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by JALEN ELROD
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Many Democrats underestimate the political acumen of Donald Trump. That has been to our detriment. The 2024 Presidential election proved many Americans don’t care that Trump is a convicted felon. They don’t care that he was found liable for sexual assault. They don’t care about his slow but steady creep towards authoritarianism. They don’t care about the daily scandals and antics that would’ve been politically unacceptable just a decade ago.
No matter your opinion on Donald Trump, it is hard to deny he has irrevocably changed American politics. Few Democrats have recognized that over the years.
Governor Gavin Newsom of California has – and he’s acting accordingly.
I didn’t like Gavin Newsom at first. I was especially annoyed when he came to South Carolina on a tour of rural counties with the South Carolina Democratic Party. This annoyance was based on the idea that Newsom’s publicity would further nationalize our state politics and make it that much harder for Democrats to win. This annoyance is despite S.C. Democrats being virtually irrelevant in statewide elections, so the visit probably made little difference in Democratic electoral prospects.
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But Newsom seems to have realized the new norms in America and has emerged as the leader Democrats have been longing for. He’s shown he’s willing to be the fighter Democrats are looking for.
When Governor Greg Abbott of Texas announced this summer he would willingly be Donald Trump’s lapdog and push through the Texas legislature an unprecedented mid-decade redistricting effort in order to bolster Republican electoral prospects in the 2026 midterms elections, Newsom met fire with fire.
Instead of reacting with the typical, feckless lamenting Democratic leaders have been so fond of in the Trump era, Newsom did in California what Abbott and MAGA Republicans are doing in Texas. California stands to redraw congressional districts this year in retaliation, doing the same thing to Republican congressional districts in that state that Republicans stand to do to Democratic districts in that state.
Other Democratic governors across the country have expressed a willingness to enact the same measures to benefit Democrats in next year’s midterms.
Not only in the redistricting fight is Newsom matching fire with fire; his social media engagement is exposing the idiocy of Trump’s own social media use over the years and the hypocrisy of Republicans today. It’s become a favorite pastime of mine to watch Republicans on Fox News decry Newsom’s tweets as unbecoming his office and petulant, refusing to acknowledge that imitation of Trump’s behavior as President is exactly the point. Furthermore, Newsom’s appearances on Fox News, through interviews or his series of debates with Florida Gov Ron Desantis, is what Democrats need to be doing to win back segments of the electorate we have lost in recent years.
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Gavin Newsom has realized what Joe Biden didn’t during this time as President: Donald Trump is not an aberration. He’s a fundamental and irreversible change to American politics. There is no returning to the normalcy of the days before Trump. This is the new norm.
If Donald Trump is truly the unprecedented threat to democracy Democrats claim, it will take unprecedented action to save democracy.
President Biden, whether by refusing support ending the filibuster to expand the Supreme Court and pass the For The People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, didn’t do it. His embrace of norms and denial of political realities contributed to a second Trump administration. One that is demonstrably worse than the last.
Trump has never been afraid to wield power. Newsom recognizes Democrats can’t be afraid either. That is where we are in the Age of Trump.
Democrats have been looking for a fighter since last year’s demoralizing loss in the presidential election, someone who understands what’s at stake. At least Newsom seems to.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Jalen Elrod is a Greenville-based political strategist, having done over forty political campaigns and voter registration initiatives across the country. He is the former 3rd Vice Chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party, former 1st Vice Chair of the Greenville County Democratic Party, and President of the Young Democrats of Greenville County. He is a graduate of Leadership Greenville Class 47.
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7 comments
What an idiot. Newsom’s attempt to “out Trump” Trump is universally seen as what it is, desperation.
I doubt it Colonel…the talking heads at your beloved right wing media outlets are apoplectic that Newsome is mocking Trump. The dEaR LeaDEr himself does not seem too pleased either. So it would seem Newsome is having the desired effect.
AMERICA’S FAVORITE GOVERNOR AND SOON TO BE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE NOMINEE GAVIN NEWSOM IS SEEING HIS POLL NUMBERS AND CONTRIBUTIONS GOING UP BIGLY.
Meanwhile, Trump parties at the new Club Pedo he attached to the White House, where the Rose Garden used to be. The only thing you need for admittance is proof that you are on the Epstein list. Which Trump is totally not on and we should immediately stop talking about because it is a Democrat Hoax. Even though Epstein was arrested and killed during the first Trump administration, and sexual predator Ghislain Maxwell was just moved to Club Fed for no reason at all.
Of course, the children she handed up to Epstein and the list members for rape are treated like dirt, and their press conference is drowned out by an air force flyover directed by Trump. But yes, Colonel, continue kissing the ass of his royal orangeness like all the other degenerates in his circle.
The Demolitioncrats are like hurding cats but they do need a revival. Pulling trump jokes can maybe help bring back life to a group on life support but they’ll need to get back to basics. The Republicans are tired of the rhetoric and lies being spewed in our faces, just start becoming the Mr. Smith goes to Washington type of group and you’ll get support again.
Its like pancakes ya know, sometimes you gotta flip them before they get burnt or whatever that analogy was.
Democrats are not afraid to use power….it is what they crave, at all times, in all circumstances. Marxism and communism can’t “work” without the raw exercise of unbridled power – they know that. It’s that very lust and use of power that made then go way, way too far under Obama and Biden. It’s the reckless and outright totalitarian abuse of power that is what got them kicked out of the White House. I truly hope Newsome gets the Democratic nomination. The rest of the country need only look at the decline of California under 30+ years of democrat supermajority and the White House stays with the GOP.
Right…because SC has prospered sooo much in every metric under absolute Republic rule for the last 30 years. Get a grip.
Have you looked at the list of maker and taker states? If California were a country, it would have the 5th-largest economy in the world. It is one of only a handful of states that contribute more to the Federal Government than it takes. CA sends 81 billion a year more to the Federal Government than is spent in CA. Meanwhile, SC, controlled by Republicans for decades, is among the top taker states in the country, receiving $1.60 from the Federal government for every $1.00 it citizens pay in federal taxes.
SC would be more impoverished than it is if it were not for the states providing all the money. All of whom are blue, with CA by far at the top.