Covid Flashback: Remember Gov. Newsom’s 2020 Thanksgiving Stay-Home, No ‘Gatherings’, and Curfew Order

Every Thanksgiving we like to remind Californians of our terrible, rotten, horrible 2020 Thanksgiving, courtesy of Governor Gavin Newsom during his unwarranted, cruel, evil covid statewide lockdowns.

California residents were ordered in 2020 to “Stay home, no singing, no shouting, no music, no parties, eat outside and keep a mask on.”

Governor Newsom actually told the people of California they could not sing. Newsom told the people of California they could not laugh out loud or shout. He outlawed parties and music and dancing. Newsom told families gathering around the Thanksgiving table to do it outside.

I live in Northern California where it is 46 degrees right now. Brrrrrr.

Gavin Newsom believes he will be the next President of the United States. The governor who told Californians to stay home, no singing, no shouting, no music, no parties, eat outside and keep a mask on, thinks all of America will be okay with this.

Snort. Americans aren’t that dim-witted. Well, Conservatives, Independents, and old-school Democrats aren’t.

It was only five years ago when Governor Gavin Newsom defied his own idiotic COVID edicts as he partied lavishly at the French Laundry restaurant in Napa at a dinner, enjoying the “Chef’s tasting menu,” in which the starting meal cost $310 per person, before wine, and notably one of the few restaurants he failed to force out of business.

Gov. Newsom issued a duplicitous apology, arguing that Napa was in the less restrictive orange tier of his lockdown, that he was caught off guard, and the party was outside… as if that minimized his personal breach. Newsom smiled and smirked and even lied during his apology to the people, claiming the dinner party was outside, despite photos showing the governor and the First Partner at a large table inside of the restaurant.

Then, as punishment for the people mocking the imaginary governor’s hypocritical idiocy, Newsom issued a stay-home order for Thanksgiving 2020, like a child-tyrant.

Gov. Newsom claimed to be following science when he and his Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly issued the tyrannical orders to the 40 million residents of California for Thanksgiving to “Stay home, no singing, no shouting, no music, no parties, eat outside and keep a mask on.”

Around the state, Sheriffs said they would not enforce Newsom’s absurd order, including then-Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones. The Sacramento Sheriff issued a statement stating that the Sacramento County Sheriff’s office will not be enforcing Governor Gavin Newsom’s holiday “gatherings”  orders to stay home… alone… and eat chicken instead of a large turkey. (Actually the chicken statement was LA Mayor Eric Garcetti’s directive).

Sheriff Jones’ statement was as delicious as homemade stuffing:

“The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office will not be determining—including entering any home or business—compliance with, or enforcing compliance of, any health or emergency orders related to curfews, staying at home, Thanksgiving or other social gatherings inside or outside the home, maximum occupancy, or mask mandates. Further, we will not dispatch officers for these purposes—callers will be advised to call 3-1-1 and be routed to County Health. Of course, if there is potential criminal behavior or the potential for impacts to public or personal safety we will continue to respond appropriately.”

Sacramento residents were very thankful for the Sheriff that Thanksgiving.

Newsom’s order was patently ridiculous, and dangerously authoritarian:

Gov. Gavin Newsom and California Department of Public Health Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly just issued new stay-at-home orders and a curfew for the State of California, effective Nov. 21st through December 21st, for the 41 counties in the restrictive purple tier.

“Non-essential businesses and personal gatherings are prohibited between 10 PM and 5 AM beginning Saturday, November 21 at 10 PM,” the statement says. 

“Does the virus go dormant after 10:00PM?” we asked.

Gov. Newsom was the first Governor in the country to declare a COVID emergency, install himself as a virtual dictator by seizing this unilateral power, and completely ignore the democratic process.

As the Globe reported at the time, Gov. Newsom announced that California was “pulling an emergency brake” on reopening because of rising COVID “positivity” cases. Not deaths. “Cases.” And he did a soft-sell on hospitalizations. Newsom admitted that California was nowhere near the national average on “positivity” or hospitalizations, but said he was still moving 41 California counties back into restrictive tiers.

Claiming that stay-at-home lockdowns work, Health and Human Services Secretary ghoul Dr. Ghaly said:

“We know from our stay at home order this spring, which flattened the curve in California, that reducing the movement and mixing of individuals dramatically decreases COVID-19 spread, hospitalizations, and deaths. We may need to take more stringent actions if we are unable to flatten the curve quickly. Taking these hard, temporary actions now could help prevent future shutdowns.”

Right. Only a politically corrupted doctor could have pushed these perverted orders on the general public.

Here was our summation of the restrictive orders in Nov. 2020:

• The governor has put more than 94 percent of California’s population in the most restrictive tier.
• The governor ordered beefing up the face covering guidance to require individuals to wear a mask whenever outside their home, with limited exceptions.
• The governor issued a travel advisory, along with Oregon and Washington, urging people entering the state or returning home from travel outside the state to self-quarantine, and also warned against non-essential out-of-state travel, asks people to self-quarantine for 14 days after arriving from another state or country, and encourages residents to stay local.

What Totalitarian state and country was this? Forced business closures, countywide lockdowns, stay-at-home orders, mandatory mask-wearing outside, a 10:00PM curfew, limiting holiday gatherings with family and friends in private homes… while Gov. Newsom and his wife attended a large birthday dinner party in Napa Valley violating his own restrictions? It was evident that Governor Gavin Newsom did not believe in the veracity of his own orders.

Never forget.

There was a little bit of joy – Newsom was savaged on Twitter:

Is this gathering essential? Asking for you — the governor in this photo without a mask with lobbyists from the healthcare industry at a restaurant that many unemployed Californians can't afford to eat at. pic.twitter.com/6Bw3Xtj2pA

— Dave McCulloch 🇺🇸 (@dtmcculloch) November 19, 2020

Sane media voices like the Globe’s were cancelled on social media by corrupt tech giants and toxic members of the legacy media.

“We’re at a place where our civilization is at risk, where the bonds that unite us are at risk of being torn,” Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, then with Stanford, said. “We shouldn’t be afraid. We should respond to the COVID virus rationally: protect the vulnerable, treat the people who get infected compassionately, develop a vaccine. And while doing these things we should bring back the civilization that we had so that the cure does not end up being worse than the disease.”

It was quite curious that Gov. Newsom could have consulted Stanford’s Dr. Bhattacharya – an actual epidemiologist – but chose instead to go with the ghoul. 

California was even named the most restrictive state of 51, with the most COVID restrictions (lockdowns, mandatory masking, mandatory vaccines) in a survey of all of the states (including the District of Columbia).

It was only one year later in November 2021, while California was still locked down and Gov. Newsom had ordered all students ages 5-11 to receive vaccinations in order to attend in-person school, and mask mandates and vaccine requirements were still in place, that Gavin Newsom and his family vacationed in Cabo San Lucas in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur for Thanksgiving. The Globe received several photos and a now-removed Tweet from sources who were there and took the photos.

Gavin Newsom’s French Laundry moment wasn’t confined to dining out – besides multiple vacations out of the country while he locked down Californians, in Feb. 2022 he starred in “MaskGate” at the NFC Championship game in Los Angeles – despite his own face mask mandates. 

Newsom and other government tyrants tried to do it again – they tried to lock down the people in 2023, with another new plan, as a control measure, as the Globe reported in February:

Newsom’s SMARTER Plan will maintain California’s operational preparedness to address the next phase of the COVID-19 pandemic and will continue to guide the state’s work to support communities across the state. Additionally, COVID-19 vaccines, testing, and treatment continue to be available at sites within local communities across the state.”

The SMARTER Plan should give you chills, as Newsom’s Covid19.ca.gov website explains:

“The SMARTER Plan is not just for COVID-19. We can use these strategies and systems for future emergencies.”

This Thanksgiving 2025, we still have much to be thankful for, no thanks to Gavin Newsom.

If you need a Newsom refresher course, be sure to read the Top 50 Disasters Gov. Gavin Newsom Has Ushered into California. And yes, that is my cat Eleanor Rigby sitting on top of the Brannigan Turkey.