Ron DeSantis is “fundamentally authoritarian”, but Donald Trump’s quest for “vengeance” poses an even greater threat to democracy, California’s Democratic governor Gavin Newsom said on Sunday.

Newsom took aim at the leading two candidates for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination during a hard-hitting and wide-ranging interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, the final episode with its long-time host Chuck Todd.

“I worry about democracy,” he said. “I worry about the fetishness for autocracy that we’re seeing not just from Trump, but around the world, and notably across this country.

“I’ve made the point about DeSantis that I think he’s functionally authoritarian. I’m worried more, in many respects, about Trumpism, which transcends well beyond his term and time in tenure.”

Newsom added: “The vengeance in Donald Trump’s heart right now is more of a threat.”

  • who8mydamnoreos@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    GOP have been trying to make the president a king now for a while, they love everything about authoritarianism except the word itself.

    • PetDinosaurs@lemmy.world
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      You know that Trump was the inspiration for Biff in Back to the Future, right?

      The former president of the US was the inspiration for a classic, 80s, time travel, sci-fi villain.

      I don’t have anything against newsome, but I couldn’t make anything worse up if I tried.

    • spider@lemmy.nz
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      I still can’t get over how much Newsom looks like

      …Mitt Romney

    • 41ZWJh7Mgg@lemmy.world
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      That’s cause he is that villain, he’s just good at pretending he’s progressive like when he promised universal healthcare when running for governor initially. Truth is he’s part of the wealthy elite Newsom family with ties to the Pelosi’s and oil baron Getty family.

      • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world
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        The Public Policy Institute of California has recent survey data estimating that, in 2021, 2.7m Californians under 65 were uninsured out of a population of just under 40m.

        With Newsom’s new changes going into effect in a few months, about 700k new people will come eligible.

        It ain’t 100%, but at least he’s moving the ball down the court in significant chunks. California’s coverage rate has come up a LOT. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

  • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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    “Her term expires – she’s not running for re-election. So this time next year we’ll be in a very different place. I don’t want to make another appointment, and I don’t think the people of California want me to make another appointment.

    Excuse me, I’m a Californian and I want her ass outta there last week.

    • SpaceBar@lemmy.world
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      Dianne Feinstein is the majority vote on the judiciary committee. Her vote is the only reason liberal judges are being appointed.

      If she resigns, the committee goes to 50 - 50 Democrat / Republican. To replace her on the committee with someone appointed by Newsom, the Republicans would have to agree.

      There is ZERO chance Republicans would allow anyone to join the committee and break that 50/50 tie. Republicans only want conservative judges appointed.

      After the blatant partisan moves by Mitch McConnell with the Supreme Court, do you really think anything else would happen?

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      When he says the people of California he means his donors, and when he says they don’t want him to make an appointment he means they have too many different people they want him to appoint and doing so would piss too many off.

      • gregorum@lemm.ee
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        He just committed to not appointing anyone currently running for office, should Feinstein not finish her term for whatever reason.

  • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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    DeSantis and Trump are both catastrophically bad and pose existential threats to our democracy if they are elected. Some of those reasons overlap; some are unique.

    • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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      “Many support him. I’m not going to oppose someone just to oppose them – I don’t come into a relationship with closed fists, but an open hand. I call balls and strikes, and few people were more aggressive at calling balls and strikes against Donald Trump. I called California the most un-Trump state in America, and I hold to that.”

      Clown “Centrism” is what I read. Pretending there to be some kind of middle ground between the world and whatever the modern Republican party.

      In other words, the least electable form of Democrat.

  • Hazdaz@lemmy.world
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    Newsom is positioning himself to run for President in 5 years. While I appreciate his enthusiasm and all, and love his attacks on DeSatan, I think he should be spending this time fixing CA’s many, many problems.

    California is already a lightning rod for conservative hate, and honestly, much of it is legitimate. He needs to go back home and start fixing those problems and give Republicans less fodder in 2028. If he can fix those issues, he’s almost a sure-thing.

    • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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      in 5 1 years

      Ftfy.

      Newsom is positioning himself as the prepared understudy when Biden announces he’ll be stepping out of the race due to age related concerns. This will happen after there is effectively no time for a primary.

      The Democratic party is not interested in the opinion of their voters.

      • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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        Why would they force Newsom on us? Manchin is right there and has been the de facto leader of the party since 2020.

          • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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            And I wouldn’t put it past the Democratic Party to try to force him on us.

            He would be less awful than Trump, and as long as that bar is cleared, the party will select the rightmost candidate they think they can get away with.

  • iforgotmyinstance@lemmy.world
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    I know Newsom is trying to jockey for a presidential bid, but I do worry what will replace him. He’s been in office through this whole MAGA uprising and his replacement could end up being some right wing chud.

    • nfh@lemmy.world
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      By law he can only be Governor of California for two terms, so somebody has to replace him. On a quick glance, no Republican has won a state-wide election here since Arnold Schwarzenegger, and I found only one other since the 90s. A more conservative Democrat is a possibility, but I’m not worried a Republican would win here.

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        I think Arnold Schwarzenegger only won because of both name recognition and because of the fact that, for a Republican, he was pretty liberal in his policies and positions.

    • Bye@lemmy.world
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      He’s playing the “what if Biden trips down the stairs again” game.

      Pretty good game to play.

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      There aren’t any right wing chuds getting elected in state level elections in California. We don’t do that shit here.

      That said, Gavin is a sleaze and we don’t need any more of those at the top. Dude can’t keep it in his pants and boned his campaign manager’s - more importantly his good friend’s - wife. That sort of unforced error should be disqualifying. There are over 300 million people in this nation and I know we can find one to be President that doesn’t sleep around mind mindbogglingly stupid ways.

      • Reptorian@lemmy.zip
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        Ideally, sleazes aren’t electable. But, at this point, I’d vote for a sleaze that respect that wills of the people than a non-sleaze trying to destroy it. So, if Gavin is nominated, he gets my vote over any Republicans.

        I voted for Joe Biden, and that was hard, but at least I picked the correct choice given the two options.

        • Cylusthevirus@kbin.social
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          I’m not saying don’t vote for him but he’s not getting my vote in the primaries, and I’d encourage everyone to look at other options. I think Elizabeth Warren would be good; she has concrete policy proposals.

          • Reptorian@lemmy.zip
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            I think Gavin Newsom is likely to take the nomination. He isn’t getting my vote either, and my vote depends on the rosters that’s up.

      • lolcatnip@reddthat.com
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        So many people actually prefer sleazy politicians, though. Trump is the obvious example, but Silvio Berlusconi was really the master of exploiting his sleaze appeal.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Ron DeSantis is “fundamentally authoritarian”, but Donald Trump’s quest for “vengeance” poses an even greater threat to democracy, California’s Democratic governor Gavin Newsom said on Sunday.

    Newsom took aim at the leading two candidates for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination during a hard-hitting and wide-ranging interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, the final episode with its long-time host Chuck Todd.

    The governor, seen as a rising star in the Democratic party and a likely future presidential candidate, was referring to the former president’s often-voiced promises to gain “revenge” – if he wins back the White House – over political rivals he blames for the multiple criminal indictments against him.

    He disagreed with DeSantis’s strategy of lifting lockdowns and banning mask mandates, and attacked the Florida leader’s “partisanship” – most recently on display when he snubbed Joe Biden’s visit to the state in the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia.

    The California governor said he was fine with the rightwing Fox personality Sean Hannity as moderator, making it effectively a “two-on-one” debate in Newsom’s words.

    Newsom was also questioned on the future of the veteran California senator Dianne Feinstein, 90, whose recent health issues have led to long absences from the chamber and prompted calls for her to stand down.


    The original article contains 782 words, the summary contains 207 words. Saved 74%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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    This is a test balloon for Biden dropping out of the race and them anointing Newsom.

    How about we have a primary instead?