Newsom's Trump act wins raves from Democrats
Act like him.
In an effort to egg Trump on — and rally his own troops in the Democratic Party — Newsom has taken a page from Trump's playbook, mirroring everything from the president's rants to his social media habits.
In recent days, the California governor has touted his own 'beautiful' midterm redistricting proposal and his 'beautiful' rally to boot — needling Trump's braggadocious ways.
Newsom has started to write his social media posts in ALL CAPS, just like the president.
And he's come up with his own Trump-y nickname for the president: TACO, short for Trump Always Chickens Out, an acronym that originated on Wall Street in reaction to Trump's moves on tariffs and is designed to annoy the White House.
In the process, Newsom is garnering attention from all ends of the media, while emerging Democrats eager to see members of their party fight back at the president.
The HuffPost on Tuesday led with the headline 'He's on a troll' with a photo of a smiling Newsom. Fox News during a segment on 'The Five' commented on his efforts to copy Trump.
'Democrats are over being the nice guy party,' said Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons, who served as Kamala Harris's communications director in the vice president's office. 'Standing up for Dem values doesn't mean you have to play by the old rules and Newsom in particular is showing he'll go as low as he needs to to take on Trump.'
Since losing the election in November, Democrats have been rudderless and for the most part, leaderless, desperately trying to find their way out of the wilderness.
A Wall Street Journal poll out late last month showed Democrats' popularity at the lowest point in three decades. The poll showed that 63 percent of voters have an unfavorable view of Democratic Party while 33 percent of voters have a favorable view.
But Newsom's recent strategy has given the party a shot in the arm, Simmons and other strategists have said.
'Gavin Newsom is capturing the hearts and minds of Democrats,' Simmons said, adding that 'people who don't do politics for a living are asking about him and they really like him.'
Anthony Coley, a Democratic strategist who served in the Biden administration, agreed, saying 'watching him go toe-to-toe with Trump on social media — an arena Trump has dominated for a decade — is refreshing, energizing and even fun to watch for many Democrats.'
A new survey out this week by Echelon Insights showed Newsom surging in a 2028 poll among likely candidates. The poll taken from August 14 to August 18 — a period when Newsom dominated headlines — shows the California governor in second place at 13 percent behind Harris who received 26 percent.
In recent days, Newsom's press office —clearly aware of the traction the governor has been getting with his new Trumpian tack— has continued to needle Trump by continuing to echo him.
But the account isn't just targeting Trump. It's also going after Vice President JD Vance. On Monday the account edited a photo of the vice president onto the body of Australian breakdancer Rachael 'Raygun' Gunn, who made headlines last year for a mediocre performance.
The account also targeted other Republicans including Dana Perino, the former White House press secretary turned television host, after she slammed him for being unserious.
'You have to stop it with the Twitter thing,' Perino said on Monday. 'If I were his wife, I would say: You are making a fool of yourself, stop it…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.'
Support for Newsom's social media efforts appeared to be growing. As of Tuesday afternoon, the X account Newsom's press office had nearly 400,000 followers.
But Kevin Madden, the longtime Republican strategist, said Democrats are making a mistake to focus on 'communications tactics' when they should be focused on messaging.
'Newsom's strategy and approach has been reflective of that,' Madden said. 'He's got a new podcast and a more aggressive social media presence, but other than more clicks and downloads has that shifted the dynamics or public debate in his favor, or improved the national party brand?
'So far, there is little evidence of that,' Madden added. 'It has, though, positioned him at the top of the party's internal process of sorting out the next generation of national candidates and leaders.'
Democratic strategist Christy Setzer said Newsom's 'trolling' has two main audiences: 'Democrats who want someone, anyone, to take on Trump in a real way and the media, who Democrats feel have normalized too much of Trump's insanity.'
'I'm surprised it's taken Democrats this long to do it,' Setzer said, calling the strategy 'pretty brilliant.'
'He's hoping to get under Trump's skin, and may have drawn blood on that account [and] is it just me or did Trump stop using the all-caps in his unhinged posts after seeing Newsom's?' she said.
Setzer added that while 'no one will be Trumpier than Trump' the strategy is working.
'…As an attention grabbing tactic, he's already succeeded,' she said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Los Angeles Times
19 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Obama endorses redrawing California congressional districts to counter Trump
Former President Obama endorsed California Democrats' plans to redraw congressional districts if Texas or another Republican-led state does so to increase the GOP's chances of maintaining control of Congress after next year's midterm election. Obama said that while he opposes partisan gerrymandering, Republicans in Texas acting at President Trump's behest have forced Democrats' hand. If Democrats 'don't respond effectively, then this White House and Republican-controlled state governments all across the country, they will not stop, because they do not appear to believe in this idea of an inclusive, expansive democracy,' he said at a fundraiser Tuesday in Martha's Vineyard that was first reported by the Associated Press on Wednesday. 'I wanted just a fair fight between Republicans and Democrats based on who's got better ideas, and take it to the voters and see what happens,' Obama said. '... but we cannot unilaterally allow one of the two major parties to rig the game. And California is one of the states that has the capacity to offset a large state like Texas.' Redistricting typically only occurs once a decade after the census, to account for population shifts. In 2010, Californians voted to create an independent redistricting commission to end partisan gerrymandering. California's 52 congressional districts were last redrawn in 2021. Earlier this summer, Trump urged Texas leaders to redraw its congressional boundaries to increase the number of Republicans in Congress. Led by Gov. Gavin Newsom, California Democrats responded and proposed redrawing the state's district lines and putting the matter before voters in a special election in November. The issue came to a head this week, with Texas lawmakers expected to vote on their new districts on Wednesday, and California legislators expected to vote on Thursday to call the special election. Obama called Newsom's approach 'responsible,' because the matter will ultimately be decided by voters, and if approved, would only go into effect if Texas or another state embarks on a middecade redistricting and line-drawing would revert to the independent commission after the 2030 census. 'I think that approach is a smart, measured approach, designed to address a very particular problem in a very particular moment in time,' Obama said.
USA Today
19 minutes ago
- USA Today
The congressional mess in Texas
Texas Republicans push for a vote on a new congressional map. North Carolina braces for towering waves from Hurricane Erin. And how money may be affecting your love life. 👋 How's it going? Rebecca Morin here. Let's get going to Wednesday's news! But first: A dark night sky. A rare black moon is set to occur this week – even if you can't see it. Texas' congressional map may soon look different Let the debate begin. Texas House Republicans on Wednesday are expected to vote on redistricting plans aimed at flipping five Democratic-held U.S. House seats in the 2026 midterm elections. Lawmakers began debating the proposed map, but it's unclear how quickly Republicans could approve it. The move follows a two-week walkout by Texas Democrats that temporarily delayed the bill. The rare mid-decade redistricting comes at Trump's urging as the president seeks to boost Republican chances of preserving their narrow U.S. House majority next year. Follow for the latest on the vote. Democrats still protesting: In an effort to ensure lawmakers remain in Texas, Republican House leaders have assigned state law enforcement officers to monitor them. Several Democrats slept in the Capitol building in protest and publicly tore up permission slips required by Republicans for members to leave the chamber. How one state lawmaker, Rep. Nicole Collier, started the protest by sleeping at the statehouse. Towering waves threaten North Carolina Less than 300 miles from North Carolina's Outer Banks, the center of Hurricane Erin will roar by – setting up the vulnerable region for an intense battering of waves and storm surge. The effects of the massive storm could destroy dunes, threaten beachfront houses and flood roads. Powerful waves of 15 to 20 feet are expected to slam beaches, especially in North Carolina, for 48 hours or more as the hurricane crawls northward offshore through at least Thursday. The National Hurricane Center said Wednesday afternoon that conditions are expected to 'deteriorate' in the Outer Banks and strongly discouraged swimming at most East Coast beaches. See Hurricane Erin's projected path. Real quick Double-check your luggage Magic 8 ball? Sure. Antlers? You're good to go. But don't you dare think about packing this one item in your checked luggage. The Transportation Security Administration banned three new items from checked bags: cordless curling irons or flat irons containing gas cartridges, butane-fueled curling irons or flat irons, and gas refills (spare cartridges) for curling irons or flat irons. These items are allowed in your carry-on bags as long as they have safety covers to prevent activation. Check out these weird TSA approved items. Your bank and your love life When looking for a relationship, what's more important: love or money? For many Americans, they don't want "no scrub." Although the median U.S. annual salary is about $62,192, Americans on average expect their ideal partner to earn six figures, a new survey found. Women on average want their ideal partner to earn $110,000, and men expect theirs to earn $90,000, according to a Tawkify survey of 1,000 Americans. Some responses were contradictory: More than 6 in 10 Americans (63%) said they would marry for love, even if it meant a lifelong financial struggle. But if forced to decide between love and money, 46% said they would pick the latter. How income could be a dealbreaker for some. A break from the news Rebecca Morin is a newsletter writer at USA TODAY. Got thoughts or feedback? Reach out to her at rdmorin@
New York Post
19 minutes ago
- New York Post
Gavin Newsom's gerrymandering scheme is a shameless power-grab at the expense of Californians
California Gov. Gavin Newsom pretends his blatant gerrymandering scheme is a battle for democracy, but he's spitting on the will of Golden State voters — merely to boost his bid to become Democrats' 2028 nominee. Falling in line with Newsom's demand to gerrymander Cali's House districts in retaliation for Texas' own redistricting, state lawmakers unveiled a redrawn map designed to move Democrats from 43 to 48 seats out of 52 total. Problem No. 1: With 2008 and 2010 ballot initiatives, voters wrote state law to cut the politicians out of redistricting, putting it in the hands of a citizen-led independent commission. So what Dems are actually rushing through is a new ballot proposal to rewrite the law through 2030 (giving legislators the right to redraw again, any time another state does) which voters would have to OK in a special election set for this Nov. 4. Problem No. 2: All new bills are supposed to face a 30-day 'cooling off' period for review before lawmakers vote, but Dems are trying to rush this through in under a week so they can meet to meet the deadline for the November ballot. Republicans are suing to stop that violation of the state Constitution; if the state's judges (chosen overwhelmingly by Democrats) let that go ahead, the voters may still reject the idea. Polling even early this month showed they wanted to stick with the independent commission by better than 2:1. Cue the burning of millions on nonstop TV ads trying to sell voters on this greasy power-grab. (By the way: Behind-the-scenes Dem maneuvering has left Cali's current 'nonpartisan' map pretty skewed: As Rich Lowry has pointed out, Republicans won nearly 40% of the statewide House vote in 2024, yet got only about 17% of the seats. Get opinions and commentary from our columnists Subscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter! Thanks for signing up! Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Never miss a story. Check out more newsletters The GOP redistricting in Texas will only match that slant.) So the big winners here are Newsom's bid to cement his image as a no-holds-barred opponent of the GOP, plus the consultants who'll rake in big bucks to sell the public on something it hates. Meanwhile, Californians are fleeing the state in record numbers because Democratic rule has made it unaffordable. As a result, the state's on track to lose four House seats after the 2030 Census: The redistricting drive sure calls to mind 'rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.' It's not even a serious fix for national Democrats' woes: The party lost more than 2 million registered voters to the GOP just from Election Day 2020 to Election Day 2024, and another 200,000 in the nine months since. Newsom may be winning the love of Democrats' base, but he's leading the party to waste its time and money on gimmickry that has no hope of reversing its decline.
