CNN host Fareed Zakaria — not exactly a charter member of the MAGA fan club — just took a blowtorch to California's one-party Democratic rule and called it exactly what it is: a disaster. On his June 14 broadcast of Fareed Zakaria GPS, the network's most cerebral globalist laid out a case against the Golden State so devastating that even Governor Gavin Newsom's hair gel probably started sweating.
When your own team calls you a failure, you ARE a failure.
Zakaria said California "is a case study in how a rich society can spend more and more while producing less and less of what its ordinary citizens need." He called it "a successful economy attached to a failing model of governance." That's not Sean Hannity talking. That's CNN.
The numbers are brutal, and Zakaria actually used them. California's population has grown roughly 15% since 2000. State expenditures? Up 200% — from $78 billion to a jaw-dropping $248 billion. Zakaria posed the question nobody in Sacramento wants to answer: "Does anyone think that California government and its benefits have gotten 200 percent better in the last 25 years?"
Spoiler alert: they haven't. Not even close.
The state's unemployment rate sits at 5.3% as of April 2026. Zero net job growth since the 2020 pandemic. Over one million Californians are jobless, according to a January report. But sure, keep lecturing the rest of us about how progressive governance is the future.
Zakaria delivered the kill shot with a line that should be tattooed on every Sacramento politician's forehead: "California has long spoken the language of compassion while building a system of exclusion." He even broadened the indictment beyond the Golden State, posting that "blue cities are out of control, promising more, spending more, delivering less."
As CalMatters columnist Dan Walters has documented, the spending-to-results ratio in California is an embarrassment. And now CNN is saying it out loud. Not Fox News. Not Breitbart. CNN.
Meanwhile, the political chaos in California's neighboring blue strongholds tells the same story. TV personality Spencer Pratt is running for Los Angeles mayor. Former Fox News host Steve Hilton is contending for California governor. When reality TV stars and cable news refugees look at your state and think "I could do better," you've hit rock bottom.
Zakaria's segment is a rare moment of honesty from a network that usually treats Democratic governance like a religion. When the high priest starts questioning the faith, the congregation has a problem.
CNN said it, not us. California under one-party Democrat rule is a failed state wearing a very expensive suit.