California Gov. Gavin Newsom wants the national stage, the party microphone, and the 2028 speculation that comes with both.
He's spent years positioning himself as one of President Donald Trump's loudest Democratic opponents. He's told voters that he'll give a 2028 White House run “serious thought” after the midterms.
So when the California governor claims he just doesn't know enough about the Graham Platner collapse in Maine, the answer should be simple: then why are you asking Democrats to treat you like a leader?
Platner, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Maine, for now anyway, said he would withdraw after being credibly accused of raping a woman. He denied that allegation, of course, but we were led to believe the damage was already done.
His campaign “bravely” survived months of problems, from deleted online comments, his Nazi tattoo, and a history of horribly treating women. The newest rape accusation was supposedly the straw that broke the camel's back.
I'm sure that if internal polling showed Platner losing to Sen. Susan Collins in November, that would be a coincidence, right?
Now, every Democrat who can draw a breath has shared their concern that Platner wasn't properly vetted, and now Maine Democrats have a short amount of time to name his replacement.
Newsom's response was a neat little dodge. “I can't get into the merits of what they do in Maine, in terms of that vetting process.” After his quote, I recommend we use one or two famous phrases to summarize the important points Newsom made: “yadda, yadda, yadda” or “blah, blah, blah.”
It all means the same thing. From Politico, emphasis mine:
Newsom’s remarks came in response to a question at a Northern California news conference about whether Democrats vetted Platner thoroughly enough. Platner suspended his campaign Wednesday after POLITICO reported an allegation of sexual assault against him, an allegation Platner denied.
Newsom, a likely 2028 presidential contender, urged Democrats to focus on “what do we do to win and move forward.” A crowded field of Democrats in Maine are already maneuvering in the contest to replace Platner as the party’s nominee.
“Every second we’re talking about the past is a second wasted in terms of the essential nature of that race,” Newsom said.
Newsom claims ignorance, then offers a verdict anyway, claiming he doesn't know enough to judge Maine Democrats, but he knows enough to say the vetting failed.
Also note how much effort Newsom is using to switch topics. Listening to his answer, I hear, “No, I don't know how Maine works, but time wasn't taken to vet, so now we're running out of time to vet somebody else.”
Like the members of the legacy media, all those who offered support for Platner's campaign don't want the fingerprints, only the posture—especially Newsom.
For a local county chairman, maybe that answer passes muster, but for a man unofficially running to become the Democratic Party's next national face, it sounds like a focus group rehearsed retreat.
Platner wasn't some invisible school board candidate in a forgotten corner of the map. The Maine Senate seat is one of the races Democrats need if they want control of the chamber, and they treated this race as a chance for a major pickup.
Platner had support from national progressives, beat the establishment favorite, and became a symbol of where the party's base wanted to go.
Newsom can't have it both ways. He can't travel the country as a national combatant against President Donald Trump, speak as if he sees the great struggle for democracy better than the rest of us, and then become a meek passerby when his party's candidate factory spits out another damaged product.
Newsom has never truly faced a challenge that tested his leadership. He hasn't learned that leadership isn't just smiling under good lights; it means knowing what the machine is doing before it breaks down in public.
The pattern is familiar, isn't it?
Democrats spent 2024 telling us that President Joe Biden didn't have moldy mashed potatoes in his brain. It took a debate to make the obvious impossible to hide. Biden dropped out on July 21, 2024, after pressure from inside his party, and Vice President Kamala “Word Salad Queen” Harris was pushed forward with breathtaking speed.
Voters didn't get a clean contest; they got a swap after the sale.
Platner isn't Biden, and Maine isn't the White House. It's the same recipe the Democrats have been running the last few years: sell the image, ignore the warnings, attack the critics, and then, when the facts become too loud and too inconvenient, act shocked, SHOCKED!, and call for a better process next time.
Newsom sees that pattern because everybody sees it. His problem is that admitting it would mean indicting the party he intends to inherit.
Republicans should press him on it. They have to; the drive-bys won't. If Newsom wants to be a national leader, he should answer national questions.
Did Democrats fail to vet Platner, or did they see the warning signs and decide he could still win?
Was the party's hunger for an anti-Trump fighter stronger than its duty to voters?
Why does the Democratic bench keep producing candidates who need explanations before they even face off against Republicans?
Newsom's ignorance act is a hard sell. A man asking for the crown shouldn't pretend he just wandered into the castle.
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