Tipsheet

Victor Davis Hanson Levels Gavin Newsom's Vile Rhetoric As the CA Governor Chooses to Fight Dirty

Dmitri Bolt
Dmitri Bolt  |  March 25, 2026 11:30 AM

Victor Davis Hanson, a military historian, classicist, and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, absolutely leveled California Governor Gavin Newsom for what he described as increasingly crude rhetoric targeting his political opponents, including President Trump and independent journalist Nick Shirley. Hanson also took aim at remarks that many argue cross the line for any public official, pointing to comments about wanting to hit the president and trying to relate to black voters by revealing he got a low test score on his SAT.

And yet the broader American media landscape seems to only be focused on gushing over how "handsome" Newsom is rather than questioning his words and actions.

"Just think of what he said the last few days, the last few weeks. He said that he told the European leaders that they basically need to take their knee pads off. In other words, they crouch down before Trump and perform a foul sex act upon him," Hanson said. "That's what he said. And then his team, when the brave young kid [Nick Shirley] who was trying to expose all of the fraud and help the taxpayer comes to California, he tweets out that he's a...with pictures as if he's a sexual predator."

"And he's tweeted out that he'd like to hit Trump in the mouth," Hanson continued. "He's gone to a group of accomplished black people and said that they're no smarter than he is, he's no smarter than they are. I mean, every time he opens his mouth, he says something either foul, vile, mean, stupid, or self-incriminating."

And all of this for popular magazines to slap the governor of California on the cover, and rave about how "good-looking" he is.

It remains unclear whether Newsom’s mounting scandals and rhetoric will begin to show up in the polls, as Democrats continue to elevate candidates based on mere opposition to Trump rather than their policy records. 

Newsom may not have much of a record to run on, but the one factor that could carry him over the finish line is raging Trump Derangement Syndrome.