Gavin Newsom is Not a Progressive

Good take. Maybe the Kamala protest abstainers will have a fresh enough dose of Trumpism to remember that halfway-kind-of-decent-sometimes is better than literally-the-worst-possible-decision-at-all-times. I hope we still have elections. I hope we are not stuck with Newsom as the only choice. But if we are, he IS the only choice, and even though he's not nearly a progressive, he is far closer to it than whatever the GOP rolls out with in 3 years (whether it is Trump again, Trump Jr., Vance, or a new piece of shit far right authoritarian). We need to make sure he wins, and that means getting your asses to the booth. All of us. Even you.

I desperately wish it was this straightforward to the majority of people who shape our future in this country.

I am firmly convinced that most of our population doesn't have internal language, no internal tools for abstracting ideas into mental words for comparison and evaluation, and just spout rhetoric by instinct. Literally, this is why everyone seems so stupid... they've changed the way their minds work by scrolling all day, every day, and not socializing and not changing habits.

Nuance is something that you can only arrive at if you have this mental narrative tool that lets you see multiple angles of an issue.

This means that our future of politics is going to be entirely grifters riding on this fact and creating over-the-top caricatures and WWE theater style politics. And people will eat it up because everyone just wants something to be all-in for or all-against so they can fight with the opposing fans. We're so fucking cooked.

This is the way.

This is a huge problem in mindset in my opinion. Yes he's better than Trump. But I can grab a random person off the streets and they'd probably clear that bar. Our economic and political systems will always pool power into fewer and fewer peoples hands. We need drastic rethinking of how our society is going to work because Newsom will 100% sales out the American people when the rubber meets the profits. The old system are dead. We are just experiencing the symptoms and only wanting to stop the pain. Not cure the sickness.

Do you know what a primary is?

He also wants to win an election in 2028 not pander to left wing donors in 2025.

Not to mention avoiding the mistakes Harris made. It is perfectly clear that it is impossible to veer left enough to stop the left from attacking you for not veering far enough to the left.

I’ll take the neo-liberal over the outright nazi fascist, thanks

Yeah but he's one of the few Democrats actually doing something against Trump and co.

Hmm, who do I support: Someone who I don't necessarily agree with on every issue or the guy actively working to destroy my country and those of our allies? Tough call.

Jesus Christ he hasn’t even announced he’s running yet. Why are we already pretending these are the only two alternatives?

We don’t need to choose a neoliberal over a fascist… we can push for someone better.

With all due respect, as I understand where this sentiment comes from, that is how Trump gained momentum and won.

I think the blue no matter who approach has failed more than worked considering Hillary failed, Biden did win but really it was more Trump lost, Kamala lost (she got a shit deal yeah but still neolib vs unchained Trump should have been a no contest) and going further back Gore and Kerry lost to Bush. Clinton basically was the centrist Republican neolib that got Dems a roadmap that they keep to this day.

The time for half measures is over and the DNC needs to adapt or they will end up like the Whig Party. If you dont believe me look at their approval right now, No one likes the Democrats

Newsom is an establishment figure and telling the next generation of voters this is going to be a candidate for change won't yield the results you think.

First, criminalizing homelessness is fascism. If you can't take a stand for the homeless how can you expect anyone to take a stand for you? You thibk he won't throw you under the bus if it's politically expedient? Second, do you intend to repeat the same song and dance that got Trump elected twice? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. Third, why are you compromising from now? Like come on it's still 2025, even if you're going to vote blue no matter who, now you should be projecting strength not compliance.

Neoliberals Don't oppose fascists.

He will work with the fascist to come up with a compromise that the fascists can live with. That probably means sacrificing vulnerable groups and rallying around right wing talking points.

He is right wing. Gavin newsom is just right wing. the fact that there's a uneven deeper more belligerent right wing out there doesn't mean that he is somehow an alternative to it.

Oh fuck you, you tell the left they can't critisize these people during elections and now we're not supposed to critisize them aftet elections too? When are we supposed to ask for things that keep us from dying then? You're part of the problem.

Leftists: "Democratic politicians are feckless. They need to get on social media to call out Trump's bullshit on daily basis! When is a leader going to step up?!"

Somewhere, a finger curls on a monkey's paw.

He threw trans people under the bus, and there's no way in hell I'm voting for that.

This is true to an extent, but when you look at the history of the moral majority (new right movement) and what actually unified the right, it should give you some context about how the Dems aren't really doing themselves any favors by distancing themselves from progressive values. The right were always willing to offer some concessions to what were once considered fringe voters (and now is essentially the base of the Republican party) in exchange for their vote.

I say this as someone who is almost always willing to vote blue no matter who, continuously catering to the wealthy and failing to follow through on promises is going to be the nail in the coffin for Democrats (and possibly American democracy in general). Midterms will probably be their last chance to get it right (if we're even allowed to vote) and they are definitely not off to a good start by giving the cold shoulder to Mamdani.

It's very hard to battle voter apathy and "both sides" disinformation when Democrats will not even acknowledge that much of what progressives are asking for is pretty reasonable. Establishment Dems seem to believe once they're accused of cultural marxism (which btw is a term that was popularized by the same people that created the moral majority/new right) they will lose centrists voters that might help them gain an edge over the competition. Meanwhile they seem to be oblivious to all the support on the left that they're absolutely hemorrhaging.

Some of that support is going to the right (and those are the people Gavin Newsome seemed really be worried about reaching with his podcast that "reached across the aisle" to some absolutely vile people), but a big chunk is being lost to people who just no longer see a point in bothering to vote for an establishment that seems to intentionally exclude and dismiss them.

Punching Newsom is punching up. Telling voters they are wrong to criticize him in regards to economics, Zionism, LQBTQ rights, and social safety nets IS punching left.

He's not on the left though. He only ran as a dem because he is in California and Republicans have no chance there

I believe what I believe, and whoever shares my values, will get my support. Compromising on my values to get some kind of "strategic alliances" is something I don't do. If you look across the world and across history, that generally doesn't end well in the long term.

Hopefully if he runs and wins he actually fixes the problems that led to fascism

Neoliberals like himself are a huge cause of where we are right now.

He needs to tax the wealthy at 98%.

He will never do that, unless he has a sudden and complete change of heart.

Damn, .ml is starting their crap early. They already got trump back in, now they are working to get more of the GOP in power by fomenting infighting....reruns suck.

I'm not. If there's a Bernie or AOC like candidate vs Newsom, I'm voting for the Bernie AOC candidate. I've played it safe the last 3 elections I, no longer care if it hurts Dems chances because Dems have had their assses handed to them and were already in hell. I want someone who is going to fight Republicans and help get policies we actually want and they will fucking despise

The path to progressivism does not run through assholes like Gavin Newsom. "Lesser-evilism" has brought us to Trump!

Which part of the article is incorrect?

I fully expect to see a repeat of 2020. The party establishment will be split between Elderly Nepo-Ghoul With Fanatical Partisan Following and Young Pretty Boy Who Says Progressive Things To A Room Of Millennial Age Investment Bankers.

On the edge of the debate, you'll see a few genuinely progressive leftist voices saying things like "We should be against genocide" and "Homelessness is easily solveable if we put forward even the least amount of political capital" and "Granting DC statehood is the most obviously smart and moral Act any future Congress can pass". Maybe even a few "Medicare 4 All is still a good idea" die-hards shouting from the extremely cheap seats.

And then one (or both) of the insider candidates will pick up a few of the more popular slogans as their own. This, while denouncing any of the fringe voices as Anti-White Racists, Politically Toxic Far-Left Anti-Capitalists, Eco-Terrorists, and Fat Ugly Unfuckable Losers.

Come primary day, said fringe leftists will do shockingly well in some of the early states. At this point, the centrist candidates will panic, drop the kabuki of intra-party squabbling, align behind whomever the current Party Elder tells them to select, scream that a vote for Fringe Candidate is a vote for Fascism, blanket the airwaves with a deafening smear campaign, disavow every nice thing they said up until this point, and maybe squeak in to the convention by a few points on a technicality about who gets to be Superdelegates.

The Convention will be a coronation of a rotten corporate homunculus. Any leftist disgusted by the process or the annointed candidate will be denounced as a Far-Right Foreign Plant designed to undermine the fundamental principles of democracy itself. Said rotten homunculus will pick a Token Minority/Progressive as their running mate, then immediately dump that person to the sidelines and campaign exclusively with the reanimated corpse of Rush Limbaugh.

Trump wins by a ten point margin in 2028. Leftists are blamed for the loss. Democrats vow to purge their party of anything resembling progressive values or human decency even harder. By 2032, they're running a Bitcoin Billionaire in an uncontested primary, because it's unreasonable to trust an election process that's been infiltrated by Hamas.

This is exactly why they'll run him.

Exactly, people tried that shit with Carney up here and we all knew we were not getting a progressive PM but we sure as hell didn't get a right wing mini trump.

Could we have gotten better? For sure but desperate times man, desperate times...

Yeah I might not vote for him in the primary but its not a deal breaker.

Not to mention the homeless considering he personally went out of his way to destroy the few things they own.

Hey don't forget unhoused people!

There's a reason it's coming back around to the fore, I suspect. Because it's time to play the favorite game of "This left person isn't left enough! Let's attack him!"

I mean yeah Gavin Newsom is kind of a POS. I don't even like the guy, he's not particularly left-wing and I wish the Democrats had more better standard bearers than this guy. But what the fuck, he is fighting against Trump and that's a good thing. Supporting Gavin Newsom for sticking his thumb in Trump's eye is absolutely in no way incompatible with supporting more genuine left-wing people (including supporting replacing Newsom with someone better as soon as that becomes feasible.) Just replacing him with "let's let the bad guys win instead" is fuckin' stupid.

Yes, it's still a good read. They also reposted it today and it's going viral on socials.

https://x.com/curaffairs/status/1957510456157040993

Remember when we were told that we could criticize Dems during non-election years?

Or primaries were the time to have debate, but I guess that too has gone out the window with the DNC tiping the scales since 2016.

Clearly you are in favor of an oceanic based monarchy.

It's the "if you don't like Biden you're a Russian troll" all over again. It's started.

Worked well the last time. Oh wait.

Why is wanting things to get better instead of stagnating or getting worse somehow impossible to understand?

When the Duopoly exists to ratchet us twoards fascism then the only way out is to abandon the Duopoly.

Hold on there partner, it can get so much worse.

The gerrymandering that Gavin says will happen in California is going to be voted on in November, it will probably not happen.

I will say this. They aren't waiting until November 2026 to vote on it. So they're at least pretending to take this seriously.

But I'll also say that some right-wing court is going to decide the ballot measure is unconstitutional. And the California Dems are going to throw up there hands, announce collectively "Oh well we tried!", and then find a way to blame Transgender people for the Permanent Republican House Majority.

probably wont happen, what makes you say that?

No he doesn't. He would lose

And Newsom is stopping them by?

This sort of dipshittery is exactly why the democratic party keeps trotting out center-right nobodies that fail to energize their base, and why actual progressives like Mamdani are doing so well despite widespread attempts by the left AND right to pretend he's not.

To be as polite as possible on the matter? Shut the fuck up, and take your lies elsewhere.

This is absolutely the right way to steer this ship. We don’t need perfect. We just need a winner. From there, we can work towards perfect.

No.

History repeating.

The Harris thinking Cheney would sway voters pipeline again? Oof.

2028 has to be about people on the right and left joining together to repudiate fascism and totalitarianism

The right does not think this is fascism. So, there goes that fantasy.

There has to be economic pain so bad that they can't refute it anymore. That's our only hope.

That or Trump dying before the end of his term.

The right wants this. You are hopelessly deluded if you think they will lift a finger to prevent it. Double if they have to work with the libs they despise.

I agree with that...? People should be allowed to transition but with parental/guardian permission or are legal adults (18, in the US). Is that considered right-wing take? I thought I was a moderate!

Ah, so it's not about the Gaza Strip now, it's Newsome is feckless.

You mean people can have more than one opinion at once?! How unthunkable!

I've had multiple people on Lemmy tell me that Bernie Sanders is a Zionist, and they can't in good conscience support him.

And yes, it's fake. I mean, some of it might be stupidity or useful-idiot-ness. But some of it is absolutely just people deliberately trying to hurt the left, and it's succeeding very very well.