In a pre-dawn thread, valued commenter Scout211 shared a link to this clip of Governor Newsom calling for the Democratic Party to get more aggressive to counter Republican Party ruthlessness:
THIS MAN IS SPEAKING MY LANGUAGE: “We’re up against the ruthlessness of the Republican Party .. Democrats need the Democratic PARTY, not the president, to organize with more ferocity of focus, more determination to set the agenda, and put the other party on the defense.” @foxla pic.twitter.com/F2i4JtlCIV
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) July 17, 2022
I don’t think he’s being critical of anyone here. It’s more of a call to action. Newsom is saying it’s not just up to the president or the speaker or any particular elected Democrat; it’s up to the party as a whole, its “infrastructure,” to put Republicans on the defensive. He says the facts aren’t on the Republicans’ side, but they are “dominating the narrative, and when you dominate the narrative, you win.”
I tried to find the whole interview on YouTube to see if the interviewer pressed Newsom for specifics on what that strategy would look like, but I didn’t find anything pertaining to that. I did see a clip where Newsom said Gov. Abbott in Texas is making some of the same moves Republicans made in California that caused them to lose political control, i.e., going after education.
My sense is that Newsom is right; we’re too much of a cult of the presidency sometimes. I’m not sure what the party writ large can do given the structural disadvantages Democrats face — I assume he means being more of an activist as he’s doing by publicly criticizing choads like DeSantis (whose name Newsom keeps mispronouncing, which I love) and Abbott.
Anyway, the clip made me want to subscribe to Newsom’s newsletter.
Open thread.
Monday Morning Open Thread: Shining Examples