Gavin Newsom spent years telling the world that California was the future of America.
Democrats have spent years telling you red states are failures.
Bill Maher just went on HBO and told his own party exactly how badly they've been lying to you.
California Ranks 37th in Reading While Mississippi Ranks Ninth
On HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, Comedian Bill Maher unloaded on California Democrats with numbers their consultants have buried for years.
A black fourth-grader in Mississippi is two and a half times more likely to be proficient in reading than a black fourth-grader in California.
California ranks 37th in fourth-grade reading.
Mississippi ranks ninth.
"Mississippi is kicking our a** in education, and for way less money," Maher said.
That's not a Heritage Foundation report.
That's a registered Democrat with an HBO contract reading from the New York Times – and admitting that the state which spent decades lecturing America about race is failing black children at more than twice the rate of a state they've mocked for those same decades.
Post-pandemic data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress confirms the collapse: red states now rank highest in academic performance, blue states rank lowest, and the gap is widening.
The reason isn't complicated.
Mississippi used test scores to find struggling students, held teachers accountable, and gave principals the authority to maintain order in classrooms.
California banned suspensions, gutted graduation standards, and handed union bosses veto power over anything that might produce results.
One state built a system to educate children.
The other built a system to serve union bosses.
California High Speed Rail Failure Drove a French Company to North Africa
Maher turned to energy – the crown jewel of California's entire political identity – and demolished that too.
Texas passed California in utility-scale solar generation in 2025, producing 58,634 gigawatt-hours to California's 53,713, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data.
Maher spent approximately 1,000 days trying to get solar panels connected at his own home.
In Texas, the average installation takes three to four months.
"It would have been quicker to build a windmill," Maher said.
But the solar panel story isn't even the most damning evidence of what California has become.
SNCF – France's national railroad – came to California in the early 2000s to help build the state's high-speed rail line from Los Angeles to San Francisco.
They pulled out in 2011 – and didn't go to Germany or Japan. They went to Morocco.
"SNCF was very angry," career project manager Dan McNamara told the New York Times. "They told the state they were leaving for North Africa, which was less politically dysfunctional. They went to Morocco and helped them build a rail system."
Morocco's line was running passengers by 2018.
Voters approved California's project that same year SNCF walked out – 2011 was three years after the 2008 ballot measure passed with a $33 billion price tag and a 2020 completion date.
It is now 2026 and no track has been laid.
Costs have exploded to an estimated $126 billion, with some projections reaching $231 billion.
California state Sen. Tony Strickland told Fox News Digital: "This is a project that will never be built, and everybody in this building knows this project will never be built."
A European company with a century of rail expertise looked at California and chose a country in North Africa instead.
That is not a transportation story.
That is a corruption story.
Gavin Newsom Built the Machine That Ate California
Maher named the machine responsible.
Democrats are losing on their own signature issues because of their friends – "the unions, the bureaucrats, the lawyers, the consultants, the regulators, and all the special interest friends who make living in this state such a frustrating, maddening experience."
Gavin Newsom built that machine.
He spent 16 years as a California official – as San Francisco mayor, as lieutenant governor, as governor – feeding and expanding every interest group that makes the state ungovernable, while standing at podiums declaring California the model for America's future.
Morocco got a train.
Texas got solar dominance.
Mississippi got reading scores.
Newsom got a New York Times profile about his presidential ambitions.
"Democrats, these are your issues: education, race, the environment," Maher said. "And I say this with love: you're losing to the Waffle House, car-on-the-lawn states."
Sources:
- Britta Miller, "Bill Maher Slams California for Failing on Education and Green Energy," Washington Examiner, May 30, 2026.
- "Maher: Dems 'Losing' to 'Car on the Lawn States' on Education, Race, Climate," Breitbart, May 30, 2026.
- "Texas Seizes the Solar Crown From California," Inside Climate News, March 5, 2026.
- "Rail Company Left 'Dysfunctional' California Amid Faltering 'Bullet Train' Efforts," Washington Examiner, October 10, 2022.
- "California High-Speed Rail Costs Soar to $231 Billion," Fox 11 Los Angeles, April 2026.
- "Red States Have Seen Less Learning Loss," Education Next, January 7, 2026.