Gavin Newsom just looked into a mirror, didn’t like what he saw, and decided to become a completely different person. The problem? Everyone was watching.
The California governor — a man who has spent his entire career pandering to the furthest-left corner of the Democratic Party — suddenly wants you to believe he’s a friend of Israel. And the left is treating him like he just showed up to a vegan potluck wearing a leather jacket and carrying a rack of ribs.
The Great Newsom Pivot
Here’s what happened. Newsom, who previously called Israel an “apartheid state,” decided that particular phrase wasn’t going to play well on the 2028 campaign trail. So he told Politico he regretted it. Said they were the wrong words “in this context.” He added that he “revered” Israel and was “proud to support” them.
In this context. That’s the kind of weasel language that should come with its own legal disclaimer. He didn’t say he was wrong. He said it was wrong in this context — meaning, in the context of a man who desperately wants to be president and just realized that calling a key American ally an apartheid state might not poll well in Michigan diners.
He tried to thread the needle by going after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he “deeply, deeply opposed” him and his “opposition to the two-state solution” and how Netanyahu is “indulging the far-right as it relates to what’s going on in the West Bank.”
Classic Newsom. One foot on the gas, one foot on the brake, and both hands waving at whoever’s watching.
The Left Isn’t Buying It
And here’s where it gets beautiful. His own people turned on him faster than a San Francisco shoplifter disappearing into the fog.
Leftist podcaster Kyle Kulinski called the move “political suicide” and dismissed Newsom’s words as “nonsense.” He appeared on fellow progressive podcaster Jennifer Welch’s show “I’ve Had It,” where the sentiment was about as warm as a polar vortex.
“I’ve heard enough,”
Welch declared.
“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?”
Kulinski piled on, telling Newsom to “Read the room!” and pointing out that Democratic voters’ polling numbers don’t exactly scream pro-Israel enthusiasm.
So let me get this straight. Newsom alienated the center by governing California into a dumpster fire, and now he’s alienating the far-left by pretending he didn’t light the match. That’s not a rebrand. That’s a man standing in the middle of a freeway hoping both lanes miss him.
The 2028 Problem
We’re still two and a half years from the next presidential election, but Newsom is already running like a man whose house is on fire — which, given California’s wildfire track record under his watch, isn’t entirely metaphorical.
His record as governor reads like a cautionary tale. Businesses fled. Residents packed U-Hauls for Texas and Florida. Crime surged. Homelessness metastasized. His COVID-era policies made him the poster child for “rules for thee, not for me” — remember that French Laundry dinner? The voters remember.
With his term ending this year, Newsom has about 24 months to reinvent himself for a national audience. And his strategy is painfully transparent: run as far from his own record as humanly possible and hope nobody checks the receipts.
Trump didn’t need to reinvent himself to win. He told people exactly who he was, and they showed up in record numbers. Newsom’s taking the opposite approach — shapeshifting into whatever focus groups tell him to be on any given Tuesday. Voters can smell that kind of phoniness from three states away.
Where This Is Heading
Expect more of this. Newsom will keep quietly walking back his most radical positions, testing which moderate costumes fit best, and praying his progressive base doesn’t notice. They’ve already noticed. And they’re furious.
The man who turned California into a cautionary tale now wants a promotion to do the same thing nationally. He can flip-flop on Israel, crime, immigration, or whatever else his consultants flag — but he can’t outrun a record that chased millions of his own residents out of the state.
Gavin Newsom isn’t committing political suicide. He committed it years ago in Sacramento. This is just the part where everyone finally notices the body.