The California governor has been trying to get his Florida Republican counterpart to engage. On Wednesday, he got it.
I don’t know California politics other than as it relates to national. What’s Newsom’s angle here? I ask because, at least at a glance, this seems like a loser for him. The best he can hope for is to demolish DeSantis. Let’s assume he does–and it’s certainly not a sure thing (the deck is stacked against him with the ref playing for the other team, after all)–but so what? DeSantis’s fire is almost already out, and if it doesn’t die on its own or thanks to Mr. Orange Indictment, the Mouse will finish him. Newsom’s already a rising star; if he annihilates DeSantis he’s basically punching down, and he’s taking a huge risk by even volunteering for this, since if he fucks up he’s done in national politics before he even started.
The best I can come up with is that this is a play by the party at large to try to revitalize Florida Man’s campaign by getting some free press on him, either to force Trump to spend more to squash him or try to get a repeat of 1972 (i.e., Trump as Muskie). However, that’s giving the Democratic party a lot of credit and making some pretty cynical assumptions about their future plans for Newsom.
This has been Newsome’s shtick for a minute. During his reelection campaign, he spent campaign funds advertising on Fox in Florida. He’s been going to red states to give speeches. He gave an interview to Sean Hannity just a month or so ago. He’s brandishing his reputation as a democratic fighter not afraid to go into hostile territory and news environments to stand up for liberal values.
DeSanits in particular has been a foil for Newsome since at least the coronavirus days when Florida was open and getting crushed under the delta wave. He regularly attacks DeSantis on abortion, book bans, teaching that slavery wasn’t so bad, on and on. When DeSantis sent migrants on a plane to California, Newsome instantly reacted suggesting that DeSantis could be charged with kidnapping (this made his staff none to happy btw, Newsome can be like Trump in that he tweets out policy forcing his staff to react without notice).
Newsome is term limited, so he’s done in 2026(?). He’s been on the campaign trail trying to become Bidens number one bestest surrogate. He’s building his brand for a presidential run in 2028. Also he just loves the spotlight. I doubt there is much logic to that beyond that.
And it doesn’t matter what happens at the debate, so there’s no real downside. Viral clips will be shared of good zingers each contestant got in, each side will talk about how their guy crushed the other guy. None of this will change anyone’s mind. It’s all just a show, and Newsome loves to be on stage.
Gavin Newsom wants to be president. Maybe not this cycle, but defo the next cycle
I’d happily take four more Biden years, and then eight of Newsom - neither one is anywhere near perfect/ideal, but compared to the alternative…
I mean this in the least condescending way possible, but you don’t understand how American politics works.
The absolute best scenario for Democrats is for the Republicans to split their ticket between Trump and DeSantis - or anyone else, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone else thus far with his pull on the national stage.
It’ll be Clinton-Bush-Perot but in reverse.
How would Republicans split the ticket? Are you assuming one would run as independent after the primary?
I think the idea is that if Tump didn’t get the nomination he would run as an independent and hold the party hostage.
Yeah I don’t buy it - if trump was the runner up, I could totally see him running as an independent, but I don’t see it for DeSantis, and even if he tried, I don’t think he has the base anymore to actually pull it off.
You need the kind of blind adoration that Trump (for some reason) has in his following to make a 3rd party bid remotely feasible, DeSantis just doesn’t inspire that in people.
Out best hope for a split conservative base was DeSantis winning the primaries and Trump switching to independent (because he’s absolutely stubborn and prideful enough to do it), I don’t see it happening the other way around
Isn’t that the most significant part of trump’s personality, too? Trump just also has the indictments and history of losing.
Personally, my parents are lifetime Republicans and are looking to vote for anyone that’s not Trump, because they see him as a distraction that is hard to portray as “better than the libs,” especially since they are nominally Christian.
So I think there’s a decent chance of DeSantis pulling at least a 5-10% of conservatives away from Trump.
