By Governor Gavin Newsom’s narcissistic lights, the Democrats have the GOP right where it wants it. On Aug. 12, Newsom tried too hard by half to tweet in the style of President Trump, implying that Republicans will rue its Texas redistricting by having “missed the deadline” to stop it. Declaring himself America’s “favorite governor,” Newsom said California Democrats will respond by redistricting which favors their party. He then said on August 20 that “We’re fighting fire with fire. And we’re gonna punch these sons of bitches in the mouth.”
Surely the use of the word ‘fire’ as a rhetorical weapon of revenge is noticeable to Californians affected by the L.A. Fires of 2025, including those whose own government may be “fighting” against their attempt to rebuild their properties. As of Aug. 21, there were only 178 parcels with building permits issued compared to 12,048 estimated damaged or destroyed parcels in that area, according to the LA County Permitting Progress Dashboard. But that is a small matter for Governor Newsom, who also took time this week to belittle the quaint notion of job creation in California. Writing sarcastically on X about Bed Bath & Beyond, he said “We wish them well in their efforts to become relevant again as they try to open a 2nd store.” Newsom is perhaps experiencing schadenfreude, liberating his mind of the burden of sincerely caring about voters. He resorts to passive-aggressive mockery to declare publicly that which has long been understood practically about Democrats’ contempt for the private sector.
Earlier this year in New York, its Democrat Attorney General Letitia James said in a likely moment of ego defense, that “I will not be silenced, I will not be bullied… No one is above the law, including the president of the United States.” Indeed, and on August 21, New York’s Appellate Division court could not partake in James’ delusions of grandeur as it struck down the nearly $500 million civil fine against the Trump Organization. Finding an Eighth Amendment excessive fine violation, the appeals court left the door open for further proceedings. Nevertheless, New York State’s lawsuit itself was excessive, along with the exceeding examples of Democrat rhetorical shrillness crying out for a diagnosis -- such as House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ panicked tweet on August 11 that Donald Trump should “[g]et lost” for federalizing police in the District of Columbia.
The author and speaker John C. Maxwell wrote “The greatest enemy of good thinking is busyness.” The Democrat Party has been busy, to the detriment of a sound mind. Whether it is Letitia James casting President Trump as a bully, or Gavin Newsom assuring us the Texas Republican Party is acting far beyond norms, the Left is engaging in the defensive art of psychological projection. The desperate goal is simple: project anything on Republicans that surely a Democrat has already said or done.
But the game is up. On August 20, the New York Times published an analysis of voter registration data gathered by the L2 tracking firm. Between the 2020 and 2024 elections, Democrats lost 2.1 million voters in the states that track registration by party. During that same time, registered Republicans (those pesky ‘SOBs’) increased by 2.4 million.
As the voter registration numbers show, people living in the real world with responsibilities, budgets, and risks know which policies improve lives instead of those that project mirages. Shaming, jealous sarcasm, and double standards won’t bring these voters back to liberals. The Democrat Party will thus be left to lie on the therapist’s couch, blaming everyone but themselves for not seeing things their way.
Alan Loncar is an attorney in Macomb County, Michigan.
Image: AT via Magic Studio