California governor and self-appointed heir apparent to the Democratic presidential nomination, Gavin Newsom, just moved so far to the right that he risks impeachment by his state’s Democrat-dominated Assembly.
That’s a joke, obviously. Democrats never impeach their own, even after they become liabilities; they just exile them to the political wilderness. You and I have spent the last week or so watching them attempting to do just that to a sitting Democrat senator, Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman. If Republicans had the same ruthless instincts, John McCain’s last public appearance would’ve been around 1990 — on the side of a milk carton.
But I digress.
It seems like only earlier today [it was only earlier today, Steve —Editor] that I covered former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s ongoing attempt at reinventing himself in time for the 2028 Democratic primaries, so why am I already doing the same to Newsom?
Because he earned a healthy dose of VodkaPundit-style derision — as you’re about to see.
Hot off the presses in today’s Los Angeles Times, Newsom’s revised 2025-26 budget proposal “reneges on his signature policy to provide free healthcare coverage to all low-income undocumented immigrants.”
Signature. Policy.
Newsom pulled a Triple Lindy backflip — the kind only a shameless policy contortionist could manage. Under Newsom’s new proposal, adult illegal aliens will no longer be allowed to apply for coverage as of Jan. 1, and existing coverage will cost $100 a month. That might not sound like much, but the difference is great between getting insurance for nothing and having to pay even a token amount.
The reason given for Gavin’s Big Backdown is that his plan’s “costs exceed expectations and the state anticipates challenging economic times ahead.”
Unexpectedly, I’m sure.
Newsom’s previous move was richer than Corinthian leather in its audacity. Just this week, Newsom “called on hundreds of cities and counties to ban homeless encampments on sidewalks, bike paths, and other public property, increasing pressure on local governments to follow the state’s lead.”
“Follow my lead!” said the man who made ending homelessness his signature policy as mayor of San Francisco. Yet encampments, open-air drug bazaars, and “poop maps” became the city’s claims to fame under Newsom’s stewardship.
Follow his lead, comrades — but maybe don’t wear sandals.
Sometimes I wonder if Newsom’s constant political backflips are just his version of David Plouffe’s ‘stray voltage’ theory from his service with the Obama administration. “The theory goes like this,” CBS’s Major Garrett explained: “Controversy sparks attention, attention provokes conversation, and conversation embeds previously unknown or marginalized ideas in the public consciousness.”
Newsom will do or say anything to increase his presence in the public consciousness.
You might wonder — I used to — why politicians make such transparent moves toward centrism. Or, to be more precise, why primary voters still fall for it every time. After all, if Democrat primary voters lean further left than lower-propensity D voters do, wouldn’t Newsom or Buttigieg do better to play up their progressive cred before and during the primaries, then move to the center for the general election?
After all, that’s what Republicans tend to do: play up their conservative cred during the primaries, then move to the center after they clinch the nom.
I think something has changed going into 2028. Progressivism has a toxic stench now, thanks to four years of near-total implementation (albeit totally destructive) under the Biden administration. Any Democrat who wants a successful bid for the White House needs to put more distance between himself and Joe Biden than there was in bed between Bill and Hillary Clinton on the night the Monica Lewinsky story blew wide open.
Can Newsom really put that much distance between himself and Biden — or from his own record as mayor and governor?”
I don’t know the answer to that one, but two things are certain. One, he’ll risk snapping his spine to make the stretch, and two, his hair will still be perfect.
Recommended: New Beard, Same Buttigieg
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