Nobody can verbally emasculate a GOP rival quite like California Gov. Gavin Newsom | Opinion
Before Wednesday’s GOP presidential debate in Simi Valley even started, California Gov. Gavin Newsom was purposefully targeting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
As President Joe Biden’s chosen surrogate to strike back against any and all Republican talking points at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Newsom focused on DeSantis, mocking him, taunting him and diminishing any breakthroughs DeSantis could secure on a crowded stage of challengers sparring in the absence of GOP front-runner, Donald Trump.
DeSantis seemed to aim for a bit of publicity by meekly criticizing Trump for his role in the country’s existing financial challenge. He said Trump “owes it to you to defend his record where they added 7.8 trillion to the debt. That set the stage for the inflation that we have now.”
It did not take long for Biden to agree on social media and remain above the fray while Newsom went to work on DeSantis.
“I mean, this guy is distracted,” Newsom said in an interview with the local Fox News affiliate. “Here’s my personal opinion about Ron DeSantis. He regrets running for president. He made a huge mistake. He listened to his consultants. He bought his own hype…..That one chance of first impression, he’s belly-flopped. He’s down 30-plus points from where he started. So it’s a terrible situation for him.”
On the debate stage, it was not a terrible night for DeSantis. He did well enough, but the whole thing seemed like a food fight. One can try to stand tall in a food fight, but you’re still going to get dirty.
The candidate who scored considerable camera time and created a lot of buzz in the first GOP debate, Vivek Ramaswamy, was blasted with negativity Wednesday by his fellow Republicans, including Nikki Haley, Trump’s former ambassador to the United Nations and South Carolina’s former governor.
“Just because Putin is evil does not mean Ukraine is good,” Ramaswamy said as he answered a foreign policy question.
Responding later, Haley said, “I feel a little bit dumber by what you say.” So did the rest of us.
It was no mystery that candidates like Haley, who are seeking a breakthrough of their own, would try to climb a rung or two up the ladder by knocking down the candidate who was vying to knock off DeSantis as the primary challenger to Trump. That’s why it made strategic sense for Newsom to focus on DeSantis.
The Florida governor’s decision to debate Newsom on Nov. 30 “shows that he’s completely unqualified to be president of the United States,” the California governor said on Fox News prior to the debate. “That’s my humble first opinion.”
“If you can goad someone this easy, can you imagine what Kim Jong Un or Putin could do with this guy?” Newsom told the Los Angeles Times.
After the debate, Newsom repeated his theory of how the debate would unfold.
“This was the JV (junior varsity) team,” he told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. “I mean this. I’m not trying to play games here. I thought it may be more of a vice presidential debate, but I was not even convinced that we saw the next vice presidential nominee.” It was yet another dig at DeSantis, and without even needing to mention his name.
With Fox’s Sean Hannity, Newsom praised Haley for her attack on DeSantis for signing a ban on additional offshore oil drilling off the coast of Florida as the Republican candidates were debating who was best at making the country energy independent.
“Nikki Haley laid him out tonight,” Newsom said. “He signed a 2019 executive order….Why would you sign an executive order saying you will not do offshore oil rigs in your backyard and then blame Biden for not doing more….?”
Newsom was in vintage surrogate mode. He had nothing but praise for Biden, particularly his decision to head to Michigan to join the picket line of striking United Auto Workers. “I was really proud to see the president on the picket line,” Newsom said. “It was one of the best days I think in months. It is great to see him out there with working folks.”
As political performances go, Newsom accomplished his mission. On a Republican debate night that was destined to be turbulent, he followed what undoubtedly were instructions from the White House. He mocked his rivals. He spun. He flashed those gleaming white teeth. Even at Hannity. In fact, the ease with which Newsom operated on Fox News demonstrated why Biden chose him.
Newsom is not a member of Biden’s administration. He did Biden’s bidding in his home state of California, and Newsom continues to declare unequivocally that he is not running for president in 2024.
That Biden chose the California governor for this mission shows that the president does not consider Newsom a threat. He should not. Biden is his own threat. He must battle the chronological clock and the perception that he is not mentally or physically fit for a second term (Hannity called him “a cognitive mess”). For now, Biden and Newsom are a curious but effective combination. Newsom even got the last word on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“What a clown show,” Newsom said on his timeline of the GOP debate. He really seemed to enjoy himself.
This story was originally published September 28, 2023 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Nobody can verbally emasculate a GOP rival quite like California Gov. Gavin Newsom | Opinion."