Sacramento – In a widespread insult, the Trump administration’s dissidents on federal policy use, with White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller calling California judges the “Communist Party” because she prevented immigration arrests based on race alone.
However, for Democratic politicians, the title in the magazine of Gavin Newsom’s official press office is not typical.
“In DC, this fascist cuckling continues his attack on democracy and the constitution, and his attempt to replace the sovereignty of the dictator,” the California governor’s office announced on social media. “Sorry, the constitution hurts your feelings, Stephen. Cry hard.”
The term is popular on the far right and in the ditch of social media and is used to insult liberals, which is also the abbreviation of “Cuckoo”, which refers to the husband of an unfaithful wife.
The potential 2028 presidential candidate has laid a new paradigm for the political left, a potential scope that has long embraced Michelle Obama’s motto of “we go high when they go low” to surpass Trump and his aides.
This is also an example of Newsom’s more aggressive social media strategy.
This week, the governor posted a meme with child Molester and alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Shortly after the Department of Homeland Security was detained and seized U.S. Senator Alex Padilla in a June press conference, state legislator Joe Patterson (R-Rockland) claimed he would treat him the same way if he interrupted the governor’s event.
“I politely ask you to leave,” said Newsom’s communications director Izzy Gardon. “Although you don’t deserve this weird tweet at this moment, you bald dwarf.” (Patterson later added “Bald Little Man” to his profile on social media sites.)
The governor and his taxpayer-backed press office joked that HBO played Miller as Lord Wardmott in the story of “Harry Potter” and ridiculed the scandal of being scandaled by Texas attorney general, who accused the news magazine of being ineffective in publicity.
The governor defended a better combative posture at a recent press conference. He noted that White House Communications Director Steven Cheung used the term last month when he called the news “the biggest cuck in politics.”
“I don’t think they know any other type of language, so I don’t apologize for getting a foothold and opposing their cruelty,” Newsom said.
Newsom advisers said the governor reached a turning point after the president sent the California National Guard into Los Angeles to protect federal agents from clashes with protesters during the immigration sweep. Since Trump took office in January, Democratic leaders have taken a great route between calling the president and doing well, hoping to work together after the California wildfires.
The governor publicly stated that the decision to militarize Los Angeles showed him that you can’t work with the president, just for him. With the federal forces in their identity, Newsom also wants to support California, fearing what would happen if they didn’t.
The directive is matched with the strategy issued by the White House and meets Trump and his allies. Forgot the road.
Over the past month, they have fought more battles with Newsom critics, reacted faster to reduce misinformation about the governor or California, challenged narratives they thought were untrue or unfair, and shot many of their own footage.
“Sometimes, the best way to challenge bullies is to punch them in the face of metaphor,” said Bob Salladay, top communications consultant at Newsom. “These strategies may seem extreme to some, but there is a big difference here: We target the powerful forces that are tearing the country apart with our own words and strategies. Trump and Stephen Miller attack powerlessness like every fascist bully in front of us.”
Newsom’s assistant says the strategy is working.
According to his Saul people, the governor’s personal social media account has gained 2.3 million new followers, including over 1 million on Tiktok and Instagram, with more than 883 million views from June 6 to July 6.
Podcast and social media influencers such as Fred Wellman and Brian Tyler Cohen have increased their interest in the position of governor. Especially on Tiktok, more and more people are making videos about him.
Newsom’s official country account also experienced exponential growth in followers and engagement in June.
Considering the politicians who bid for the president, the attention is very good. His assistant believes the strategy benefits California by closing misinformation and helping people understand what’s really going on.
“What he does well now is his quick response, his quick response, and very sporadic to consumers of ordinary news,” said Karen North, a digital social media professor at the School of Communications and Journalism at the USC Annenberg School of Communications and Journalism.
“It takes a minute to say a voice, but an hour to explain why it is wrong,” North notes.
Republicans have been considered the masters of voice biting for decades, and Democrats have often been criticized for trying to explain policy details when people just want to hear the bottom line.
Newsom is breaking the mold, she said.
“He has become someone willing and able to be president, but in some ways they use the fast, engaging response scripts from the same script that are easy to understand without any analysis,” North said. “Newsom has the advantage of using defense as an offense. So when the president says something that has something wrong with California or something wrong with everyday citizens, Gavin Newsom is focused on lasers, ready to fight back without hesitation, and in a very simple and very appealing way.”
In some ways, the governor learned the tough way after Trump used his platform to call Newsom “incompetent” and blamed him for the Los Angeles wildfires in January. The president made a series of claims about the truth about the drought reservoir at press conferences and social media sites, requiring more water to be transferred from the north to Southern California, lacking forest management and empty fire hydrants that were popular, allowing Newsom to defend itself on the back foot.
When Trump sent the National Guard into Los Angeles, the governor launched an attack almost immediately to oppose the president’s claim that he deployed troops to control the laws allowed by Newsom. The governor’s office said his June 10 speech was an unnecessarily invading American cities for his own political gains, Trump received 41 million views.
While Newsom’s aggressiveness has been praised by some Democrats, it is also “a huge hub for being the Banner Brothers,” said Eric Jaye, a former senior adviser to Newsom, who opposed his 2018 governor bid.
Jaye refers to the “This is Gavin Newsom” podcast, where the governor is trapped in pain Democrats who think he is commensurate with Trump campaign architect Steve Bannon, conservative personality Charlie Kirk and others who are close to the president.
Newsom called the show an opportunity to talk to people with other opinions, and he talked on that premise. The governor has also been criticized for being within his own party for not forcing the challenge of views that directly contradict democratic values, such as the right to abortion and agree with Kirk that it is unfair to participate in women’s sports.
Jaye attributes news magazine to Newsom with “quick turnaround” as “save yourself.”
But now, with the widening impact of social media, Newsom risked offending voters who missed respecting political discourse.
Trump’s derogatory nicknames to his opponents, such as being called the News Agency “News Rescue” or Elizabeth Warren “Pocahontas”, did not seem to cause political harm to the president. He shouted “lockdown” to Hillary Clinton in 2016 and kept mocking Joe Biden before the former president withdraws from the 2024 presidential election. Trump still won two games.
North said Trump could also say things that seem “passionate and reckless” but people don’t believe he will follow.
As a potential presidential contender, the question is whether Newsom can use words like “Cuck” and say he wants to change the law to re-divid California to benefit Democrats in the midterm without worrying about people, and seems too Trump to be happy with voters who hate presidential antics.
“If the new era of politics involves hostile personal attacks, it will definitely disturb many people,” North said.
Seema Mehta, an employee of the era, contributed to the report.
