Forget the high road: Newsom takes the fight to Trump and allies on social media

Los Angeles Times

2 days ago

SACRAMENTO — In a common insult the Trump administration uses against dissidents of federal policy, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller called a California judge a 'communist' after she blocked roving immigration arrests based on race alone.
The MAGA-embraced epithet from Gov. Gavin Newsom's official press office in response, however, was hardly typical for a Democratic politician.
'This fascist cuck in DC continues his assault on democracy and the Constitution, and his attempt to replace the sovereignty of the people with autocracy,' the California governor's office posted on social media. 'Sorry the Constitution hurt your feelings, Stephen. Cry harder.'
Popular among the far right and the gutters of social media, the term is used to insult liberals as weak and is also short for 'cuckold,' which refers to the husband of an unfaithful wife.
The low blow sanctioned by a potential 2028 presidential candidate set a new paradigm for the political left that has long embraced Michelle Obama's 'when they go low, we go high' motto to rise above the callousness of Trump and his acolytes.
It's also an example of Newsom's more aggressive social media strategy.
This week the governor posted memes of Trump with child molester and accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Shortly after the Department of Homeland Security detained and handcuffed U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla at a news conference in June, state Assemblymember Joe Patterson (R-Rockland) alleged on X that he would be treated the same way if he interrupted an event held by the governor.
'I'd politely ask you to leave,' retorted Newsom's communications director, Izzy Gardon. 'Though you do not deserve politeness in this moment for this grotesque tweet, you bald little man.' (Patterson later added 'Bald little man' to his profile on the social media site.)
The governor and his taxpayer-supported press office joked that HBO had cast Miller as Lord Voldemort — the pasty, hairless super villain in the 'Harry Potter' stories — and mocked the scandal-plagued Texas attorney general after he accused Newsom of fomenting lawlessness.
The governor defended the more combative posture at a recent news conference. He noted that Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, had used the word last month when he called Newsom 'the biggest cuck in politics.'
'I don't think they understand any other kind of language, so I have no apologies for standing tall and firm and pushing back against their cruelty,' Newsom said.
Newsom's advisors say the governor reached a turning point after the president sent California National Guard troops into Los Angeles to protect federal agents from clashes with protesters during immigration sweeps. Since Trump took office in January, the Democratic leader had been walking a fine line between calling out the president and playing nice in hopes of being able to work together after the California wildfires.
The governor said publicly said that the decision to militarize Los Angeles showed him that you can't work with the president, only for him. With federal troops on the ground, his aides said, Newsom also wanted to stand up for California, concerned about what would happen if he didn't.
The directive was to match the tactics emanating from the White House and meet Trump and his allies where they are. Forget the high road.
Over the last month, they've taken on more fights with Newsom's critics, reacted more quickly to shoot down misinformation about the governor or California, challenged narratives they find to be untrue, or unfair, and taken many of their own shots.
'Sometimes the best way to challenge a bully is to punch them in the metaphorical face,' said Bob Salladay, Newsom's top communications advisor. 'These tactics may seem extreme to some and they are, but there's a significant difference here: We're targeting powerful forces that are ripping apart this country, using their own words and tactics. Trump and Stephen Miller are attacking the powerless like every fascist bully before them.'
Newsom's aides say the strategy is working.
The governor's personal social media accounts gained 2.3 million new followers, including over 1 million each on TikTok and Instagram, and more than 883 million views from June 6 to July 6, according to his tallies.
Podcasters and social media influencers, such as Fred Wellman and Brian Tyler Cohen, boosted the interest with their own posts about the governor. On TikTok in particular, there's a growing ecosystem of people who make videos about his videos.
Newsom's official state accounts also experienced an exponential rise in followers and engagement in June.
The attention bodes well for a politician considering a bid for president. His aides argue that the strategy benefits California by shutting down misinformation and helping people understand what's really going on.
'The thing that he does so well these days is that he responds rapidly, and he responds rapidly in a way that's very snackable to the average consumer of news,' said Karen North, a professor of digital social media at the USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism.
North pointed to the adage that 'it takes a minute to say a sound bite, but an hour to explain why it is false.'
Republicans have been considered masters of sound bites for decades, and Democrats are often criticized for trying to explain the details of policies when people just want to hear the bottom line.
Newsom is breaking that mold, she said.
'He has emerged as the person willing and able to take on the president, but in some ways, they use the same playbook of quick, engaging responses that are easy for people to understand without any analysis,' North said. 'Newsom has the advantage of playing defense as an offense. So when the president says something that is problematic to California or problematic to everyday citizens, Gavin Newsom is laser-focused and ready to strike back without any hesitation, and in a way that's very simple and very engaging.'
In some ways, the governor learned the hard way after Trump used his platforms to label Newsom as 'incompetent' and blame him for the Los Angeles wildfires in January. The president made a barrage of claims at news conferences and on the social media site Truth Social about dry reservoirs, the need to transfer more water from Northern to Southern California, a lack of forest management and empty fire hydrants that went viral, leaving Newsom on the back foot defending himself.
When Trump sent the National Guard into Los Angeles, the governor almost immediately went on the attack to counter the president's claims that he deployed troops to control lawlessness that Newsom had allowed. The governor's office said his June 10 speech, which framed Trump as unnecessarily invading an American city for his own political gain, received 41 million views.
Although Newsom's aggression has received praise from some Democrats, it's also a 'a massive pivot from being a Bannon bro,' said Eric Jaye, a former senior advisor to Newsom turned critic who opposed his 2018 gubernatorial bid.
Jaye is referring to the 'This is Gavin Newsom' podcast, where the governor flummoxed Democrats who thought he appeared too chummy with Trump campaign architect Steve Bannon, conservative personality Charlie Kirk and others close to the president.
Newsom billed the show as an opportunity to speak to people with other viewpoints and he delivered on that premise. The governor also received criticism from within his own party for not forcefully challenging the perspectives that directly contradicted Democratic values, such as opposition to abortion rights, and agreeing with Kirk that it's unfair for transgender athletes to compete in women's sports.
Jaye credited Newsom with 'a very quick turnaround,' which 'saved himself.'
But now, with his amped-up social media presence, Newsom runs the risk of offending voters who miss respectful political discourse.
Trump's derogatory nicknames for his opponents, such as calling Newsom 'Newscum' or Elizabeth Warren 'Pocahontas,' have not appeared to cause the president much political harm. He embraced 'lock her up' chants about Hillary Clinton in 2016 and constantly mocked Joe Biden before the former president dropped out of the 2024 presidential contest. Trump still won both races.
North said Trump also has the benefit of saying things that appear 'passionate and reckless,' but people don't believe he's going to follow through.
As a potential presidential contender, the question is whether Newsom can use words such as 'cuck' and say he wants to change laws to redistrict California to benefit Democrats in the midterm elections without worrying people and seeming too Trump-like to be palatable to voters who detest the president's antics.
'It has to be disturbing to a lot of people if the new era of politics involves hostile personal attacks,' North said.
Times staff writer Seema Mehta contributed to this report.