Clearly, California Governor Gavin Newsom has at least one eye on the White House. He became the Golden State’s lieutenant governor in 2011 and California’s chief executive in 2019. His current and final term ends in 2026. But, like most Democrats, his only agenda these days seems to be opposing everything President Donald Trump says and does. Perhaps there’s good reason for that. It makes for a great distraction, serving up red (or orange?) meat to his progressive base while California continues to fail by almost every metric.
It does appear that a lot of Democrats have forgotten that Trump will not be on the Republican ticket in three years. Well, not as things stand currently. So, it’s one thing to attempt to troll Trump on social media, but it’s not going to contribute much to a Gavin Newsom 2028 campaign.
When Trump unleashes one of his all-caps rants on Truth Social – which he clearly composes himself – a lot of people, including some of his supporters, in all likelihood shake their heads and wonder if he isn’t losing it. Ironically, many are probably wondering the same about Newsom.
The Trump parodies were funny the first couple of times, but they keep coming – begging the question, is the press office for the governor of America’s most populous state now entirely devoted to mocking the president? Has Newsom’s team given up even pretending to govern California and is now simply focused on a juvenile heckling campaign against Trump?
Along with the legions of homeless, Donald J. Trump is living rent-free in the Golden State. Here is one of the parody tweets:
Of course, Gavin Newsom is not personally writing these posts that mimic Trump. He isn’t exactly famous for his sense of humor. And so, if the point behind the satirical rants – other than to metaphorically poke the president in the eye – is to soften and lighten Newsom’s public image, it’s not going to work. No living person is known to have heard Newsom crack a joke, according to sources familiar with jokes. The governor, if he wishes to appear less like the wealthy West Coast “liberal” elitist he is, will need to come out of his comfort zone and personally deliver his best Trump impersonation rather than have staffers do it for him.
On Aug. 18, The Hill published results compiled from 30 surveys measuring Newsom’s favorability. The governor was underwater by 22.2 points (49.2% unfavorable to 27% favorable). RealClear Polling on the same day had the president down by 5.6 points (51.2% disapprove to 45.6% approve). It appears the governor isn’t winning the popularity contest.
A national polling average, also updated on Aug. 18 on the Race to the White House website, lists potential contenders for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination. Newsom sits in third place with 13.1%, behind Pete Buttigieg (15.3%) and Kamala Harris (22.7%).
None of this seems like a winning strategy. Focusing on hectoring a president he will not be running against in 2028 – assuming that Gavin Newsom could even win his party’s nomination – while the state he’s been governing for the past six years falls apart may not be the way to get to the White House. The governor won’t win over Trump supporters by mocking Trump, and the people who probably most enjoy the Trump social media parodies are already bound to vote for whichever Democrat gets the 2028 nod.
Funny or not, the current barrage of fake Trumpian rants coming out of the California governor’s press office do not appear to have any useful purpose. And that brings one back, obviously, to the only possible intent: distraction.