Preparing the Ground for 2028, Gavin Newsom Wants to Be Seen as the Primary 'Resistance Leader' to Trump

California Governor Gavin Newsom reminds me of a guy in a bar I used to frequent. He was loud, obnoxious, and didn’t know what he was talking about. I stopped talking politics with him when it became apparent that his knowledge of America and its history was severely lacking.

He was the definition of a blowhard. That describes Newsom perfectly.

Blowhards talk loud and fast, hoping we’ll overlook their lack of knowledge and pay attention to the bombast. Newsom recently called for a special session of the California legislature, and tried to deflect the cause of sky-high gas prices onto the oil companies.

“Hard-working folks being fleeced by the greed of these oil companies. These price spikes go directly in their pocket,” the governor said. If anyone believed that nonsense, they should have their voting rights taken away.

Reason.com’s Steve Greenhut bemoans Newsom’s “resistance agenda,” in which he is seeking to “Trump-proof” some of California’s wilder flights of imaginary lawmaking.

The new special session will probably earmark an additional $25 million to the California Department of Justice so it can “Trump proof” the state by preparing a variety of lawsuits against expected GOP actions regarding climate change, transgender, abortion, water, and immigration policies. States routinely oppose the feds and vice versa. Progressive California filed 100-plus suits against the previous Trump administration, just as conservative Texas filed a similar number opposing Biden-Harris edicts.

That earmark will help Attorney General Rob Bonta, but it’s a rounding error in California’s $290-billion 2025 budget. Lawmakers could easily find those extra funds during the normal course of legislative business, but a cynic might suggest that the main point here is to drive headlines and bolster Newsom’s position as the national leader of the Trump resistance (perhaps with an eye toward the 2028 election).

On the other hand, after being elected in 2018, Newsom proceeded to dismantle the protections citizens have against criminals by systematically removing obstacles to criminals plying their trade. At every step of the way, he cheered the criminals on. Then came the backlash, and now Newsom is scrambling to portray himself as an anti-crime warrior.

He “surged” state police assets to Oakland in 2023 when the city began to look like a tame version of Dodge City on Saturday night. He has increased the state police presence, but wants something from the city in return: a more lenient “hot pursuit” policy that will allow Oakland police to actually pursue and catch criminals.

ABC 7:

“We’re going to extend that commitment, but not for an open-ended period of time,” Newsom said. “We’re at that point in time that we need to see some commensurate support and reforms and changes as it relates to policing. Here in Oakland, in order to consider extending this state subsidized partnership, we specifically are going to need to see changes in the pursuit policy,” he said.

ABC 7 also reported:

In July of this year, Newsom quadrupled the number of CHP shifts worked in Oakland, from 42 to 162 weekly shifts. That came four months after Newsom announced the state was installing 480 Flock surveillance cameras in and around Oakland as part of the state’s effort to help combat crime.

The cameras allow investigators to identify vehicles by searching for crime-linked vehicles by vehicle type, make, color, license plate state, missing/covered plates, and other unique features like bumper stickers, decals, and roof racks.

Newsom said the CHP recovered more $13 million in stolen goods and arrested more than 1,400 suspects statewide.

Excoriating oil companies in one breath while sounding like a born-again anti-crime warrior in the next marks an effort by Newsom to be all things to all people.

Just like any other presidential candidate.

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