Gavin Newsom wants to be the new Donald Trump.
No, California’s governor isn’t moving to the right or cracking down on illegal immigration — quite the opposite.
On Monday, the White House blasted Newsom for continuing to offer commercial drivers’ licenses to illegal aliens like Harjinder Singh, the trucker accused of killing three people while attempting an unlawful U-turn on the Florida Turnpike last week.
“The illegal alien is an Indian national who was granted a commercial driver’s license by the so-called ‘sanctuary state’ of California,” the White House said in a press release.
Newsom is the anti-Trump as far as the safety of America’s roads and integrity of our immigration system are concerned.
But the governor has been quicker than most Democrats to realize it takes a Trump to compete with Trump — someone willing to play hardball politics the same way Trump does and projects an aura of confidence like the president’s.
Newsom even understands the need to reach Trump voters, which he’s tried to do by featuring MAGA luminaries like Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon on his personal podcast.
That displeased his fellow Dems — but what he’s up to now is making them much happier.
Newsom’s current crusade is to scrap California’s independent redistricting process in order to gerrymander more seats for his party.
The governor says it’s retaliation for Texas redistricting that favors Republicans — though Democrats already have notoriously unfair congressional maps in places like Illinois and Maryland.
For that matter, California’s present system, controlled by a commission with equal representation of Democrats, Republicans and independents, already allocates more seats to Democrats than the proportional strength of the two parties in the Golden State would suggest is just.
California in fact has more registered Republicans than any other state in the nation, though Florida is catching up.
There are almost 5.8 million Republicans in California, amounting to more than 25% of registered voters — but the GOP holds only nine of the state’s 52 congressional seats.
Newsom’s scheme would slash the GOP’s representation down to four seats.
It’s grossly unfair to the people of California, about a quarter of whom are Republicans, but Newsom is doing what’s best for his 2028 presidential ambitions, regardless of whether it’s good for the state.
He wants to be seen as the only Democrat who can stand up to the president.
“Donald Trump, you have poked the bear and we will punch back,” he said at a recent rally.
Most Californians oppose Newsom’s stunt — by a two-thirds majority, according to a Politico poll.
The survey found only 36% of voters support Newsom’s attempt to take redistricting power from the independent California Citizens Redistricting Commission and give it back to the Democrat-dominated state legislature.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, who as governor back in 2008 led the campaign to pass the referendum that created the independent commission, is making obvious his ire at Newsom’s plot:
“F*** the politicians. Terminate gerrymandering,” read a T-shirt worn by the actor-turned-politician in a recent Instagram post.
That slogan speaks for millions of Californians, but Newsom isn’t worried.
Even if voters reject his proposal in a landslide, if it reaches their ballots this November, Newsom still gets to look tough in the eyes of Democrats nationwide.
Image is now everything for the telegenic governor.
On Elon Musk’s X app — the social network formerly known as Twitter — Newsom fans have been pushing memes comparing his suave style as a young man to JD Vance’s geeky appearance in high-school photos.
Another meme, trolling for racial reactions, juxtaposes a picture of Newsom with his blonde wife and four flaxen-haired children with a snapshot of Vance and his Indian American wife with their kids.
The not-so-subtle message: Newsom is the guy supposedly racist Trump supporters should really admire.
Too many progressives evidently think they can indulge in a little “ironic” race-baiting themselves, as long as they’re promoting a Democratic politician.
The memes, like the aggressive redistricting, are Team Newsom’s idea of fighting fire with fire, using tactics as provocative as Trump’s own to challenge the president and set the stage for a 2028 contest with Vance.
But Newsom’s attempts to one-up Trump are doubly unsuccessful.
The memes only make Newsom look worse: pretentious in high school, while Vance was a normal kid, while the lovely portrait of Newsom’s family — positive by itself — loses its appeal when it’s used to make an ugly racial comment.
As for redistricting, Newsom and his party have a bigger problem than the maps Republicans draw in red states.
Under Newsom, California is hemorrhaging population and is on track to lose 3-5 congressional seats after the next census, while Republican-leaning states like Florida and Texas are gaining people and representation.
In the long run, Democratic gerrymandering can’t make up for the demographic consequences of Democratic governments like Newsom’s.
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