Gavin Newsom's Transphobia Impacts the 2028 Race
California Governor Gavin Newsom disqualified himself from the 2028 presidential race by his endorsement of transphobia in sports.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has decided to disqualify himself from the 2028 presidential race. It’s not that he came out and outright said he wasn’t running. No, the governor of one of the bluest states in the country decided to endorse the ban on transgender athletes in sports.
His endorsement of transphobia—while having conservative Charlie Kirk as his first podcast guest—now gives me pause about going to California. As much as I want to see friends and participate in studio press junkets, I honestly have second thoughts about stepping foot in a state where my tax dollars on local purchases could be going towards paying his salary. He’s come a long way from his support of gay marriages as mayor of San Francisco in 2004.
Per Politico’s reporting, Newsom told Kirk:
“I revere sports, so the issue of fairness is completely legit. And I saw that — the last couple years, boy did I [see] how you guys were able to weaponize that issue at another level.”
As one might expect, Kirk pushed back and Newsom changed his language from “weaponize” to “highlight,” caving to transphobes at a time when Democratic leaders cannot cave into bigotry. There is absolutely nothing wrong with letting trans kids play sports and anyone that is saying otherwise knows absolutely nothing about how science or gender identity work.
I’ve already written at length on how the 2024 World Series was marred by transphobic ads. It lessened my enjoyment of watching the first Dodgers-Yankees World Series since 1981. They were just reprehensible and infuriating.
Some other aspects of the podcast conversation are seriously disturbing. Why is Newsom’s 13-year-old son being allowed to listen to conservative bigots and letting them influence their behavior, let alone vocabulary. I’d be more concerned about that than the small amount of transgender athletes.
That he offers sympathy to transgender people for having high rates of suicide and depression doesn’t offset his transphobia. You don’t come out and say you have sympathy for us while outright endorsing transphobia at the same time.
His comments have already had political fallout. I can assure you right now that if I know of any political candidate endorsing Newsom or his transphobic views, they won’t get my support. I won’t lie in that I gave some thought on Thursday to running for president in 2028, if only to challenge Newsom in a campaign. I wouldn’t have a chance in winning, let alone get the party’s nomination. One thing that’s for sure: I will not be endorsing any Democratic presidential candidate if they’re hanging out with people like Charlie Kirk and endorsing transphobia.
While I have entertained thoughts about making Aliyah to Israel in recent weeks, I think it is more important to stand my ground and fight back. I’m doing to do that through using my voice, through using my platform. Whether that’s through social media, film journalism, or this newsletter, I am not going to let my voice be silenced.
DOD Purge
Speaking of transphobia and other phobias, the federal government purge of LGBTQ history is causing all sorts of havoc. Even someone so much as has the last name of Gay, they are at risk of being erased. Nothing about this is normal. It’s Nazi shit, pure and simple.
The database of the 26,000 images was created to conform with federal archival laws, so if the services are queried in the future, they can show how they are complying with the law, the U.S. official said. But it may be difficult to ensure the content was archived because the responsibility to ensure each image was preserved was the responsibility of each individual unit.
G-d help us all.
The Special Relationship with the UK
The US has had a special relationship with the UK for decades. It’s hit an unfortunate dent in the road. I have no doubt that the relationship will be repaired but not until the White House is purged of isolationists.
Sir David Manning, who served as an ambassador during 2003-07 had some strong words to say about the relationship. And again, much of this is because the convicted felon has a strong love of authoritarian fascists rather than democracy. Whether we’re able to hold onto what remains of American democracy by the time 2028, let alone 2026, rolls around remains to be seen. If Republicans don’t step up and fight back, we are toast.
DOGE Again
Talking Point Memo discusses post-Constitutional America. Republican senators and congressmembers have a direct line to Elon Musk so that they can complain about problematic cuts. Musk isn’t president. We don’t even know if he’s the one actually running DOGE because others have said otherwise.
Tariffs
Does anyone know what’s going on anymore? They’re on, they’re off, they’re back on again, and now they’re off? Color me confused. Maybe he finally got the message that it hurts American businesses and consumers, too?
Okay, so they’re not completely off per NBC News:
The exemptions to the 25% tariffs enacted Tuesday would apply to about half of goods coming into the United States from Mexico and around 38% of goods from Canada that comply with the North American trade deal reached during Trump’s first term, according to a senior administration official.
Are his advisors telling him anything or is he just relying on his conversations with world leaders? The man is sitting in the White House and should have access to the information, right? How does he not call up the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to get the information?
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said at a news conference Thursday that, in her call with Trump, she cited a graph from U.S. Customs and Border Protection showing a drop in fentanyl seizures, which she said Trump hadn't previously seen.
"In February alone, the reduction in fentanyl seizures on the United States side of the border with Mexico was reduced by 41.5%. He didn’t know about this graph until I sent it to him," she said.
Trump also spoke Wednesday with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who said earlier in the week that there had been a 97% drop in fentanyl seizures from January compared with December, with less than half an ounce seized in January.
JTA has a must-read article about how you know who is turning their back on the Jewish community and religious liberty.
Shabbat Shalom.