And the games begin.

They are still counting ballots throughout California and Gov. Gavin Newsom has made his next move in the political chess game to win the White House in 2028.

Newsom on Thursday issued a proclamation for a special session of the California Legislature to convene Dec. 2.

Its stated purpose: To preserve civil rights and secure the ability for his office to sue the Trump administration 49 days before the duly elected president takes the oath of office.

To quote the governor, ‘“The freedoms we hold dear in California are under attack — and we won’t be idle.”

It dovetails nicely into a statement by California’s Attorney General Ron Bonta who signaled he was revving up the state’s small army of standing lawyers to sue the Trump administration to hell and back.

“In California, we will choose calm over chaos, fact over fiction, belonging over blame,” Bonta noted.

Too bad the attorney general did not choose calm over chaos when Palestinian demonstrators were usurping the freedom of travel on state highways and freeways.

In terms of fact over fiction, one does not have to look too far for laws passed in California that weren’t based on reality instead of fiction.

The banning of single use plastic shopping bags to reduce plastic from being buried at landfills was one of many whoppers. Instead of cutting per capita burying of plastic bags, it skyrocketed.

As far as belonging over blame, if that is a reference to efforts to turn California into a de facto sanctuary state, the attorney general is severely misreading the room.

This is not to say there are things the Trump administration will try to do that could be detrimental to the vast majority of Californians such as rolling back air quality standards that the federal government has allowed due to this state’s unique geography.

If you believe, however, the special session isn’t aimed at social issues that have been twisted every way imaginable, send me $25 via Venmo and I’ll send you the deed to Golden Gate Park.

The rights California has legally entrenched that half the nation uses as political punching bags, aren’t going anywhere. Even many people who reside in California and are basically hardcore Republicans support them.

Trump, whether you like the position or not, does not believe abortion is an issue that the federal government should control.

He takes credit for making the overturning of Roe v. Wade possible and then paints a picture that projects he is not against abortion by saying it is up to states to decide.

And on Tuesday, where abortion was on the ballot in various blue, red, and purple states — except Florida — voters adopted California style reproductive rights protections.

The big threat, of course, is if the federal government blocks federal funding for programs that states can adopt and enforce positions on when it comes to things like transgender surgery.

It isn’t in reality about actual rights being jeopardized per se, but the ability of individuals that need funding to accomplish specific objectives using federal tax dollars. 

When all the smoke is blown away, the real concern is about the money that is, or is not available, from the federal government to individuals within each state to exercise rights afforded to them by that state.

This, of course, begs a serious debate about whether there needs to be alignments in the Bill of Rights that reflect the fact people travel —— and move — much easier and do so more often today between states than they did back in 1791 when the Bill of Rights was adopted.

The ability to move and to do so much easier, quicker, and multiple times from one state to another could have been a factor in Tuesday’s election.

California, since the 2020 presidential election, has lost more than 700,00 residents to other states. The top two states for California expatriates since 2020 were Nevada with 120,000 and Arizona with 94,000.

Keep in mind, the actual population loss was due less to immigration and birth rates as well as residents of other states moving to California.

That said, toddlers and immigrants that don’t become naturalized citizens don’t vote. The odds of any foreign immigrants to California since 2020 gaining citizenship status is virtually zilch.

Those fleeing so-called “blue states” — California, New York, Illinois, etc. — tend to move primarily to “red states.”

Those red states tend to have lower taxes, lower cost of living, and less overall government regulation. 

That said, there are blue — or at least purple states — that offer less taxing, lower housing costs, and less government than California.

As such, the “red” movement is slowly but surely eroding blue influence elsewhere.

It has manifested itself in terms of slow political glacial movement by the shifting of electoral college votes. 

California, New York, and Illinois where among the states losing one electoral college vote apiece.

The odds are California expatriates vote more conservative even though they likely hold values on social issues that are likely more liberal than their new neighbors 

Then there are more than a few signs among Californians who stayed put who are no longer embracing some progressive goals such as how crime is addressed.

Newsom, regardless of what you think of him, is a smart man.

Trump’s defeat of Kamala Harris opened the door for Newsom to seek the Democratic nomination for president in 2028.

But it also showed the mood of a lot of voters aren’t in line with all of the progressive policies Newsom has emerged as the leading champion.

The governor said within hours of it being clear who won the election, that he would guard against what he perceived as Trump’s darkest tendencies promising to prevent him from crossing the line.

Rest assured it’s not the only line Newsom is worried about.

It is clear how he governs California for the next two years and the degree of his political rhetoric is critical to successfully navigating the path to the White House.

Newsom needs to become more moderate without irking progressives.

It should be an interesting 789 days in Sacramento.

 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