If California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s goal is to become liberal America’s least likable Democrat, he’s doing a bang-up job. 

On March 25, responding to some babbling social media post by MAGA influencer Benny Johnson, Newsom’s press office wrote: “We got a call from Grindr after this and said your team was their biggest users. Congrats!”

Grindr is an LGBTQ+ dating app. So the joke is that Johnson and his right-wing team are gay! And being gay is embarrassing! What a sick burn here in the year 2026!

On behalf of decent people everywhere, allow me to say to Newsom and his team: Get lost. Keep your low-brow, high-school-bigot nonsense to yourselves and stop trying to pretend there’s some mythical “middle” in American politics that wants a Democrat unafraid to make homophobic jokes. 

Americans are sick of snark from politicians. Newsom needs to pipe down.

Most Americans, I believe, have political-jackass fatigue. They’re sick of bullying, sick of politicians punching down, sick of overly online twerps who work for politicians trying to be edgy.

For more than a decade, Donald Trump’s unflagging obnoxiousness has dragged this country’s discourse into the gutter. A lot of us want out of that gutter.

But Newsom seems to think the gutter is fine. Maybe the governor sees it as his path to the presidency.

'Some people get the joke, others choose not to'? Ugh.

I asked Newsom’s press team for comment, and spokesperson Izzy Gardon responded via email: “You can choose to find offense from what we are doing or you can see it for what it really is: holding up a mirror to the hypocrisy and derangement of trolls like Benny Johnson, who lives his life soaked in fake outrage.” 

I agree Johnson deserves to be mocked ‒ I make my living holding a mirror up to right-wing grifters ‒ but there are so many ways to mock a troll like Johnson without resorting to something that uses a person’s sexuality as an implied insult.

Gardon also wrote: “We've been doing this for nearly a year on social media. Some people get the joke, others choose not to. That's their choice, but we're not going to stop exposing the putrid behavior from the deranged right wing through ridicule and mocking ‒ because it works.”

I don’t love the “you choose not to get my joke” bit, but Newsom’s press office has done a skillful job of lampooning Trump’s unhinged social media posts, and I’m all for fighting fire with fire. But to do it right, you can’t become what you’re ridiculing. You can’t accidentally adopt a voice the other side uses to hurt other people.

And if you cross the line ‒ as I believe this post did ‒ take the loss, apologize and move forward.

Newsom is out of touch with jokes about gay people, 'snowflakes'

When Fox News Digital asked Newsom’s team to comment on the homophobic post, the response was: “We love gay people, and it’s very woke of you to ask about this! We’re sorry some conservative snowflakes had their feelings hurt. We hope they recover!”

Please. Stop. This crap is so exhausting, and having a liberal trying to pick up the “LOL! I’m not politically correct, sue me!” attitude of the right doesn’t make it better. Particularly when, again, it’s all revolving around a “joke” pulled from Page 1 of the Homophobia Handbook.

Newsom has certainly been supportive of the LGBTQ+ community in the past, but more recently, he has made it obvious he’ll hang that community out to dry if he views it as politically expedient. 

I sure hope California's governor can tell me how to be culturally normal

Newsom has said that it’s “deeply unfair” for trans girls and women to compete in sports that match their gender identity, hopping on an absurd right-wing issue that involves an almost infinitesimal number of student-athletes.

On CNN in February, he said Democrats need to be “less prone to spending a disproportionate amount of time on pronouns, identity” and “more culturally normal.”

Culturally normal? What in the name of past high-profile Democrats who never became president are you talking about, Governor?

'We cannot adopt the language of MAGA extremists'

The California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus responded to that comment, saying, “It’s deeply concerning for anyone, especially our elected leaders, to be defining who or what is ‘culturally normal.’ By definition, it implies someone else is 'not normal.’ Every member of the LGBTQ+ community has been accused of not being ‘normal' at some point in their lives, and dealing with that accusation is the essence of the struggle to come out, to take pride in oneself, and to be seen and treated as equal in America. … We cannot adopt the language of MAGA extremists who in the last year are actively seeking to roll back the rights of women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and marginalized communities on the basis of what they assert is ‘culturally normal.’ ”

Yes. Every bit of that statement is spot-on.

Yet Newsom, by hosting right-wing figures like Charlie Kirk, Steve Bannon and Ben Shapiro on his podcast, and by spouting talking points about being “culturally normal,” is pandering to people who will never see him as anything more than a California liberal.

It's possible a majority of Americans just want someone who's not a jerk

Transgender issues are not at the forefront of voters’ minds, and, more important, voters favor transgender rights. The hateful fearmongering around transgender people has been amplified by the media, but it has always just been red meat for Trump’s pro-cruelty base ‒ nothing more. And Newsom won’t be winning over MAGA folks anytime soon.

So what does he think he’s accomplishing by slinging homophobic online snark and catering to whoever the hell he considers “normal”?

It’s nonsense. Americans are sick of manipulative politics via meme-lord games. Trump has tapped us out.

Newsom thinks he’s clever or edgy or … something. But the rest of us are just freakin’ tired of the blather. The governor can take his hurtful, juvenile “Hah-hah! You’re gay!” garbage and misguided political triangulation and pound sand.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk

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