Eric Ting, SFGATE

Allies to Gov. Gavin Newsom are working hard to link the ongoing recall efforts to last week's riots at the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to save a governor facing public fury over his handling of the pandemic.

Throughout the recall process, Newsom allies have worked to tie the recall to President Donald Trump — a politically toxic figure in California — and during a Tuesday press conference, California Democratic Party chair Rusty Hicks and other state Democrats went as far to call the recall a "California coup."

Newly elected San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria also spoke at the press conference and said the recall is similar to the Capitol riots since it seeks to "overturn a democratic election."

Political reporters inside and outside California were quick to criticize the "coup" language.

"Agree or disagree with the recall effort, this branding seems bound to backfire," tweeted the Los Angeles Times' John Myers. "An attempt to recall an elected official in California is allowed under the state Constitution and the reason for the recall can be 100% political. Simply put: no one is forcibly removed from office."

"The more we collectively choose to use these kinds of words casually, the more they lose their effect," Myers continued. "Newsom faces a political challenge, not an insurrection."

"Evidence schmevidence," wrote the Chronicle's Dustin Gardiner. "California Democratic Party leaders gave no evidence to support their central claim that organizers of recall Newsom campaign are linked to attack on U.S. Capitol. [Hicks] says Proud Boys and anti-vaxxers supported both. That's not evidence."

"It’s absolutely insane to frame a recall where the voters go to the polls a coup," wrote New York Magazine and HuffPost contributor Yashar Ali. "That implies that the California elections don’t have integrity."

It was not hard to see this line of attack coming. Newsom spokesperson Dan Newman once called recall organizers "pro-Trump, anti-vaccine extremists," — a label the group strongly rejects.

Last week, the recall campaign condemned both the Capitol rioters as well as California Senate Minority Leader Shannon Grove after she shared a debunked conspiracy theory that antifa members were the ones responsible for the riots.

Recall campaign senior adviser Randy Economy characterized the attempts to link the recall to Trump as a cynical, ineffective ploy.

"We’ve had people come to our table, sign our petition, and then say right afterwards, 'Yeah! Now let’s go impeach Trump!'" he said last week. "We've got people who are very dissatisfied with Trump signing it, we have lifelong Democrats on our team who are frustrated with Newsom. Newsom has frustrated everyone in this state."

COVID-19 hospitalizations in the state are surging despite a strict stay-at-home order adopted in early December. The state is also lagging behind other states in administering vaccines, ranking 42nd out of 50 states in usage on Tuesday. Most schools in California are still not open even though in-person learning has resumed in other large blue states such as New York and Massachusetts.

Recall organizers last week said they've gathered more than 1 million signatures. They need 1.5 million to force a recall election, but will probably need to gather north of 2 million signatures since many will be deemed invalid during the county-level review process.

Former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer — who launched a gubernatorial exploratory committee and might run in either a recall election or a normal 2022 election — took to Twitter to call Hicks' comments "disgraceful."

"This is desperation," he wrote. "Team Newsom is using a national tragedy to deflect from his own failures. Comparing the capitol attack on our democracy to a recall effort allowed under the state Constitution, signed by 1 mil. people across the political spectrum, is absolutely disgraceful."

Are the California raisins still around?

They were cool.... 👍

I heard the lead singer went solo and the band dissolved... 😟

Damn. They were awesome. Love to see the behind the scenes episode. The one where all slept with their drummer

That was axl but it’s better

I heard they brought in a prune for that episode... 😟

They were all old wrinkly bastards. Kinda like the Rolling Stones or Aerosmith.

Gotta admit when I first saw the thread I thought Macs was getting chikens... 😟

Through the grape vine?

Did the raisins sign the recall? Do they vote too?

or a two door with at least 400HP...



CA Dems should shut their traps and let the recall play out...let's see if the peeps of CA want to keep Newsom in office...

They wouldn't last long... my wife is Asian. Them chikens get ate real quick-like.

Newsome is a fancy boy flip back hairdo poooooo-saaayyyyy

No, they were racist.

Sounds like it’s up to 1.2 million. I can’t believe all those people volunteered to sign up for the purge list now they’ve been deemed as extremists.

I'm not from CA, but can I sign up for the recall? I here out of state people and Illegals can vote there, so it only seems fair that I can sign the recall petition.

Delta wants a little duece coupe.

That would have to be a really big one if it's gonna fit Delta's deuce...

so underappreciated...

Brewha is like a rock here...