Gavin Newsom blew his chance to stand for law and order

Gavin Newsom had a golden opportunity this week to prove that he’s learned something in the time since the summer of George Floyd. He had an opportunity to set himself up as a Democrat willing to take on the factions of his own coalition when their methods go from peaceful protest to setting fires in the streets, destroying property and all-out anti-cop violence. He could have taken a stand for law and order, taking flak from his own side for standing up for the law-abiding citizens of California.

Instead, he blew it. He called the decision by President Trump to deploy the National Guard “an illegal act, an immoral act, an unconstitutional act,” and announced a lawsuit against the government over the issue. He laid the problem entirely at the feet of President Trump: “He’s exacerbated the conditions. He’s lit the proverbial match. He’s putting fuel on this fire,” Newsom told NBC. “Donald Trump needs to pull back. He needs to stand down. Donald Trump is inflaming these conditions. This is Donald Trump’s problem right now, and if he can’t solve it, we will.”

Newsom’s response is laughably out of touch. His regrets in the NBC interview weren’t for people whose property was destroyed, or for cops and ICE agents being targeted just for doing their jobs, but for the meta-narrative the violence played into. “They’re just playing right into Donald Trump’s hand,” Newsom mourned. Even if we could have guessed that’s what really matters to the slick politician from San Francisco, he didn’t need to just go out and say it.

Democratic unwillingness to take on the sacred cows of their party in big blue cities and states across the country has become an obvious anchor on their hopes for political comeback. They are unwilling to take on their pro-Hamas faction, their trans men in girls’ sports faction and their pro-illegal migrant faction in any serious way. Newsom can pay lip service to these ideas – but that’s all it is.

Until this changes – until someone prominent within the party is willing to set out on a different path – Democrats are going to continue to find their most extreme wing giving President Trump one chaotic gift after another, casting him as the champion of law, order, and normalcy. Whatever that approach is, it is not the path to political victory.