Newsom and his team have successfully tapped into the need that many rank-and-file Democrats have for adopting a confrontational approach to Trump and his policies. But few people outside of California know much about the governor’s actual record — and many Democratic voters will be turned off to learn that his fervent opposition to a billionaire tax is part of an overall political approach that has trended more and more corporate-friendly.
A year ago, Newsom sent about 100 leaders of California-based companies a prepaid cell phone “programmed with Newsom’s digits and accompanied by notes from the governor himself,” POLITICO reported. One note to the CEO of a big tech corporation said, “If you ever need anything, I’m a phone call away.” While pandering to business elites, Newsom has slashed budgets to assist the poor and near-poor with healthcare, housing and food – in a state where seven million live under the official poverty line and child poverty rates are the highest in the nation.
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“Governor Newsom’s reluctance to propose meaningful revenue solutions to help blunt the harm of federal cuts undermines his posture to counter the Trump administration.” The statement said that the proposed budget “will leave many Californians without food assistance and healthcare coverage.”
So far, key facts about Newsom’s policy priorities have scarcely gone beyond California’s borders. “National media have focused on Newsom as a personality and potential White House candidate and have almost completely ignored what he has and has not done as a governor,” said columnist Dan Walters, whose five decades covering California politics included 33 years at the Sacramento Bee. “It’s a perpetual failing of national political media to be more interested in image and gamesmanship rather than actual actions, the sizzle rather than the steak, and Newsom is very adept at exploiting that tendency.”
Also see https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/10/gavin-newsom-presidential-candidate-democrats
Like Trump, Newsom breaks promises, serves billionaire interests and mistakes social media theatrics for leadership. Is that really what American voters will want in 2028? After Richard Nixon, Americans chose Jimmy Carter. After George W Bush, they chose Barack Obama. After Trump, they’ll likely want change – authentic, strong, moral leadership, a leader with competence and vision.
He does fine as a thorn in Trump’s side. But that’s it.
You mean he does fine as the WWE kfabe opponent to Trump who performs the character of a resistance fighter on stage right?
For a corporate Dem like Newsom, that’s the most we’re ever going to get is theatre. So yeah.
To this post’s point, hell no on rallying behind him in ‘28. There are those who claim the DNC leadership has evolved and won’t be captured by corporate interests this time around. I think whether they attempt to shove Newsom down our throats is the perfect test of this theory.
Unfortunately, so much hangs in the balance of that decision. Really hate the two party trap we’re living in, at times like this especially.
The DNC is as arrogant and misguided as ever. They didn’t admit they made a mistake, they blamed the left for the loss, as always. They hired influence agencies to be shitty to us online even. They were backed up by right wing influence operations pretending to be us to push their doomed to fail candidates in primary season, too, or annointment season as 2024 was. As we only had 4 plus months, how could we possibly run a challenge in that time? /s Think of all the missed fundraising opportunities! That was their actual argument at the time.
If Newsome was presidential material, he would’ve stood up and taken the presidency in 2024 when we needed someone that could win. He can’t win now. Now that it’s his turn with the party establishment.
The cycle may be broken this year anyway as the feds will be indicting democrats on false vote rigging charges probably the fall after this one. Newsome will be their main target as he’s the likely contender as they see it, just as Hillary was known to have the agreement with the weak democratic party somehow all sewn up after Obama made a deal with her to stand down (after Obama already won in 2008, there was no reason to make a deal, and it’s not his place to make a deal, and no one in the party should respect such a deal, where is the ambition? But that is where we are at.) So they focused on attacking her. After the president’s first term biden was known to be the frontrunner, assumed the weak democrats would make sure that unpopular old bitch got the nomination, and they spent their time attacking him.
We’ve election thievery to deal with this time, 7 new ways from sunday, on top of whatever else they are already doing. States, counties, and the feds, all cheating in every way they can, and the national party gearing up to simply not recognize the popular vote if it goes against them. Not recognize the popular vote to decide who gets electors I mean obviously. And many states have given their state legislatures back the power to award them in defiance of their States’ popular votes, including GA, WI, and AZ, and a bunch of the shitholy(er) ones.
Newsome won’t prevail against that, only an aggressive populist reformer with an organized citizenry could.