Six years late and a dollar short.

Now Gavin Newsom tells us he was wrong in 2020 about COVID –– even as the rest of us knew his double-standard-laden policies were cockamamie at the time.

The governor dove into damage control this week at his California ranch, where he staged a “conversation” while fly fishing with CNN’s Jake Tapper.

“The idea that we closed beaches was insane in hindsight,” faux-mused Newsom, as he stood in water wearing long pants but apparently no waders.

“Obviously, the schools taking too long,” the gov added. “A lot of districts were open, but the big ones weren’t. LA refused, and I regret that.”

Cue the eye-rolls.

Does anyone really believe Gavin Newsom regrets not bucking the teachers unions? (The California Teachers Association gave $1.8 million to the gov’s 2021 anti-recall campaign alone.)

This “regret” is shameless political expediency from Gov. Newsom, not a genuine show of remorse. 

It’s also evidence of just how bad the governor’s judgment can be.

To review: Saner governors said at the time that overreaches like Newsom’s –– prolonged stay-at-home orders; bans on church attendance and outdoor recreation; lengthy school shutdowns –– were insane. 

But Newsom in March 2020 had issued the nation’s first statewide stay-at-home order, imposing widespread controls on people’s movements and everyday life.

And he was loathe to give it up.

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The governor did not fully rescind his emergency COVID order until June 2021 –– a year after red states had lifted most if not all restrictions. 

The damage done in that window by Newsom’s decrees is mind-boggling and endures to this day.

Victims include California students, starting with some of the most vulnerable, who missed the better part of a year of in-person instruction as Newsom deferred to teachers unions and kept classrooms dark.

(United Teachers Los Angeles was indeed among the worst, demanding crazy concessions like defunding the police before they’d agree to reopen schools.) 

The result: Learning gaps that still show up in test scores and could permanently impair those students’ lifetime earnings and achievement. 

And Newsom now says, aw shucks, mistakes were made?

Then there’s the massive unemployment fraud the governor abided during COVID. 

California under Newsom paid out tens of billions of dollars in improper or fraudulent unemployment claims –– including, famously, to people in prison. 

To this day, the state’s unemployment system owes the federal government more than $20 billion from the glut of COVID unemployment payouts, many of which were fraudulent.

Another mere “oops,” it seems.

Then there were the double standards. Liquor stores could stay open. But not churches. Black Lives Matter protesters/rioters could congregate outside despite the virus. But others had to stay indoors. Families were barred from Taco Bell. But the elite could dine at posh hotspots. And on it went.

Freedom was suppressed, businesses left bereft, innocents punished for enjoying nature; recall the paddleboarder prodded from the Malibu ocean and then arrested for transgressing Newsom’s stay-at-home rules.

Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that Newsom’s COVID restrictions on religious worship violated the First Amendment.

Yet only now, as he’s prepping a 2028 presidential bid, does the governor locate some regret? 

He’s spent years defending his draconian pandemic rules.

Remember the fiery 2023 debate on “Hannity” where Newsom blasted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for lifting COVID restrictions in Florida at a time when California had stayed locked down?

“The only person that needs to apologize is Ron DeSantis for the tens of thousands of lives that died unnecessarily because he played to the fringe of his party,” Newsom declared.

Well. The COVID death rates in the two states were about the same and now, almost three years after that debate, we see Newsom relenting.

Score another win for Florida.

Let’s face it: Newsom had one eye on the camera and the other on 2028 as he offered this fake and belated mea culpa not to the people of California, but to a national reporter.

His only real regret, perhaps, is getting caught cavorting at the French Laundry in violation of his own lockdown rules.

That dining caper was “just boneheaded decision, just stupid decision,” Newsom said while clutching a fishing rod.

And voters are supposed to trust his judgment now? And entrust him with the US presidency?

Who’s buying this inauthentic schtick?