California’s Marxist-progressive leadership has vowed to defy federal law and protect the millions of illegal aliens and welfare recipients to whom they owe their political power.

How President-elect Donald Trump reacts will signal to the world what kind of leadership we should expect.

The warning last week from California Democrats, “Come at us,” was a first salvo — a warning shot — testing the waters.

California is launching a direct attack on the Union, something that hasn’t happened since the civil rights movement, and even the Civil War. And when I say California, I mean the Democrat supermajority that controls the legislature, and every statewide office; and the leftist media, who make up two-thirds of the unholy trifecta that rules California.

The ones who just banned “single use” plastic bags — and levied a tax on anyone who buys the new “government-approved” replacement.

The same California that chose to set more violent criminals free while criminalizing gun ownership.

The California led by Governor Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown, who just signed a bill regulating “cow farts” while in the same breath, deregulating pot — with a woefully inadequate plan that does nothing to address the public risk of those driving under the influence.

The Los Angeles Times has long scoffed at the “State of Jefferson” movement—a vast expanse of rural counties that make up most of northern California.

In spite of a long list of grievances — land and water use policies that have turned these counties from proud, self-reliant producers of beef, lumber and food into welfare counties; and big city gun control laws that make no sense in a place where carrying a gun is a necessity, to name a few — California’s political elite have, until now, laughed off talk of secession.

The political establishment in California has treated rural California the same way the evil stepmother treated Cinderella. And now, they’re on the receiving end of what they’ve been dishing out — and all of a sudden, they’re ready for war.

It’s ironic that the State of Jefferson simply wants freedom from oppression so that it can provide for itself, while the State of California is angry that its federal welfare spigot might be cut off for flouting federal law.

Because in spite of the Times‘ serious treatment of what’s being called the #CalExit movement, there is no Constitutional process for secession short of a Constitutional amendment.

But what the Times ignores is the real impact. Let’s say that 38 states agree to kick California out of the United States — and set it free. California will soon rue the day it became “free” and sink into a deep, dark abyss. Not because of an earthquake, but because of simple — not Common Core — math.

Everyone I know would leave. Many productive taxpayers have been making plans to leave anyway. For many, crossing into Arizona or Nevada is like escaping to freedom.

If #CalExit became a reality, it would mean “American flight,” as the hard-working, middle class — of all backgrounds — who’ve finally had enough, flee.

Without those Americans, California would become a banana republic, with the uber-wealthy living behind walls and the tired, poor, dependent masses roaming the streets like mobs of zombies in the Walking Dead.

Northern California and the San Joaquin Valley might well secede and declare their own independence, cutting off California’s main source of food and water.

Colorado River water rights would necessarily be renegotiated — with the new People’s Socialist Republic of California—and that would not likely go well under a Trump administration.

And all those Hollywood liberals who promised to leave the United States would leave California instead, moving to safer climes.

Once California runs out of money to fund all the freebies Democrats have promised to illegal aliens and the poor in exchange for votes — and without the tax revenues of the middle class and the “federal matching funds” donated by the rest of America, that won’t take long — the Golden State would have total anarchy.

But it won’t be the drug-fueled, hazy, lazy dream of freedom and “free love” that Jerry Brown’s generation might remember. It’ll be ugly. Think “zombie apocalypse.” Think France after the Revolution. Sure, they killed the rich — but then what? Total chaos. No rule of law. That’s the reality of anarchy. Every man for himself.

Wilder than the wild, wild west.

Somewhere along the way, those well-meaning Marxist-progressives who thought they could control human nature by passing law after law will wish they didn’t ban guns when the real “zombie apocalypse” hits and the “walking poor” start to break down the walls surrounding their precious gated communities in search of food.

President-elect Trump has an opportunity to stand up for one of the most demonized minorities in history: conservatives and constitutionalists in California.

California has declared war on the new president.

He can stand up and fight for the Americans who live in California — over 14 million voted for him — or he can punt, and lose all credibility for the next four years.

He doesn’t need to do much. All the cards are in his hand. He who controls the water and the flood of federal funds doled out, controls California.

By penalizing sanctuary cities financially, he can restore them as a sanctuary for American citizens, not criminals—saving American lives;

By appointing a pro-Second Amendment justice to the Supreme Court, he can restore the natural, civil rights stripped from untold millions of law-abiding California gun owners;

By reigning in the Environmental Protection Agency and the Bureau of Land Management, he will energize an army of land owners and patriots in the rural western states — where the Federal Government claims to own the majority of the land (almost 50% in California) — willing to stand up for him;

By enforcing immigration laws in California as vigorously as the leftists enforce gun laws, he can restore the rule of law, giving California a chance to become the Golden State again.

As an open-borders, welfare state, California’s days are already numbered.

All Trump has to do is stand by his word and put America first.

And in the process, he can restore hope to a place where all hope has been abandoned by so many — California.

Tim Donnelly is a former California State Assemblyman. He can be contacted on Twitter: @PatriotNotPol