California Gov. Gavin Newsom has figured out the best way to get under President Trump’s skin.
Act like him.
In an effort to egg Trump on — and rally his own troops in the Democratic Party — Newsom has taken a page from Trump’s playbook, mirroring everything from the president’s rants to his social media habits.
In recent days, the California governor has touted his own “beautiful” midterm redistricting proposal and his “beautiful” rally to boot — needling Trump’s braggadocious ways.
Newsom has started to write his social media posts in ALL CAPS, just like the president.
And he’s come up with his own Trump-y nickname for the president: TACO, short for Trump Always Chickens Out, an acronym that originated on Wall Street in reaction to Trump’s moves on tariffs and is designed to annoy the White House.
In the process, Newsom is garnering attention from all ends of the media, while emerging Democrats eager to see members of their party fight back at the president.
The HuffPost on Tuesday led with the headline “He’s on a troll” with a photo of a smiling Newsom. Fox News during a segment on “The Five” commented on his efforts to copy Trump.
“Democrats are over being the nice guy party,” said Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons, who served as Kamala Harris’s communications director in the vice president’s office. “Standing up for Dem values doesn’t mean you have to play by the old rules and Newsom in particular is showing he’ll go as low as he needs to to take on Trump.”
Since losing the election in November, Democrats have been rudderless and for the most part, leaderless, desperately trying to find their way out of the wilderness.
A Wall Street Journal poll out late last month showed Democrats’ popularity at the lowest point in three decades. The poll showed that 63 percent of voters have an unfavorable view of Democratic Party while 33 percent of voters have a favorable view.
But Newsom’s recent strategy has given the party a shot in the arm, Simmons and other strategists have said.
“Gavin Newsom is capturing the hearts and minds of Democrats,” Simmons said, adding that “people who don’t do politics for a living are asking about him and they really like him.”
Anthony Coley, a Democratic strategist who served in the Biden administration, agreed, saying “watching him go toe-to-toe with Trump on social media — an arena Trump has dominated for a decade — is refreshing, energizing and even fun to watch for many Democrats.”
A new survey out this week by Echelon Insights showed Newsom surging in a 2028 poll among likely candidates. The poll taken from August 14 to August 18 — a period when Newsom dominated headlines — shows the California governor in second place at 13 percent behind Harris who received 26 percent.
In recent days, Newsom’s press office —clearly aware of the traction the governor has been getting with his new Trumpian tack— has continued to needle Trump by continuing to echo him.
But the account isn’t just targeting Trump. It’s also going after Vice President JD Vance. On Monday the account edited a photo of the vice president onto the body of Australian breakdancer Rachael “Raygun” Gunn, who made headlines last year for a mediocre performance.
The account also targeted other Republicans including Dana Perino, the former White House press secretary turned television host, after she slammed him for being unserious.
“You have to stop it with the Twitter thing,” Perino said on Monday. “If I were his wife, I would say: You are making a fool of yourself, stop it…He’s got a big job as governor of California, but if he wants an even bigger job, he has to be a little more serious.”
Support for Newsom’s social media efforts appeared to be growing. As of Tuesday afternoon, the X account Newsom’s press office had nearly 400,000 followers.
But Kevin Madden, the longtime Republican strategist, said Democrats are making a mistake to focus on “communications tactics” when they should be focused on messaging.
“Newsom’s strategy and approach has been reflective of that,” Madden said. “He’s got a new podcast and a more aggressive social media presence, but other than more clicks and downloads has that shifted the dynamics or public debate in his favor, or improved the national party brand?
“So far, there is little evidence of that,” Madden added. “It has, though, positioned him at the top of the party’s internal process of sorting out the next generation of national candidates and leaders.”
Democratic strategist Christy Setzer said Newsom’s “trolling” has two main audiences: “Democrats who want someone, anyone, to take on Trump in a real way and the media, who Democrats feel have normalized too much of Trump’s insanity.”
“I’m surprised it’s taken Democrats this long to do it,” Setzer said, calling the strategy “pretty brilliant.”
“He’s hoping to get under Trump’s skin, and may have drawn blood on that account [and] is it just me or did Trump stop using the all-caps in his unhinged posts after seeing Newsom’s?” she said.
Setzer added that while “no one will be Trumpier than Trump” the strategy is working.
“…As an attention grabbing tactic, he’s already succeeded,” she said.
