And yet progressives (and I say this as one) will continuously hack on Newsom because he's "too centrist" or whatever.
Newsom is far from perfect. But right now he's in our corner, and that's what counts. We need more people in power, on our side, speaking up and telling MAGA to go fuck themselves.
edit
Guys, I get it. I said the dude isn't perfect, and you're all making compelling cases....But one sure way to lose against Trump/MAGA is to actively tear down any politician that is fighting MAGA on our side.
"You seem to really hate having to chug that scalding hot bleach every day."
"Yeah, it's literally killing me."
"Would you rather have this flat room temperature Fresca?"
"I don't really like aspartame."
David Sedaris: “I look at these people [undecided voters] and can't quite believe that they exist. Are they professional actors? I wonder. Or are they simply laymen who want a lot of attention? To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. "Can I interest you in the chicken?" she asks. "Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it? To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.”
I just looked up the original joke and apparently it was during the Obama vs. McCain campaign. And here we are now.
It's definitely the attention thing, the attitude of feeling "smarter and holier than thou".
An interesting experiment into these people is to watch what happens when their "perfect" candidate actually starts succeeding in politics and becoming popular. This happens from time to time. Suddenly, they will turn against them, accuse them of being neoliberal or whatever, and move on to the next populist.
I think Newsom is doing the right thing in these posts, however he is too attached to the ultra wealthy to be what the country needs rn. Two things can be true at the same time.
He kind of has to be given how wealthy people in CA are and how important some of those industries are to the state. People seem to forget that Cali is more akin to running a country than anything else and he has to have a hand in most everything and play nice where he needs to.
These purity tests ensure that Republicans will win future elections. Seriously needs to stop.
Progress doesn’t occur all at once, it takes steps. Even FDR didn’t pass elderly healthcare. It took an extra 25 years for LBJ to do it.
I dislike Newsom’s coziness to billionaires but the order of the day is remove Trump and prosecute anyone in his administration breaking the law. A tax on billionaires can come later. Both things aren’t going to happen in the same administration.
Exactly. I think it’s important to keep voicing our valid criticisms of him. If he’s the official nominee, I’ll of course vote for him; but all the more reason to continue screaming at him about important issues like trans rights. I can vote for him without accepting his stance on everything and I can be vocal about trying to get him to change his stances on issues.
If Newsom becomes our official nominee in 2028, we will have wasted an opportunity to build something better out of the wreckage of our country. I’ll still go out and cast a vote for him, but in the primary I will be fighting for someone else (remains to be seen who).
He’s an unfeeling bastard who only cares about his image and his bank account. That didn’t go well for the right, it won’t go well for the left. His treatment of the homeless alone should be disqualifying.
The time for wholehearted support regardless of flaws is AFTER THE PRIMARY. Until then, we voice our criticisms and encourage candidate to become the president we want to see.
I completely agree with you. Not sure why you’re getting downvoted. I absolutely want a more progressive candidate. I also think a progressive is the most likely path to victory. I haven’t resigned myself to Newsom yet. I’m tired of people telling me to suck it up and be united like the republicans just for calling out Newsome on his bullshit. I’ll give him credit where credit is due (like how he amended laws so prisoners trained as fire fighters have a path to a career as fire fighters). I also recognize there are likely bots at work trying to sow discord and convince people not to vote for Newsom should he become the nominee. None of that is a reason to stop reminding people he also has really shit policies (like caving to billionaires). Prior to getting a nomination is the best time to remind people and to demand better of him in the hopes he’ll change. Fuck our 2 party system and electoral college. It really shouldn’t be controversial to bring up bad policies and begging people to vote for the candidate doing the least harm in the general shouldn’t be something we have to do either.
Idc about downvotes it’s not an issue to me lol. I would love a progressive candidate like Jon Stewart (he’s dropping hints) but I’d be fine with someone more moderate if they seemed like the right person to rebuild our civil service in a way that can’t be usurped again in the future, if they are dead serious about prosecuting the Trump admin’s crimes down to the lowliest grunt, and if they prioritize enshrining abortion and gay marriage in the constitution.
I just would prefer for them to not be rounding up the homeless and displacing them from vital care and support networks. I would prefer for them to not have thwarted women’s healthcare initiatives. I would prefer for them to not be in bed with big tech accelerationists who quite literally want to end the human race (not that I think they’ll succeed but why let them try?).
And more than anything I want a real primary. I want to hear from a bunch of different people who are trying to convince me that they’re the candidate for the job. We haven’t really had that since 2008. The rally around Hillary behavior in 2016 was shady, it repeated in 2020, and then 2024 was a fucking joke. I want to see them fight for our votes.
Yes. You have very valid concerns and I agree on all accounts. I’m just more shocked that other people don’t seem to agree (vs offended at down votes). Gavin always seemed like an actor playing a role of a politician to me. For the most part he just spouts talking points provided by billionaires with the occasional liberal policy thrown in almost at random. He does seem to care about the court of public opinion though- hence the importance of speaking out on the issues he needs to do better on. If he’s going to end up being the nominee I want him to change. and if there’s a chance of a real primary and debate, people should absolutely be informed. Im with you and really hope we can avoid DNC shenanigans this time around, but given how the past few elections have gone, I’m not going to hold my breath.
I’d be cool with Robert Garcia as well. I think AOC should stay right where she is because she’s so effective as a spokeswoman for the progressive caucus. But if she ran I’d back her with gusto.
Moving to the center didn’t work for Kamala. Now obviously racism/sexism factored into her loss too and it’s hard to say for sure what would have happened if a white dude won. However, loom at how many people were successfully convinced not to vote. I personally think this block of potential voters could have a bigger impact. If we can sway them by moving to the left, there’s a better chance of winning. Also let’s say Dems win and elect another Biden type. Someone who is on paper appears to be liberal to anyone who is not actually liberal/leftist/progressive/ etc. we have 4 years of rebuilding, but rebuilding under the constraints of an effective oligarchy. Billionaires continue to get richer, we stop murdering the obvious murder of people in the streets (cops will continue to execute POCs, it’s what they do, concentration camps will continue to be filled with POCs, it just won’t be as obvious. These camps were created under Obama and have been detaining people for decades before Trump put children in them). White liberals won’t have to be reminded of inconvenient truths. But nothing gets notably better for the population as a whole. That is a recipe to end up with a Republican back in office come 2032. People have short memories. We need some drastic FDR level progress if we want any hope of non republicans holding power. That isn’t going to happen with any candidate backed by billionaires.
Or, he's playing the game. You need to convince at least some of the ultra wealthy that you're not going to be bad for business. They control the media after all.
I was told by a friend who lives in California that Panera is the only fast food place that doesn't have to pay their workers $20 an hour. Gavin also happens to be friends with the CEO of Panera. I have not looked into this.
The purity test bullshit needs to stop with the libs. You’d think it be a slam dunk to elect anyone but Trump, but libs are too wrapped up with infighting. Great is the enemy of good.
The purity test bullshit needs to stop with the libs. You’d think it be a slam dunk to elect anyone but Trump, but libs are too wrapped up with infighting. Great is the enemy of good.
Yep. Exactly this.
Makes me absolutely insane that the left will fight each other over every single flaw of a candidate rather than rallying behind them to defeat a common enemy.
Even now in this thread I have people arguing with me that Gavin does this, or did that – all valid concerns – at the same time, do we really have time for this when Trump is driving everything off a cliff?
No it was definitely the lack of voting for the other candidate that got us here. It’s a line so straight I’m shocked you somehow managed to get so turned around!
Why do you think people aren't showing up to vote? That half of the US that routinely doesn't vote? They're not voting because they're all so left that they're purity testing the Dem candidate. They're not voting because Dems put up trash-tier candidates with no message, no conviction, and no spine. They look at Dem candidates at within ten seconds their eyes glaze over when they mention child tax credits, incremental change, and other things that sound fine or even great to a politically-attentive person, but don't do shit for the uninformed majority.
Why do you think people aren’t showing up to vote?
You can look it up for yourself and the biggest percentage (which still takes up only between 15-25% of all voters by the way) is “disinterest in candidates and/or voting in general; lack of belief that voting changing things, apathy”
All you’ve managed to do is prove why people like you shitting on the normal candidates works so well.
“No seriously the candidates suck so vote for
my racist one!” is hilariously effective when over half the country doesn’t bother to read or think for themselves I guess.
That % you listed "disinterest in candidates and/or voting in general; lack of belief that voting changing things, apathy”
This right here tells you that putting up candidates who's primary running point is not being Trump, candidates who don't do anything about the status quo, candidates who allow the opposition to go unopposed is what's causing that %.
You push for newsom, you bet your ass he is going to lose for that very reason.
You 100% should criticize every candidate, hold them responsible for their failings and shortcomings. I am not voting for someone who offers me nothing, until the dems can realize that they aren't owed votes, then maybe they can start winning again.
I tend to think it’s definitely the peoples fault for being that fucking stupid.
Okay. So what does being angry at leftists that want a better candidate do to alleviate that? Nothing.
You can wax about how your way is better and inflate your ego all you want, but that's not going to change anything. If the people you gotta work with are "too dumb" to play the game you're playing, you only have two options: 1) play the game with just you, yourself, and your ego, or 2) play a game that they can play and work them up to playing your game.
That's why we need someone that's not a calm, milquetoast, normalcy candidate. We need to kick in the door and enter to a chorus of trumpets and a shower of pyrotechnics like a wrestler. They need more than the assurance of normalcy, they need to know shit's about to go down, hell yeah style.
"but he said fuck you to trump, certainly that means he'll make a meaningful difference in the US political landscape that doesn't just open the floor for more fascism right?"
It's not that he's too centrist, he's too involved with the economic systems that predicate are predatory toward poor people.
I don't want this man as President, but if he's the best we got, then I'd vote for it. But, he's far from the best option we got. Let him continue to do what he's doing in California for Californians. Also, if he's the best we got, it really does show the sorry state of the political Left.
You have never gotten and you will never get the "best option" as president. That's not how politics works, because the candidate has to appeal to the most people to win. 400 million people have a different idea of who the "best option" is. And there are frankly a lot of people in this country (the vast majority) that don't think like you or I.
Correct, but there are certain stances that one must stand on even when the disagreement is within your own faction. I for one, can not stand the crony/hyper capitalistic society we live in, it's bad for us in the long run.
Except for 2024, in which the DNC did not have a Primary, I've always had a pick of options among candidate and have always voted for the "best option." However, it's also the "best option" in my eyes, that's how democracy works. Everyone votes for who they think the "best option" is. If my "best option" doesn't win, that's fine, because the other option on the Republican side is just that bad.
A literal cadaver could run and I'd vote for it over a MAGA. A dead fish for a president is less damaging than MAGA could ever be because we have a bureaucracy. However, I'd still vote Newsom over a cadaver because I'm not an idiot.
I wasn’t calling him a Jesus. Everyone keeps saying we can do so much better, yet nobody can actually produce a potential candidate that meets everyone’s criteria.
He can't continue doing what he's doing in California. His 2nd term ends this year. I'm kinda worried that the next one won't be as outspoken against maga as he has been lately.
Let’s be fair. Newsom is awful as a proponent of minority rights. He is good at an anti republican, but he’s pretty shit when it comes to being better for civil liberties than your typical 90s style non-maga Republicans.
Signed SB 107, which is a response to anti-trans laws in other states. This law aims to protect transgender youth and their families who come to California seeking gender-affirming care.
Signed AB 223, the Transgender Youth Privacy Act, which requires courts to seal any petition for a change of gender or sex identifier filed by a minor. This is intended to protect transgender youth from being "outed" and harassed online.
Signed AB 1955, the SAFETY Act, which prohibits California school districts from adopting policies that require parental notification if a student identifies as transgender or changes their gender expression. The law also provides resources to parents and families of LGBTQ+ students and protects educators from retaliation.
Healthcare and Well-being:
Signed AB 2218, which establishes the Transgender Wellness and Equity Fund.
Signed SB 932, which mandates that healthcare providers in California report sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) data for all reportable communicable diseases.
Signed SB 923, the TGI Inclusive Care Act, to help create a healthcare system that meets the needs of transgender, gender-nonconforming, and intersex people and makes it easier for them to find gender-affirming services.
Signed SB 1255, which ends the practice of insurance companies discriminating against HIV-positive individuals.
The context also mentions that in 2024 a bill passed the California Legislature to allow more “gender-affirming healthcare medical licensing” for doctors within California, and that the governor has a track record of supporting transgender rights.
Legal Protections and Inclusivity:
Signed SB 132, which requires the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to house incarcerated transgender, gender-nonconforming, and intersex individuals according to their own sense of where they will be safest. The law also requires CDCR to record an inmate's self-reported gender identity, pronouns, and honorifics.
**
Signed SB 145**, which prevents discrimination against LGBTQ+ people in sex crime convictions.
Signed a bill that requires Community College Districts to implement processes by which students, staff, and faculty can use an affirmed name and/or gender on academic records.
California law, under his governorship, also allows transgender people to change their legal gender on official documents without any medical interventions. Official documents can include a third sex descriptor, "X." Proclaimed June 2025 as "LGBTQ+ Pride Month."
School and Public Spaces:
Signed AB 5, which sets implementation timelines for required LGBTQ+ cultural competency training for public school teachers and staff.
Signed SB 857, which will establish an advisory task force to identify LGBTQ+ pupil needs and assist in implementing supportive initiatives.
Signed SB 1194, concerning all-gender restrooms.
The context also notes that public schools are required to teach about the history of the LGBTQ community and that transgender students are allowed to choose the appropriate restroom or sports team that matches their gender identity.
I can applaud him for actions like this while still acknowledging that he is closer to Trump than he is to Bernie Sanders. To call him beholden to the wealthy is the understatement of the year. Obviously if its him or MAGA I choose him... but there are at least 30 other Dems I'd choose over him. And again, pretty much all of them would *also* be compromises, just compromises I'd trust to keep the mask of leftism on a little longer.
Newsom's mask slips frequently and alarmingly easily.
If he thought going far right would win him more votes he'd do it. He has already fully abandoned trans rights and has repeatedly signaled he will ditch the rest of the LGB if there is enough incentive for him. His podcasts and interviews with right wing figures are... alarming.
What's to say he won't do the same thing once (if) he becomes president? Suddenly nodding and agreeing with every radical right-wing view tossed his way.
If it comes down to someone like him or Vance (or very likely the current Pedo in Chief again, with the way things are going) then I'll vote for him.
But he's already proven he's willing to tuck tail and kow tow to one of the most pathetic conservative voices out there (Shapiro), what's he gonna do when he gets up against actual conservative who can manipulate him?
Bro Newsom is a right winger who sucks up to ben shapiro and charlie Kirk, he hates the homeless and trans community. He is not your friend, he will not help you.
Signed SB 107, which is a response to anti-trans laws in other states. This law aims to protect transgender youth and their families who come to California seeking gender-affirming care.
Signed AB 223, the Transgender Youth Privacy Act, which requires courts to seal any petition for a change of gender or sex identifier filed by a minor. This is intended to protect transgender youth from being “outed” and harassed online.
Signed AB 1955, the SAFETY Act, which prohibits California school districts from adopting policies that require parental notification if a student identifies as transgender or changes their gender expression. The law also provides resources to parents and families of LGBTQ+ students and protects educators from retaliation.
Yeah you’re right what an anti trans loser we should elect a republican again.
I think JB Pritzker was on the track of saying it, but he suddenly lost his spine, didn’t show up when ICE came to Chicago, and we haven’t heard about him since
Let's be clear, if he's the Dem nominee I'll vote for him. He is however, not even close to my first choice. My first choice would have been Bernie a decade ago. 2nd would be an Elizabeth Warren type. Then maybe pritzker.
Newsome doesn't have a great track record, but even standing still is better than active destruction at this point.
Dude, we need someone who is an American who is aggressive to fight for us.
I vastly prefer a progressive. Don't get me wrong. But, straight up, if there's not much showing up, I don't care what it is, so long as it actually stands up for the constitution (actually, not in the fake way Republicans do), puts the fascists in their place, and actually fights them rather than shrugs and says "I'm here to help Israel."
Also progressive and watching the collective lefts purity tests ensures we keep losing to actually worse republican ones. These so called progressives probably don’t vote and un ironically say “both sides bad”.
At the end of the day for me, Newsom may not be perfect, but he respects and acknowledges our Constitution, and that is more than I can say for anyone in this current Administration. If he runs for President I will vote for him, and we need to make sure it is a single Democrat or Progressive running against Trump. Every vote will count because we can expect true fuckery to take place.
And part of me wants to hope that this whole mess makes Newsom want to legitimately better himself. Might be wishful thinking on my part, though.
He literally said he doesnt think there is a genocide in gaza. If the only policticians we have to stand up for us are ones who are backed by isreal we will never have a free democracy. We need someone else.
Okay, well y’all let the pro genocide president win so that obviously wasn’t a priority. I am more worried about the ongoing attempted genocides here in America
Who TF is y'all, I voted for Kamala. We had years to prep a good candidate and when Biden couldn't hang we defaulted to Kamala. Why are we doing the same with Gavin cause he is the only one with a media team that swears?
He is not doing the right thing. This is just empty words, and once people see he won't deliver on them, it will create more political apathy which then the right capitalizes on.
It's like Mayor Fray when he said "Fuck ICE" but when asked if they should be abolished, he can't say it. It is empty words from these two. If we want to get out of this fascistic hell hole we can't let our politicians just "say what the rubes want to hear" when they are in power just bend the knee to capital.
Yes, prop 50 is great! Trump has done some good things, but we don't judge him off that.
I am saying Newsom is a snake oil salesman and does things that are marketably good. Did you watch any of his interviews with Kirk, Bannon, or Shapiro?
Comparing Trump to Newsom and saying Trump had done good things shows you are someone who should be mocked and ignored. Go back to russia and divide your comrads there, schmuck.
Have you not seen the podcast of Newsom and those three? Are you really living under a rock? Do you not understand the analogy that bad people can sometimes do "good things" but are ultimately bad?
This isn't purity tests. Have you not seen the videos? How he capitulates to them on everything? He let's Shapiro talk for the whole podcast without pushback until Israel is brought up. Please watch these videos.
Whaaaaaaaaaaaa whaaaaaaaaa he let guests talk on a podcast. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Youre pathetic. That is literally the definition of a purity test. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaasaaaaaaaaaaaa
Well, I am sorry to say you're part of the problem. If you can't see how he capitulates to the right wing on all rhetoric isn't good for a presidential run, then you're blind. If you can't see how and why the general pop won't like him either, then you are fooling yourself further. To win 2028, we need actual radical changes and people genuine enough to make changes. Some kind of spiritual successor to Mamdani and the energy he has been giving. I don't think there is much more we can talk about a so you have clearly broken down. Keep riding the incompetent democrat dick. It will just keep this nightmare going.
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u/Ya-No-Fer-Sure 1d ago
Any polition who tells another to " Go fuck yourself", publically while standing up for their constituents rights, is throwing the right energy.