Recall election won’t save California’s Republican Party. Neither will beasts or bears
When men of a certain age need to feel virile again, they typically acquire sports cars, mistresses, motorcycles or hair.
John Cox got himself a bus — and a bear.
The Republican gubernatorial candidate, who Gov. Gavin Newsom mauled in the 2018 race by winning 61.9% of the vote, rolled into Sacramento on Tuesday with a new bus and a 1,000-pound Kodiak bear.
The creature paced the pavement and munched tiny vanilla sandwich cookies tossed by handlers. The bus, emblazoned with a picture of Cox and the bear — along with the phrase “Meet the Beast” — served as the backdrop for a press conference during which Cox did his best to use the word “beast” as often as possible.
“It’s a choice between beauty and the beast,” said Cox, 65, after attacking Newsom’s record on everything from homelessness to wildfires. “Well, we’ve seen what the beauty has done. It’s time to unleash the beast.”
“If we want to come together and want to achieve solutions, we’re gonna have to be a beast to do it,” declared the former accountant at another point.
After Tuesday’s surreal spectacle, it seems clear that bears and beasts must poll higher than Republicans in California these days. Sure, the bear’s presence enabled a successful publicity stunt that attracted at least three television cameras and over a dozen reporters to Cox’s press conference at Miller Regional Park. Yet Cox is clearly trying to swathe himself in animal magnetism and big bear energy. It seems like overcompensation for whatever his pollsters and focus groups find lacking in his image.
My guess: Voters don’t see Cox, a perennial loser, as a tough politician who can beat the guy who thoroughly trounced him three years ago.
Losing a race by more than 10 points is generally considered a kiss of death in politics. It’s hard for a candidate who lost by nearly 24 points to look strong. This explains why Cox brought a bear along for the ride — and why he’s so fixated on the word “beast.”
It provides Cox with a clever substitute for another word he simply can’t say in California politics: Trump. By disparaging Newsom as a “pretty boy” and depicting himself as a man in league with all things bestial, Cox is clearly trying to tap into Trumpian energy without uttering the dreaded name.
Cox needs support from Trump voters in order to win the primary but he can’t afford to alienate the majority of California voters by overtly aligning himself with the disgraced former president, who traveled around in an armored limo nicknamed “The Beast.”
When asked by reporters whether he’d welcome a Trump endorsement, Cox danced around the question like a circus Baloo. Yet his attempt to portray himself as a toxic, name-calling macho — unafraid to speak his mind while standing beside a tame bear with a sweet tooth — said everything. In a campaign where he’s being overshadowed by a C-list celebrity named Caitlyn Jenner, Cox wishes to be seen as the candidate of claws, fangs, fur and testosterone.
It won’t work. Critters can make great political allies, but you need genuine chemistry. Former Gov. Jerry Brown famously exploited the charm of a Pembroke Welsh corgi named Sutter during his 2010 campaign and his subsequent governorship. The diminutive creature — which Brown once described as “half a rat” — provided a humorous counterpoint during a dark time and helped to soften the stony Jesuit edges of Brown’s personality.
Of course, Sutter was actually Brown’s beloved pet. They had a real connection and a true affection that humanized Brown. It’s hard to get the same effect with a rent-a-bear trucked in from Los Angeles. Animal rights supporters quickly pointed out the cruelty of lugging a wild animal to Sacramento for a political stunt.
If Cox wanted to look like a strongman, he should have left the bear in Hollywood. This animal was far from fierce. It was docile and defeated — encircled by what appeared to be a small electric fence as it begged treats from the handlers hired to keep its attention as Cox whinged about schools, fires, housing, homelessness droughts, businesses and natural gas.
Pro tip: Nobody cares what you say when there’s a half-ton omnivore lurking behind you.
It’s hard not to see the 2021 recall as anything other than a long, sad wake for the California Republican Party. A state party that once produced American presidents is now merely a platform for egomaniacal stunts by wealthy oddballs and aging porn stars. The party’s tilt toward Trumpism has weakened it to the point where it’s now little more than a political host for opportunistic infections.
Meanwhile, Democrats hold every statewide office and legislative supermajorities.
“John Cox had the worst performance for a California Republican candidate for Governor in a century in 2018,” said Republican consultant Mike Madrid on Twitter, noting that Cox also drew fewer votes than the serial candidate known as Vermin Supreme during a quixotic 2008 presidential bid.
Some faraway observers depict the recall as a good thing for Republicans — a lucky break, a chance for the GOP to maybe finally score a win in deep-blue California. After Tuesday, however, it should be quite clear to everyone that the California GOP’s outlook is terminally bearish.
This story was originally published May 5, 2021 at 5:00 AM.