Gavin Newsom Has Fulfilled The Bad Faith Prophecy:

Newsom fits my bad-faith presidential description perfectly: He looks “exactly like an asshole.”

Someone on Bluesky – a Californian far more familiar with Newsom than me, a simple Marylander – explained the governor this way: He loves himself and he loves hunting Republicans. You see the former in the way Newsom presents himself, and you see the latter in the way he has taken such childlike glee in gerrymandering the fuck out of California's electoral maps to create at least five more House seats for Democrats in 2026. Republicans have cried about the unfairness of such a scheme and Newsom has responded with a big smile and a fuck you. As an elder millennial who for decades has so desperately wanted elected Democrats to be mean to Republicans, it's a nice little twist to see a Democrat take such immense pleasure in tormenting his opponents. Forget Newsom's (many) shortcomings for a moment: This is good. This is what we need.

Love (good politics) without power, as Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "is sentimental and anemic." Power at its best, King said, "is love (good politics) implementing the demands of justice."