There's no choice whatsoever. Newsom understood the one thing I thought Democrats would never grasp: that modern political battles are won over years, not months.
I threw myself into Biden's 2020 campaign. My computer system got so overloaded with data that it crashed days after the election—I had to buy a new one. I was physically and mentally exhausted. By comparison, I barely engaged when Harris ran in 2024, distracted more by Ukraine than by the election itself.
Now I show up sporadically on the political scene, appearing at key moments. I showed up at one such moment right before Trump's inauguration. It became clear that Republicans would have no choice but to raid Medicare to fund their tax cuts. I kept hoping Democrats would seize this opportunity and carry it straight through to the midterms.
That was my biggest wish: that Democrats would recognize the GOP's inevitable Medicare cuts and use this to mobilize voters against Republicans, sustaining that momentum all the way to November 2026. What's not to like? A party's job is to protect people and block GOP giveaways—isn't that their fundamental purpose? The key is following through on the strategy.
Democrats should have made Medicare protection a campaign issue starting in February 2025 and sustained it through November 2026. Showing up one or two months before an election no longer works. Those days are over.
Done. Dusted. Gone.
Last-minute campaign strategies became obsolete the day Trump descended that elevator in 2016. Has he stopped fundraising since then? Never. For thousands of days, Trump has collected money, filled inboxes, spread lies, and attacked Democrats. When Democrats made mistakes, he blamed them. When he made mistakes, he blamed them too. "I'm the best. They're the worst."
Repeat something like that for five years. Then stop mid-sentence and leave a blank—people will complete the thought. Trump plays a psychological long game. Pillow fights won't cut it. Last-minute campaigning won't work either.
That's why I believe Newsom will run for president in 2028. I have zero doubt. And I'm genuinely glad he recognizes how ineffective last-minute campaigns are, how they play directly into the right-wing media machine, and that he's confronting this head-on.
Yes, it's strategic. Yes, he's exactly right.
You've probably noticed Fox News and other outlets already targeting Newsom. By constantly attacking him, they're providing free advertising within MAGA territory. This makes his trolling of Trump and MAGA policies strategically brilliant. He's holding up a mirror to MAGA voters—when they attack him, they're essentially attacking themselves, as that mirror reflects their own contradictions back to their base.
Does this mean Newsom is courting MAGA voters? Absolutely not.
He's trying to stop the bleeding among independents. He's leveraging the right-wing media ecosystem to build his brand and reach voters the Democratic establishment struggles to connect with—particularly men and Latino voters. This segment is already shifting. As Republican attacks continue, they'll eventually start building Newsom's brand rather than damaging it. With that foundation secure, he can expand his reach.
Here's the crucial point: Newsom understands the importance of choosing winnable fights. Early battles—especially at the start—must be ones he can win. After securing several victories, he can afford to risk a tougher fight. For now, he should stick to winnable battles.
The redistricting fight he's chosen is exactly that—winnable. He even secured Obama's endorsement for his redistricting plan to counter GOP moves, and brought in Maryland Governor Wes Moore to embrace the same approach. These are small but significant victories, and people are taking notice.
The evidence is already visible. His social media following has grown dramatically, and he's generating substantial search interest.
Consider this: the more you force the country to discuss Newsom, the less time they spend talking about Trump. He's playing the right game—Trump's game—the emotional and psychological warfare that Democrats never understood how to fight.
For years, Democrats kept deploying traditional political tactics: policy papers, fact-checks, and reasoned arguments. Meanwhile, Trump was rewiring people's brains with constant repetition, emotional manipulation, and narrative control. Democrats brought PowerPoint presentations to a psychological war.
“What more evidence of authoritarianism do you need? These guys aren’t screwing around. We can no longer screw around. It’s all at stake. People need to wake up. We can’t continue to play by the old set of rules.“
— Gavin Newsom
Newsom gets it. He understands that modern politics isn't about winning debates—it's about winning minds through sustained emotional engagement. He's not just countering Republican policy; he's countering their psychological strategy with his own. Finally, Democrats have found someone who realizes the game changed in 2016, and is willing to play by the new rules.
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Newsome is putting redistricting to a vote in November because nonpartisan commission redistricting is mandated by the California State Constitution. To redistrict by the legislature, you need to amend the Constitution by a referendum.
It's also great politics, because it affirms democracy rather than Trump's EOs, very few of which could pass by referendum.
It's all neuroanatomy - the Dems with their policy papers, etc aim at the brain's cognitive cortex, responsible for rational decisions. But that is not where people really live. We live in the emotional limbic system, especially the love-hate center- the amygdala. That is where trump and his voters live. Newscom is building a space there that seems to be successful, especially humiliating the humiliator-in-chief, trump. This is an existential fight; if it is a fist fight bring a knife. If a knife fight bring a gun. Time for Dems to grow limbic cojones.