Gavin Newsom has been imitating provocative, Trump-style tactics by unleashing exaggerated social media posts and self-promotional imagery to troll Trump and MAGA followers. His press team circulated long, illogical posts portraying Newsom as a muscular savior and proposing grandiose monuments and magazine covers. Those moves have increased his social media visibility and fundraising, potentially advancing his national ambitions and access to the White House. The campaign-style antics attracted praise from diverse figures, including Barack Obama for a policy initiative and Steve Bannon for combative strategy, while drawing disapproval from pro-Trump commentators.
Unhinged all-caps tweets with nonsensical punctuation? Insulting nicknames for political enemies? Self-promotional merchandise for sale? This will all sound familiar unless you have been living in a bubble for the past decade. But if the description conjures an orange-toned Republican in a golf cart a wannabe dictator in a red tie down to his hefty thighs your system needs an update. Because it turns out that Trump is not the only one who can play that game.
The California governor has spent the last few weeks mercilessly trolling Trump and his Maga followers by flipping the script. His press office is blasting out long, illogical social media posts, depicting Newsom as a muscular Adonis ready to save the world and suggesting his image should be carved in stone on Mount Rushmore or grace the cover of Time magazine wearing a crown and a grin. It's been a master class in flipping the script and maybe in political gamesmanship, too.
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