Sean Duffy Just Ended Gavin Newsom With Six Words

March 23, 2026 Cat2, Politics
Denis Belitsky via shutterstock

California spent $15 billion building a high-speed rail line that never laid a single foot of track.

Now Gavin Newsom is $21 million over budget on a bridge for cougars.

And when Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy saw the viral video of the empty half-finished overpass hanging above the 101 Freeway, he posted six words that will follow Newsom into every 2028 campaign rally: "Bridges to nowhere. Trains to nowhere."

A $114 Million Bridge Leading Nowhere

The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing stretches across ten lanes of the Southern California freeway and goes absolutely nowhere.

Newsom broke ground in April 2022 – chest out, cameras rolling – and pledged $54 million in state funds to build it.

He then added another $10 million to finish the job.

The California Transportation Commission threw in another $18.8 million on top of that in February.

The project was supposed to be done in 2025.

It won't be done until fall 2026 at the earliest – and only after blowing past its original $92 million budget to reach $114 million total.

Newsom's office blamed the delay on "severe weather" and the cost overruns on Trump's tariffs.

"The cost estimate held until last year when inflation — in part driven by TRUMP'S TARIFFS — increased construction costs," his press team wrote in all-caps on social media.

Here's what they left out: the $18.8 million in emergency funding was approved in February – before any tariff increases could have caused it.

And the bridge isn't just for cougars – it's for monarch butterflies.

Newsom himself promised to cap the state's contribution at $64 million total.

The final state tab is now reportedly $77 million – $13 million over what the governor personally guaranteed taxpayers.

This Is Not a One-Off. This Is a Pattern.

California voters approved high-speed rail in 2008 for $33 billion.

The price tag has since exploded to an estimated $128 billion – nearly four times the original promise.

After 17 years and $15.7 billion spent, not a single mile of track has been laid.

The Trump administration's Department of Transportation pulled $4 billion in federal funding last year after California failed to meet basic deadlines and couldn't produce a realistic plan to finish the project.

The pattern is not bad luck or inflation or weather.

It's a governor who announces big-ticket projects in front of cameras, signs the checks with other people's money, and points fingers when the results don't match the press releases.

What This Costs Newsom in 2028

Gavin Newsom is running for president.

California is staring at a projected $18 billion budget deficit for the upcoming fiscal year – with state analysts warning it could balloon to $35 billion annually in the coming years.

That's four consecutive years of deficits under Newsom, even as state revenues grew.

The man who wants to run America's finances just spent $77 million in California taxpayer money on an unfinished bridge for cougars and butterflies – then blamed the guy in the White House when it went sideways.

He spent $15.7 billion on a train that exists only in press releases.

And when reporters pointed out the butterfly bridge was over budget and behind schedule, Newsom's press office went on social media and typed their response in all-caps – blaming Trump.

That's the guy who wants to run the country.

Sean Duffy didn't need a press conference or a thirty-minute briefing to bury him.

He just needed four words and a video – and Newsom's own record did the rest.

Sources:

  • Elaine Mallon, "Duffy mocks Newsom's 'bridges to nowhere' as California wildlife crossing overruns by $21M," Fox News, March 19, 2026.
  • Christopher Rufo and Kenneth Schrupp, "The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing: A $114 Million Butterfly Bridge," City Journal, March 18, 2026.
  • "Congressional GOP Transportation Leaders Probing Failed California High-Speed Rail Project," Senate Commerce Committee, May 29, 2024.
  • Rep. Kevin Kiley statement, Fox 11 Los Angeles, "California High-Speed Rail: $15.7B already invested in 'failed' project," February 20, 2025.
  • Dan Walters, "How Newsom's Presidential Ambitions Complicate His Last Budget," CalMatters, January 14, 2026.