Every day like clock work, Tesla owned buses pull off the 120 Bypass at Main Street to drop off and pick up Manteca workers.

Similar stops take place in Salida and Modesto among a number of other places.

Those that board the buses are among 20,000 or so people working  in Elon Musk’s Fremont plant assembling Teslas.

The paychecks they earn help support 20,000 California families.

And if you are to believe the economic multiplier effect California applies to solid paying jobs, such as those made possible by Tesla in a state relatively devoid of manufacturing employment, each dollar earned that is brought back into the communities where their employees reside multiples seven times.

That ripple effect supports a lot of Californians.

But that doesn’t matter to Gavin Newsom.

The governor, despite his toss-a-bone to the San Joaquin Valley tour that took him to Fresno last week after the alarms went off Nov. 5 to dangle $120 million taxpayer dollars he wants the state to invest in a regional collaboration, doesn’t care about jobs.

Strike that.

He doesn’t care about jobs that have anything to do with President-Elect Donald Trump’s well-heeled campaign donors.

And it doesn’t matter if they reek of his favorite color, green.

If they lack a bluish green tint he apparently doesn’t want them.

Newsom, after making it clear he would work to review the state tax credit for electric vehicle purchases if Trump goes through with his plan to kill the federal $7,500 EV tax credit, let it get out that Tesla vehicles likely would be excluded.

It’s all about Newsom’s plan to Trump proof California and protect what he calls “our California values.”

Apparently such values exclude Californians whose boss does not tow the correct politically correct line that Newsom walks.

Inflicting economic pain on 20,000 Californians is all about Newsom playing national politics to position himself as a leader of the Resistance 2.0.

And if along the way it gets him a step closer to moving into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue on Jan. 20, 2028, all the much better.

The governor could officially start his crusade in earnest to undermine 20,000 California jobs when the legislature meets in a special session that he called to take place starting Monday, Dec. 2.

On the agenda is reviving the California Clean Vehicle Rebate Program that ended in 2023.

The state doled out $1.49 billion to underwrite state tax credits for the purchasers of 544,000 EVs.

Keep in mind two things:

The overwhelming majority of Californian households than can afford EVs are at least relatively comfortable financially.

And the money to pay for the state tax credits came from clean air “fees” slapped on oil refineries by Sacramento that are collapsed into the price of gas that consumers pay.

Consumers that include blue collar California Tesla workers that drive to Fremont if they can’t catch a bus or at least drive to pickup points and use gas-powered cars to do the things a typical family does using a car.

You will hear a lot of mumbo-jumbo about market share if Newsom or his allies follow through on what looks like retribution for Musk’s political views.

The approach used in the initial state tax credit program was to limit how many EVs manufactured by Company X could cash in on.

The idea was to encourage EV production across the auto industry.

You will also hear defenders of Newsom’s plan to exclude — or even cap —Tesla in a bid to revive the tax credit reference Musk’s comments made in July about Trump’s plan to drop the federal tax credit.

Musk said it would hurt Tesla in the short run but not as much of his competitors who aren’t as well positioned in the EV market. As such, once the dust settles it will work to Tesla’s advantage.

Wall Street analysts agree.

It may come across as why is Musk whining about today now that Newsom wants to replace  the federal tax credit with a state version aimed exclusively at Californians.

There are a few glaring differences:

Dropping the federal tax credit means no manufacturer benefits from Uncle Sam’s largeness.

Newsom’s plan would not be a level playing field when it comes to government interference in the market as he wants to craft to punish Tesla.

Fremont, in case Newsom hasn’t noticed, is in California and not Florida.

Sacramento would be using taxes Californians pay at the pump to put the only California automobile manufacturer and the in-state jobs it supports at a clear market disadvantage.

Given California is by far the largest market in the United States for EV sales, it would have a significant impact on Tesla.

Perhaps making all of this all the more bizarre is the glaring hypocrisy of Newsom, who likes to fancy himself as the man fighting for struggling Californians.

That’s the image he’s promoting after a large chunk of Californians voted with their pocketbooks on Nov. 5.

Although Kamala Harris carried California, a large number of counties away from the coast ended up in Trump’s column.

That included San Joaquin County, which hasn’t gone Republican since 2024.

It is why he made a “rare” trip into the San Joaquin Valley as his first public appearance after the election.

That’a “rare” because he arguably has spent less time in the San Joaquin Valley as governor than he has in China. Keep that little tidbit in mind.

Newsom’s Nov. 22 appearance in Fresno was to talk up his California First Jobs Initiative.

That’s when he announced the $120 million investment in regional jobs.

Newsom bragged that the funding was part of a statewide effort to “leave no region behind.”

Too bad he doesn’t feel the need to support existing jobs when doling out tax dollars.

They are jobs, by the way, that are threatened by China.

And BYD, this is not a stretch.

No that was not meant to be BTW, which is shorthand for “by the way.”

BYD is the Chinese firm that overtook Tesla earlier this year as the world’s largest EV manufacturer.

While the United States is trying to use tariffs et al to keep them out of the 50 states when it comes to selling their cars, they are going after Tesla elsewhere.

As such, it is a threat to California jobs that part of the “green jobs” Newsom for years said are key to the Golden State’s future.

Perhaps if Newsom was as enamored with Fresno as he is with China and doesn’t dream of being serenaded daily to the strands of “Hail to the Chief”, he wouldn’t be so eager to undermine the livelihood of 20,000 Californians.

This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com