California Gov. Gavin Newsom has labored to carve out an identity for himself as a partisan gladiator and culture warrior on the Left for years. He's taken out advertisements in red states, even traveling to some, to troll and attack Republican governors. He's used California resources to boycott conservative states over social issues. He scolded his party for not being sufficiently willing to fight the GOP. He's signed some of the most extreme, harmful, left-wing bills imaginable into law. Rather than governing his own state successfully -- deflecting blame, passing the buck, spinning and lying about the myriad failures that have people bleeding out of California -- he's adopted a 'look at me' approach to politics. Anytime, anywhere, he'll show up for 'battle.' And attention. When he can be bothered to focus on California, it's with performances like his expensive special session stunt to 'Trump proof' the state against the new presidential administration. He was a loyal soldier to Joe Biden prior to his forced exit from the 2024 race, ostentatiously projecting 'team player' vibes, obviously for his own future brand and ambitions. The man is not subtle. He wants to be president.
Which is why this supposed 'break' from the hard Left on a hot button topic is so very blatantly a self-serving calculation:
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the most radical trans laws in the nation, but suddenly believes that it's unfair to have transgender athletes in female sports
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) March 6, 2025
He's running in 2028 pic.twitter.com/Ezvuryyf7u
Newsom realizes that excessive wokeness and crazy leftist orthodoxy has been a political problem for national Democrats lately. It's also destroyed his state, with him leading the charge, of course. After the election, progressives' trans and gender agenda overreach has been cited as a significant factor in President Trump's victory. Recent New York Times polling (as well as other surveys) also shows how out of step and radical Democrats' positions have become, with large majorities of voters rejecting their dogmatic extremism -- even including most Democratic voters:
A recent NYT poll found very similar figures. The sports issue is where trans activism has lost most Americans, who don’t think natal males who identify as female should be allowed in girls’ and women’s sports. https://t.co/OeRW7Gf8sw
— Benjamin Ryan (@benryanwriter) February 6, 2025
New NYT poll:
— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) January 18, 2025
Society has gone too far or far enough accommodating trans people:
Total: 77%
GOP: 93%
Dem: 62%
Trans women should NOT be allowed in women’s sports:
Total: 79%
GOP: 94%
Dem: 67%
Minors should NOT be able to get puberty blockers:
Total: 71%
GOP: 90%
Dem: 54% pic.twitter.com/ovXY5qKEEv
Society has gone too far or far enough accommodating trans people:
Total: 77% GOP: 93% Dem: 62%
Trans women should NOT be allowed in women’s sports:
Total: 79% GOP: 94% Dem: 67%
Minors should NOT be able to get puberty blockers:
Total: 71% GOP: 90% Dem: 54%
Suddenly, Gavin Newsom, "principled" progressive culture warrior extraordinaire, has turned up on a conservative podcast to announce that of course he thinks biological males in girls and women's sports is a step too far and unfair. Make no mistake: This is not a genuine moment of enlightenment, conversion or contrition. This is a transparently cynical political pivot by a man desirous of national power, having looked at voters' reactions to ideas that his party -- and he himself -- have loudly championed for years. If Newsom believes that in order to win, the Democrats need to move away from this alienating nonsense, he should personally pledge never to run for national office because he and his state have served as the bleeding edge vanguard of this extremism at every step. Here are just a few examples from the last year alone:
Sure, Gavin. pic.twitter.com/wGMwJWc0q8
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) March 6, 2025
Sure, Gavin. pic.twitter.com/Fablz3BE0n
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) March 6, 2025
Sure, Gavin pic.twitter.com/kafqqNbBVE
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) March 6, 2025
Yes, Gavin Newsom just signed a law barring local governments from requiring public schools from informing parents if their own children were undergoing a gender transition at school. He also celebrated and signed legislation promoting radical medical 'gender affirming' interventions for children in the state of California. He is in no position to sermonize about the need for Democrats to find sensible middle ground on these issues. He has governed as perhaps the single most left-wing governor in the whole country, resulting in a dysfunctional, unaffordable, special-interest-dominated mess that many former residents have since fled. If he decides that his loftier political goals now require him to reinvent himself as a 'normie' Democrat, there is a mile-long record of governance and rhetoric that contradicts his self-interested, inauthentic makeover. Don't believe it. See it for what it is. And understand what he's planning to do -- this is entirely about 2028.
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