Few in American politics are as determined as California Gov. Gavin Newsom is correct now.
Newsom, lengthy thought of — by himself, anyway — a frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for president, has been positioning himself and repositioning himself to be subsequent in line for years.
And this week, by the Los Angeles smog, he can see the prize on the horizon.
With L.A. the epicenter of immigration protests, the camera-loving gov isn’t simply on the story, he’s made himself the story — simply activate any cable information outlet and also you’re prone to see him there, taking up President Trump and his administration.
Or in a primetime televised handle he’s calling “Democracy at a Crossroads.” Or on social media, the place he’s importing satirical responses to Trump from his official press workplace account, evaluating him to “Star Wars” villain Emperor Palpatine in a pair of AI-generated TikToks.
Make no mistake, Newsom is relishing his second within the highlight, and he’s benefiting from his brushes with Trump, who appears to know precisely who Newsom is.
After Trump border czar Tom Homan advised Newsom be arrested (for what, who is aware of?) Trump responded, “I believe it’s nice. Gavin likes the publicity, however I believe it might be an important factor.”
Trump is in fact exploiting tensions in Los Angeles, too. It’s shocking to nobody that Trump would throw gasoline on an ember if it meant extra pink meat for the bottom. He loves the protests and all that include them — the optics for him are priceless.
And Newsom isn’t unsuitable to oppose Trump’s apparent overreach in California. Sending within the literal Marines is a gross abuse of energy and a completely pointless escalation in response.
However don’t be fooled — Newsom may be very a lot in on the bit, even going as far as to taunt Homan to go forward and arrest him. He is aware of that by drawing Trump in as a foil, he solely elevates himself.
See, Newsom badly wants Trump and he wants this second. After a disastrous effort to rebrand as a centrist, throughout which he welcomed far-right creepers like Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon onto his podcast and tried to scold his personal celebration for going too far on social points (that he additionally supported), Gavin must remind his base that he’s nonetheless an excellent Democrat.
Being a vocal Trump opponent is a straightforward win, however that not has the cachet it as soon as did. In 2024, voters obtained sensible to a budget calorie thrills of watching their Democratic leaders bluster about Trump’s awfulness whereas they concurrently dismissed the impacts of a cratering financial system, an exploding migrant disaster on the border, and unchecked crime.
Newsom’s California is an unmitigated mess, and to many citizens the state — like him — has develop into the poster little one for all the things that’s failing in America.
Together with amongst Californians themselves.
A current L.A. Occasions/UC Berkeley ballot discovered that California registered voters imagine by greater than 2 to 1 that Newsom is extra centered on boosting his presidential possibilities than fixing the state’s issues.
Solely 46% approve of his efficiency in his closing time period, and a majority assume issues are typically going within the unsuitable path.
Possibly that’s as a result of the state has the very best price of residing within the nation. Whereas Newsom closed prisons and handed soft-on-crime legal guidelines, the crime fee went up. California has America’s most homelessness, highest well being care prices, worst air pollution and highest taxes.
Final yr, ConsumerAffairs ranked California the worst state to maneuver to, on account of low scores in training, well being, high quality of life and security.
In the meantime, Newsom has exploded the scale of California’s authorities, with the variety of authorities staff reaching its highest stage in additional than 5 many years. Per CalMatters, Newsom even doubled the scale of his personal workplace, going from 150 staff in 2018 earlier than he turned governor to 381 individuals in 2024.
Maybe Newsom’s hoping that this new battle with Trump over immigration will make voters flip a blind eye to his demonstrable failures as an govt, and simply in time for 2028.
However after the reckoning Dems confronted in 2024, with Trump successful all seven swing states and all types of voters Dems used to assert, nobody ought to imagine a far-left, big-government, self-promoting California pol like Newsom is their greatest shot at beating Republicans.
And nobody ought to imagine he’s not laser-focused on changing into simply that both.
As L.A. Occasions columnist Mark Z. Barabak put it, Newsom’s denials of his presidential ambition, “all of the whereas very purposefully thrusting himself into the dialog” is “form of like somebody stripping bare, standing in a division retailer window, then asking why everyone seems to be staring.” Nobody’s shopping for it.
S.E. Cupp is the host of “S.E. Cupp Unfiltered” on CNN.
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