Throughout his decades in politics, Gavin Newsom has been called everything under the California sun by friends and foes alike, but there is one moniker the two-term Golden State governor embraces, thanks to Donald Trump: disruptor.
“I don’t spend a lot of time on labels, I spend time on results,” a definitive Newsom declares. “But if by ‘disruptor’ you mean challenging a status quo that’s not meeting the moment, then yeah, I’m happy to lean into that.”
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“I’m from San Francisco, and an entrepreneur from the earliest days of my career — disruption has always been the norm for me,” the likely 2028 presidential contender adds.
Of course, Newsom being Newsom, or at least the post-2024 Newsom, the governor can’t resist pulling up a tried, true and well-trolled comparison with President Trump and his tactics.
“On the political side of it — look at who our president is,” the governor says of his constant adversary. “He has made disruption the norm, so the only way to break through and counterbalance is through disruption as well. But in that respect, I am hopeful we can return to a less hostile, less disruptive form of government and politics that encourages engagement but not aggression.”
Whether or not politics or America will ever return to a less hostile, less disruptive state, it is certain the already perpetually ambitious Newsom made the jump to hyperspace with the return of the ex-Apprentice host to the White House last year. The awkward détente of Trump’s first term (that also saw Newsom’s ex-wife Kimberly Guilfoyle dating Donald Trump Jr.) has devolved amidst POTUS’ cruel immigration roundups and overall authoritarianism to schoolyard name-calling (“Newscum”) from Trump and realpolitik trench warfare by any other name. The upside in Sacramento is that by taking off the white gloves, Newsom, by far the most vigorous Trump critic among elected Democrats, has claimed a sweet spot as both the unofficial leader of the opposition and successor material.
The governor insists he’s just trying to meet the moment, in the media and otherwise.
“I haven’t changed, the stakes have. We’re in a different era where Trump and MAGA have been very effective at flooding the zone, dominating narratives, and not being shy about drawing stark contrasts,” the governor says. “For too long, Democrats were playing defense, overly cautious, worried about offending rather than persuading. And that’s not the world we’re living in anymore.”
Despite some of Trump’s worst hits, California’s almost always camera-ready leading man isn’t seemingly apprehensive about flipping the script to where he and Trump, a past Emmy nominee, appear to have a common goal and can work together to support the entertainment business.
“I’ve asked President Trump to institute a national program that is 10 times the size of California’s $750 million program,” says Newsom of the growing bipartisan initiative to rebuild film and TV production in the U.S., with measures like those in the UK, Australia and Canada. “It would be a game-changer.”
Nearly six years into his governorship, Newsom in late 2024 proposed more than doubling the state’s small- and big-screen incentives in an effort to-stem the tsunami of production and projects leaving the home of Hollywood. Framed as a jobs strategy, the 2025 increase from $330 million annually to $750 million, with other inducements, has already seen a vast increase in applications to a program that had been oversubscribed for a year. Plus, talk of further post-production plans before the legislature this year and a Made in America tax credit have offered new hope and put a brighter shine on Newsom’s legacy before he leaves office in 2027.
“A national film and TV tax incentive would support more filming in the United States generally, and I’m confident that California would benefit heavily from that increase,” Newsom says. “If you’ll forgive my pride — there is no comparison for California, especially not in the film industry. But more than that, we are a state that stands by our values; we believe in protecting people and defending rights. People want to work in a state that cares about them, and California is not short on care… or talent.”
Newsom being Newsom, and a sharp operative, the notion of a national program can’t help but once again put him in the national conversation. Though with just over six months left on his present job, the governor isn’t quite willing to say the quiet thing out loud… yet. Emphasizing the success of his Proposition 50 redistricting amendment last November, and “taking back the House” in this year’s midterms, Newsom plays the family card when it comes to an anticipated Oval Office bid in two years. “It’s a decision I will only make with my four extraordinary kids and rockstar wife,” he says. “We’ll see what fate decides.”
Indeed, we will.
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