Just kicking off a dedicated thread to discuss just how awful Gavin Newsom is and how to prevent him from being a viable national office candidate.
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I really despise this man. Ever since last year when he made the choice to go out and help clear homeless encampments as a propaganda.
Whether or not he’s put forward is gonna depend on the party apparatus and whether they’ll push for more voices from the bottom up. Like if the party leadership is committed to the centrist path, we’re gonna get a candidate like Newsom in 2028, and if we don’t, they’ll work very hard to moderate people on the campaign trail (like they did with Walz).
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I don’t mind if he runs as a Republican. I think he’s less bad than Vance. And it would alienate some folks too so that’s great. God help us all of he runs as a democrat or third party though.
We are definitely getting a centrist. The party seems committed to that. But surely they can nominate a better centrist.
Pete buttigiege is a centrist imo. He’s better than newsom.
I would vote for buttigiege but I would struggle to vote for newsom because I truly believe he will continue the current Republican agenda but lit up with blue led lights instead of red.
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I don’t think Newsom is even a centrist. He’s a conservative who only looks centrist when standing next to MAGA. In the video I linked, she calls him a Neoliberal. I don’t think even that fits. He’s a Neoconservative - 100% pro-business, clearly hates minorities, the homeless, and the working class. I think he’s just as much of a con artist as T****. He just says whatever he thinks will get him elected and/or more power. It’s just that, coming from California, what that is needs to sound more liberal.
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Based only on what I’ve read on social media, conservative Californians blame Newsom for everything that is (in their opinion) bad about living in California. Not that long ago, conservatives here attempted to recall him.
I doubt he would run as a third party candidate; his ego wouldn’t allow it. He’s been primping himself for the WH for years now and likely sees himself as the only “name” that can win the WH.
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So who the fuck actually likes this guy other than the DNC?
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Noisome Newsom will be gone in a couple of years; no place to go other than “up” for him. Good for California (unless he gets into the WH and plays centrist to get in shape for a second term) especially if a dependable liberal takes his place. I’m not sure if the DNC actually likes him, and may hold their collective nose and (if necessary) attempt to influence his political platform in any way that would get him into the Oval Office if they have no other viable candidate. When the object is to win, all bets are off on what you actually get when your side has won. I think the DNC should look very hard at other candidates and promote the best (not Newsom) if only to see how they poll and get Newsom thinking about what kind of prez he should be as he works his own campaign.
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Do they like him? Their own polling put him 4th out of potential candidates.
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The DNC like “centrism” and pleasing their donors more than they like winning.
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I fucking hope not. We need people who can push for some bold change, not the status quo.
I agree that Buttigiege would be much more agreeable than Newsom or Rahm Emmanuel for that matter… I’m still of the mind that Walz-AOC is a winning combo.
This right here is our biggest problem, generally speaking. We have far too many people running for office for the grift and power, not to solve problems for all of us. It’s less true on the Democratic side, but still a problem.
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Latest Atlas Intel poll has Buttigieg #1 and AOC #2 for nominations. Walz was not mentioned.
Just thinking out loud here: I have a strong feeling that desperation could drive the DMC to get very ugly. If they believe they’d lose too many votes in the General Election due to the fear and bigotry of having a woman of Puerto Rican heritage as the WH backup, then they may skip over #2 and the others for a different well-known personage, a male with some years on him, a political bulldog, who is armed with a successful governor’s track record, and who could win his state for whoever is nominated for the WH. That could mean a Buttigieg-Walz ticket. Walz is making some very welcome noise. I wonder if he wants another crack at the WH, as prez or veep. Dunno.
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Yes, I saw that. It’s wrong.
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I think there is no way in hell they will run anything other than a white man under 65. I understand their reasoning. And I think they are probably just being realistic about the grim reality of life in the racist sexist USA. What a shithole, eh? Tooo bad so many other places are even worse I guess? So now that we have our bleak future laid out in front of us, what white man will everyone who isn’t one be willing to beg for our dismantled rights from?
This is the question for dem voters. I think it’s possible AOC as VP could be palatable. But ultimately I believe, based on all objective and subjective information I have available to me, that most democratic voters are either racist, sexist, or both and that’s the reality we have to deal with.
It conflicts with my ideals but reality takes precedent under duress. If anything, the country has regressed and will likely have done so further in another three years.
But I’ll feel better if I get to see her win the primary. Speaking only for myself, I think after the sabotage of the Trump admin the argument that she’d be bad for foreign policy is laughable. But “woman leader makes the country weak to strong foreign man” is a massive narrative to overcome.
Essentially people are saying “I can’t respect a woman as a leader so I know damned well the leaders of other countries can’t.” It’s hard to overcome it when people are just lucidly recognizing prejudice in themselves and others and accepting/validating its function in the world. That requires real trust in the candidate and the conviction to disarm internal prejudice and stand up to external prejudice.
It’s hard enough to get people just to show up and vote at all.
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The good news is that the numbers don’t bear that out. Harris received 75 million votes, 2 million behind T****. If she had kept pace with Biden, she’d have received 81 million votes, so she was 6 million short of expectation. That’s a 7.4% shortfall. Disappointing, but nowhere near what could be considered “most.”
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It has been pointed out by many that most wheelchairs are over $2k in value. Does this mean if you need a wheelchair, you exceed the asset limit for Medicaid? Apparently so. Yeah, fuck him…
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My mom, who is a only-a-little-left-of-centtist Democrat, gets her news from Dad watching CNN and MSNBC all day and from Facebook (where she has a lot of Southern conservative Karen friends that frustrate her but she maintains the friendship anyway, and people she follows for recipes).
Until my weekend visit she thought Newsom was a good guy and was shocked that he sided with Trump on the issue of trans women in sports.
I suspect a lot of voters just aren’t that deeply aware of anything done by politicians who aren’t Trump or Musk, and the more easily mocked cultists like Marjorie Taylor Greene, because 90% of the time those are the ones the TV is talking about.
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While I really, really hate it when people say things like “there’s no difference between Republicans and Democrats,” I think there’s something to be said for the idea Newsom is just T**** with a real tan and a better-fitting suit. He’s a grifter who says whatever he needs to to gain power. It’s just that the environment that he’s risen to prominence in requires different mouth-sounds.
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I think so, too, which is why I think Walz is perfect. He’s a white dude, but he’s got the fire in the gut and he’s plain-spoken enough to appeal to a wide swath of voters. He’s also got some strong progressive views.
Indeed.
I don’t think they’re alike, but I’m really sick of the Democrats chasing the “moderate” vote lately.
Yep.
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It seems like every time the party suffers a setback, their reaction is to try to minimize the reasons to prefer them over Republicans. It’s an awful strategy.
Also just for the record, I’d like to point out that in 2/3 of the elections where there was a non-white presidential candidate they won, which is above the average for Democrats in general.
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Not just conservative Californians, either. He’s been seriously villainized by Republicans nationwide as the avatar of everything that’s wrong with woke politics in the wokest state of California. Which is why the idea that he can win over “moderate” (i.e. conservative) voters by tacking to the right is hilarious. He’s the right’s boogeyman, and they’ll not even notice - or care - that he’s adopted right-wing positions.
People talk about how means testing costs more than it saves, but if the requirements for Medicaid are so extreme that no one qualifies, you actually will start saving money!
I was trying to imagine who could possibly meet the requirements, and realized you’d have to be homeless (because in California, $2000 is a month’s rent now) and without a vehicle, owning basically nothing but the clothes on your back, but also, with the new federal rules, employed (for which you need a vehicle). I suppose, given the huge unhoused population, and how many are working, that might be a significant number of people (even if most are living out of their cars), but a tiny, tiny fraction of those currently qualifying.
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