2024 is approaching quickly, and Joe Biden has reportedly officially filed papers to run for reelection. It is a bold move, to say the least, when you consider the fact that very few people within his party really want him to run again and the fact that it comes quite early — a few months before the midterm elections.
Does this mean that he will, in fact, run? Of course not. Things can go in a different direction for any number of reasons. However, it is clear that the purpose of this step is to dispel rumors that Biden would retire after serving one term in office and quash premature talk about a potential successor — of which there has been plenty of over the past year — that could weaken his standing before the midterm elections.
Of course, it won’t stop talk about potential replacements for Biden or looking to the future. And funnily enough, according to Dane Strother, a Democratic political strategist and media pundit, Gavin Newsom is the future of the Democratic Party, and it is inevitable that he will be president one day.
It’s hard to imagine anyone thinking that Newsom is a shoo-in for the presidency (are they paying attention to what’s happening in his state?), but Strother is a believer. Granted, the bar for Democrat presidents has been set very, very low. In the past fourteen years, Democrats have nominated Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden to represent their party, but Strother is convinced that Newsom golden boy from the Golden State, is destined for the Oval Office.
“Newsom runs the fifth largest economy in the world and has a record budget surplus. He’s proven to be pragmatic in steering the state toward huge declines in greenhouse gases while keeping refineries and a nuclear plant running,” Strother pointed out like the narrator of a campaign ad, ignoring the dirty details such as the fact that much of California’s surplus is due to federal stimulus money the state received during COVID-19. He then points to Newsom’s electoral achievement of defeating a recall effort in the deep blue state. I bet he thought Hillary Clinton was destined for greatness after defeating Republican Rick Lazio for the U.S. Senate in New York back in 2000, too.
Strother points to Newsom’s recent jabs at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, though Strother seemingly forgets the fact that his constituents are fleeing California for the likes of Florida, Texas, and other red states with more freedom.
Related: Read My Lips: Ron DeSantis Will Be President One Day
Newsom has already insisted that he wouldn’t challenge Biden in a primary, but he’s definitely laying the foundation for a national campaign in the future. Recently he ran ads in Florida begging Floridians to move to California.
“From a pure hard-ball political perspective, if Newsom began robustly building a national effort while his likely primary opponents serving in the White House, the U.S. Senate, and Biden’s cabinet are frozen in place, he would have an enormous leg up if Biden retires,” Strother insists. “Whether in two years or six, it’s past time for both parties to usher in the next generation of presidential candidates.”
It’s easy to see why Strother thinks Newsom is a lock for the Oval Office, but he failed to sell Newsom as a candidate that non-radical leftists could get behind. When you look at what’s happening in the state, with crime destroying cities and massive regulations making it difficult to live and do business in the state, what message can Newsom run on that a Republican opponent couldn’t destroy in five seconds? If a future election came down to Newsom or, say, Ron DeSantis, would independents vote for the candidate whose state his constituents are fleeing from or the candidate whose state they’re flocking to?
It’s easy to sell a leftist governor to fellow leftists — which is what Strother has done — but how many people are looking at what’s happening in California and are thinking it’s time to bring all that crime and crippling regulation national?
