MSNBC Interview with Gov. Gavin Newsom: A Legend in his Own Mind

“Alex Wagner Tonight” of MSNBC interviewed California Gov. Gavin Newsom Thursday. The smartest guy in the room dished up some overwrought hyperbole to her canned softball questions. The interview was impotent, and the governor unremarkable and indistinct.

But read on for the details.

Gov. @GavinNewsom to @alexwagner on former President Trump:

“He is weakness masquerading as strength… I think he's the most flawed candidate in my lifetime. He is damaged goods.”

Watch via @WagnerTonight on @MSNBC. pic.twitter.com/FBtMaOe9jS

— MSNBC Public Relations (@MSNBCPR) January 27, 2024

 NBC’s questions are in bold. The Globe response is in italicized red.

WAGNER: Gov. Gavin Newsom on former President Trump: “He is weakness masquerading as strength.”

NEWSOM: “He is weakness masquerading as strength, Donald Trump in a general. In a primary, I’ve said it, he’s a T-Rex. He’ll devour you or you mate with him. He can’t be beaten in a primary, but in a general election, I think he’s the most flawed candidate in my lifetime. He is damaged goods. He is not as entertaining as he once was. He’s more unhinged than he ever was. More extreme, obviously more dangerous across the spectrum of issues.”

Newsom said, Trump’s “the most flawed candidate in my lifetime.” Just a little overstated? I can think of a few other “most flawed” candidates: Hillary Clinton for one. John Kerry also stands out. Their flaws are innumerable. 

“He’s more unhinged than he ever was. More extreme, obviously more dangerous across the spectrum of issues,” Newsom said of Trump. Now that’s just melodramatic and fabricated.

“Unhinged,” “extreme,” “dangerous” for wanting to bring the country energy independence, close the border and end the current Biden Administration’s invasion of the country, rebuild the military, cut taxes and regulations again… yeah, that’s “unhinged.”

“Unhinged” is a governor who locked down 40 million Californians for three years.

“Unhinged” is the governor who has chased over 1 million Californians out of the state to other states because of his far leftist policies, highest-in-the-nation taxes and gas prices, anti-business regulations, failing public schools, 1/3 of the nation’s welfare recipients, the most homeless drug addicts living on California streets… need more evidence?

WAGNER: “You’re the governor of a large state. Do you think these Republican governors who oversaw these [abortion] bans either didn’t care or didn’t understand what they were?”

NEWSOM: “I don’t think they care, it’s disgraceful, it’s sick. Here’s the problem with the Republican party, they always get in trouble when they actually get what they want. These six-week bans, before you even know you’re pregnant, before you can even get a doctor’s appointment, criminalizing young kids that were raped for trying to travel so that they can have a life, and the freedom to decide for themselves. Versus guys like Tim Scott and Lindsey Graham that we have to go through and ask permission… That’s how extreme they are.”

Newsom is throwing shade on this stupid, leading question. No one is criminalizing young kids who were “trying to travel.”

Newsom supports the open borders where are in fact children trafficked – and yes, raped. 

Very few elected Republicans support a ban on abortion. The majority just want the barbaric practice of aborting a viable full-term baby to end.

Remember, Gavin Newsom is the governor who created the abortion travel industry, with California taxpayers now footing the bill for women from other states to travel to CA, stay in a hotel, get an abortion, and travel back home. 

NEWSOM: It’s a serious moment. And they’re coming after contraception as well. That’s how extreme they are.

Oh really? How can Newsom be any more foolish to make that statement? And why didn’t Wagner ask him to explain his ridiculous statement – “they’re coming after contraception as well.” No “they” are not. Democrats conflate “contraception” (pregnancy prevention) with over-the-counter early abortion medicine, which causes a fetus to abort.

WAGNER: On the Israel-Hamas war – “You can’t watch these images of what’s happening in Gaza without your heart breaking.”

NEWSOM: “I absolutely applaud the President’s clarity and conviction as it relates to Hamas being a terrorist organization that needs to be eliminated. That said… I’m a father of four, and you can’t watch these images of what’s happening in Gaza without your heart breaking.”

He continued: “With respect to Bibi Netanyahu, for him to double down on stupid by somehow suggesting that a two-state solution is not the solution that’s preferable is a huge tactical mistake. Not political situationally in the United States of America, but globally that has profound consequences. I appreciate President Biden’s clarity and conviction on that. I also appreciate his clarity and conviction, trying to end this war.”

Did Newsom actually use the word “clarity” twice to describe President Biden? Oy. And for Newsom to be critical of Netanyahu’s refusal to embrace another failed “two-state solution” in Gaza is illogical, and just rewarding Hamas for its terrorism. As Caroline Glick reported last week, the idea of a moderate Palestinian Authority is just one more fiction in the minds of Western diplomats.

WAGNER: On Newsom’s decision not to run for president in 2024: 

NEWSOM: “Who in their mind would want to run when you have someone of such esteem as our incumbent President of the United States? With a record of accomplishments and a man of character, a man of decency. I’m old school. Talk about loyalty. I’ll go to the ends of the earth for this guy, I really would. I’m not I’m not making that up.”

Send me to the vomitorium. A bit overdramatic? “Such esteem” as Joe Biden? “Accomplishments?” “A man of character, of decency?” Now you know what a blowhard Newsom is. And again, he is just ludicrous. Joe Biden was never a man of character or decency, even when he still had his faculties. 

“I’ll go to the ends of the earth for this guy, I really would. I’m not I’m not making that up.” C’mon man – the ends of the earth? People don’t even offer that to their dearest relatives. 

WAGNER:  It’s clear, though, that his [Trump’s] ground game is way better than it was in previous elections.

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA):  Yes, much better campaign.

WAGNER:  They have racked up the endorsements. They have a stranglehold on the Republican Party.

NEWSOM:  Yes.

WAGNER:  They have a get-out-the-vote campaign that is unmatched, especially in the Republican primary. I mean, is that cause for trepidation?

NEWSOM:  No, because look what we have done. We have outperformed in every single election, outperformed by significant margins in every election, 2018, 2020, 2022, ’23, and not just at the national stage, when you look at some of these mayor’s races in Jacksonville or Colorado Springs.

I mean, in every election, Democrats are winning.

It’s one of the great winning streaks in modern American politics, particularly for an incumbent president. And I think Dobbs has a profound impact in terms of that framework and that reality out on the streets.”

This is Gavin Newsom referring to the only Democrat talking point they have left – abortion. They continue… back to abortion…

WAGNER:  I think a lot of people recognize what Donald Trump did to the Supreme Court to make the overturning of Roe possible. However, if he’s asked about it, and on national television, on the stump…

NEWSOM:  He lies about it.

WAGNER:  He lies about it. He obfuscates. He’s very mushy. And it is working with a certain section of the electorate. (Is there a question here?)

NEWSOM:  Yes. Can’t let it happen.

WAGNER:  I think it’s 80 percent — in New Hampshire, Trump wins 80 percent of Republicans who wanted a national abortion ban and 44 percent of those who don’t. Similar kind of thing in Iowa. He is getting a pass on this.

NEWSOM:  No, can’t.

WAGNER:  So, I mean, short of saying over and over again he’s responsible, how do you further convince potentially skeptical voters that this dude really stands for the end of choice as we know it?

Is Alex Wagner the reporter or a Newsom teammate?

NEWSOM:  Over and over and over and over and over and over again, we have got to flood the zone on that message. He can’t be allowed to get away with it. He can’t.

Six “over and overs?” We get it.

Newsom is using melodrama again instead of  adult vocabulary. He defaults to drama rather than objective, fact-based answers.

WAGNER:  I’m not here to argue in Trump’s favor, I’m just saying, some people don’t believe he’s in favor of a national abortion ban. Maybe because they remember his position being pro-choice in the ’90s?

NEWSOM:  In a nanosecond, he would sign that bill if it landed on his desk, period, full stop.

They actually fear Trump on abortion, because he would not sign a national abortion ban “in a nanosecond.” Trump agreed with the U.S. Supreme Court kicking the decision back down to states. The AP confirmed this, reporting, “Donald Trump is dominating the early stages of the Republican presidential primary even as he’s refused to endorse a federal ban on abortion.”

WAGNER:  Yes. And I’m not arguing — I’m not arguing against that.

NEWSOM:  Period, full stop. Exactly.

Another “Period, full stop.”

WAGNER:  I guess…

NEWSOM:  And he’s responsible for the state of affairs today. We just have to define the opposition and create that contrast.

But we have to flood the zone to remind people of his record, and the reality that we’re living here today, and the fear that women and girls have in this country because of the conditions he directly created through his actions. And that’s our job. That’s my job. That’s our collective job. It’s not Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ exclusive job.

That’s what a campaign’s about.

Newsom claims Trump is “responsible for the state of affairs today.” Think about that boorish statement. And Alex Wagner said nothing in response, nor did she mention that Joe Biden is the current President, “responsible for the state of affairs today.”

They discuss the Haley campaign, and Trump’s response – 

NEWSOM:  Well, I mean, you saw that Trump tweet said, if you do that, over my dead body. I mean, this guy…

WAGNER:  You’re not going to be invited to MAGA camp.

NEWSOM:  Yes, it’s like thugs, thuggery. But it’s so predictable. You just…

WAGNER:  Or like schoolyard petulance. It’s like some strange combination.

NEWSOM:  Yes, there’s a childlessness to it. But I really believe this. He is weakness masquerading as strength, Donald Trump, in the general.

Pot, meet Kettle. Newsom calling the MAGA camp “thugs, thuggery.”

about Trump again…

NEWSOM:  … in a general, I don’t think that dog will hunt this year. I think he’s much weaker than he was in 2020 and 2016. He’s a force to be reckoned with. I have never counted this guy out.

To me, this was a fait accompli that he was going to be the nominee. Day one, been saying that. That being said, he is a very vulnerable candidate in the general.

WAGNER:  I do have to ask you. We hear from the polling, anecdotally, that one of the issues the Biden administration has lost a lot of confidence, young voters, voters of color, voters in places like Detroit, the key to the president’s win, are very upset about his position on Gaza.

NEWSOM:  Yes.

WAGNER:  You have watched this from afar. I know you’re not in the administration, but do you think that they made a misstep there?

Newsom dodges the question and pivots to Israel/Hamas, and talks about his visit to Israel.

WAGNER:  You are an excellent emissary, in terms of passion, engagement, articulation, all of the things that make for a good campaigner, though we know you’re not running for president yourself.

NEWSOM:  No chance.

WAGNER:  No chance.

NEWSOM:  Yes.

The reporter, Alex Wagner, fawns over Newsom, telling him he’s an “excellent emissary, in terms of passion, engagement, articulation…” 

This isn’t news media questioning a Governor who may or may not run for President; this is a subservient sycophant gushing over a smarmy politician whom with she agrees politically.

And this politician isn’t as witty or clever as he thinks he is.

Newsom’s a legend in his own mind.