Democratic Sen. John Fetterman says California Governor Gavin Newsom should be upfront and have the “guts” to announce he’s running for president.
The Pennsylvania senator voiced his criticism over the weekend at a Democratic Party dinner in Iowa, NBC reported.
“There are two additional Democrats…running for President right now,” Fetterman stated. “One is a Congressman from Minnesota, the other one is the governor of California. But only one has the guts to announce it.”
Newsom is carrying on in the time-honored method of acting like a candidate while vehemently denying he’s one. Last month, Rep. Dean Phillips Minnesota declared his candidacy.
Efforts by Newsom and Phillips are understandable, given rumblings of fellow Democrats taking a hard look at whether the then-81-year-old President Joe Biden should be the party’s standard bearer by running for re-election in 2024.
Phillips’ concern about Biden’s age and electability are the reasons he said he is running, Mediaite reported.
“Being old, in decline, and having numbers that are clearly moving in the wrong direction?” It’s getting to red alert kind of stuff,” Phillips told The Atlantic. “Someone had to do this.”
Newsom is taking a more subtle tack, flitting around the country, presumably building a campaign network for, oh, maybe 2028, while retaining deniability by not announcing a candidacy.
Fetterman is having none of it. “If you are a Democrat that wants to criticize and go after Joe Biden, our president, just go ahead and write a check for [Donald] Trump,” he said.
Newsom, playing the non-candidate, is also voicing support for Biden. Yet he recently made a trip to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
And Newsom is planning to be in a Nov. 30 debate with Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, Florida’s governor.
Moderating the Newsom-DeSantis debate will be Sean Hannity of Fox News, who in September asked Newsom if “under any circumstances” he would accept the 2024 Democratic nomination for president.
Newsom’s response was a shouted “No!” with the comment that Hannity’s question was “ridiculous.”
Yet, Newsom’s actions speak volumes. “The man is running for president,” observed Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, “Doing it and doing it in disguise, doing it with a track record that is more disastrous by the day.”
While conservatives have no love for the results of the Biden presidency to date, the thought of a Newsom presidency should bring dread.
Biden has reflected incompetence, vindictiveness, and anti-American policies wrapped up in some aspect of mystery and surprise.
Given his California record, a President Newsom would probably bring few surprises.
There would just be the extreme environmentalism, tolerance for crime, homelessness, overbearing regulation, and the draconian specter evidenced in his oppressive COVID efforts.
The thought makes even the words “President Newsom” difficult to digest.
And Newsom is being coy on that.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
