If American Democrats are seeking a resistance leader, Gavin Newsom put himself forward. On Tuesday, June 10, as Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass declared a curfew in an attempt to resolve the law enforcement crisis that continued to grip the heart of the nation's second-largest city, the California governor addressed his constituents in the manner of a statesman. "The moment we've feared has arrived," he said. "Democracy is under assault right before our eyes."

The speech was described as an address to California, on the theme: "Democracy at a Crossroads." Newsom sounded the alarm as soon as the crisis started. He responded swiftly to President Donald Trump on social media and traded barbs with all those seeking to deprive the country's most populous and wealthiest state of its constitutional rights.

The conflict with the Trump administration over the militarized response to protests in Los Angeles allowed the 57-year-old Democratic governor to cement his stature as a potential candidate for the 2028 presidential election. In his address on Tuesday, he presented himself not just as a defender of his state, but as someone fighting for democracy itself. "What we're witnessing is not law enforcement – it's authoritarianism," he said. "California may be first – but it won't end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next."

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