Commentary: Newsom stood tall against Trump. Does that make him presidential timber?

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Time for Gavin Newsom to start out measuring these White Home drapes.

Huh?

You realize, president of the US. I’m considering one thing Earth-friendly, like recycled hemp.

Wait, what?

Did you catch the nationally televised speech the governor just lately gave? The one about “democracy at a crossroads.”

I did.

It was a wonderful speech and the governor made some essential factors about President Trump’s reckless commandeering of California’s Nationwide Guard, his administration’s indiscriminate immigration raids and the wholly pointless dispatch of Marines to Los Angeles. (From the halls of Montezuma, to the shores of Venice Seaside.)

Newsom was lots justified in his anger and contempt. Trump, performing true to his flame-fanning style, turned what was a middling set of protests — nothing native regulation enforcement couldn’t deal with — into one more assault on our sorely examined Structure.

Newsom’s speech definitely “met the second,” to make use of one in every of his favourite phrases.

I’ll grant you that. Not like a number of extracurricular actions geared toward boosting his presidential prospects, Newsom was addressing a Trump-manufactured disaster unfolding proper right here at house. It was a second that known as for gubernatorial management.

Simply the sort of management despondent Democrats want.

So it’s been mentioned.

It’s not a lot of a leap to see Newsom main the anti-Trump opposition clear to the White Home!

Truly, that’s a much bigger leap than it takes to clear the Grand Canyon.

Granted, Newsom’s speech obtained a number of raves from Democrats throughout the nation. Many are determined for somebody ready of energy to present voice to their blood-boiling, cranium-exploding rage towards Trump and his many excesses. Newsom did a great job channeling these feelings and articulating the hazards of an imprudent president run amok.

However let’s not go overboard.

There isn't any lack of Democrats desperate to tackle Trump and develop into the face of the so-called resistance. There isn't any scarcity of Democrats eyeing a 2028 bid for the White Home. Those that run received’t be schlepping all of the political baggage that Newsom has to tote.

Corresponding to?

Rampant homelessness. An exploding finances deficit. Huge earnings inequality.

Plus, a number of social insurance policies that many Californians take into account beneficent and broad-minded that, to place it mildly, others across the nation take into account a lot much less so. Don’t get me incorrect. I really like California with all my coronary heart and soul. However we have now a number of deep-seated issues and cultural idiosyncrasies that Newsom’s rivals — Democrat and Republican — can be solely too completely happy to hold round his neck.

So let’s not get too caught up within the second. The basics of the 2028 presidential race haven’t modified based mostly on a single — albeit well-received — speech. It’s nonetheless arduous to see Democrats turning the occasion’s destiny over to one more nominee spawned within the liberal stew of San Francisco politics and campaigning with kooky California as a house handle.

Stranger issues have occurred.

True.

That mentioned, 2028 is a zillion political gentle years and numerous information cycles away. First come the midterm elections in November 2026, giving voters their likelihood to weigh in on Trump and his actions. The decision will go a great distance towards shaping the dynamic in 2028.

Properly at the least Newsom has introduced his A-game to social media. His trolling of Trump is one thing to behold!

No matter.

You’re not impressed?

I feel it’s finest to go away the snark to professionals.

I do, nonetheless, have some sympathy for the governor. It’s not simple coping with somebody as spiteful and amoral because the nation’s ax-grinder-in-chief.

Think about, as an illustration, the catastrophe reduction cash that fire-devastated Southern California is relying on. Serving to the area in its time of determined want shouldn’t be remotely political, or a part of some red-vs.-blue-state feud. Traditionally, that kind of federal help has by no means been.

However that is Trump we’re coping with.

To his credit score, Newsom tried making good within the days and weeks following the January firestorm. He ignored the president’s provocations and held what was later described an an amicable session with Trump within the Oval Workplace. Their working relationship gave the impression to be a great one.

However few issues final with the transactional Trump, save for his pettiness and self-absorption. Requested final week if his “latest dust-ups” with Newsom would affect the granting of wildfire reduction, Trump mentioned, “Yeah, perhaps.”

He known as Newsom incompetent, trotted out extra gobbledygook about raking forests after which soliloquized on the character of non-public relationships. “While you don’t like anyone, don’t respect anyone, it’s tougher for that individual to get cash if you happen to’re on prime,” Trump mentioned.

Yeesh.

Responding in a posting on X, Newsom accurately famous, “Sucking as much as the President shouldn't be a requirement for him to do the appropriate factor for the American individuals.”

Arduous to argue with that.

But right here we're.

The nation’s second-most populous metropolis is occupied by Nationwide Guard and Marine troops. Hundreds of individuals — displaced by catastrophe, their previous lives gone up in smoke — are hostage to the whims of a peevish president who all the time places his emotions first and cares nothing for the better good.