Walters: Newsom uses publicity stunt to grab anti-Trump spotlight

Two days after the nation’s voters gave Donald Trump another term as president, Gov. Gavin Newsom staged a publicity stunt to position California — and presumably himself — as the epicenter of resistance.

Newsom called a special session of the Legislature, to run concurrently with the regular legislative session that begins in December, “to safeguard California values and fundamental rights in the face of an incoming Trump administration,” his office declared Thursday in a press release.

“This is the first of several actions by the Newsom administration, in partnership with the Legislature, as the governor begins shoring up California’s defenses against an incoming federal administration that has threatened the state on multiple fronts,” his office continued in a statement.

“The freedoms we hold dear in California are under attack — and we won’t sit idle. California has faced this challenge before, and we know how to respond. We are prepared, and we will do everything necessary to ensure Californians have the support and resources they need to thrive.”

Among other things, Newsom wants the Legislature to give Attorney General Rob Bonta, a likely candidate for governor in 2028, more money for legal actions after Trump takes office in January.

“The special session responds to the public statements and proposals put forward by President-elect Trump and his advisors, and actions taken during his first term in office — an agenda that could erode essential freedoms and individual rights, including women’s rights and LGBTQ+ rights,” Newsom’s office said. “A special session allows for expedited action that will best protect California and its values from attacks.”

It’s a stunt because there’s absolutely nothing the special session could do that couldn’t be done in the regular session during the weeks before Trump’s January inauguration. But the false declaration of urgency achieves what Newsom apparently wants: coverage in national media that otherwise probably wouldn’t happen.

The New York Times called it “breaking news” as it published a lengthy article quoting Newsom’s declaration that a Trump presidency poses an immediate threat to the state. The article suggested that California’s action could be the nucleus of a multi-state coalition, and observed that “California leaders have long seen themselves as a bulwark against right-wing extremism, and Mr. Newsom has positioned himself nationally as one of Mr. Trump’s loudest critics.”

Bingo. The nation’s most influential newspaper has essentially anointed Newsom as the leader of resistance to Trump, which is not a bad start on a 2028 campaign for the presidency, especially now that Vice President Kamala Harris is out of the way — if, indeed, that’s Newsom’s unstated ambition.

Newsom has devoted much of his second term as governor to cultivating national media attention, especially from Democrat-leaning outlets such as MSNBC. At first, he dwelled on the need for Democrats to become more aggressive in opposing Republicans, and later volunteered himself as a surrogate campaigner for President Joe Biden’s reelection before Biden dropped out and the party quickly anointed Harris as the fill-in candidate.

Naturally, political media — sometimes known as “the great mentioners” — began listing Newsom as a potential candidate, either in 2024 if Biden opted out or in 2028, despite his repeated denials of presidential ambitions.

So is Newsom really positioning himself for a presidential run? At the very least, he covets continued attention as a leading Trump foe as his party begins to look ahead to 2028 and the would-be candidates begin to stir.

However, as my CalMatters colleague Alexei Koseff pointed out this week, “Democrats are likely to be skeptical that another culture warrior from California represents their best chance of rebuilding the party after voters rejected Harris, who came out of the same San Francisco political circles as Newsom.”

Dan Walters is a CalMatters columnist.