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Team Newsom and the Governor Are Big, Fat Liars Again – This Time About the Marines

By NEWS COMMENTARY

California Governor Gavin Newsom’s communications team — better described as his coms-clowns — are in full meltdown mode over a routine “live fire” exercise at Camp Pendleton. You’d think they’d never seen Marines train before.

They’re making a huge spectacle of it, spinning wild claims that the exercise was somehow meant as an “act of intimidation.” Their evidence? It happened to fall on the same day — Saturday, October 18 — that a motley crew of disaffected hippies, unemployed actors, and professional agitators were busy parading around in their “No Kings” cosplay protests.

You be the judge: was the military doing its job, or did Newsom’s PR team just need another distraction from his collapsing state? My money’s on the latter.

Then on Saturday morning, Newsom ordered the road closed after experts advised it.

But today, despite the WH’s claims and lack of transparency, California traffic and public safety experts have recommended temporarily closing the freeway to best protect the public.

And now the White House is being fact-checked by Grok, the latest Pentagon approved AI tool.

Today’s outburst from Gavin Newsom’s team is just the latest in a long line of false narratives they churn out daily — and, unfortunately, his followers lap them up every time. This is yet another Chicken Little moment — a manufactured panic designed to scare the easily scared.

For anyone unfamiliar with Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, it’s a massive installation that spans both sides of Interstate 5. About 95 percent of it lies east of the highway, with the Pacific Ocean to the west and rugged training terrain to the east. I’ve been there; as a young Navy corpsman, the combat portion of field medical school is held there and taught largely by senior Navy and Marine enlisted personnel. You’ll often hear the pop of artillery or catch sight of amphibious landing drills, which is beyond cool.

That’s not intimidation — it’s the sound of America’s military staying sharp. For those of us who aren’t afraid of our own voices, it’s just a quick, awe-inspiring reminder that the Marines are out there training to defend the country.

The New York Times published an article on October 18, 2025, which Newsom’s communications team read the day before. In part, the article states:

To prepare for Saturday’s event, artillery rounds from M777 howitzers were fired from Red Beach east over Interstate 5 on Friday evening as a test run, said Capt. Gregory Dreibelbis, a spokesman for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, which is based at Camp Pendleton. Vehicular traffic along the interstate was not closed off while the artillery guns were firing, he said in a statement.

“M777 artillery pieces have historically been fired during routine training from land-based artillery firing points west of I-5 into impact areas east of the interstate within existing safety protocols and without the need to close the route,” Capt. Dreibelbis said. He called the test firings an “established and safe practice” as a rehearsal for Saturday’s event.

The shells fired by M777 howitzers, which are about six inches in diameter and two feet long, typically weigh about 90 pounds and can be fired at targets more than 15 miles away.

Marine officials did not disclose whether the shells fired Friday were high-explosive rounds, or inert practice projectiles often used for military training.

The Federal Aviation Administration has issued what it calls notices to airmen during the vice president’s visit, closing some of the airspace near Camp Pendleton while he is expected to be there. Amtrak, which runs the Pacific Surfliner train near the stretch of interstate in question, has canceled rail service in the area from noon to 3 p.m. Pacific time on Saturday.

When Marines conduct live-fire exercises near the freeway, they don’t just shoot blindly into the horizon — they have trained safety officers coordinating every shot, ensuring the range is clear before firing. No one driving down I-5 is in danger. This is basic Marine Corps procedure, and it’s been that way for decades.

Of course, that didn’t stop Gavin Newsom from trying to spin it into his latest fearmongering stunt. You’ll notice he didn’t even bother linking the original article in his X post — easier to rile up the base when you skip the facts. These exercises have been going on for years without so much as a peep from Sacramento, but now, suddenly, it’s a national emergency because a few Marines are training while his “No Kings” crowd is marching? Please.

Once again, Newsom’s PR squad is lying by innuendo to score cheap political points.

Let me wrap this up with two quick points. First — and this really says it all — the New York Times article that kicked off this whole fiasco apparently needed three writers. Three! And yet, not one of them seemed to know the first thing about Camp Pendleton or the Marine Corps.

How do I know? Because an early version of their story — the same one Newsom’s team circulated last Friday — actually referred to Basilone Road (named after legendary World War II Medal of Honor recipient John Basilone) as “Baseline Road.”

Sure, it was a “small mistake,” and yes, the New York Times quietly issued a correction at the end of the article—but it still rankles.

John Basilone wasn’t just another Marine. He earned his Medal of Honor on Guadalcanal, then got pulled from the front lines for a War Bonds tour he absolutely hated. He begged to go back to his men. The Corps finally let him—and he died on Iwo Jima doing what he loved: leading Marines into battle.

Every time I drive past that Basilone Road sign, I think of him. Apparently, not one of the three writers or multiple editors at the New York Times could be bothered to do the same. They didn’t even know the road’s name honored a Marine hero. It’s par for the course with this crowd—just like no one in Newsom’s comms office can be bothered with facts before lighting their next outrage fire.

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