Renowned actor James Woods recently voiced concerns over Governor Gavin Newsom’s expanding national reputation, suggesting it obscures what he describes as a poor track record in California, particularly in managing wildfires. Woods believes that despite Newsom’s initial appeal as a potential future presidential contender, his performance will ultimately hinder his ascent to leadership within the Democratic Party.

In Woods’ view, Newsom is stepping into a leadership void within the party, while dismissing other potential leaders as lacking seriousness. He remarked that the current pool of Democratic figures being considered for leadership, including Kamala Harris and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is akin to a “clown show.”

During an appearance on “One Nation with Brian Kilmeade,” Woods elaborated on his stance, stating, “They have no leader. I mean, Kamala Harris, AOC, all these people, they’re — I hate to use the expression, because it’s used so often, but they’re a clown show, and nature abhors a vacuum.”

Woods warned that Newsom’s increasing prominence on the national stage should not be confused with actual capability. He described Newsom as a “slick grifter” with a troubled record, which he claims goes unnoticed by many. “This slick grifter, Gavin Newsom, whose record is atrocious, but people don’t pay a lot of attention to that fact. He’s filling in the slot, basically,” Woods commented, further cautioning, “But, as fruit farmers always say, early ripe, early rotten.”

“This slick grifter, Gavin Newsom, whose record is atrocious, but people don’t pay a lot of attention to that fact. He’s filling in the slot, basically,” said Woods. “But, as fruit farmers always say, early ripe, early rotten.”

Woods pointed to the wildfires that swept through his neighborhood, asserting that state failures, not climate change, fueled the destruction.

“It’s really simple. Our house did survive… by the grace of God, and because we followed fire department guidelines,” he said, noting that he cleared brush and terraced his hillside. “The house next to us didn’t do it — burned down.”

He said the houses on his street that didn’t have their brush cut back burned down.

Woods accused the state of neglecting a nearby parcel of land that he said became a dangerous ignition point.

“They haven’t cleared that brush since the 1978 fire, because that little piece of land there is controlled by the state,” Woods said. “And they’re protecting a plant that is literally a weed. And that’s where the fire started in our neighborhood.”

The acclaimed actor claimed that Newsom deflected accountability, “blaming the fire management failure on climate change, that boogeyman that has worked forever.”

Woods also cited what he sees as another example of Newsom’s leadership failures: San Francisco’s “notorious poop map.”

“One of the most beautiful cities in the history of this nation, San Francisco, had to have the notorious poop map, so that tourists would not find themselves wading through human waste and used heroin needles as they walked the streets of this once-beautiful city, because this man couldn’t find a way to stop that from happening,” he said.

Woods argued that California’s leadership tolerated worsening street conditions “unless a foreign leader was coming,” but wouldn’t clean up for “our tax-paying, hard-working citizens.”