Forrest Gump’s Lieutenant Dan Just Said Out Loud What Every Conservative Who Left California Already Knows

May 27, 2026 Cat2, The Media
Aaron J Hill via shutterstock

California gas prices hit $5.79 a gallon while Nashville charges $2.59.

Gary Sinise did the math – and he packed his bags.

Now Lt. Dan is telling Fox News exactly what California did to him, and every conservative who already left is about to feel very validated.

The Numbers California Can't Explain

Sinise didn't mince words.

"There's a gas station where I was getting gas for $2.59 a gallon," he told Fox News Digital. "And then I visited California, you know, and they're up at like, you know, $5.79 a gallon. So they're a full $3 more a gallon for gas in California. I don't understand it."

He doesn't understand it because there's nothing to understand.

California's radical leftist politicians have spent decades layering tax on top of tax, regulation on top of regulation, until filling your tank costs the same as a sit-down lunch.

The state collects the highest gas taxes in America – nearly 70 cents per gallon in combined state and local taxes – on top of a cap-and-trade carbon scheme that adds another 30 to 50 cents.

Then Sacramento hands that money to whatever green energy boondoggle is fashionable that week.

Sinise sees it clearly from Nashville.

"They've got a lot of resources in California and I just don't know what they're doing," he said. "I like the gas prices here. I like the no tax state. I like saving a bit more money."

The Real Quote That Should Make Democrats Sweat

He said it plainly.

"If I was still in California and not working, that money would be moving a lot faster out the door than it is right now."

And then came the line that captures exactly what California's tax machine does to families trying to preserve what they've built.

"I don't want to give it all to California and property taxes. I'd rather give it to my kids later on."

That's not a political statement.

That's a father talking.

Sinise stepped away from acting in 2019 to care for his son Mac, who had been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in 2018 and died in 2024.

His father had a stroke and died in 2021.

His mother was aging and needing care.

He made the decision every decent man makes – he put his family first.

And when he looked at California's price tag for doing that, the answer was obvious.

What This Looks Like at Scale

Between 2020 and 2023, California lost over 500,000 residents to domestic out-migration, with Texas and Tennessee leading as the top destinations.

The people leaving aren't the ones who can't make it.

They're the ones who built something and refuse to watch Sacramento confiscate it piece by piece.

Elon Musk looked at California's tax structure and moved Tesla to Texas.

Gavin Newsom held a press conference about it and kept doing the exact same things that drove him out.

The Gary Sinise Foundation has spent 15 years building smart homes for catastrophically injured veterans, funding programs for first responders and their families, and keeping faith with the men and women who served this country.

He did all of that from California.

Now he's doing it from Tennessee – and keeping more of his own money to pass on to his children.

That's the trade California forced him to make.

Sources:

  • Christina Dugan Ramirez, "Gary Sinise says his money would be 'moving a lot faster out the door' if he still lived in California," Fox News, May 25, 2026.
  • Allysia Finley, "California's Gas-Tax Gouge," The Wall Street Journal, March 2024.
  • Katy Grimes, "California Leads Nation in Domestic Out-Migration for Third Straight Year," California Globe, January 2024.