Xavier Becerra keeps doubling down on failed ideas. First he refuses to say he’d lower the gas tax that makes fuel more expensive in California than in any other state. Now he says he’ll finish the High-Speed Rail project.

Get this: Becerra actually says he’s going to finish the train “on budget and on time.” That would be an incredible feat, considering the train was supposed to be finished in 2020.

So, forget about “on time.”

The train is now projected to cost at least $231 billion, seven times the original cost of $33 billion. Nearly $20 billion has been spent already. 

So, the only way to stay “on budget” would be to cancel the project altogether.

Once upon a time, Gov. Gavin Newsom understood that, too. 

In his first address to the state Legislature after taking office in 2019, Newsom said that the High-Speed Rail championed by his predecessor Jerry Brown “would cost too much and, respectfully, take too long.” 

There simply wasn’t — and isn’t — enough public demand for a train from San Francisco to LA, when you can fly cheaply, drive or take a bus. 

If you want to take a train, Amtrak already has several options — a slow, scenic route on the Coast Starlight, or through the Central Valley on the Gold Runner, with a bus or two.

Newsom displayed common sense for the first and last time when he canceled the failing High-Speed Rail. But then he bowed to special interests and kept the section that runs through the Central Valley — a lovely place, where people rarely need to rush anywhere.

President Donald Trump then clawed back the federal funding — and rightly so. Newsom wanted to cancel the project, but keep the money. 

Not how things work.

Becerra recently told an audience in Fresno that he’s “going to make sure we finish.” 

How? Answer: Becerra says he’s “going to scrap the current configuration.” Whatever that means. 

Where will the money for that new train come from? Maybe from the gas tax Becerra wants to keep. Who knows.

The right thing to do is end the High-Speed Rail boondoggle. But he won’t, because Xavier Becerra is the candidate of the status quo. 

Not that the other Democrats running for governor are much better. All of them said at the recent NBC/Telemundo debate that they would keep High-Speed Rail.

After all, if Trump doesn’t like it, it must be good, right?

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