Gavin Goes ‘Soul-Searching’ – The American Spectator | USA News and PoliticsThe American Spectator

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has made new comments that are worthy only of April Fool’s Day.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times that was published April 1, he expressed shock at how some of his “most loyal friends” are “reevaluating their support for him” following his decision to come out against the inclusion of biological boys on girls’ sports teams. (RELATED: The Spectator P.M. Ep. 119: Gavin Newsom Breaks With Democrats on Transgender Issues)

This really surprised him, Newsom said, because he believed the Right had “overstated how judgmental my party was.”

“I’ve had a solid, a solid record on a lot of issues,” Newsom stated, “and for people to question, you know, to talk in disloyal terms, made me actually start to believe the critique from the right a little bit more.”

Judgmental? Ideologically pure? Uncompromising?

No, Gavin Newsom and the Democratic Party have never been like that. Newsom has never enforced ideological purity to the absolute extreme — and never condemned anyone who deviated from progressive ideology in the slightest.

Oh, except this is the same person who said that laws banning doctors from giving minor children cross-sex hormones and genital-altering surgeries “demonize” the “transgender community” and are driven by hatred. “The hate demonstrated by these laws,” said Newsom, “is unfathomable and has contributed to soaring suicide rates.”

And this is the very same person who, when a school district objected to teaching children laudatory material about Harvey Milk (on account of the relationship Milk allegedly had with a 16-year-old boy when he was in his mid-30s), threatened the district with a giant fine unless they complied.

This is also the same person who ordered that people swimming or paddle-boarding alone be arrested for violating his COVID orders. This is likewise the same person who forced beaches and parks to stay closed during the COVID pandemic, even after it was known that outdoor spread was negligible. And this is the same person who banned all indoor religious services in many counties until February 2021, when the Supreme Court ruled that doing so was unconstitutional.

Newsom was also the one and the same Gavin Newsom when he punished Walgreens by not renewing a $54 million contract with the company — and by promising to refuse to do any business with it — after it announced that it would not sell abortion pills in states where it is illegal to do so. “California won’t be doing business with @walgreens — or any company that cowers to the extremists and puts women’s lives at risk,” Newsom tweeted.

Oh, there was also that time when Newsom signed a law prohibiting the use of state funding for travel to 26 states that required people to use the bathroom that corresponded with their biological sex or mandated sports involvement on the basis of biological sex. Yes, really.

In addition, this is the same person who supported California’s law mandating that boys be allowed in girls’ sports on the basis of transgender identity — when it was passed as well as when he was governor.

So Gavin Newsom, in expressing shock at the radical purity standards of his party, is merely pretending to be blindsided by the very ideological rigidity he has long advanced. In fact, Newsom has been one of the chief architects of the Democratic Party’s extremism and aggressive demands that everyone else comply with its ideas — or else. (RELATED: Newsom’s Battle Against Misinformation Should Be Directed Inward)

If you think this is rich, just wait until you hear what Newsom said last week.

On Friday, during an appearance on Real Time With Bill Maher, Newsom declared: “The Democratic brand is toxic right now.”

This is coming from the man who is inseparable from every single aspect of the Democratic Party’s toxicity.

The cover-up of Joe Biden’s cognitive decline while he was president of the United States? Check. Newsom made himself out to be the president’s top surrogate and foremost defender. Even following the disastrous June debate, Newsom traveled to Michigan, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania to tell Democratic voters to disbelieve their own eyes and stand by the president. (RELATED: Did Newsom Save Biden’s Candidacy?)

The infliction of transgender ideology onto society? Check. Newsom signed a law forbidding teachers from informing parents if their children identify as transgender. He signed another law making California a “sanctuary state” for children who identify as transgender, potentially allowing parents to take their children to California for puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones — even if one parent objects or another state prohibits said treatments. He pumped money into Planned Parenthood, one of the primary dispensers of such drugs for children.

His Department of Education even unveiled new recommendations for sex ed curriculum that called for kindergartners to be taught about transgender identity. (Children in kindergarten through third grade, the framework said, can “understand they have a gender identity that is different from their sex assigned at birth.”) Newsom also signed a law mandating that prisoners can be housed in the prison for the opposite sex, so long as they claim a transgender or nonbinary identity.

Divisive identity politics? Check. Newsom signed a law to create a nine-member “task force” to study reparations for black Californians. He established a “Racial Equity Commission” and hired a “Chief Equity Officer.” He signed a law mandating “ethnic studies” in California high schools — essentially requiring all students to take a DEI class. He also signed a law (that was later deemed unconstitutional) that required publicly traded companies based in California to include people of different races on their boards. He pledged that, in the case that then-Sen. Dianne Feinstein died or resigned, he would replace her with a black woman — and then did so, with a woman who didn’t even live in California, no less.

Out-of-touch elitism? Check. This man is the poster child for the Democrats’ snobbery. He just moved into a new $9 million home — which is nearly two hours away from the California Capitol. He attended a posh dinner party at the French Laundry — all while unreasonably forbidding California citizens from eating indoors at restaurants. He grew up as the surrogate son of billionaire Gordon Getty — yet likes to pretend that he grew up relatively unprivileged. He was handed the loans and connections he used to start his businesses, yet he claims that he was solely responsible for their success. (RELATED: Newsom Trades Sacramento for $9 Million Luxury Living)

Gavin Newsom may be pretending to, as the New York Times put it, “soul search” following the Democratic Party’s ringing defeat in the November 2024 election, particularly by inviting figures from the right onto his podcast and contemplating the Democratic Party’s failures with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, New York Times opinion columnist Ezra Klein, and Bill Maher. However, he will never acknowledge that he represents everything wrong with the Democratic Party.

Newsom is right to run as far as possible from his past in order to best position himself for a 2028 presidential run. What remains to be seen is whether he can successfully reinvent himself enough to make everyone forget his past — without losing all of his allies in the process.

Ellie Gardey Holmes is the author of Newsom Unleashed: The Progressive Lust for Unbridled Power.

READ MORE from Ellie Gardey Holmes:

Can Casey DeSantis Win Florida’s Governorship?

What Does Someone Like Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò Do When DEI Dies?

MSNBC Delicately Plots Its Post–Joy Reid Future