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He has been referred to as a lizard man. As a shapeshifter. As a presidential hopeful who is a human weathervane on every issue, depending on which way public sentiment may be blowing at a particular moment.
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), in his apparent bid to become the 48th president, is attempting to be everything to everyone.
If, for example, supporting the transgender community in allowing biological men to play against biological women is seen as good by a far-left audience or interviewer, the California governor will conform to that audience.
“I want to see trans kids. I have a trans godson. There’s no governor who has signed more pro-trans legislation than I have. No one has been a stronger advocate for the LGBTQ community,” Newsom told liberal podcaster Ezra Klein of the New York Times in December 2025.
But when he sat down with Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk earlier last year, he magically shapeshifted into the kind of conservative on the issue that Kirk was.
“You, as the governor, should step out and say no. Would you do something like that? Would you say no men in female sports?” Kirk asked Newsom seven months prior to the Klein interview in March 2025.
“Well, I think it’s an issue of fairness,” Newsom replied. “I completely agree with you on that. It’s deeply unfair.”
But as with any politician, actions should be judged instead of words. In this case, Newsom did absolutely nothing to reverse the policy he signed into law that allows men to play against women.
That same year, a trans athlete was signed to a scholarship to play for the women’s team at San Jose State University. But in a stunning (and refreshing) backlash, six other colleges forfeited their games against SJS to protest having to play against a biological man. And Newsom said nothing.
This puts Newsom in a real pickle when it comes to capturing the Democratic nomination for president. He needs to present himself as progressive and as woke as possible to earn votes from the energized far left, who will come out in force in the primaries. So Newsom did what he does best: conform.
He recently did the same on Israel.
“He’s got his own domestic issues. He’s trying to stay out of jail. He’s got an election coming up. He’s potentially on the ropes. He’s got folks, the hard line, that want to annex the West Bank,” Newsom said of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Pod Save America, hosted by anti-Israel speechwriters from the Obama administration.
“[People] are talking about [Israel] appropriately as sort of an apartheid state,” he added.
This statement gave Newsom the headlines he wanted in an effort to ingratiate himself with the “Squad” wing of the party.
Co-host Jon Favreau also asked Newsom if “looking down the road, should the U.S. consider rethinking our military support for Israel?”
“It breaks my heart, because the current leadership is walking us down that path where I don’t think you have a choice about that consideration,” Newsom responded.
But when talking to conservative Ben Shapiro in January, Newsom disagreed with rhetoric from the same far-left who called the war in Gaza a “genocide” allegedly being carried out by Israel, while adding he “revered the state of Israel.”
And to make his position even more convoluted, Newsom once again backtracked by saying he now “regrets” calling Israel an apartheid state while calling himself a “proud Zionist” in an interview this week with Politico’s Jonathan Martin.
The Left went nuts, led by provocateur Jennifer Welch, who was recently named “Best Podcaster” at the GLAAD Media Awards and has attracted high-profile Democrats from Barack Obama to Kamala Harris as guests.
“I’ve heard enough,” she said of Newsom’s reversal on Israel being an apartheid state. “Why are we in this world where you cannot say a fact — that Israel is an apartheid state? Why do we have Democrats that are denying facts in the same way that MAGA does?”
“The main reason is the Israel lobby, right?” her guest, fellow provocateur Kyle Kulinski, said. “That has a stranglehold on the Democratic Party in the same way that obviously the entire Republican Party is too far gone on this stuff and totally bought by the Israel lobby.”
Podcasts, of course, are becoming increasingly prevalent in presidential campaigns. Donald Trump became the 47th president in part because he followed his son Barron’s advice in doing long-form podcast interviews with the likes of Joe Rogan, Logan Paul, and Theo Von. And in doing so, he reached young male voters in ways standard political ads or interviews on the broadcast networks never could.
Newsom is following the same approach, but unlike Trump, he appears to have no core principles or policies to sell. With Trump, you know what he stands for: secure borders, deregulation, lower taxes, “drill baby drill,” fair trade, American exceptionalism. Try completing the same exercise with Newsom.
Take taxes. The Right often correctly cites the fact that California has the highest income tax rate in the country. This is an absolute fact with no ambiguity. But Newsom actually had the audacity to declare earlier this month that Florida and Texas, which have no state income taxes, are higher tax states. “Texas and Florida are the real high-tax states,” Newsom claimed with a straight face. “Your middle class pays more taxes in Texas than our middle class in California. It’s a great mythology, it’s just [that] the richest of the rich come here because they can avoid paying a damn penny.”
But a 2025 WalletHub analysis disproves this claim, showing that California’s overall tax burden is the fourth-highest in the country, behind only Vermont, New York, and Hawaii. Florida and Texas come in 45th and 40th, respectively. And in the U.S. News & World Report’s annual affordability rankings by state, you’ll never guess which one comes in dead last in this department: California.
A recent Harvard CAPS-Harris poll shows Newsom sliding in a hypothetical matchup against Harris for the party nomination, with Harris at 39% and Newsom at 24%, a 6-point drop from the month prior.
What does that say?
It says that the more voters hear from Newsom, the less they like or trust him.
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“You can’t be all things to all people,” the old saying goes.
Newsom says otherwise. Reality be damned.
