I think I should straight earnestly say it rather than being ironic about it or anything: Newsom has substantially raised my opinion of him in this regard with the redistricting fight, and is probably at this point my # 2 choice of people who are definitely running, behind Pritzker.
You're not concerned that redistricting is just 'one' thing he's done and there are lot of clueless centrist Third Way-type other things?
The crown was in the gutter. The person who picked it up was a grifting slimeball. What can you do?
I think this could put him at the top but I do think people are getting position confused with attitude. I don’t actually think that Governor of California Kamala or Pete or Warren or AOC would operate very different… it so happens there’s only one Governor of CA to make these threats/moves
on top of everything else: he has been a decent progressive governor who has accomplished some big things and he would most likely be a decent progressive president who would accomplish some big things
He's very good at fighting and politicking and getting his way, and having him on our team right now is a net positive. He's very bad at being a decent human being, which at this point is not a requirement.
Everyone keeps calling him a POS over here in the opinion section of the LA Times, but he’s *our* POS and he’s swinging hard and consistently, and using a klaxon to call out the racist POS that somehow one the Eggs Are So Expensive vote. 👊🏼🌞
The problem is he's actually kind of a POS. Great, he's fighting, but he's doing it because his fantasy is to be called "Mr. President" and there are so many people who can do the job and WON'T throw trans and unhoused and other marginalized people under the bus at the first opportunity.
Anyone who is not, at this moment, screaming at the top of their fucking lungs about the ongoing destruction of the Republic by the GOP is definitionally incapable of "doing the job." It's an baseline qualification, an absolute pre-req.
Yes! Agreed! But there are lots of people doing that! And most of them aren't ALSO platforming Charlie Kirk and actively clearing out homeless encampments For The Content!
Yeah that's certainly true, though the "lots" includes few as prominent as Newsom--the most disturbing/infuriating thing to me has been the quiet of our would-be-leadership. Pres contenders need to fill the fighting lane or watch Newsom/Pritzker own it.
They’re still back in the 90s with Clinton (consummate politico and narcissist) who won an election by actually becoming a republican 😆Let’s be moderate…they seem to say. Not sure that’s going to work.
It's not.
AOC and Jasmine Crockett been yelling about this stuff too, just in case we were afraid of only paying attention to the white dudes.
Yes they've been great! But AOC is at least a couple cycles from a presidential run IMO (don't know enough about JC). I want someone at the top of the ticket with their level of focused rage.
You know, I'm thinking about this and I actually think under current conditions AOC could absolutely make a serious run next cycle. She's a massive talent and the base is RAVENOUS for youth and energy.
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Then those other people need to step up and start saying the sorts of things Newsom is saying before it’s too late for them to be serious challengers. If they’re out there, they need to get moving yesterday.
You mean like Pritzker?
Yes. But he’s not enough. We need more elected Dems talking that way.
Agreed.
Yep. I think he’s doing a pretty consistent job of pointing and naming.
Meh, I also think we need to get a grip, we're still 3 years out from the election. The midterms are the important thing.
They’re part and parcel of the same thing. I think it’s a mistake to not think of them as inextricably tied together.
There’s no one who ever has or ever will run for president who doesn’t have a large dollop of narcissism, let’s begin with that. What we hope for beyond that is discernment, a desire to collaborate and political competence in management, + some curiosity & intelligence, imho.
Dems always expect s candidate to be everything they want. Life doesn't work that way. I want a fighter now.
I do not like his willingness to flirt with the dumbest Reactionary Centreist shit about eg trans folks, but he's modelling good behaviour here and hopefully he will either be surpassed by other potential leaders, or drop the "on the one hand" bullshit entirely.
He’s devoid of convictions or principles beyond advancing his career but he has been spinning the dial wildly to see what people are receptive to and finally landed on the right nerve.
He is receptive to feedback, if it's couched in a way that meets his ambitions. Not someone I'd want as a friend, but.
I kid. He’s a slimeball but he’s our slimeball, for better or worse
So a professional politician?
Sure! And that's fine, I want pros doing my politics. I strongly prefer transactional politicians to, you know, ideological ones.
Oh yes, I feel like we've seen QUITE enough of amateur politicians for the rest of our lives. Professionals ONLY need apply as far as I'm concerned.
I hate him with every fiber of my being, and would rather give him a bowl of cocaine and free rein in charge of DoJ, but I at least do feel like Newsom is full of genuine rage against the people I hate.
Newsom is not on the list until he fully retracts his trans bullshit. Will never vote for anyone who is willing to negotiate on the rights of our fellow citizens.
Yeah, BlueSky seems to be collectively reacting to Newsom like the Furious "I GUESS" Guy. It is what it is. I mostly don't care much. Somebody just has to win and who they are is like one one-hundredth as important.
In complete fairness, as a Californian, that's also how I am reacting. He's still got a year and change as governor and two years before the primary season starts. So who knows? Maybe he'll win people over. Or maybe he'll lose them all again and it'll be Gretch back at #2.
Oh of course! This is exactly the RIGHT way to react. I sure as hell don't think he's on a glide path to victory or anything. He was just persona non grata around here and now he's alive again. But you know EVERY other ambitious Dem is watching and nodding slowly, wheels spinning.
"Let haircut boy go first," they all think. "I've got my big push all lined up too. Wait until BlueSky gets a load of THAT."
Well I seriously doubt anyone is thinking *that*, let's not get ahead of ourselves.
let me have this
In any case, you do have a point in that if calling Republicans out for crybullying and threatening retaliation over gerrymandering is enough to win people over, then basically everyone is going to trip over themselves to do it.
Yeah, that specifically and just the pugnacious trolliness in general, like the goofy Trump-posting. The base eats that up, and anyone can do it. They're all just biding their time and waiting for the opening. Pritzker is like "oh please please try it with Chicago please"
I don’t feel strongly about him one way or another, but, and I’m saying this as a Pennsylvanian, he has no shot of winning PA and thus no realistic shot of winning the White House.
Yeah, he's a good politician. We need that.
Yes because fight fucking back ffs!!
Rounding up innocent people and putting them into concentration camps and starving Palestinians and enabling Putin to murder Ukrainians my top 3 issues for right now. If I had to pick right now for President it would be Pritzker.
Who's your list of people who are definitely running? I don't really trust Newsom to deliver once in the White House, but that's better than someone who will for sure suck (President Schumer?) So the gap between him and Pritzker is large, but I guess we could do worse.
Schumer's too set in his cushy-ass job to ever want the smoke of the Presidency. If he gets primaried, he immediately goes Emeritus Mode and sets up shop in the Hamptons while making a bunch of phone calls to power brokers so he can still feel like a Big Boy.
Oh, 100%, I was trying to think of someone who hypothetically would be so certain to be bad I'd rather roll the dice on Newsom.
I'll vote for whichever of them promises to carpetbomb the 10 reddest counties first tbh Not that I think newsom would order them, in between his right wing podcasts and terrorizing homeless and trans people, but it'd build contempt for confederate magats
IMO the winning combination for 2028 is: 1) Really really hates the Republican Party from an authentic and bottomless place. 2) Has good enough relationships with the left to take their best ideas and run with them without being too implicated in left infighting. 3) Does not have Senate brain.
I don't think Newsom has demonstrated he can come through on 2) or 3).
He, frankly, very probably has irreversibly burned the bridge on 2 already and has never given the impression he thinks that's a problem.
My general stance on this is: If Newsome is our second best choice currently (I don't think he is personally) then it is a fucking catastrophe that we need to be actively trying to fix now by finding and promoting better people.
His political skills are underestimated too imo. Liberal California, sure, but he’s never lost an election, including winning a knife fight with the left in SF, clearing the field statewide four times, and crushing a recall attempt. Plus he’s pretty charming in person.
This isn’t ’he has never done anything wrong and I love everything about him’, I think he’s been frustratingly cowardly on housing in California until very recently. I normatively don’t like him talking to Steve Bannon and Chalrie Krik. But he’s shown a willingness to do actually fight.
He is a fucking mess with respect to trans folks. I find that really hard to forgive.
Man. I f-ing hate Newsom
Fun fact, CalTrans literally buried one of my spouse's clients alive (boarded up under pass he was living under)
I feel very similar. It has also obviously raised his profile for the better, at least with the Democratic electorate. Same for Pritzker. What will it take for other high profile electeds to follow the same lead?
Not # 1 because Pritzker has shown similar combativeness (hiding the TX dems) and I have marginally less policy reservations about him. But yeah I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t think the case for Newsom 28 hadn’t gotten substantially stronger lately.
newsom is ambitious. he wants power. when he thought talking to charlie kirk would get him that power, he talked to charlie kirk. now he thinks it’s something else. he may still be the man for the moment: we need our 2028 nominee to be able to see, and willing to use, power.
I can picture Newsom telling his AG “find some way to charge every ICE agent who wore a mask”. Not saying he’d do it, but I can at least imagine it, which is more than I can say for most prominent Democrats who seem to act like they’re fighting Extra Spicy Mitt Romney.
Don't give up on the IL-khanate yet!
if we don't have an aggressive fighter basically nothing else matters. mandatory qualification and few have shown it
who else is shocked at elected Dems exciting and creative new ways to capitulate. Bowser in Marthas Vineyard holy shit
#1 requirement for the next presidential candidate is for them to make it crystal clear that holding these fascists accountable for their actions is paramount. If they don’t recognize why this is important, they either don’t understand the gravity of the moment or don’t care about democracy.
I'm extremely annoyed at Pete right now because he should know better, but has been showing very little teeth recently
he's rolling over on trans rights
to be clear he has not supported or enacted any actual anti-trans policies
he vetoed a law that would protect trans children from transphobic parents in custody battles and vetoed another law that would've expanded the number of gender clinics in california
it looks like he signed that law? www.npr.org/2024/07/16/n...
that law is plainly not the one i described www.kcra.com/article/cali...
I think the reasoning he gave for the veto made sense, based on this article.
and i think that the governor calling trans athletes competing "deeply unfair" is bad even if he hasn't had the chance yet to ban them.
this is disappointing. but he has the power to ban this and he hasn't.
yeah that sucks ass, as Mr. Fuckley says I prefer Pritzker for that reason. but not many other takers
it's basically him, AOC (if she wants to run) and the Great Khan of the Midwest.
good argument that what Dems need is a vessel who can be captured by the base and maybe Newsom is that guy
AOC and Pritzker are my top 2 but I'm not convinced yet AOC is running for President instead of Senate
I'm so annoyed at everyone else who is even plausible and who is somehow this late to the party
I’d like to see AOC take down Schumer (or replace him if he reads the tea leaves and chooses to retire). She has a long time in the future to be president when the country writ large will hopefully be more open to her politics.
Newsom is Keir Starmer with a California tan. He definitely hates trans people as much as Starmer does.
Somebody please knock some sense into him about his anti-trans and homeless people policies. I don’t like his podcast guests, but that’s further down the list.
Not a big Newsom fan but he is stepping up for sure. And his Trumpesque tweets are HILARIOUS
We’re going to nominate Jean-Paul Marat and as that becomes clearer we’re going to see more people getting in the game. I don’t care if they’re doing it for opportunistic reasons but they’d better be willing to risk their life, because that’s going to be in the job description
So, fuck trans kids & homeless people? Why are so many people in such a rush to throw some of the most persecuted people in the country under the bus when we have literal YEARS to find someone better?