Government has shifted focus from saving lives to saving the economy. Counting the coast on aljazeera. California is progressive stance on issues from Climate Change to immigration has long come to appear to my eyes political opposition to president on trump in return he portrays the state as dominated by liberal elites out of touch with the u. S. Heartland so what does this picture roger logical battle reveal about the choices facing americans in the coming president ial election earlier this year the 1st of 2 special reports bobs house went to find them. California has natural and manmade wonders hollywood Silicon Valley agricultural bounty and the 5th largest economy in the world it leads the u. S. In combating Climate Change and with 40000000 people is the most populous and diverse state but none of that seems to impress americas President Donald Trump very much the place is totally out of control you have sanctuary cities where you have criminals living and the taxes are way way out of whack and. The border start to move pretty sure for the president attacking california makes perfect sense personally and politically democrats control all the levers of power in this they can in 2016 trump point just 31 percent of the vote there the worst showing by a republican president ial candidate in 80 years the state of california is not looking to pick a fight with the trumpet ministration but we are ready for one especially when the stakes are so high for the health of our families our economy and our planet californias attorney general has filed more than 60 lawsuits against the Trump Administration challenging its anti environment an anti immigrant agenda california has a quarter of the foreign born in the United States you have a governor that invites still whole world to come in the gallup poll you will play 3 Schools Health care basic policy differences between democrats and republicans central to the 2020 president ial election are reflected in the clash between trump and california you have people like that governor saying come on up who wouldnt come up how crazy is this how crazy is this what we learned in california was that this kind of scapegoating and Racial Division has not what you need to do to bring a society together and to be able to address your Economic Issues moving forward to create opportunity for everyone manual pastores a professor. Serve sociology at the university of Southern California and the author of state of resistance a recent book about california politics right now california is really leading the resistance to trump and theyre trying to counterpose a different kind of example about how you can organize an economy how you can organize a society and how you can address Climate Change you say that california is america fast forward with this is the state that in the early 1990 s. Passed one of the most trick pony and anti immigrant pieces of legislation possible we went from being about 69 percent nonnes panic way to being majority people of color thats exactly the demographic change that people state is going through between 202050 california is also america fast forward in terms of economic change we went through one of the most significant deindustrialization here when defense spending cut cut back in the early 1990 s. Which disappeared middle class jobs so california is america just sooner. We set out to investigate between trump in california reveals about the 2 competing visions at play in the 2020 president ial election and the choice americans face over the direction of their country our 1st stop was cologne is the birthplace of the california dream which is storing say gave rise to the notion of the American Dream the California Gold rush started here in 848. 00 when a man saw a glint of the precious metal in the water channel for his sawmill this is where James Marshall discovers gold and starts the greatest lie gratian of human beings ever up until that point and alan is the historian at the site and the 1st p. C. Found it was about that big it was about half the size of a p. C. If i had come here in 1849 what i see hundreds of people out here in the river panning for gold here she would they were averaging an ounce of gold per person per day an ounce of gold today. He is worth 1670. 00 when you can make that kind of money it draws a lot of people but it certainly does yes we estimate 90000. 00 people showed up here and 849 and another 90850 the gold rush set the stage for california statehood in 850 every continent other than antarctica had representatives here during the gold rush so going back to the gold rush people of diverse at this cities and backgrounds flooded into color absolutely people came here from all over the place and they all have the exact same idea im going to get rich and im going to go home but when they got here and realized all of these resources that were here they stayed ever since then california has been seen as a land of opportunity. I think the california dream is often the American Dream kind of on steroids you know this was a place of vast suburbia you could buy your own home and it was a place that promised mobility and you could acquire a middle class income and people have some carrot moving forward but right now we have a very different kind of economy and i think were actually seeing a different kind of training emerge thats more focused on how do we build community and create an economy that actually functions for everyone. California causes at the forefront of the effort to renew the california dream theres also an also thats it for Walking Around and listen its an alliance of 31. 00 Community Based organizations across the state earlier this year before the coronavirus pandemic put a hold on such meetings it was preparing its leaders for the coming election karl rove is the field director it used to be that only the unions had the high tech capacity to do these big phone banks and run voter lists we actually brought that to local organizations. Local groups in the california cause alliance played a major role in swinging power from republican state democrats in the state today its capable of turning now close. 1000000 voters for elections well there was demographic change played in the transformation of california politics its played a central role what were saying is we need to make the electorate actually reflect who the people are and weve been at it for a while our wake up call was the ninetys we got a hell of a lot smarter and more sophisticated. In april of 9092 use of Excessive Force by police in california at least a powerful reaction like what happened in cities across the u. S. George floyd was killed by a Minneapolis Police officer in may huge riots broke out in los angeles where White Police Officers were found not guilty for the brutal beating of a black motorist rodney king within a year are in ization was pursed form and the idea there was to start working with people in the neighborhoods to identify what really are the root causes that led to this explosion of anger and it was police abuse and it was jobs disappearing from these neighborhoods and it was the crack epidemic where the only solution being offered was mass incarceration and over policing then in 1904 republican governor pete wilson it plainly states like tino population while running for reelection by champion proposition 187. 00 pete wilson has had the courage to say enough is enough the Ballot Initiative allowed californians to vote on whether to deny social services to undocumented immigrants and their children thats a little bit like what trump did and 2016 was to sort of capture an anti american wave and try to ride that into the presidency also successful strategy in this part pastore says the prop 27 by point new latino voters and leaders into the electoral process also helping to set the stage for Democratic Party dominance in california Politics Republican Party really alienated themselves from the growing latino vote so i think thats probably scary to republicans because. That demographic change is going to occur in other states as well. And by the 2000 its progressive organizers have developed a new strategy using phone banking and can be seen known as integrated voter engaged injury to Voter Engagement was absolutely critical to the transformation of californias politics its a way of really mobilizing new and occasional voters people whove never participated before its about talking to voters every time we have an opportunity and not just 3 weeks before the election but all year round do you think the reason that conservatives and republicans dont like california is because of how successful social movement organizing has been here absolutely i think they look at california and they say if you chair that terrifies him we basically have undone where we were at in the ninetys now were talking Green New Deal were talking structural change around taxes and really actually making corporations pay their share among republicans. There is great interest in figuring out what went wrong in california Charles Kessler is a professor of government to Claremont Mckenna college near los angeles and editor of the clear amount review of books a leading conservative publication california gave birth to Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan republicans were politically strong here for many years what happened the times changed and the population changed in the state of california the times changed in the sense that the military Industrial Complex and Southern California which helped to support conservative politics in the state retreated after the cold war ended and of course you had a very large continuing influx of immigrants from mexico and Central America and from various parts of asia people argue that you know the demographic trends of the country are changing in Trump Administration is taking a similar position as pete wilson his time. And then things can go in the same direction how do you see after romneys failure in the 2012 election the Republican National committee spent a lot of money to do it to do a postmortem and the advice was that the party needed to be more accommodating to the changing demographics and soften it stand on immigration and donald trump 14 years later by basically ignoring every piece of advice in that post mortem now in the long term that may have been a mistake but it doesnt look like it at this point conservative intellectuals and media in california play a major role in providing the ideological underpinnings of trumpets republicanism people who were in a way scarred by their experience of the changes in california were not only open to trump in a way that other conservatives were not they had an agenda for trump in a way that other conservatives did not so much comes closest aides like anti immigrant hawks Steven Miller are also from california and were putting American Families 1st on immigration California Republicans in california conservatives are sensitive to the impact on power from immigration yes thats right and you know theres no reason why republicans should look at that to take that lying down. The cornerstone of President Trumps anti immigrant political strategy is the wall he wants to build along the entire Us Mexico Border in calexico california border town next to the mexican city of mexicali people see the wall as an affront to their values hard to downtown scum that the very calls picked a career as family immigrated from mexico 100 years ago his service but the mayor and city manager of calexico when trump put up the wall here how did it change things while there was just another negative dagger in the heart and soul of both the mexicans and america. And community has been fencing along the border here for more than 70 years but the trumping ministration took it to a whole new level this taller version is whats been added since the trumpet ministry something i dont think its as a turn so you think this was a waste of money i think so enormous waste the money because most people legally they have the documentation and without a large number of Border Patrol agents with improved technology under President Trump a wall has been built not only in the urban area between calexico in mexicali but out into the desert nasht year he traveled to calexico to promote the effort it looks great its better and much more effective than the previous law and we actually can do it faster and it is less expensive if you can believe that in fact once border was expected to cost more than 20000000. 00 per mile to pay for it he bypassed congress and diverted billions of dollars in military funds to an Emergency Declaration that is being challenged as unconstitutional in court i mean when i look out there it looks like the wall to nowhere exactly anybody that tries to cross through the desert is putting their lives in their hands the Trump Administration says this is needed to keep Drug Trafficking out of the United States can it help with that the drug traffickers are very creative they use the tunnels you can throw the drugs over you can use drones so its not a deterrent as at all what would you say to the people that come to Donald Trumps rallies and cheer you know when he talks about building the wall i dont feel that they have a true understanding of the relationship or the pit the diversity of the people that we have living here already if we speak over 200 languages hair in the state of california and soul we embrace and welcome. That diversity because it makes us stronger culturally. Democrats say that the dream of an Inclusive Society that. Many in california strive for is a fundamental part of their Party Platform you cant define america based on its new city race background country of origin you cant do it everywhere and once program you know what i was going to be here next to you so i really have you got me you can do anything you want to do here and realize that i know. In california immigrants also make major contributions to the strength of the states economy farmers in the Imperial Valley like jack vessey 4th generation Vegetable Growers are dependent on workers from mexico and Central America going go out we need people to work its very difficult to find its hard tough skilled work whats your view of the wall that the Trump Administration is building here in calexico i my thoughts are is that the barriers been there forever how ever since i was a child its always been circumvented somehow someway and its 3 form of immigration thats the difficult part that nobody wants to touch so you think that all of the discussion about the wall is diverting people from really dealing with the immigration issue yes i do theres a lot of false a document labor that does a lot of the jobs that either arent filled or cant be filled that normal americans arent arent doing someone who lives on the border whose business depends on immigrant labor what do you think the rest of the country needs to understand that a majority of these legal limits are talking about just good hardworking people that want to live the American Dream like like our ancestors did there needs to be a way of how they feel and compassion and live the American Dream they came so far to live this is the bistro and what its full is nothing you can do you have to say im sorry we cant take. The trump in ministration has also targeted a California Law that bars state and local Law Enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration and Customs Enforcement ice and sanctuary cities and states like california put innocent americans at the mercy of heart criminals hard murderers californias former governor jerry brown took strong issue. The accusation and the state has prevailed in court and thats one of the lies open border lie one protect criminals like to look theres nothing in the law that prevents ice from working in our prisons and working with portland corrections beyond that there are the most serious crimes are exempted so in many ways there are many layers of protection California Attorney general javier basara has also faced off with the trumping ministration on a wide range of other issues such as dhaka which allows undocumented immigrants who came as children to live in the u. S. Obamas Affordable Care act access to Birth Control and environmental protections most of the cases that we filed in court weve seen success in the rulings i would suggest a doll truck take the time to read the constitution he might have more success against california he did a tinos are now a plurality of california residents and the state goes farther than any other in protecting the undocumented what do you say to those in other states who see that as a threat my father brought my mother to the u. S. When he married her when she was 18 from. This countrys given my parents a lot and thats why they always gave back and thats what most immigrants do in california we recognize when there is power in the potential of people who want to strive and do more who want to prove themselves you are engaged in several lawsuits opposing President Trumps efforts to build a wall on the california mexico border why you are opposed to the wall Border Security is important for any nation. But smart Border Security not unconstitutional border actions how about you spend your resources from the taxpayers wisely to prevent americans from dying from their own a virus then trying to build a border wall which will do nothing but do you think it is about california the republicans and conservatives so much you know its really interesting because no one creates more jobs in california theres no other state they can say than they are number one and technology the same time theyre number one in entertainment and tourist theres no one that can say they graduate more people from college in california and so what is it about the state of california that they dont like not sure but weve got 40000000 people more than any of the state nation that tell you that this isnt a bad place however californians have been moving out of this state greater numbers in recent years to find out why we crossed over into nevada near lake tahoe to speak with a group of businessmen who now live there why did you move here from california the taxes were an issue so i think the Political Climate was definitely a driving factor for us to live elsewhere obviously taxes and looking at how cost prohibitive california has been from a housing perspective the taxes i save more than cover the mortgage payment on our home here in nevada and its not a small home but youre an upper income you know the middle class in california is paying the same taxes that they were in the eightys when californias critique for its taxes its really at the high income levels no youre driving people that are on the upper level that create jobs that are building their businesses and their companies there did the demographic changes in california and its impact on politics their influence any of you in terms of moving up here. Absolutely yeah yeah i believe its whats driving people out of california once one reasons are left i mean there are a whole lot of they want to deal with are you in favor of the wall thats being built on calif. New mexico border yes you know and thats what i like about trump is that he talks about keeping america safe you know in putting things in place to protect our families are all of you disenchanted with the way that california handles immigration yes immigration yes theyre not declared to be an open border state but they behave like one right here in the same story city and like is anybody considering it says theres a security element of it right you know personal story my mother was very very ill last year my father he said in the some urgency room or nobody else is speaking english by just appearances probably all undocumented you know she nearly died and they couldnt get the services that they need their taxpayers how do you know theyre undocking we know we dont but you can look at somebody and often times more or less guessed but it didnt used to be like that before california just more or less through the doors open there want to thank everybody coming across the border illegally or whatever theyre doing and while you think would think their own people given the demographic changes that america is going through what do you think of the argument that california is leading the way for the country in terms of building an Inclusive Society is not a goal i mean what im suggesting is america always had the goal of being a melting pot for people of different this it is from Different Countries you know i think this whole thing of diversity is our strength that is crap the pursuit of excellence of individuals regardless of where they come from on this planet has been our strength who would like to see President Trump win a 2nd term. I voted for him last time im going to vote for him this time yeah i definitely trump him or whatever im definitely all that all for him and Everything Else i just like hes a fighter i mean im there you know like i voted for him before vote for him again i really dont care for his demeanor and i we approaches things but i think to some degree those tactics are working. To try and stop President Trump from winning a 2nd term california call is helping organize a National Effort in 15 states called the state power caucus insta turnout millions of new an occasional voters what were doing right now is changing the politics in our states to then make national change possible and i think trump underestimates how strong and powerful we are what do you think of the argument by President Trump and his supporters that millions of undocumented immigrants are voting elections its not true and we dont need an eligible voters to vote if the people who are eligible can just go can actually believe in their power when the issue in 2020 is what is our current jack 3 as a country its a question about whether the 2 parties are going to move towards a kind of reconciliation or whether the process of division is hes going to increase markedly to be a President Trump sees political advantage in dividing people you dont see any threat to american democracy from his rule not really but we used to say that the 2 parties had the same constitution they just had different interpretations of it and what could happen in the 21st century is that really the 2 parties have 2 different prostitutions and when you have 2 constitutions and one country youre on a perilous path in the early 1990 s. When we were having big economic problems we moved to scapegoating and saying it. Was immigrants taking away jobs and immigrants that were draining the physical resources of the state thats whats going on in America Today and we need to figure out how to take america from this division of the trump era and move it into a new kind of administration thats trying to bring people together trying to address the Climate Crisis trying to create a more humane immigration system and try to do as people who are left behind him and it took california 25 years im not sure the thrust her america has that much time. Beyond going fight between donald trump and the golden state because of trans philosophy hes indelibly joined the conflict with belfour and exposes contrasting ideologies on immigration the environment economic and cultural issues trump is calling attention to the failure of the blue state model key battlegrounds for the 2020 alexis people in power reports on trump places california on aljazeera. Up above the hustle and bustle of capital there is a secret world. Community of colorful characters who have made the rooftops in homes. From their unique perspective they reflect on the countrys history and how it has shaped their lives and hopes for the future. On hard. On just. Rewind continues i can bring your people back to life im sorry with updates on the best of aljazeera as documentary the struggle continues book from back to now use distance revisiting alfreds free press. I am the money they didnt talk we know from the public of whats happening in the rest of sites that have been some changes over the years you know rewind on aljazeera. This is aljazeera. This is the news hour live from our World Headquarters in doha coming up in the next 60 minutes a powerful lineup of west African Leaders a rise in mali to try and end weeks of modern protests again sent unpopular president s. One of the last cases against a nazi war criminal and 93 year old descendants in germany for its part in killing thousands of people. Long term consequences might be off to