Gavin Newsom Is Having A Moment  

Before the immigration protests in California began earlier this month, California Governor Gavin Newsom was just another face in the already crowded public imagination of Democratic hopefuls. 

The vivacious and personable Newsom had been your quintessential liberal governor that Republicans hate. He didn’t just support a woman’s right to get an abortion, he signed legislation allowing those in neighboring states like Arizona to be able to travel to his state seeking abortions without fear. 

Once protests began in California earlier this month, the always-ready-for-violence commander in chief decided that he was going to release the National Guard because he can’t stand when people exercise their freedoms against his tyranny. This placed a public spotlight on the liberal state and its governor. By not acquiescing to the president’s demands, Newsom has become all the things people wished the Democratic members of Congress would be. He’s been sharp, stern and fearless. If this were a rap battle, Newsom’s been going bar for bar with the president with no signs of letting up. 

When President Trump took to his bootleg version of X threatening to withhold federal funding to the third largest state in the country, Newsom floated the idea of withholding California’s federal taxes. 

“We pay over $80 BILLION more in taxes than we get back” from the federal government, Newsom posted on X. “Maybe it’s time to cut that off.”

Trump, who loves to make up nicknames for those that don’t follow his commands, began calling Newsom, “New-scum” and claimed that he should have border czar Tom Holland arrest the governor, Newsom responded: quit talking about it and be about it, wit your broke…. 

Ok, fine, he didn’t say those words exactly but he didn’t back down and he noted that the Trump presidency was completely off the rails. 

“The President of the United States just called for the arrest of a sitting Governor,” Newsom posted on Instagram along with a video of Trump’s comments, ABC News reports. “This is a day I hoped I would never see in America. I don’t care if you’re a Democrat or a Republican, this is a line we cannot cross as a nation — this is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism.”

“These are the acts of a dictator, not a President,” Newsom posted on X.

While Gavin Newsom has never publicly noted that he has any intention to run for higher office, it would be incredibly naive to ignore the fact that Gavin Newsom is having a moment. 

If a doctor went into a lab to create the anti-Trump prototype he would make Gavin Newsom. Trump has failed at just about every business he ever lent his name to, while Newsom was a successful businessman who owns a highly profitable winery and hospitality company. He didn’t just come down an elevator in his outdated luxury digs and declare his run for office stoking the fears and racism that set the country back decades, Newsom came up the hard way. He began his political career in 1996 when he was appointed to the San Francisco Parking and Traffic Commission. The next year, he was elected to the Board of Supervisors. In 2003 he was elected mayor of San Francisco and served in that position until 2011. 

Newsom would go on to serve as lieutenant governor of California,  from 2011 to 2018. He was elected as the governor of California in 2018 and was re-elected in 2022. 

In resisting the evils of tyranny and white supremacy ideology, Newsom has become the face of resistance against an authoritarian regime that has been hellbent on unleashing military force on its own citizens. 

And this might be the biggest fight of Newsom’s political career. 

D-riders from the Trump regime have all jumped into the fray. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has called for Newsom to be tar and feathered. Sen. Markwayne Mullin took to X to play in the governor’s face about violence caused by massive police presence during what were peaceful protests to which Newsom shot back: “If you want to discuss violence, let’s start with your state’s murder rate – which is 40% higher than California’s.”   

And then there was White House Communications director Stephen Cheung who took to social media to call Newsom “the biggest cuck in American politics,” claiming that he’s allowed “domestic terrorists to desecrate and defile communities across CA.”

And yeah, that happened. 

Newsom has emerged as a political stalwart by just not being messy and living for drama. He’s merely continued his one message to the resident’s of his state: 

“Los Angeles: don’t take Trump’s bait. Trump wants chaos and he’s instigated violence,” Newsom said in a post on X. “Stay peaceful. Stay focused. Don’t give him the excuse he’s looking for.”

As it stands, the Trump administration deployed 2,000 National Guard and 700 U.S. Marines in the United States of America to stop protests against ICE raids that were going on at children’s graduations and court appearances. Oh, you didn’t know that part? Yep, ICE was running up in full masks and detaining people who were showing up to immigration hearings and using gatherings like graduations to arrest folks and pull them away from their family. Because this mass deportation drama has never been about “Making America white again” but that’s another story for another time.

Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for escalating chaos and violence by sending in the military without consent or input from the governor.  

Newsom is like Batman at this point: a rich man with a tool belt and a vengeance against a regime and he’s using every available weapon in his arsenal to fight back. 

Sometimes a hero isn’t the one we want so much as the one we have. Gavin Newsom has become the face against authoritarianism. He is the anti-Trump. And sometimes all you have to be is the one person willing to say something in a room full of people who are sitting on their hands.

And just like that you become the face of a movement.