Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s Feminist Meltdown
Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of the California governor, practically shed tears of outrage as she harangued the press on Wednesday. Her problem? Journalists were not singularly focused on the announcement of $90 million in funding for Planned Parenthood, the organization that proudly murders thousands of babies a year.
The press’s questioning of her husband on topics such as high-speed rail and the scandal engulfing the head of the Los Angeles Olympics was an affront against feminism. It was representative of why there is a “war on women.” After all, by the rules of feminism, the focus should always be on baby killing! (RELATED: A Haunt of Demons Shuts Its Doors … The Fall of Margaret Sanger’s ‘Clinic’)
Siebel Newsom said it was “incredulous” that members of Planned Parenthood California were standing behind the podium, and yet “the majority of the questions — all of these questions — have really been about other issues.”
She ranted, “So it’s just fascinating. You have this incredible women’s caucus and all these allies and you’re not asking about it. And this happens over and over and over again.”
Journalists, she complained, didn’t “seem to care” about how they had secured all this extra funding to kill more babies: “You wonder why we have such a horrific war on women in this country and that these guys are getting away with it because you don’t seem to care. So I just offer that, with love.”
She then demanded, “Ask about what we’re here for today, don’t you think?”
Perhaps he immediately recognized that it was decidedly not a good look to yell at the press for asking questions on topics of their choosing.
For his part, Gavin Newsom seemed rather uncomfortable with the rant. Perhaps he immediately recognized that it was decidedly not a good look to yell at the press for asking questions on topics of their choosing.
The mainstream California Capitol press all immediately complained. They made clear that it is common practice to ask the governor the questions they want.
Los Angeles Times reporter James Queally said, “If you have a press conference, you’re gonna get questions from the press. We’re not beholden to your choice of topic.” Emily Hoeven of the San Francisco Chronicle asked, “We have ‘such a horrific war on women in this country’ because… journalists ask questions that weren’t pre-approved by the people in power?” Jeremy B. White of Politico said, “Truly remarkable to hear journalists get blamed for ‘a horrific war on women in this country.’” Local outlet KCRA pointedly noted, “Most of journalists in the room were women.”
Suffice it to say that the mainstream press corps was not impressed. And making it all the more embarrassing for Siebel Newsom, her husband proceeded to take unrelated questions from the press following one perfunctory question about what this $90 million is supposed to actually accomplish. (Technically, it can’t be spent on abortions, but the money will, of course, allow other funding sources to be directed to that murderous purpose.)
Another detail that makes this episode all the more embarrassing is Siebel Newsom’s childish behavior leading up to her rant. Siebel Newsom, wearing a blush pink powersuit with a gold cross, huddled with state lawmakers Gail Pellerin and Darshana Patel and sniggered at journalists for having the audacity to ask questions not about killing young humans. Then, when a journalist asked about the closure of an oil refinery, Siebel Newsom’s baby-murdering Planned Parenthood colleagues broke out into the chant “Planned Parenthood, protect women!” Siebel Newsom clapped along before whispering in her husband’s ear and promptly taking over the podium.
This is the image — that of a no-nonsense feminist who takes an active role in governance — that Siebel Newsom definitely wants to project. The same day as her feminist meltdown, Marie Claire published a fawning, nearly 4,000-word profile of Siebel Newsom, complete with six glossy photographs by Maria del Rio and a comment from Gavin Newsom on how she would be “extraordinary” as first lady of the United States.
Newsom said, “Look, she doesn’t suffer fools. She’s not a fly on the wall. She is not passive.” That’s why, said Newsom, “I think she’d be extraordinary [as first lady of the United States], even if she married someone else and they ran for that office. So forget me is all I’m saying.”
The profile made clear that, as first lady of the United States, Siebel Newsom would be devoted to feminist activism.
Siebel Newsom said being first lady would be “an incredible platform” to push, in the words of Marie Claire’s Noor Ibrahim, “her agenda around women as power brokers in American life, at home and far beyond it.” But Siebel Newsom then cautioned that the decision of whether her husband would run for president would be “ultimately a family decision.”
To prop up her feminist credentials, Siebel Newsom connected Marie Claire with longtime family friend and sort-of relative Nancy Pelosi for an interview. Pelosi said Siebel Newsom’s feminist films — Miss Representation and The Mask You Live In — have “made a very special contribution.” Siebel Newsom is, said Pelosi, “the full package.”
The profile, titled “Is Jennifer Siebel Newsom the Most Underestimated Woman in American Politics?”, is gushing and filled with many oh-give-me-a-break moments. “But talking to Jennifer Siebel Newsom, you get the sense she’s been training for this moment her whole life,” says Ibrahim, a graduate of Columbia University’s journalism school, where a 9-month master’s degree fetches $91,854. In another fawning moment, Ibrahim says Siebel Newsom “is a filmmaker, and she moves like one.” At another moment, she describes the Newsoms at a holiday celebration: “There they were: a glittering portrait of an American family, radiating an old-school glamour that drew the room toward them, constituents leaning in as if to take in the whole picture at once. It was hard not to see a preview,” of them as president and first lady, presumably.
Ibrahim goes on and on about Siebel Newsom’s feminist trailblazer credentials. She has started a working group on sexual assault. Her nonprofit pushes back against gender stereotypes in the media. Though California for All Women, a “gender-equity initiative,” she has sought to close the male-female pay gap and expand paid family leave. “All of this work,” says Ibrahim, “circles back to the same premise: that women are ‘the backbones of their families, their communities, and the American economy.’”
There are some decidedly unfeminist moments from Siebel Newsom’s life that go unmentioned by Columbia Journalism School’s renowned reporter.
First, there are the awkward circumstances of what happened after Gavin Newsom was caught carrying on an affair with his subordinate, who was married and the mother of a baby boy. At the time the affair was revealed, Jennifer and Gavin had been dating for a few months.
As I detail in my book, Newsom Unleashed: The Progressive Lust for Unbridled Power, Siebel responded to the revelation by publicly humiliating the subordinate, Ruby Rippey-Tourk.
She first told the San Francisco Chronicle, “I shouldn’t say this, but there are two sides to every story. If people did research into the scandal… the woman is the culprit. Alex Tourk is a nice man and it saddens me that his wife did that to him.”
Siebel then went off against Rippey-Tourk in comments she made on the blog SFist: “I should have said in the article, ‘normally i would support the woman,’ but in this case, I could not, given the circumstances and ruby’s checkered history… which anyone close to the subject matter knows.”
“I am a girls’ girl and I’ll always be one… i just wish as women that some of us had more respect for ourselves and didn’t always throw ourselves at the men.”
She continued on in what is the definition of what she would term slut-shaming: “I am producing a documentary on strong iconoclastic women who inspire us and can serve as role models to girls around the world, but i am not going to blindly support a woman who has cheated on her husband multiple times and watch while my boyfriend is the only one who gets punished… and, what, for something a long time ago when the man was going through a crises — divorce, the loss of his mother, the pressures of being mayor, etc. and he was vulnerable and lonely? and, what’s your definition of affair? he’s been so hurt by this all — personally and professionally — and it was a few nothing incidents when she showed up passed out outside of his door. come on guys, have a heart. I have tried to see Ruby’s side of the story but unfortunately everyone near to her has stories and says she is bad news.”
Siebel added, “I am a girls’ girl and I’ll always be one… i just wish as women that some of us had more respect for ourselves and didn’t always throw ourselves at the men.”
She left a parting blow, telling Rippey-Tourk to take responsibility for an affair that happened when she was Newsom’s secretary: “I just wish that she would leave gavin and i alone and stop causing all of this drama and gossip. she did a bad thing to her husband and needs to take responsibility.”
Let’s put aside for a moment the concerning comment that the “incidents” that constituted Newsom’s affair with his secretary began when she “showed up passed out outside of his door.” As well as the fact that Rippey-Tourk later admitted to cocaine and alcohol problems, raising questions about her ability to consent to an affair with her superior. (According to KGO-TV, Rippey-Tourk tried to look for a publisher of a self-help book that would tell her story of “hitting rock bottom with Newsom after 20 years of alcoholism and coke use.”)
After Siebel made these comments about Newsom’s former secretary, Rippey-Tourk’s spokesman said, “We are certain everyone is equally mortified by her behavior and statements, and we hope and trust that she will find it appropriate to issue an apology immediately.” Siebel then did so. When a reporter called her after her apology, Siebel responded in tears.
I have a chapter and a half in my book, Newsom Unleashed: The Progressive Lust for Unbridled Power, that details the many scandals surrounding Siebel Newsom. Notably, several of then concern her engaging in decidedly unfeminist behavior.
First, there was the fact that she contacted Harvey Weinstein for advice on how to deal with the publicity surrounding Newsom’s affair. (Years later, Siebel Newsom accused Weinstein of having raped her sometime in the undefined past, but prior to this exchange. The email was used as evidence in favor of Weinstein’s innocence in court, and Weinstein was not found guilty of offenses against Siebel Newsom.)
Then there was the allegation made by Rose McGowan, an actress who has also accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual abuse, that Siebel Newsom had tried to buy her silence on Weinstein’s abuse. McGowan said that Siebel had called her and told her, “What will it take? What can Boies Schiller do to make you happy?” McGowan said this referred to the law firm Boies Schiller, which represented Weinstein. Siebel’s brother-in-law worked at the firm. Siebel Newsom’s spokesperson acknowledged that she had talked to McGowan but said that the allegations were “outrageous and false.”
Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s version of feminism consists of shaming women, blaming them for being subjected to improper attention from their bosses, and cheering on the murder of baby girls. The “Planned Parenthood, protect women!” version of feminism is very dark indeed.
If Siebel Newsom takes on the position of first lady, at which Newsom says she would be “extraordinary,” we know exactly what to expect. She’ll do everything conceivable to make sure women can murder their babies as easily as possible.
Ellie Gardey Holmes is the author of Newsom Unleashed: The Progressive Lust for Unbridled Power.