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Nearly a year into his second term, and the response to President Trump’s sweeping claims of power has been a mere whimper from his political opponents. The failure of Democrats to form coherent counter-messaging is as much a touchstone of the administration as its backslide into authoritarianism.
In recent months, one voice has wriggled its way into a position of genuine defiance: that of California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom. His media campaign is an unsubtle preface to a presidential bid; yet, Newsom has matched the MAGA movement’s rhetoric.
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Humor is a defining element. X posts from the Governor Newsom Press Office account poke fun at the administration -- highlights include posts that satirize Trump’s speech style. Utilizing the president’s penchant for all caps and self-aggrandizing comments, Newsom’s posts quip at the controversy of the day. Sometimes the president's comments are adapted verbatim.
This has resulted in a parody that has been difficult to rebuke since it often hurls the president’s words back at him. Pundits at Fox have tried to mock the strategy, disregarding the irony of near direct quotes of a president whom they fully support.
Newsom has also started selling merchandise like his red “NEWSOME WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING!” hat in his “Patriot Shop” – a spoof of Trump’s hats. He has also appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in addition to a number of podcasts.
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It’s a brilliant media campaign that complements his more substantive discussions of politics, particularly resisting the GOP’s authoritarian spiral. Flipping the script on the vitriol spewed onto Truth Social has been gratifying in a world where Democratic leadership seems to be absent.
However, Newsom’s effort to claw his reputation further to the center has been largely ignored. The right wing likes to paint a caricature of California as an apocalyptic hellhole overrun with crime, poverty, homelessness, and weirdos. Newsom’s efforts to appear more centrist makes sense.
However, as a California resident, I believe the state's reputation is overblown. While I live in the more conservative part of Northern California, my recent trip to San Francisco was short of the “war-ravaged” cities Trump has characterized (such as Portland). Not to mention drugs, crime, and homelessness issues extend well into the territory of Nor-Cal's local conservative leadership.
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Yet, Newsom’s pandering to the right has been sloppy. He has featured a number of far-right conservative figures on his new podcast. Though the pretext is open conversation, Newsom did little to challenge 2020 election conspiracies and cosigned on the impropriety of transgender athletes competing against people who match their gender identity.
Other flubs in Newsom’s push center have been policy changes. Newsom’s attitude towards homelessness has become markedly more hostile. His policies regarding the matter have moved towards cleaning homeless encampments off of the streets -- a policy that will certainly combat the visibility of California’s homeless problem, but do little to actually address it. It’s an effort perfectly suited for the optics of a media, or a presidential campaign, even if it only results in shuffling people around.
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Meanwhile, as he rightly criticizes Trump’s National Guard deployments to Democratic cities, Newsom has deployed state police in a taskforce to tamp down crime – yet another move that creates “tough on crime” optics but doesn’t address root causes.
Concessions on trans issues, or police crackdowns on crime and homeless encampments may be a purely strategic appeal to centrist sensibilities. However, there is no point to creating harmful policy and rhetoric to counter a reality that doesn’t actually exist. Issues with homelessness and crime obviously exist in the state, but messaging regarding the left drastically overstates problems.
The conservative delusion regarding transgender athletes is a perfect example. Despite the very small number of transgender athletes in the United States, the end of the 2024 campaign was marked by millions of dollars of anti-trans ads paid for by the GOP. Aside from a culture war context, it's a non-issue.
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Similarly, despite crime statistics indicating a drop in violent crime in 2022, 2023, and 2024, the administration is claiming that crime is out of control. There is no point in trying to challenge concerns that are not grounded in reality. The people who believe those lies simply choose to.
One of the greatest threats to California has been wildfires, and to his credit, Newsom stepped in to improve the situation. Prior to its bankruptcy agreement, Pacific Gas & Electric had been responsible for several fires, including the state's most deadly. There hasn’t been a major fire caused by the utility company since its 2020 bankruptcy agreement, which forced it to higher safety standards.
However, as a result, there has been a nearly 70percent increase in the average PG&E bill. Coupled with rent increases over the last five years and inflation plaguing the entire nation, it has become increasingly unaffordable to live in California. And obviously, a lack of affordability impacts crime and homelessness.
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Newsom’s rhetoric has been strong regarding the rise of authoritarianism, but economic hardship for the working class has been a major concern for the nation and a clear cause of the problems that define California’s damaged reputation.
Policing may seem like an easier and safer solution for a politician clearly making moves toward federal office, but California’s national reputation can’t be erased overnight. But Newsom’s team has been quite effective at leading the political discourse against the Trump administration.
If Newsom wants to shed California’s negative reputation – and keep his eye on a future successful presidential bid -- the way to do so is through thoughtful change -- not with a mere temporary and quick-fix band-aid for the deep-rooted problems facing the state.
Author Bio:
Garrett Hartman is a contributing writer at Highbrow Magazine.
For Highbrow Magazine