That's a ridiculously low bar, but it's also an important distinction.

Do I want Gavin Newsom to be the Democrat nominee for 2028? Hell no! He's revealed himself to be a shallow political opportunist and an ideological chameleon. And I think that party can do better.

But regardless, would he be an improvement over Trump? Hell yes!

Another question is: is he - a supposedly populist liberal from California - even electable on a national stage? I don't think so. But then, we live in very 'interesting' times. So who knows.

The third question is: will we have a fair enough election in 2028 (or an election at all)? That remains to be seen.

Democrats have been playing the "well they suck, but at least they're not Trump!" game for a decade and gotten Trump two out of three times. Maybe we should aim higher.

As compared to some of the other candidates that might have run if the Democratic Primary were an actual primary and not a coronation.

The last time Democrats ran an actual primary ws 2008, when a young, generational candidate beat out the (kinda boring) establishment choice. Democrats learned their lesson to never let something encouraging like that happen again!

Gavin's gonna win the Primary, as his right as the Next One Up, and we're all gonna vote for him, because as awful as he is, he is objectively better than whoever the MAGA party will run.

So more of that lesser evil bullshit that's given us trump and helped shift the entire DNC to the right?

Settling for any centrist with a pulse is how we got Trump.

If you want to know what the flat comparison should be, it’s AOC. She is, in reality, a centrist.

Now go again with the comparison.

declaring that he welcomes the likes of former US senator Joe Manchin

Turn our backs and give them extra knives, huh gav?

I hate to admit this, but I used to listen to the Adam Corolla podcast years ago, and he had Newsom on as a guest when he was lieutenant governor of California. At the time, he claimed that the biggest issue facing Californians was being unbanked. Like payday loan companies were the worst threat.

Only the democratic establishment could lose to Trump TWICE!!!

gavin isn't the greatest but he was just following state law

https://bsky.app/profile/parkermolloy.com/post/3merscb5bhs2i

Parker Molloy ‪@parkermolloy.com‬ rubs temples

As I've spent the better part of the day explaining why I don't think Newsom should be the Democratic nominee for president, it pains me to "defend" this, but...

The governor of California is legally obligated to proclaim each Feb 6 Reagan Day per a 2010 state law.

He's the better choice strategically.

Such is the standards of our time, where Law, even an Evil variety, is better than the purely malicious Chaos we have. Mostly because the law is running on the fading fumes of Neutral.

Given a few decades of Newsom, we would have Ronald Reagan Deluxe.

Mamdani handed the DNC a win and they fought him the whole way anyhow. Centrists as always act like there’s no alternative between centrism and conservatism even though it’s only and specifically because they systematically attack anyone who actually tries to make things truly better.