Plot twist: Newsom, Trump get along
California’s governor praising U.S. response
WASHINGTON — These times were strange enough. And then California Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Donald Trump started getting along.
The liberal Democrat — the leader in the headquarters of the Resistance — has taken to singing Trump’s praises, and he even used the Republican president’s campaign slogan Thursday: “Promise made, promise kept,” he said, thanking Trump for sending California testing swabs. He previously called Trump “thoughtful,” “responsive” and “collaborative.”
Trump noticed: “Gavin Newsom was very nice today,” he said in his own Thursday briefing. “They’ve done very well in California.”
It’s a odd twist for a relationship that had been defined by long-distance combat. But it might prove to be savvy politics as Newsom works to get California’s nearly 40 million residents what they need.
Even a state as economically and politically powerful as California — a “nation-state,” as Newsom calls it — needs help from the federal government.
“Gavin has obviously separated his political preferences from trying to get as much help for California from the federal government in a really terrible situation,” said Bill Carrick, a longtime Democratic strategist.
But the detente comes less than seven months before the November presidential election, when Democrats are clamoring to take back the White House. And it comes at the expense of presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, said Tim Groeling, a professor of communication at the University of California, Los Angeles, who has written a book on partisan divides and alliances.
“The person who is hit most by this isn’t Newsom, isn’t the other governors — it’s Biden,” Groeling said. “It’s extremely persuasive, it’s extremely credible that (Newsom’s) saying these things about Trump. It’s damaging to the Biden campaign’s attempt to set out a contrary narrative.”
Trump’s re-election campaign has featured Newsom in an ad: “He said everything that I could’ve hoped for,” Newsom said in the short clip from a March news conference, speaking about their collaboration in dealing with a cruise ship housing infected passengers that docked in California.
For his part, Newsom said politics are the last thing on his mind. He even punted last week when asked by a reporter if and when he planned to endorse Biden.
“You just reminded me of politics,” he demurred. “I certainly look forward to,” he added, before quickly moving on.