After years of running the state of California into the ground, both financially and socially, Governor Gavin Newsom has decided he has done good enough a job to enter the 2028 Presidential race. Recently, instead of fixing the problems he created that his state is currently facing, he has gone on a book tour to sell his new bit of literature. You can roast President Trump for golfing all you want, but he actually accomplishes important things.
Newsom has not accomplished much in his state aside from driving out the population and putting them on the brink of financial disaster. So, of course he would decide to flee that. Call it "Schrodinger's financial crisis," if you will. If you do not look or address it, the problem it not there. But the book tour has not gone so great for Newsom, either. Since leaving the friendly confines of Democrat-ruled California, Newsome has been hit with backlash and a dose of reality.
He recently received backlash for comments made on that book tour, specifically during a stop in Atlanta. There, Newsom tried pathetically to pander to the predominantly black audience, saying "I am just like you, I had a 960 SAT score...I can't read my own speeches." Never mind the fact Newsom grew up privileged in an upper class, well-connected family. That comment is racist at its core. Yet the media leaves it alone because it is Democrat Gavin Newsom.
He then doubled down, saying that "no one would know Kamala Harris, if not for Willie Brown." Brown being the former San Francisco Mayor, who had a romantic affair with Harris. That comment was met with silence from the audience. Essentially, it is Newsom saying Harris did not earn her keep. Ironic, considering both have very similar backgrounds.
GOP strategist Jennifer Kelly says this is desperation from Newsom, who is seeing his 2028 campaign climb get steeper.
"He has to try to chip away at her advantage in the polls...she is significantly ahead of him in the polls, by double digits in fact...that is what this is all about," she says.
This is part of a 35-year dance between the two. Both are from San Francisco, both from similar families, both went to stellar schools and grew up privileged. They both rose to political ascension in their hometown on the backs of others and family relationships. It is like the pot calling the kettle black.
People have been outraged over Newsom's comments, minus the media, who would only report the comments if a Republican said them. That for some reason though has come as a shock to Newsom. Mostly because he no longer has the veil of the California curtain behind which to hide.
"They do not have a press corps that checks them on things out there," says Kelly. "It is a Democrat super-majority state, and the media have been so intimidated into not questioning them...then these politicians, like Gavin Newsom, get out into the real world...and are completely shocked they are not treated the same way they are back home."
In the end, Newsom might be underestimating just how hard this campaign will be for him. He is running against Kamala Harris, who for some reason is leading the Democrat polls for 2028. He will no longer have the veil of California to hide behind, and the nation will finally be able to see the true Gavin.
More likely than not, they will very much not like what they see, which will make 2028 all the harder for Newsom.
Photo: FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP / Getty Images