Donald Trump will make his first visit to California as president next week, according to a briefing by White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Wednesday.
Trump’s visit will come in the midst of a “war” — to quote Governor Jerry Brown — between the State of California and the federal government over the constitutionality of the Golden State’s “sanctuary state” statutes.
On Tuesday, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit in federal court in Sacramento targeting three laws: the Immigrant Worker Protection Act (HB 450), the Inspection and Review of Facilities Housing Federal Detainees law (AB 103); and the California Values Act (SB 54).
Attorney General Jeff Sessions traveled to Sacramento for the occasion, and told a gathering of law enforcement officers the next morning: “There is no nullification. There is no secession. Federal law is ‘the supreme law of the land.’ I would invite any doubters to Gettysburg, and to the graves of John C. Calhoun and Abraham Lincoln.”
Brown and other California Democrats were apoplectic.
Trump has avoided California thus far, even though he visited frequently during the 2015-16 presidential primary to hold rallies and to raise money. He appeared less often during the general election, as it became clear that Hillary Clinton would win the state, and after his supporters were beaten and abused outside a San Jose rally in June 2016.
President Trump is the first president not to visit California in his first year in office since Dwight D. Eisenhower.
He will be making a special trip to the San Diego area to inspect the eight border wall prototypes that have been constructed in Otay Mesa.
Trump will also be traveling to Beverly Hills, where he owns a home, to attend a high-dollar Republican fundraiser, where tickets will cost $250,000 apiece.
The Sacramento Bee and the Fresno Bee reported rumors that Trump will make a stop in the Fresno area as well.
California has styled itself as the epicenter of the self-described “resistance” to Trump, both in protest and policy.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He was named to Forward’s 50 “most influential” Jews in 2017. He is the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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