But if you think Newsom is serving up Independence Day platitudes in an effort to attract the support of Fox News’ audience, then you don’t know Newsom.
This new 2022 re-election commercial is about just one thing: crushing Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis. And Newsom does it in a way that other Democrats should emulate — by highlighting the threat that today’s extremist GOP poses to our freedoms.
We then see images of DeSantis shaking the hand of Donald Trump, as the screen fills with quotes from news reports appearing to back up Newsom’s claim that “Republican leaders are banning books, making it harder to vote, restricting speech in classrooms and even criminalizing women and doctors.”
And as the visuals turn to picturesque vistas of California beaches and vineyards, the governor declares, “I urge all of you living in Florida to join the fight — or join us in California, where we still believe in freedom: Freedom of speech, freedom to choose, freedom from hate, and the freedom to love.” Newsom closes his appeal with the words, “Don’t let them take your freedom.”
To that, my response is, yes and no. Yes, the progressive Newsom is very different from the far-right DeSantis on policy. But they share a common trait in that they both enjoy needling their political rivals.
Whether or not he seeks the White House, Newsom is showing Democratic leaders something the base wants to see: How to be an effective and fierce fighter who isn’t focused on “bipartisanship” but instead determined to call out the GOP’s extremism. That’s a playbook all Democrats should embrace.