Gavin Newsom: ‘I don’t think Donald Trump wants another election’
Gov. Gavin Newsom accused President Donald Trump of “authoritarian tendencies” Wednesday and questioned whether the Republican president would really leave office at the end of his term.
“I don’t think Donald Trump wants another election,” the governor said during an on-stage interview at a Politico policy summit in Sacramento.
“I have two dozen Trump 2028 hats his folks keep sending me,” he continued. “Who spends $200 million on a ballroom at their home and then leaves?”
He also invoked the January 6, 2021 insurrection, and a partisan redistricting fight between states that began with Trump pressuring Texas lawmakers to redraw congressional maps to favor Republicans ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Newsom and California state lawmakers have responded in-kind, though the Golden State map requires voter approval.
“He tried to steal the last election. He’s trying to rig it in plain sight this time,” Newsom said of Trump. “He wants to get rid of vote-by-mail.”
Trump this week pledged to “lead a movement to get rid of” mail-in ballots, which is the favored method of voting among Californians and an option in many other states.
The governor’s concerns echoed a speech he gave in June warning that Trump’s nationalization of the California National Guard marked a dangerous moment for democracy.
Propelled by his plan to hit back at Texas redistricting and by mocking Trump’s style through campaign merchandise and his press office’s social media posts, Newsom has broken through as a national anti-Trump figure in recent months and is widely considered to be a Democratic presidential contender 2028.
Though he wasn’t asked about it directly, Newsom did little to dispel the idea Wednesday. When asked who is “hot” in politics right now, he responded: “The bench of Democratic governors are.”
While he encouraged those Democratic governors to join the redistricting war, he stopped short of explicitly calling them to arms, saying it would come across as “patronizing and obnoxious.”
“These are good people. They know right from wrong. You’ve got some unbelievably eloquent people that are superstars,” he said. “These guys are more than capable of figuring it out themselves, but I think they understand what’s at stake.”
Newsom said taking on a Trumpian online persona — including all-caps social media posts and bombastic boasting — reflects a desire “to be held to a higher level of accountability” and “to serve more clearly with conviction.” Leaders on the right such as Vice President JD Vance see this as a flagrant, though ultimately unsuccessful, attempt to level himself with Trump for a future presidential bid.
The governor admitted to having a “kill switch” on the all-caps social media posts put out by his team, but said he is using it “less every day.”
He acknowledged a significant shift in his approach to the Trump administration since the immigration raids and seeing Sen. Alex Padilla thrown to the ground during a U.S. Department of Homeland Security press conference. While he maintains an open hand, Newsom said, “I sure as hell will have a closed fist and push back against those authoritarian tendencies.”