Within the escalating battle between President Trump and Gavin Newsom, the California governor is making an attempt a brand new technique, one he hopes will set up himself as the one Democrat in a position to battle hearth with hearth.
Certainly, Newsom has taken a web page out of Trump’s personal playbook: bombastic threats and social media trolling.
In a sequence of posts on X, Newsom mimicked Trump’s use of all-caps, randomly positioned citation marks, title calling, and concluding with “thanks for consideration to this matter” – a Trump signature as of late.
Furthermore, Newsom despatched the White Home a letter threatening that if Trump doesn’t inform Texas Republicans to halt their redistricting earlier than an 8-day deadline expired, California would merely redraw their very own maps in ways in which nullify any GOP good points.
In response to an interview he gave, Newsom calls this the “no regrets technique” however it is also described as his “White Home 2028” technique.
Newsom could be very probably eyeing a presidential run, and he clearly believes that one of the best ways to cement himself atop the Democratic ticket is to do what Democratic voters need greater than something: battle again.
Put one other approach, as Newsom sees it, the quickest path to the Oval Workplace runs by means of sparring with the present occupant, who no Democrat – or Republican – has efficiently crushed earlier than.
Newsom’s new technique is a marked reversal from how he dealt with the connection early in Trump’s second time period.
Following January’s devastating fires in Southern California Newsom was strolling a tremendous line vis-à-vis the brand new administration, resulting in him and Trump falling right into a “détente.”
That détente has now ended, with Newsom deciding that it was time to lace up his boxing gloves and take the battle to Trump.
Whether or not over immigration, deploying the Nationwide Guard and U.S. Marines to Los Angeles, or gerrymandering, Newsom’s most popular response to Trump’s overreach has been to burnish his credentials as a fighter.
To that finish, the lingering questions are, how will Trump reply to Newsom’s new techniques? And relatedly, what do each males have at stake on this battle?
For his half, Trump has remained uncharacteristically silent, selecting to disregard Newsom’s new line of assault to this point.
However as all the time with the president, he might determine sufficient is sufficient and get into the ring with the California governor.
The White Home might throttle federal funding for the upcoming World Cup and Olympic video games, and even gradual stroll hearth restoration help.
Therein lies the query of what each have at stake.
For Trump, it seems little or no. He isn’t eligible for re-election, and even when he have been, was not relying on California turning purple.
Additional, have been Trump to overreact or politicize a nationwide occasion just like the Olympics or World Cup, it could find yourself hurting Republicans’ 2028 nominee, notably if that’s somebody within the present administration, reminiscent of Vice President Vance.
It ought to go with out saying that Newsom is the one with considerably extra at stake.
His presidential ambitions have been among the many worst saved secrets and techniques in politics for a few years, and he’s risking a substantial quantity of political capital each on the battle with Trump and to push by means of redistricting.
Notably, the stakes for Newsom have been raised considerably on Thursday.
If California voters rejected the redistricting proposal, it will be an incredible embarrassment for Newsom and a blow to his presidential hopes.
Now, polling suggests help will not be as sturdy as beforehand imagined.
By an nearly 30-point margin, California voters help the present system of an unbiased panel figuring out the state’s district maps (64%) fairly than giving politicians the facility to take action (36%), in keeping with a Politico-Citrin Heart-Chance Lab survey.
Even amongst “political influencers,” lower than 4-in-10 (39%) supported partisan redrawing of the maps, versus 61% who most popular the unbiased panel.
In that very same vein, Newsom’s picture amongst his get together’s left-wing is at stake.
Progressives and far-left Democrats soured on Newsom all through late 2024 and early 2025 resulting from him internet hosting Republicans like Charlie Kirk on his podcast, in addition to Newsom’s criticism of transgender athletes in girls’s sports activities.
Being the face of an efficient – or at the very least energetic – anti-Trump resistance could go a good distance in bringing the far-left, which is completely essential in a main, again into his camp forward of the primaries.
Equally, in an off-election 12 months, a public battle with Democrats’ nemesis permits Newsom to stay within the nationwide highlight and rub shoulders with donors and activists, whereas fellow Democratic senators, representatives, and governors are principally out of the information.
On the identical time, the downsides for Newsom are equally a lot greater, particularly if he’s seen as ignoring California to give attention to a nationwide election and his nationwide standing.
One California political insider near Newsom informed The Hill, “If that is seen as a ‘Newsom particular’ it fails…If it’s seen pretty much as good governance, it’d win.”
Finally, whether or not or not Newsom’s “no regrets technique” pays off stays to be seen. There’s a substantial period of time between now and the Democratic primaries, and plenty of issues might change.
Nonetheless, by combating Trump’s hearth together with his personal, Newsom is doing precisely what Democratic voters have been determined for. If he can sustain with the president – which nobody else has been in a position to do – it is going to probably go a really good distance in shoring up his front-runner standing.
Conversely, it’s totally doable that voters see by means of Newsom’s newest stunt and he doesn’t see the political advantages he seems to be relying on.
Douglas Schoen is a longtime Democratic political advisor.
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