California golf legend Phil Mickelson had strong words for the state’s Attorney General, calling Rob Bonta incompetent over his handling of California’s oil supply and the legal drama following it.
“The epitome of incompetent leadership right here,” Mickelson wrote on X Monday, characterizing Bonta’s response to a Trump executive order that reinstated oil operations in California refineries.
“No more oil from the Middle East, skyrocketing gas prices, highest gas tax in the nation, jet fuel shortage, national security threat from CA’s policies, and marine life destruction from the largest natural seepage in the world,” the 55-year-old golfer wrote.
Mickelson responded to a post from Bonta, who said California was filing a motion for a preliminary injunction in an effort to block the Trump administration “from unlawfully green lighting the restart of two CA onshore oil pipelines that are subject to state regulation and oversight.”
Bonta sought to block a federal order forcing Sable Offshore Corp. to restart two oil pipelines, arguing it unlawfully overrides state authority and would cause irreparable harm.
The dispute between California and the federal government, along with Sable Offshore, has been ongoing for a few months now.
The Trump administration signed an executive order granting Sable Offshore permission to resume operations on a pipeline in Santa Barbara that was shut down after a massive oil spill.
California, in response, sued, and a judge ordered an injunction against continuing operations, along with an $18 million fine for the company. Sable Offshore is actively challenging state-level legal restrictions by leveraging federal intervention.
“California isn’t going to sit back and watch while the federal government and oil industry override critical protections. We will continue to fight back,” Bonta said.
The veteran PGA Tour star, who later joined LIV Golf, largely avoided politics at the height of his career. Mickelson, a West Coast native and six-time major champion, is widely regarded as one of golf’s all-time greats and has long been one of its most marketable figures, securing major endorsement deals with some of the world’s biggest brands.
“This is equivalent to the guy drowning trying to drown the guy saving him,” he added.
This isn’t the first time he has taken a shot at Democrats.
In early January, in a rare tweet, he issued a warning to the left.
“The dilemma for all Democrats is if you stop the fraud, illegal immigration, and voter fraud in CA, then Republicans win CA and have a huge majority throughout the country. The Democrat party all but ends,” he wrote on X then.
