Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision to use his official social media accounts to constantly mock and parody President Donald Trump seems like a gamble that has paid off — at least for his 2028 White House ambitions. A national poll by Emerson College released Aug. 29 showed Newsom’s support among Democrats doubling since June. A groundswell of Democrats praising his combativeness even led to a rare positive Drudge Report banner story on the former San Francisco mayor.
But has this applause gone to his head — or, worse yet, has it led to him going from parodying Trump’s bullying style to adopting it?
Consider the governor’s press office’s juvenile Aug. 20 response on X to a Bed Bath & Beyond announcement that the struggling retailer was keeping out of California due to its costly business climate: “After their bankruptcy and closure of every store, like most Americans, we thought Bed Bath & Beyond no longer existed,” Newsom’s account snarked. “We wish them well in their efforts to become relevant again as they try to open a second store.”
How does this help a state that has seen one high-profile company after another leave in recent years? As the Los Angeles Times reported Aug. 4, the decision by In-N-Out, California’s iconic burger chain, to relocate many key operations to Tennessee follows the exits of financial services powerhouse Charles Schwab, oil giant Chevron, and tech pioneers Tesla and SpaceX.
The foolishness of the governor’s gibe was underscored by the progressive, staunchly anti-Trump Democratic mayor of San Jose. In a column for The San Francisco Standard, Matt Mahan wrote, “Newsom’s supporters say he is ‘breaking the internet’ and ‘owning’ Trump. But the governor, and every elected official and leader, also need to own up to the truth. And the truth is that California has the highest unemployment rate in the nation, at 5.5%, and nearly half the nation’s unsheltered homeless people. We have the highest energy and housing costs in the continental United States, and, largely because of these high costs, the highest effective poverty rate in the nation.”
Mahan should have gone even farther and noted how Gov. Jerry Brown urged Silicon Valley CEOs to contact him directly if they ran into state-generated headaches. Or how Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was famous for reading stories about a business in distress and immediately giving the owner a call.
Why “should have”? Because in response to our questions, the governor’s press office also mockingly dismissed Mahan. “We’d ask Mayor Matt to spend his time less focused on the governor’s social media and his efforts to defend democracy, and instead focus on San Jose,” a spokesperson wrote in an email.
Wow, “Mayor Matt,” you just don’t get it, do you? Questioning California’s business climate is akin to attacking democracy.
Call this what it is: pretzel logic in service of puerility.