Gov. Gavin Newsom wanted to play nice with the MAGA movement after Donald Trump’s 2024 election win. Before Trump’s demoralizing victory in November, the California Democrat had been building up his reputation as a political brawler, willing to go toe-to-toe with even the creepiest figures of the MAGA movement. In 2023, he even had a faux-presidential debate with Republican Gov. (and soon-to-be-also-ran) Ron DeSantis of Florida. Even as Newsom’s theatrics annoyed some folks, I can’t deny it was effective. When people outside of the politics-and-journalism professions talked to me about a Democrat they found intriguing, it was almost always either Newsom or Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
Then Trump won, and a whole bunch of Democrats panicked. Although it was a squeaker of an election — it’s easy to forget that, despite sweeping all seven swing states, Trump barely won —his false claims of a “landslide” got into many Democratic heads. Incorrect conclusions were drawn, among them that the country had dramatically shifted to the right and, therefore, Democrats must as well. Newsom became the face of this error, because he can’t help but screw up with the same drama he brings to everything else. In an ill-fated effort to make nice with MAGA, Newsom started a podcast promising “honest discussions with people that agree AND disagree with us,” all “without demeaning or dehumanizing one other.” But that goal was undermined when he offered lightweight, normalizing interviews to MAGA leaders like Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon, ignoring how they built their careers by demeaning people.
This quisling attitude has been endemic with Democrats in the face of Trump’s white nationalism-fueled efforts to deport millions of immigrants, the vast majority of whom are innocent of any real crime. Earlier this week, 75 House Democrats disgraced themselves by voting for a Republican resolution expressing “gratitude” to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as they reign terror on health care workers and farmers the president continues to demonize as “criminals.” (The majority of House Democrats, 113, including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, opposed the resolution.)
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Newsom, however, doesn’t have the luxury to focus group-test an “immigrants are human: yes or no?” message. His state is under siege right now from a lawless president whose only goal is to stoke violence. But while Newsom has no other choice to fight back, these past few days, he has risen to the occasion in a way that even the most cynical can’t deny. After Trump lobbed threats of arrests his way, the governor called his bluff. He dared Trump to arrest him, forcing the president to back down in the manner of all cowardly bullies. Newsom sued the White House to stop the illegal deployment of the National Guard against mostly peaceful protesters. And, crucially, he’s been speaking about this whole disaster with a refreshing honesty that is all too rare among consultant-addicted Democrats.
In a Tuesday night televised speech, Newsom rejected Trump’s claim that he deployed the National Guard to keep the peace. Instead, Newsom explained, Trump is “fanning the flames” and, crucially, “he did it on purpose.” He went on to explain the situation accurately in plain, unmistakable language: “That’s just weakness, weakness masquerading as strength. Donald Trump’s government isn’t protecting our communities. They are traumatizing our communities. And that seems to be the entire point.”
All week, Newsom has been talking like a normal person who is understandably outraged over watching his state become a punching bag for Trump’s anti-immigrant tantrum. In an interview with progressive YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen, Newsom was crystal clear in explaining that Trump’s actions caused the violence. He also spoke the blunt truth about the president and the people around him. Trump, he said, is a “stone cold liar.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is “a joke” and “everyone knows it.” Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is also “a joke.” Newsom seemed exhausted, but still fired up and done playing games. It’s a good look.
Even progressives who have a dim view of Newsom’s motives or authenticity are here for it:
honestly one of the most encouraging recent developments is the naked opportunism of Governor Gavin Newsom, and I pray that there are copycats www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2…
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— Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò (@olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social) June 11, 2025 at 12:38 PM
But of course, being a progressive, I am expected to set aside my instincts and assume the average American is too stupid or bigoted or poisoned by right-wing propaganda to see what I see. This is the point where I am required to overcome my audience’s skepticism by checking my reactions against the all-seeing data. On that front, I have good news for readers: the polls show the public is on Newsom’s side.
A new poll from Quinnipiac finds that Trump’s approval ratings on immigration, which had previously been strong, have fallen. Among the sample of registered voters, only 43% approve of how he is handling immigration issues, while 54% disapprove. These numbers are the inverse of where he typically stands on the issue, one of the few where Trump has traditionally retained the public’s trust. It appears that some number of Trump voters really did believe the lie that he only wanted to go after “criminals,” and they are now upset that his administration is targeting school children, pregnant women and construction workers — all people who are easier to scoop up than actual criminals. Meanwhile, YouGov polling shows only 38% of Americans approve of Trump usurping Newsom’s authority to mobilize the National Guard — and that’s in a climate where the mainstream press continues to credulously repeat Trump’s claim that it was done to “protect” Los Angeles, instead of being an effort to provoke violence.
Other Democrats should pay attention to both Newsom and these polls — and get out of their defensive crouch over immigration or the protests. Ocasio-Cortez, who has reliably talked like a real person for her entire time in public office, said it well on Bluesky:
It is 100% carrying water for the opposition to participate in this collective delusion that Dems for some reason need to answer for every teen who throws a rock rather than hold the Trump admin accountable for intentionally creating chaos and breaking the law to stoke violence. They are in charge.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@aoc.bsky.social) June 10, 2025 at 8:44 PM
As Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times wrote Wednesday with regards to the White House, “The immediate recourse to repressive force; the inability to handle even modest opposition to its plans; the threats, bullying and overheated rhetoric — it betrays a sense of brittleness and insecurity.”
The smart move for Democrats is to stand up to Trump, because it’s the only way to expose how the president has no other cards to play. Polls already show people are cluing into the fact that Trump is the problem here, not the solution. Newsom is using this moment wisely to repeat the truth: That this is Trump’s fault.
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