The View cohosts revealed some drastically different takes about Gavin Newsom‘s ongoing effort to mock Donald Trump in the public square. For weeks, the California governor’s team has been releasing social media statements in the all-caps, hyperbolic styling of Trump, and he even recently appeared on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to show off some of his Trumptastic merch, like a red trucker hat reading, “Newsom was Right About Everything.”
The cohosts played a clip of Newsom’s appearance on the late-night show as he said, “What people appreciate is that we’re willing to fight, and not only fight symbolically by having a little bit fun, but to fight substantively. We have 41 lawsuits against this son of a b***,” he said in the footage. “I fear that we will not have an election in 2028. I really mean that at the core of my soul, unless we wake up to the code red [situation] happening in this country.”
Afterward, Joy Behar noted that the audience’s reaction seemed to be favorable to Newsom’s words and asked her cohosts, “Should we panic?”
“I don’t think this is a time to panic, but it’s a time to be aware,” Ana Navarro said in response. “If we want any guardrails in America, we need to make sure that next year, a Democratic House and or Senate gets elected, because we need oversight we’re sorely lacking.”
Sara Haines then offered her critiques of Newsom’s approach, saying, “He’s really not my style in general. He was at one point, but he veered a little bit as he dabbled into podcasts and going on some of the ways he was talking with people…. It changed my tune on him a little bit.” After then championing her preferred pick for the top of the Democratic party ticket, Maryland Governor Wes Moore, she honed in on why she wasn’t a fan of Newsom’s style. “As an athlete is taught, don’t let someone take you off your game… The reason Newsom is talking that way and doing that is because Trump did it. Nobody outdoes Trump. I think people are tired.”
“He’s not imitating him, but he’s mocking him,” Behar pointed out.
“Mocking him is fine, but people are also done with that. They want substance. They want solutions. They want solving problems first,” Haines responded. She then compared Moore to former President Barack Obama in terms of his oratory skills and fresh blood appeal, saying, “I think he is the one that will sweep in when people hear him talk. He needs no prep, no notes, no nothing, because he feels everything he believes to his core, and he takes action. And I think that the more people in this country get to know him, the more he’s going to sweep in.”
Alyssa Farah Griffin then said that while she didn’t think the governor of California was the best voice for the party, since, “How many people have left California for Texas because the cost of living is lower, the tax environment is better, the business environment is better?” she also liked his messaging style. “What I do think Gavin Newsom is doing totally right is he understands the left has completely fallen behind in the media space. They are using an old playbook. It’s dated. They are 10 years behind where the right is. We sit here and we think Fox News is what the right has. The right has Fox News, Real American News, OAN and NewsMax, not to mention the massive podcast space, the Joe Rogans that reach 10s of millions of people. Dems are not competing in the same way in that space. They simply are not…. Republicans are playing 3-D chess while Democrats are playing this totally dated playbook. So, I do applaud that he’s getting into the space and meeting voters where they are.”
The View, Weekdays, 11 a.m. ET, ABC