California Gov. Gavin Newsom has unlocked a new strategy for exciting Democratic voters online and getting under Republicans’ skin: acting like President Donald Trump.
On X in recent weeks, Newsom’s press office account has relentlessly mimicked Trump’s PR style by writing narcissistic, insult-laden posts, often in all capital letters and littered with needless parentheticals and strangely placed quotation marks. Here’s Newsom’s social media account panning Trump’s press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week — and then pivoting to tout Newsom’s initiative to redraw the state’s congressional districts to counteract Texas’ redistricting efforts:
TRUMP JUST FLED THE PODIUM WITH PUTIN — NO QUESTIONS, NOTHING! TOTAL LOW ENERGY. THE MAN LOOKED LIKE HE’D JUST EATEN 3 BUCKETS OF KFC WITH VLAD. IS HE AFRAID THE PRESS WILL ASK ABOUT ME??? (AMERICA’S FAVORITE GOVERNOR) AND THE FACT I “STOLE THE CAMERAS” THIS WEEK WITH “THE MAPS”? MANY PEOPLE ARE SAYING HE BEGGED PUTIN TO HOLD HIS HANDS (TINY) ON THE WAY OUT. ADMIT IT, DONNIE J… YOU’RE TERRIFIED BECAUSE THIS WAS THE WORST WEEK OF YOUR LIFE BECAUSE OF ME, GAVIN C. NEWSOM. “THE MAPS” WILL END YOUR PRESIDENCY, RETAKE CONGRESS FOR THE PEOPLE, AND EXPOSE YOUR RIGGED “LITTLE GAME.”
Newsom seems to be having fun. He’s reposting AI-generated memes of his face carved onto Mount Rushmore (“WHAT AN HONOR!”). He’s putting down his Republican opponents (“NOT EVEN HIS EYELINER LINES LOOK AS PRETTY AS CALIFORNIA 'MAP' LINES,” he said of Vice President JD Vance.) He spread a meme falsely claiming there were “worldwide calls” for him to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, skewering Trump’s obsession with securing one. And, as Trump commonly does on Truth Social, Newsom’s been ending some posts with “THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!”
Newsom’s social media posts have been exploding in popularity. In part because Democrats appear to be excited about Newsom’s willingness to be a pugilist online — particularly as he’s taking extraordinary steps to fight back against Texas’ outrageous gerrymandering scheme. But also because some of the posts are genuinely entertaining and surprising, especially coming from a Democrat who typically presents as exceedingly clean-cut and careful.
Newsom is clearly in an experimental phase in his political career and has not yet settled on a lane as a potential 2028 White House contender. Earlier this year he launched a podcast, and his chumminess with the right-wing pundits he invited on suggested he was shifting to the right. But this summer Newsom became a liberal resistance hero as he offered sharp takedowns of Trump’s federalization of California’s National Guard and offered a full-throated defense of undocumented immigrants in his state. Now the combination of the redistricting battle and his social media antics suggest a new chapter: a willingness to play the game the way Trump does.
An interesting feature of Newsom’s strategy is that by mirroring Trump he simultaneously parodies him and boxes in Republican critics. “Stop it with the Twitter thing,” Fox News host Dana Perino said on Monday. “I don’t know where his wife is. If I were his wife I would say, ‘You are making a fool of yourself, stop it.’” Perino added, “He’s got a big job as governor of California, but if he wants an even bigger job, he has to be a little more serious.”
Another Fox News host, Trace Gallagher, also tried to slam Newsom: “I don’t know what he’s trying to do, but it comes across as childish and — you are the governor of the biggest state in the union — what are you doing?!” But there’s no way for right-wingers to make such arguments without implying that the president of the United States’ posts are unserious and foolish.
Trump recently posted on Truth Social, “Gavin Newscum is way down in the polls. He is viewed as the man who is destroying the once Great State of California. I will save California!!!” It’s unclear if Trump was inspired to say it by Newsom’s social media posts, or Newsom’s redistricting efforts — or both — but it does suggest Newsom is on Trump’s mind.
Newsom obviously cannot ride this train all the way to the White House. But his new routine represents a rare foray by a politician from a largely milquetoast and earnest party toward something playful, transgressive and edgy. The real challenge ahead for Newsom and his colleagues is to carve out something of their own that excites the public.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
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