That's shitty and I won't vote for him in the primary because of it, but I don't think that rises to the level of "he agrees that trans people shouldn't participate in public life" I certainly don't think it's enough to justify abstaining in a general election.
He's willing to agree with a Nazi that trans people should be removed from public life to satisfy the concerns of Nazis if it helps him gain political power the difference between that and just being a Nazi who actively wants trans people removed from public life is irrelevant in practice
I don't think it's irrelevant at all, as evidenced by the fact that Newsom has signed pro-trans legislation repeatedly and has taken no material actions against trans rights even after that podcast.
he's also doubled down on this take even given that record so obviously we can't trust that he has good enough Instincts that he won't believe going after trans people will be to his benefit even though it objectively would not be
I'm not going to tell anyone they should trust Gavin Newsom. Abstaining in 2028 is a disaster though. That's surrendering on *every* issue. I understood doing it over Gaza. Tens of thousands of people were dead. I don't really get doing it over a podcast.
I suspect most of the people announcing that they would abstain in 2028 for reasons xyz are bullshitting though.
I think people won't have to because he won't actually be the nominee I think if you're worried at all you should join in on the Newsom hate mob just to make double sure he *isn't* the nominee
It's hard for me to see him losing the primary if he personally erases 4-5 GOP House members tbh. I hate on Newsom plenty, I just don't have to do it on here because everyone here hates him too lol.
I'm sure in the 3 years we have between now and the primary this will not matter because other people who are very much planning to run are also clearly planning to do their own gerrymandering
Pritzker doesn't really have much juice left, IL is already quite gerrymandered. New York iirc has some pretty bad procedural obstacles (even more than CA) that makes it impossible for the lines to be changed until 28 (and I don't think Hochul is a serious threat to Newsom anyway).
Shapiro and Whitmer have split legislatures with GOP control. Walz doesn't have control until Hoffman's seat is filled, by which point it will probably be too late. Wes Moore can do one, but he only has one R to eliminate.
I will certainly be paying close attention to how he addresses the issue in the future though.