CASTLE SHANNON, Pennsylvania — A little over a year ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) came to western Pennsylvania to stump for then-President Joe Biden on the border of this borough and Mt. Lebanon, one of the wealthiest suburbs of Pittsburgh.

He gave a short speech to quell the efforts to pressure Biden to drop out of the race after his disastrous debate in Atlanta.

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I wrote at the time that the visit was oddly constructed. Here was the governor of California, an ambitious man clearly interested in pursuing the office himself one day, sandwiched into a second-floor law office in a strip mall off the beaten path. Worse yet, the crowd was made up of Democrats, people who already would have supported Biden rather than gettable voters.

That visit was followed by another private visit with Service Employees International Union grassroots activists in Pittsburgh, the most active and furthest left in the party, yet nothing was done to win over new voters.

One year later, with Newsom’s party struggling, more than many ever expected, he and his party have learned little about what the results of last year’s election meant, what they got wrong, and how they reengage with gettable voters.

It is as though he is viewing America through a cracked mirror: He can’t see who he or what his party is, let alone who the public is, and perhaps more importantly, what the people want in a leader. Having just returned from a 4,000-mile cross-country road trip, during which I visited with voters of all stripes, I can assure you that what Newsom has been doing on social media isn’t it.

Politico wrote his all-caps X is holding a mirror up to MAGA — and MAGA doesn’t like what it sees. But conservative populist voters don’t care at all. The press and Democrats have been making fun of them for years, and they just shrug. Democrats in Pennsylvania find it bizarre and unhelpful for races they are trying to win. They also find it inauthentic when their voters crave authenticity.

These voters don’t want a Democrat to mirror President Donald Trump. They want someone who can forge his or her own path with results and accomplishments. No Democrat or Republican will ever be like Trump, and there is no need to go there.

Hudson Institute’s Paul Sracic, who spent decades examining the heart of the political earthquake, the Mahoning Valley, where he taught American politics as a professor at Youngstown State University, said it never fails to amaze him that even after nearly a decade, Democrats still don’t understand Trump.

“The latest example of this can be found nearly every day on Gavin Newsom’s Twitter account. I’m sure some brilliant Democratic strategist pulled a muscle patting themselves on the back for coming up with a strategy where the erstwhile 2028 presidential candidate would try to troll Trump using all caps and ending with ‘THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.’ But the joke’s on the governor.  Newsom’s biggest obstacle is the fact that he reeks of inauthenticity. He comes off like a typical phony politician. Worse yet, he seems unaware of how obvious this is to others,” he explained.

That might be cute on X, but it is not going to resonate with voters in Pennsylvania or in the Mahoning Valley, places where you actually have to win over voters to win presidential elections.

To that point, Fox News host Dana Perino, who was a top press aide and communications specialist in former President George W. Bush’s administration, gave him likely the best advice possible on the network’s program The Five when she said Newsom and his team running the state press office “have to stop it with the Twitter thing.”

Perino added to the growing speculation that he is running for president in 2028.

“He’s got a big job as governor of California. But if he wants an even bigger job, he has to be a little bit more serious,” Perino said.

“DANA ‘DING DONG’ PERINO (NEVER HEARD OF HER UNTIL TODAY!) IS MELTING DOWN BECAUSE OF ME, GAVIN C. NEWSOM!” the governor’s press office account posted Tuesday. “FOX HATES THAT I AM AMERICA’S MOST FAVORITE GOVERNOR (‘RATINGS KING’) SAVING AMERICA — WHILE TRUMP CAN’T EVEN CONQUER THE ‘BIG’ STAIRS ON AIR FORCE ONE ANYMORE!!! TRUMP HAS ‘LOST HIS STEP’ AND FOX IS LOSING IT BECAUSE WHEN I TYPE, AMERICA NOW WINS!!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.”

I understand social media and the D.C. press are amused by this. However, I would caution them to consider that other governors’ styles, such as Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro showing up, “getting s*** done” and governing, are much more appealing to gettable voters needed to win a presidential election than this.

Perhaps it is because Newsom has never had to win over Republicans, independents, or centrist Democrats to win in California that he does not understand that. Perhaps it is because those advising him politically, as well as those running his social media accounts, have never had to do that either that they all think this is the way.

As one former Democratic elected official in Pennsylvania told me, “This is not how you win Pennsylvania, and you have to think long term in your strategy. Trump will never be replicated by a Democrat candidate or a Republican candidate. He is one of a kind.”

Sracic said Trump’s superpower, well before he ever ran for president, is his self-awareness.

“Think Trump’s hair is funny? He’s aware and is willing to play along,” he said.

Remember, there were plenty of real estate developers in New York City in the 1980s and ’90s. Trump wanted to stand out.

“Trump created a product known as ‘The Donald.’ He was over the top in everything he did. He worked relentlessly to get into the media, and he was good at it,” he said.

Trump embraced it, especially as he morphed into the confident boss in The Apprentice. As it turned out, playing a successful businessman on TV for 14 years didn’t hurt Trump’s chances of getting elected to head the executive branch of government.

Sracic said Trump brought something else with him when he began his campaign in 2015: large and lengthy rallies.

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“Trump, of course, didn’t invent the political rally. What he did differently was to make them entertaining. He was funny and instinctively knew how to play off the audience. Did he insult others? Yes. But Trump’s jokes are often about the lack of self-awareness in others. When he called Elizabeth Warren ‘Pocahontas,’ he didn’t do it because she was Native American. He did it because she wouldn’t acknowledge pretending to be something she wasn’t to get ahead,” he said.

It is an element and nuance missing from the Newsom X posts. He is trolling the president, trying to be the president. However, when you don’t embody the characteristics of what has frustrated voters for over a decade, then you come across as a troll, not someone who understands why voters left the Democrats to begin with.