Despite what some may consider to be copious evidence to the contrary, winning-streak California Governor Gavin Newsom is still telling anyone he can dragoon into listening that he’s not running for president in the next election—but now he’s saying he won’t even go for it if Joe Biden, for some reason, decides not to engage in another arduous campaign.
“I’ve told everyone in the White House, from the chief of staff to the first lady,” Newsom then told Politico about the non-run he’s planning. He also promised Biden—in a cell phone conversation the reporter was not “supposed” to overhear—that he’s “all in” for the president’s 2024 bid, telling him, “Put me in coach. We’ve got your back.”
Of course, this is nothing new. While Newsom denies that he wants the big job, he constantly seems to be positioning himself for it. On the 4th of July, he ran an ad in “Don’t Say Gay” Florida warning, “Freedom is under attack in your state,” and advising Floridians to “join the fight, or join us in California, where we still believe in freedom.”
Which is a thing governors do?
In September, Newsom again flirted with a battle royal among state chief executives when he penned a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland requesting a federal investigation into the migrant relocation schemes of Florida Gov. Ron Desantis and Arizona Gov. Greg Abbott. Later that month, Newsom popped down to Austin to give a talk at the Texas Tribune Festival, where he said of Desantis: “His lack of character is on display. He comes into another state, your state, to try to find pawns in a political game, rounds them up, sends them to an island and then fundraises off of it.”
But when asked by moderator Alex Wagner if all his national headline-grabbing indicated a presidential run, Newsom replied, “No, no, not happening, none, not at all… No, no and no. I’ve said it in French, Italian—I don’t know German. I mean, I cannot say it enough, but thank you.”
Those desperately in search of a Democratic candidate who’s got anything going for them nationally might hope Newsom—who handily defeated a recall before comfortably winning reelection, and oversaw California becoming the world’s fourth largest economy—was only talking about challenging Biden for the party nom, but that seems not to be the case.
“It’s frustrating,” Newsom told Politico, “because I have so much reverence and respect for not only the president but the vice president is an old friend, for all of those interesting things you guys all love to write about, we’ve known each other for 25 years.”
That said, Newsom did promise that he will continue to entertain. He says the next target of his righteous fury is world’s richest man, Tesla/SpaceX chief and Twitter honcho supreme Elon Musk, for fear he will use the greasy social media platform to benefit his other companies (at the time of Politico’s reporting, Musk may not have yet unbanned Donald Trump, nor had he promised to reopen the Twitter gates to a potential army of undead extreme-right ghouls).
“I imagine there’s a reason he’s doing fundraisers for Kevin McCarthy and a reason he’s singing the praises of Ron DeSantis,” he said, citing the goodies Musk gets from Republican governors in exchange for business. “He’s also the beneficiary of their largesse in places like Texas and their tax credits.”
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