Larry Elder thinks he can govern California from Twitter. Trump tried that and failed

Over the last few weeks, Californians have gotten a glimpse of what life would be like under the Larry Elder administration, and it’s not pretty. He’s been opaque, unresponsive, afraid of debates and unwilling to answer basic questions.

After interviews with McClatchy and the Los Angeles Times, the Republican gubernatorial recall challenger has been largely inaccessible to media outlets that don’t give him preferential treatment. Most of Elder’s one-on-one interviews are with conservative radio hosts, Fox News and One America News Network.

Last week, during his first press conference of the campaign, Elder only took questions from Chinese American news outlets. The first question went to Sound of Hope, which has ties to The Epoch Times where Elder has a TV show and creates weekly video content.

He canceled interviews with Politico twice without an explanation, according to tweets from their California-based journalists.

Elder has also declined offers to participate in every single Republican debate and test his ideas against other recall challengers.

Frankly, Elder seems more interested in using his bully pulpit to govern on social media rather than face the voters. Elder has no respect for the level of transparency and accountability that’s expected as the chief executive for California’s 40 million residents.

The latest example came this week. On Monday, Ying Ma, communications director for Elder’s gubernatorial recall campaign, said on Twitter that the campaign was revoking The Sacramento Bee’s access. She accused The Bee — the capital city’s paper of record — of “the finest media bias, incompetence, and self-delusion at work.”

Ma’s reasoning?

“At @sacbee_news’s invitation, @larryelder’s campaign had submitted answers to a voter guide,” she tweeted. “Sacramento Bee then proceeded to doctor our responses and publish without our permission. We have requested that the unauthorized answers be taken down, the Bee has refused.”

The Bee has a policy against attacking other candidates in a voter guide because the format doesn’t provide them an opportunity to respond, as a typical news story would. Additionally, the concept of the voter guide — an age-old offering from American newspapers — is to offer readers a glimpse of how a candidate would address the top issues.

After Elder answered The Bee’s questionnaire, Capitol Bureau Chief Adam Ashton emailed the campaign on Aug. 9, explaining the policy and offering a chance to revise his answers. Apparently, Elder wasn’t interested.

Elder’s campaign did not respond until Aug. 15, more than three days after the voter guide was published.

The other recall challengers adhered to the rules. The fact that Elder would rather pick a public fight with The Bee says a lot about the kind of governor he would be.

This is about more than one newspaper’s access to Elder. His recent behavior, ducking debates and limiting interviews to only sympathetic questioners, shows his disdain for transparency. Elder doesn’t seem to care about his core responsibilities to California voters.

The stakes of this recall election are monumental. California needs a governor who is equipped to handle COVID recovery, wildfires, drought and a homeless crisis — not a partisan hack who shies from a challenge.

Elder appears more interested in governing on Twitter and pandering to his right-wing base, rather than showing up for the job, in the real world, where tough questions and transparency come with the territory.

Donald Trump tried that approach as president and failed spectacularly.