Gavin Newsom tried courting the right, but Trump came for him anyway | Opinion
Well Mr. Governor, I guess all that pandering to the right didn’t save you from President Donald Trump, did it?
There is no joy to be derived from news that Gov. Gavin Newsom and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, are being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice, for two separate incidents originated out of whistleblower complaints submitted to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento.
Given Trump’s tendency to menace anyone who crosses him, the appearance of a leader who weaponizes the DOJ to pursue his political enemies evokes a dictator, not a U.S. president.
One investigation is connected to the prosecution of Dana Williamson, Newsom’s former chief of staff, who pleaded guilty to fraud and lying to the FBI last month. (Williamson is also being federally prosecuted for charges tied to mismanagement of money in a former campaign of a current candidate for state governor, Xavier Becerra.)
The other investigation is related to Siebel Newsom’s tax returns.
What do these investigations have to do with Newsom bending to the right, as he road-tests courting votes outside California? Because it’s clearly a losing strategy for Democrats to appease or court MAGA votes. Those who do, get burned. Democrats should focus on being Democrats.
But over the last two years, Newsom has pandered to the right, hosting far-right media figures on his embarrassing podcast, “This Is Gavin Newsom,” legitimizing the talking points of men tied to white supremacy such as Steve Bannon, Ben Shapiro and the late Charlie Kirk, and appearing on their podcasts in turn. Newsom has also been making a vocal push for Democrats to avoid “woke” terminology and focus instead on things like housing and childcare.
Newsom also said on his podcast episode featuring Kirk that allowing transgender women to compete in female athletic divisions is “deeply unfair,” and last year cut the LBTQ Health Equity Fund, dropping $17 million in dedicated funding for transgender, non-binary and LGBTQ+ health programs across the state.
Now where did that get you, Mr. Governor? Your cynical parade of concessions to the right means nothing now.
Trouble is, Trump’s investigated so many people at this point that the public might forget Newsom’s turn in the pillory.
The president’s trigger-happy finger on federal indictments has lessened the impact of a federal indictment from this particular DOJ, and his ongoing tactics to flood the gates has hindered everyone’s ability to remember specific events. The whole incident will wind up as a footnote on Newsom’s Wikipedia page or, at best, mentioned briefly in a presidential primary debate, come Spring 2028.
But for now, federal prosecutors clearly think they have an “in” to Sacramento’s inner circles. Do they? Who knows. But the Fair Political Practices Commission, which regulates campaign financing in the state, fined Newsom $31,500 for failing to report millions in charitable donations made on his behalf just a week before the DOJ’s investigation became public.
Newsom, ever the opportunist, already used the moment to drop another breadcrumb to the public that he is thinking about running for president in 2028.
He titled his mass email to Democratic fundraisers after the news broke: “Because I am thinking of running for president” and in the note, choosing some very dramatic line breaks, stating:
“They are doing to me -- and my wife -- what they did to Jerome Powell, James Comey, Tish James, Adam Schiff, the six members of Congress who made a video he didn’t like, and a woman a jury found Donald Trump had sexually abused.
Now it’s my turn.”
Then he asked for some more money.
Newsom surely sees the benefit of being targeted by such an unpopular administration; but I wonder just how much longer he can try to please right and center voters in the rest of the nation, while positioning himself as the beleaguered hero of the left in California? It seems bound to fail.
