Post-election, California Governor Gavin Newsom has consciously decided to avoid direct confrontation with President Trump. In stark contrast to his counterparts like Illinois' JB Pritzker and Maine's Janet Mills, Newsom has refrained from escalating tensions, instead allowing California's attorney general to lead legal challenges against Trump’s policies. Despite his strategy of appeasement, Trump's hostility towards California’s progressive agenda remains unabated, as recent actions from the administration reveal attempts to undermine state policies on LGBTQ rights and diversity issues in education.
Unlike Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, who comprehensively indicted the rampant lawlessness of Trump 2.0 in his marathon 25-hour speech this week, and in so doing likely gained huge cachet amongst the Democratic base, Newsom has remained largely silent.
Once posited as the face of liberal, progressive resistance to Trumpism, Newsom has repeatedly refused to take Trump's oratorical baits in recent weeks, declining to respond even when Trump insulted him.
He has, his advisors say, made a conscious decision to leave it to his state's attorney general, Rob Bonta, to craft a legal pushback against Trump.
None of this, it turns out, has worked to placate Trump in his hostility toward California policies and values.
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