LOS ANGELES.–California Govern Gavin Newsom, hoping to stay relevant as he looks ahead for the 2028 presidential race, said the Democrat Party has spent little time figuring out what went wrong in the 2024 presidential election.  Newsom thinks the part should take a post-mortem autopsy to find out what worked and didn’t work with voters in 2024.  Newsom says if the Democrat Party wants to find its way back to victory in 2026 or 2028, they need to look inward at the kind of politics that rules the party.  “We have not done a forensic of what just went wrong, period, full stop,” Newsom said, referring to the dramatic Nov 5, 2024 loss.  “I don’t think it, I know it.  I mean, to the exten that I’m marginally part of this party, I represent the state larger than 21  state populations combined,  and I can assure you there’s not been a party discussion that I’m aware of that has included the state of California.

            Newsome isn’t sure where the Democrat Party stands today, despite the high profile place progressive in the name of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) have gone around the country on their anti-oligarch tour.  “I don’t know what the part is,” Newsom said.  “I’m still struggling with that,” referring to whether or not the party has moved so far to the left that there’s not turning back.  Newsom tries to position himself as a moderate but, in realty, embraces the same race-and-gender based politics hat serves as a platform for progressives like Bernie and AOC.  Newsom was a strong surrogate for former President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the 2024 campaign.  He agreed with every liberal position on race, gender, women’s rights and climate change putting him in the mainstream of Democrat Party progressive politics.

            Newsom has been criticized by Democrats for hosting a podcast interviewing conservatives like Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon, both of whom loyal MAGA Republicans.  Newsom explained he wanted to get to know the other side better, learing what they did to win the 2024 presidential election.  “If you don’t learn the lessons of the past, you will repeat them,” said Newsom, saying the Party needs to take a careful inventory of where it’s going.  But whether or not Newsom admits it or accepts it the Democrat Party has moved hopelessly in the progressive direction.  Newsom’s attempt to portray himself is as misleading as it gets since he supported all of Biden and Kamala’s progressive ideas in the campaign. No one has been more supportive of open borders than Newsom, backing the rights of illegal immigrants to sign up for the Medicaid program.

            Newsom wants to position himself in 2028 as the last of the moderate Democrats but he’s anything but.  No supported Joe and Kamala more strongly that Newsom, especially their ideas of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion [DEI], open borders, women’s reproductive rights, LGBTQ-plus rights, all of which are the center of any progressive agenda.  Knowing he could face Kamala in 2028 or even AOC, Newsom doesn’t know where to turn before he’s termed out in 2026.  Newsom hopes Kamala runs for California governor, hoping it would keep her off the ticket in 2028, one less rival.  But Newsom kids himself saying the party needs to take a searching inventory of his current politics.  He knows it’s hopelessly progressive with no intent of changing directions anytime soon.  Progressive politics will be tested in the 2026 Midterm elections where Democrat get a better read on the party.

            Newsom pretends he doesn’t know where the Democrat Party stands or where it’s heading into next year’s Midterm elections. Newsom know he backed all of Joe and Kamala’s civil rights, gender right and women’s reproductive rights issues, not the moderate he now wants to portray himself.  “The fact that we’re not even stress-testing what the help just happened and we’re having an honest forensic conversation,” Newsom said.  No one in Democrats politics has done more for open borders than Gavin Newsom.  He’s all in on banning gasoline powered cars in Calfifornia, making him a true progressive.  Pretending that he doesn’t know where he stands or where his party stands in terms of progressive politics is absurd. Newsom backed all of Biden’s and Kamala’s progressive politics, especially on the issue of civil, genders and women’s reproductive rights.

            Newsom needs to stop playing games with the Democrat Party and admit he stands in the mainstream of the Party’s progressive politics.  When he endorsed illegal immigrants getting on the Medicaid roles, that spoke volumes about Newson’s priorities.  He complains now about the state running whopping budget deficits but has only made them worse with his open border policy.  No one in Democrat politics, including Biden or Harris, has done more for climate change by banning gasoline vehicles in 2035, every bit as progressive as Bernie or AOC.  Why does Newsom think the party needs to take inventory when he knows exactly where the Party and he stands on key progressive issues?  Newsom did everything possible to get Kamala elected in 2024, pretending he doesn’t know now where his party stands.  Democrats are progressive politics and progressive politics are Democrats.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.