Not only are Californians struggling to make ends meet, they also have to contend with a governor who cares more about billionaires and his own presidential aspirations.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has spent 2025 setting himself up as Donald Trump’s leading opponent and the Democratic Party’s 2028 presidential nominee. While the Trump-Newsom rivalry has captivated some voters to pick sides, it should be noted that one of these two political figures is a billionaire-loving, transphobic narcissist. The other is the president of the United States.

Newsom’s performative approach to leadership—one that seems to strategically lack substance—is an aggressive bid to unseat rising authoritarianism via clever rhetoric, macho posturing, and a flirtation with fascist white supremacists. It’s a combination of Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris’s presidential campaigns amped up on toxic masculinity. Newsom is carving a path a few shades to the left of Trump, and far to the right of his liberal and progressive voter base, while shouting from the rooftops that he is the antithesis of Trump.

On the most basic test of economic populism, Newsom is already failing by coming out swinging in defense of billionaires. In explaining his opposition to a union-backed ballot measure to impose a 5 percent tax on the assets of 200 of the wealthiest Californians, Newsom said in January 2026, “I’ll do what I have to do to protect the state.” By this he meant protecting billionaires, not the rest of us.

The measure in question was crafted by health care workers in response to the 2025 federal cuts to Medicaid and health insurance subsidies. Service Employees International Union–United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) is sounding the alarm about a $100 billion shortfall over the next five years in California’s health care infrastructure. The........

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