On Wednesday, President Donald Trump asked for the $3.5 billion in federal funds given to California for a statewide high-speed rail system to be repaid. Here’s the response from California Gov. Gavin Newsom:

Fake news. We’re building high-speed rail, connecting the Central Valley and beyond. This is CA’s money, allocated by Congress for this project. We’re not giving it back. The train is leaving the station — better get on board! (Also, desperately searching for some wall $$??) https://t.co/9hxEfEX8Vm — Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) February 14, 2019

Maybe Trump should’ve asked for high-speed rail at the border . . . that would need a fence to keep people off the tracks, right?

California's plan to finish 119 miles of high-speed rail for 'train to nowhere' would cost $89 million per mile, 4 times more than Trump's border wall. https://t.co/lJnhuuxFNX — Heritage Action (@Heritage_Action) February 14, 2019

As for the “beyond” in Gov. Newsom’s statement, when exactly will that happen? Anyone? Bueller?

There’s no “beyond.” And pretending a stand-alone Central Valley line is valuable high-speed rail makes high-speed rail look insane. https://t.co/CMzn1owIJ4 — Michael Grunwald (@MikeGrunwald) February 14, 2019

Also, the $3.5 billion would have never gone to California if the plan only included a line from Bakersfield to Merced:

Connecting the Central Valley to what? Itself? Why not explicitly mention SF or LA? Still confused. https://t.co/S9mWRRM0Ga — Kim-Mai Cutler (@kimmaicutler) February 14, 2019

Time to give the money back, governor.

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