It’s a well-worn playbook in American politics. Spend your career embracing radical policies to build a base, then, when White House ambitions come calling, slap on a centrist costume and hope nobody notices. Barack Obama and Joe Biden both attempted this con, running as uniters while their records told a completely different story. True to form, they wasted no time dragging the country leftward once in office.
Now it’s Gavin Newsom’s turn to try the same trick.
After years of governing California like a leftist fever dream, he’s trying to reinvent himself as a more of a slightly left-of-center politician. The reason is obvious to anyone paying attention: He’s eyeing a 2028 presidential run, and he knows his far-left record won’t play in the swing states. So he’s busy workshopping his makeover, hoping voters have short memories.
The problem for Newsom is that even fellow Democrats aren’t buying it. During an interview Saturday on NewsNation Prime, Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) laughed at Newsom’s reinvention attempt, pointing out what should be obvious to anyone paying attention: the internet exists.
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After airing a clip of Newsom talking about men in women’s sports with Charlie Kirk, host Natasha Zouves observed, “We have seemingly seen Newsom shift more to the middle on hot-button issues.” She then turned to the bigger question: “Do you think the shift to the center really has to be the right move for the party going forward, whether it’s Newsom or anyone else?”
“Everyone’s going to go into the middle,” Fetterman said, before warning that politicians who pander to their base with extreme positions will eventually face the consequences when they try to run in competitive elections. “But people [forget] that the internet exists and all of the clips and all of the outlandish things that they’ve said or they’ve done, that’s going to have about 20 or 30 million dollars that can pound you for those things.”
Fetterman continued, “For all of the things that you say right now or the things now, you want to pander or monetize faux outrage now, you’re going to pay when you actually have to run in an election that you’re accountable, when you actually have Republicans and Democrat[s] and you have a purple situation where you have to find a way forward.”
Fetterman’s skepticism is well-founded. Newsom’s radical record is extensive and thoroughly documented. In 2020, he signed SB145 into law, a bill that ended automatic sex offender registry requirements for some adults who commit sex acts with minors because it was discriminatory towards the LGBTQ community or something. Then in 2023, Newsom vetoed AB 957, legislation that would have amended California’s Family Code to allow courts to consider whether a parent affirms their child’s “gender identity” in custody disputes. The veto was clearly a calculated move to position himself as more moderate on transgender issues.
When Zouves pressed Fetterman on whether Newsom’s past would haunt him, his response was blunt. “They’re all going — everyone will,” he said. “They’ll pander, scream to the base, and then now — then they’re going to have to try to just walk it back or now just pretend that all these things weren’t said or done. That’s how it works. And that’s one thing I refuse to do.”
John Fetterman calls out @GavinNewsom‘s phony move to the center. “But people forget that the Internet exists and all of the clips and all of the outlandish things that they’ve said or they’ve done.” pic.twitter.com/uPf12auM9C
— Matt Margolis (@mattmargolis) November 2, 2025
It’s refreshing to hear a Democrat acknowledge what Republicans have been saying for years. Politicians like Newsom think voters are stupid enough to forget their records once they start talking like moderates. But in an era where every speech, every vote, and every policy decision lives forever online, that strategy is increasingly foolish. Newsom can try to rebrand himself all he wants, but his years of being to the left of the far left in California aren’t going anywhere. And apparently, even his fellow Democrats know it.
Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is still ongoing, and polls are now showing Americans are increasingly blaming the Democrats for this mess, and Democrats are on the verge of caving.
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