Sacramento – In a common insult used by the Trump administration against dissidents of the federal policy, White House Deputy Chief Stephen Miller called a California judge after being blocked on the basis of race alone on the basis of race.
However, the Maga-turned caption of the Gavin Newsom official press office in response was barely typical for a democratic politician.
“This fascist cookie in DC continues its assault on democracy and the Constitution, and his attempt to replace the sovereignty of the people with autocracy,” the California Governor’s Office posted on social media. “Sorry the Constitution hurt your feelings, Stephen. Cries harder. ‘
The term under the right and the gutters of social media is used to offend liberals as weak and is also short for ‘Cuckold’, which refers to the man of an unfaithful woman.
The layers approved by a 2028 potential presidential candidate has set a new paradigm for the political left hand that has long embraced Michelle Obama’s “When they go low, we go high” motto to rise above the feeling of Trump and his acolites.
This is also an example of Newsom’s more aggressive social media strategy.
This week, the Governor Memes of Trump posted with child molester and accused sex trader Jeffrey Epstein.
Shortly after the Department of Home Security is the US Sen. Alex Padilla detained and handcuffed at a news conference in June, Joe Patterson (R-Rockland) on X claimed that he would be treated in the same way as he interrupted an event held by the governor.
“I would politely ask you to leave,” said Izzy Gardon, communications of Newsom communications. “Although you do not tweet for this grotesque at this moment, your bare man.” (Patterson later added ‘Bald Little Man’ to his profile on the social media website.)
The Governor and his taxpayer-backed press office joked that HBO Miller as Lord Voldemort-the fitting, hairless super villain threw in the “Harry Potter” stories and mocked the scandal-ravaged Texas lawyer after accusing Newsom of the lawlessness of lawlessness.
The governor defended the more control at a recent news conference. He noted that Steven Cheung, the director of communications in the White House, used the word last month when he called Newsom ‘the biggest cake in politics’.
“I don’t think they understand any other kind of language, so I don’t apologize that I stand long and firmly against their cruelty,” Newsom said.
Newsom’s advisers say the governor reached a turning point after the president sent California National Waiting Troops to Los Angeles to protect federal agents from clashes with protesters during immigration whip. Since Trump held office in January, the democratic leader has run a good line between the president cry out and played well in the hope of working to the California wildfires.
The governor publicly said that the decision to militarize Los Angeles showed him that you could not just work for him with the president. With federal troops on the ground, his assistants said, Newsom also wanted to stand up to California, concerning what would happen if he did not.
The Richtien was to meet the tactics that sprout from the White House and Trump and his allies where they are. Forget the high road.
Over the past month, they have fought more fights with Newsom’s critics, reacted faster to shoot down wrong information about the governor or California, saying that they were false, or unjust, and took many of their own shots.
“Sometimes the best way to challenge a bully is to hit it in the metaphorical face,” says Bob Salladay, Newsom’s top communication adviser. “These tactics look extreme for some people and are here, but there is a significant difference here: we target powerful forces that tear this country apart using their own words and tactics. Trump and Stephen Miller attack the powerless like every fascist bully in front of them.”
Newsom’s assistants say the strategy works.
The governor’s personal social media accounts have gained 2.3 million new followers, including more than 1 million each on Tiktok and Instagram, and more than 883 million views from June 6 to July 6, according to his Tallies.
Podcasters and influencers on social media, such as Fred Wellman and Brian Tyler Cohen, have raised interest in their own posts about the governor. On Tiktok, there is a growing ecosystem of people who make videos about his videos.
Newsom’s official state accounts also experienced an exponential increase in followers and involvement in June.
The attention is good for a politician considering a bid for president. His assistants argue that the strategy benefits California by closing wrong information and helping people understand what is really going on.
“The thing he is doing so well these days is that he responds quickly, and he responds quickly in a way that is very cure for the average consumer of news,” says Karen North, a professor of digital social media at the USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism.
North showed on the saying that “it takes a minute to say an audio bite, but an hour to explain why it’s false.”
Republicans have been considered masters of sound bite for decades, and Democrats are often criticized for trying to explain the details of policy when people just want to hear the most important point.
Newsom breaks that form, she said.
“He has emerged as the person who was willing and able to tackle the president, but in some ways they use the same playbook of fast, poignant reactions that are easy for people to understand without any analysis,” North said. “Newsom has the advantage of playing defense as an offense. So, if the president says something that is problematic for California or is problematic for everyday citizens, Gavin Newsom is laser -oriented and ready to strike back, and in a way that is very simple and very poignant.”
In some ways, the governor learned in the difficult way after Trump used his platforms to call Newsom as ‘unfit’ and blamed him for the Los Angeles field fires in January. The president made a barrier of claims during news conferences and on the social media website Truth Social on dry reservoirs, the need to transfer more water from north to southern California, a lack of forest management and empty fire hydrants that became viral, and left the Newsom to defend himself.
When Trump sent the national guard to Los Angeles, the governor went almost immediately on the attack to control the president’s allegations that he had deployed troops to control lawlessness that Newsom allowed. The Governor’s Office said his speech on June 10, which Trump had entered an American city for his own political gain in the interior unnecessarily, received 41 million views.
Although the aggression of Newsom received praise from some Democrats, it is also a massive pivot of a Bannon Bro ‘, “says Eric Jaye, a former Newsom senior adviser who became a critic who opposed his government bid in 2018.
Jaye refers to the podcast “This is Gavin Newsom”, where the Governor Democrats who thought he looked too good with Trump campaign architect Steve Bannon, conservative personality Charlie Kirk and others close to the president.
Newsom regarded the show as an opportunity to talk to other views with people and he delivered at that point of view. The governor also received criticism from his own party for not challenging the perspectives that directly contradicted democratic values, such as opposition to abortion rights, and that he agrees with Kirk that it is unfair for transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports.
Jaye credited Newsom with “a very quick turnaround”, which “saved himself”.
But now, with its weakened social media presence, Newsom is at risk of insulting voters who miss reverent political discourse.
Trump’s derogatory nicknames for his opponents, such as calling Newsom “Newscum” or Elizabeth Warren “Pocahontas”, did not do much political damage to the president. He embraced ‘Lock Her Up’ over Hillary Clinton in 2016 and constantly mocked Joe Biden before the former president of the 2024 presidential competition fell. Trump still won both races.
North said Trump also has the advantage of saying things that look “passionate and reckless”, but people don’t believe he’s going to follow it.
As a potential presidential contender, the question is whether Newsom can use words like ‘Cuck’ and says that it wants to change laws to redistribute California to benefit Democrats in the midterm election without worrying and Trump-like to be tasty for voters who are the president’s antics indignant.
“It must be disturbing to many people if the new era of politically hostile personal attacks involves,” North said.
Times staff writer Seema Mehta contributed to this report.