California Gov. Gavin Newsom has become a prominent and strident voice against the Trump administration's increasingly Constitution-defying actions.Marcio Jose Sanchez/The Associated Press
Earlier this year, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced he would be hosting a new podcast: This Is Gavin Newsom.
While he would be discussing the social and political issues of the day, the Democrat said he planned to reach across the aisle for guests, including prominent MAGA influencers. The idea, he said, was to try and better understand how the Republicans won the last election.
True to his word, Mr. Newsom’s first guest was Charlie Kirk, the provocative founder of Turning Point USA, the influential conservative network aimed at young voters. During their discussion, Mr. Newsom split with Democratic orthodoxy and agreed with his guest (who once described trans people as “disgusting, mentally ill, neurotic, predatory freaks”) that the participation of transgender athletes in women’s sports was “deeply unfair.” Democrats across the U.S. were perplexed, a concern that would only deepen a week later when the Governor had as his guest Steve Bannon, the fierce loyalist of President Donald Trump who is widely considered a founding father of the MAGA movement.
If Democrats were irritated over Mr. Kirk’s appearance on the show, now they were genuinely angry and mystified: why elevate what many believed was the hate-filled voice of someone like Mr. Bannon? Was Mr. Newsom sabotaging any chance he might have of becoming the Democrats’ pick as their presidential candidate for the 2028 election? Had the California Governor lost his mind?
If so, it was only temporary. Mr. Newsom, a politician seemingly sent from Central Casting, with his tanned good looks and perfectly coiffed hair, has become the most prominent and strident voice against Mr. Trump and his increasingly Constitution-defying actions.
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What changed? Well, what changed was Mr. Trump sending in federal troops to quell protests over the President’s decision to authorize the dispatch of masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents into Los Angeles, and to start taking suspected illegal immigrants off the streets. In an instant, Mr. Newsom realized that any efforts to try and assuage the President, to attempt to work with him, were pointless. Mr. Trump was only interested in crushing Mr. Newsom (who he calls “Gavin Newscum”) and trying to make the Democratic state he governs look like a lawless hellscape not fit for human occupation.
Today, Mr. Newsom is thriving in the role he’s taken on: defender of American democracy. His televised speech to Californians during the ICE raids was a master-class in communication. He brilliantly articulated not only what the President was trying to do, but the potential consequences of his actions.
“I ask everyone: Take time, reflect on this perilous moment,” Mr. Newsom said in a June speech. “A President who wants to be bound by no law or constitution, perpetuating a unified assault on American traditions.”
Mr. Newsom has employed controversial strategies in his efforts to get under Mr. Trump’s skin, including mimicking his all-caps social media post style. “DONALD IS FINISHED – HE IS NO LONGER ‘HOT.’ FIRST THE HANDS (SO TINY) AND NOW ME – GAVIN C. NEWSOM – HAVE TAKEN AWAY HIS ‘STEP,’ ” one recent post read. While it has made some uncomfortable, it’s also highlighted the passive acceptance by many Americans of Mr. Trump’s increasingly unhinged and embarrassing social-media trolling.
Mr. Newsom’s biggest gamble, however, concerns his push to have the state legislature approve a special election in November. On the ballot would be a controversial measure to have the state congressional map redrawn to favour the Democrats, in a move designed to counter the Trump-driven gambit by Texas to redistrict congressional seats there to favour Republicans.
A new national poll from Politico shows 70 per cent of Democrats support the initiative, but favourability within California has been unclear. Last week Politico found that just 36 per cent of California voters were in favour of redistricting, while Mr. Newsom’s own pollster released results Wednesday saying 57 per cent were for the initiative.
But even those who admire the moxie and guts Mr. Newsom has displayed in standing up to the President concede he has more to lose than gain by going ahead with this strategy. If the measure were to be voted down, it could be perceived as an indictment of Mr. Newsom’s leadership, killing any presidential ambitions he might have in the process.
Regardless, Democrats and progressives worldwide owe Mr. Newsom a debt of gratitude. His has been a rare voice not cowed into silence by Mr. Trump’s glares or threats or mafia-style shakedowns.
While Republicans say they would relish going up against a liberal from California in a presidential election in three years’ time, they should be careful what they wish for. Gavin Newsom has shown he’s afraid of no one – and Americans are likely to respect that over time.