Gavin Newsom appeared on The Late Show last night and took the opportunity to reflect the attention he’s been getting for his social media posts, which parody those of Donald Trump.
Host Stephen Colbert asked Newsom why he decides to do “something kind of funny” with his communication strategy. “The strategy is inspiration/desperation,” Newsom explained. “The two driving forces of life. Everything we were doing to try to break through wasn’t working any more. And so we decided to do something, to your point, novel called humor. And, I gotta say, often times Democrats, we’re a little — we’re not as humorous as we should be. We can be a little stiff. And so we thought we’d have some fun with it.”
He added, “I never imagined it would break through like it has and get under the skin of the president of the United States. And some of my friends.”
Newsom explained that many on the right have been outraged by his approach because “we put a mirror up to Trump and the absurdity of what’s going on in this country. The absurdity of Donald Trump. The absurdity of these networks playing into it.”
Colbert asked Newsom why he thinks people are engaged by his communication. “What do you think people are responding to?” Colbert inquired.
“Just the fight,” Newsom replied. “This has been a tough time. A lot of anxiety, a lot of stress, a lot of folks that honestly just don’t know if we’re going to get our country back. And I get it.” He acknowledged there’s a “weakness” that dominates the Democrats’ brand. “What people appreciate is that we’re willing to fight,” Newsom said. “And not only fight symbolically, by having a little bit of fun, but fight substantively. We have 41 lawsuits against this son of a bitch. We are pushing back.”
Elsewhere during the interview, Newsom discussed California’s new state law that bans members of ICE from concealing their identities while on duty and the importance of maintaining electoral integrity.
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