Steve Hilton sounds a lot like Donald Trump — but with a British accent | Opinion
Republican Steve Hilton wants to be California’s next governor, and based on current polls and the intransigence of Democrats who refuse to drop out of the crowded race, there is a decent chance he could succeed.
Hilton, 56, is a younger, more polished, far more articulate version of President Donald Trump — only with a British accent. (He was born in Britain, worked for Prime Minister David Cameron, moved to the U.S. and worked for a time for Fox News.)
Like Trump, Hilton is prone to making extravagant promises that include slashing the bloated state budget. One political writer compared Hilton’s approach to the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, that Trump set up and entrusted to billionaire Elon Musk, whose minions accessed and government systems and cut more than 30,000 federal jobs, terminated thousands of grants, canceled contracts and slashed key jobs in departments serving needy Americans.
“Governor DOGE,” sounds more than a little scary.
Hilton has even repurposed — AKA ripped off — Trump’s signature slogan: “Make America Great Again.”
His mantra is “Make California Golden Again.” But he really means “Make California Affordable Again,” even if you have to destroy everything that’s golden about it.
Hilton promises to bring gasoline down to $3 a gallon (he even hints that it could go as low as $2.50), to lower utility bills and to provide Californians with homes they can afford. And not just any homes — single-family homes.
He also is going to make sure that “100% of students meet state math and English standards.”
‘They call it sprawl. I call it the California dream’
How is he going to do all this?
By undoing the horrific policies of the “insane” Democrats.
Here he is on gas prices: “We are gonna basically end the climate crusade of the Democrats.... open up California gas production.” (In other words, drill baby drill.)
On electric rates: “The way we get electric bills down is to end the Democrats’ insane obsession with windmills and solar power, which is unreliable.... we’re going to end that, because again in California we have reserves of natural gas which we can use to generate electricity in an affordable way.”
On housing: “You’ve got environmental regulations... You’ve got restrictions on where you can build, They want everyone to live in apartments so they only let you build inside what is already developed. We can go out like we used to in California. They call is sprawl. I call it the California dream — a single-family home.”
On education: “I will not let the teacher unions, or anyone else, stand in the way of reaching a target that is surely the most basic expectation of a school system: that 100% of students meet basic standards.”
How would Hilton deal with a Democratic Legislature?
Like Trump, Hilton has self-confidence to spare.
Unlike Trump, if elected he would not have a Republican-controlled legislature willing to do his bidding — no matter how sketchy,
That could be tough, because Hilton is so focused on bashing Democrats that he has not figured out how to work with them in order to get what he wants.
Apparently, he’s going to take his cues from his preferred pick for lieutenant governor, former state Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero, who left the Democratic Party in 2024.
“She’s been incredibly helpful already, helping me understand how Sacramento works and doesn’t work,” Hilton told the Los Angeles Times. “When I’m the governor I will have to work with the Legislature. And one of the most important things that I see as a real benefit from having Gloria there with me is that she’s not just been in the Legislature, she’s led one of the chambers. She really understands how it works and still has relationships.”
There’s a problem with that: In California, the governor and lieutenant governor are elected separately, which means there is no guarantee Hilton would get his top choice.
Another problem: Hilton doesn’t just need schooling in how the California Legislature works. He needs to understand how California works.
Affordability is a pressing issue right now — as it is across the nation — but quality of life is also important.
The majority of Californians don’t want every last acre of open space paved over for single-family homes.
They want reasonable restrictions on oil production, and they don’t want to see more oil wells off the coast.
They don’t all believe that wind and solar energy are “insane.” (Interestingly, Texans seem to be of the same mind — last year, Texas led the nation in renewable energy production.)
And they don’t measure the success of education on test scores alone.
As appealing as Hilton’s promises may be — who doesn’t want lower taxes or cheaper electricity? — no governor has the power to single-handedly deliver on such extravagant promises, just as no president can.
It’s ridiculously easy to make promises during a campaign. It’s far harder to keep them.
That’s exactly why Democrats are worried that Hilton’s chances could be aided by too many Dems running for governor and splitting the vote to his advantage.
