Underground
In 2024, Governor Newsom hired a new CEO to run California's high-speed rail and said the state would "begin to lay track, design and build stations, and buy trains." Two years later: the trainset procurement line in the state's own 2026 Business Plan is blank. No trains have been bought. We pull the paperwork.We also get into California's Democratic Party convention — where the party endorsed the billionaire tax on the November ballot after Newsom turned down a smaller deal that would have made the whole fight disappear, and where the same convention split labor unions against each other. And we break down what actually got a sitting Assembly Minority Leader removed by his own party this week — starting with 54 bar tabs at a dive bar that isn't in his district.No team. Just receipts.Follow California Underground and leave a review if this show helps you cut through the noise on California politics.Phil is also writing a book on California's political class, The Gilded State — more at www.thegildedstate.com
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Newsom's High-Speed Rail Contradiction, Explained
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