Watching a few of his answers and the smarmy face he maintains throughout them makes me wonder why anyone in the know thinks this guy has a chance in the primary.
The DNC expects voters to just fall in line, just like they did with Harris… oh wait.
Harris is a great example because she had a lot of institutional support and big money backing in 2020 and flamed out. With alternatives available, he’s toast.
He just can’t compete on emotional appeal with people like AOC or Buttigieg (I don’t trust him, but he can speak well). And some of the other governors could point to political achievements, but his governing highlights have been stopping Democrats from creating law to help people and thinking his own rules didn’t apply to him during the pandemic.
He has a chance if there are enough rich people backing him.
Harris had a lot of the exact same rich people backing her in 2020. Some politicians just don’t have “it” no matter how much money is behind them.
And, coincidentally, Harris never won a primary
Counterexample: Biden’s victory in South Carolina combined with most of his primary opponents dropping out and endorsing him all at once carried him to victory, aided by rich person backing. Newsom can use a similar strategy to win the 2028 nomination.
This just shows that money can boost a candidate but not make them happen if they don’t have the ability. Biden was the default, the refuge after all their other candidates weren’t demonstrating an ability to go the distance. If money alone was enough, they would have just stayed with Harris.
Newsom doesn’t have the history to be that default option. Why choose him when Buttigieg is out there, no longer just a mayor, or Beshear is telling his red state success story, or Kelly is out there as a purple state astronaut? Plenty of moderates to choose from with better stories and better personalities.
You would be right if voters have an unbiased objective view when voting. However, Newsom’s rich backers can get the press to talk up Newsom while making hit pieces on his opponents. Like, if Newsom won South Carolina by only a few percentage points, the NYT could write a piece with the headline “Newsom slams primary opponents by winning South Carolina in a landslide. Buttigieg expected to drop out”.
And don’t forget all the paid infiltrators on social media looking to tip the scales in Newsom’s favor. Reddit will be filled with articles about why Newsom is the one and only viable candidate in the Democrat primary. Facebook will get a ton of Newsom advertising. Dating apps will have bots profiles that say Newsom is the bot’s favored candidate.
And only a handful of people bother to track down primary sources themselves. They will absolutely fall for the social engineering and support Newsom in droves.
Again: If they could have done that to win the primary, they would have stuck with Harris and done it. Or if they were secret Biden stans the whole time they would have managed Iowa and New Hampshire to not be such a failure for their chosen one. They’re reacting and tweaking, and they have more effective and more efficient options.
In light of the recent news of the DNC report, which of those options is willing to call what’s happening in Gaza a genocide? Buttigieg is a great communicator, but it won’t matter if the message is Republican light.
I don’t think any of the moderates have the ability to put the threat of fascism behind us, but I think Buttigieg could definitely talk his way through the issue and maybe triangulate a position to say just enough without ruffling donors’ feathers. Or maybe he’ll just be a progressive in the next run. I think he’s a chameleon and went moderate simply because the progressive channel was full up.
Though really, I think Harris probably could have done that too. People really wanted to like her and not have to deal with that “genocide” cognitive dissonance. Her and Biden’s failure on that front really was an extraordinary level of political obstinance.
She had the wealthy backing her in 2020 because they assumed that the public was going to support a DNC token.
If it’s a competition of getting rich people then you’re guaranteed to loose.
I think Newsom is the one who could take notes on what’s culturally normal.
Newsom effectively wants the Dems to be less progressive. From my perspective, the Dems continue to lose because they continue to shaft their progressive constituents, of which there are many.
Things have shifted so far to the right in the US that mainline Dems would be considered conservative in many other countries of the world. The US does not have a left party, progressive or otherwise. If you accept this, then it’s easy to suggest Newsom is just one other centrist masquerading as a leftist. His claims here support that view.
There are many, many other reasons not to like Newsom, but ultimately he is a symptom of a much deeper problem.
Democratic voters to Newsom: Fuck off.
Democrat voters if he wins the primary: most important election of our lifetime, we need to elect him so the other guy that’s exactly like him doesn’t get elected
I deeply hope it won’t happen, but if it’s him or the Nazis, then…
If its him or the Nazi, the Nazis have won.
perfect way to put it
If he’s the candidate, I’m sitting the election out. Look, my community is under an attempted genocide right now. And as we’ve seen from the Starmer government in the UK, a nominally liberal government can be just as bad for trans rights as any Republican government. When Newsom says “be more culturally normal,” that is a dogwhistle for “take away the human rights of trans people.”
If the party isn’t willing to fight for my civil rights, sorry, I don’t owe you shit. You chose to do nothing after they first came for me, so I will laugh when they come for you.
This mentality was super effective in 2024 at stopping the worst president of our lives from gaining power.
Again, I don’t care. You vote to throw me and my people on the pyre, you can all go to Hell as far as I’m concerned. We can all burn together.
Yeah, they sure seem like they’re just going to keep doing that though. So all of us sober and sane voters who know how critical this election is going to be should just make sure we don’t let Newsom become the candidate, right?
Ideally, the sober and sane voters will vote in the primary against him so there is a good candidate during the general to vote for. Regardless, Newsome is better than anything the Republicans will push through primaries, so if that’s the less bad option, then that’s the unfortunate reality of a FPtP election system. I think we’re all hoping that the primaries give a good option, not a less bad option, but people have to show up.
The only purpose of the primary is for the DNC to slowly gaslight you into who they want you to support.
Can I interest you in voting third party? Some third party candidates are worth your consideration.
Honestly, at this point I don’t blame you. If this is the dogsh*t the Dems consider a reasonable compromise then the Union has fallen.
Surprise they’re all Nazis.
WE ALREADY HAVE NAZIS RUNNING THE GOVERNMENT. HAVING NAZI-LITE WITH NEWSOM SHALL MAKE NO DIFFERENCE.
That’s rich coming from a dude who wants to see corporations control our identities, we use less resources but AI data centers and the Epstein class can leave the faucet running all while claiming he cares about the middle class.
Shit he might just win…
Well now I’m just gonna be weird EVEN HARDER.
I’ll never vote for a democrat again it Newsom gets the nomination, for any office, of any power. There needs to be consequences for a party that’s supposed to be an opposition party. And before you loser “vote blue no matter who” people run your jaws: I will never vote for a republican either and never have. Stand for something for once in your miserable lives instead of proving that you would support trump/vance if their party affiliation was Democrat.
In general, most voters have no backbone to vote their conscience. They’re only willing to vote for who other people have told them is electable.
Like Eugene Debs said, “I’d rather vote for something I want and not get it than vote for something I don’t want, and get it.”
Who decides what’s normal, Newsom? FUCK YOU
I think this is a critical point. Broadcast TV and Radio used to create a common shared cultural identity. But now a lot of the population has hyper personalized algorithms driving what content they consume, and there’s an overwhelming amount of content out there. At least once a week I hear someone mention a new “must watch” TV show or podcast I’ve never heard of and don’t have time for… So yeah, who defines “culturally normal?”
Yeah I had two thoughts. What is culturally normal. Alls I can say for certain its definately not what the average republican thinks it is.
DEMOCRATS want to ABORT babies AFTER they are BORN!!!
You gonna take a bite of that turds sandwich?
Ok, so if we want to win we should do the opposite thing then.
You mean be more like Kamala…
