Controversial HBO comedian Bill Maher has questioned the wisdom of California Governor Gavin Newsom’s newfound penchant for social media Trumpisms as a way of getting back at the MAGA administration.
“He’s been trolling Donald Trump,” as Maher put it to his guest, Democratic Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, on Friday’s broadcast of Real Time With Bill Maher.
“He’s been sort of taking Trump’s methodology and throwing it right back at him,” the host went on. “I think it may have jumped the shark a little recently. Is that something you endorse? Is that an effective technique?”
Over the past several months, Newsom has increasingly taken to adopting the president’s social media mannerisms—including ALL CAP posts, scathing nicknames, memes and signature sign-offs like “Thank you for your attention to this matter”—as part of a wider apparent attempt to emulate the kind of brash virality that won Trump the election last year.
Amid backlash from the president’s supporters, and a mixed reception from his critics, the California governor has defended his new methods by arguing he’s simply holding up a mirror to the MAGA administration.
“I’m just following his example,” Newsom previously told reporters. “If you have issues with what I’m putting out, you sure as hell should have concerns with what he’s putting out as president.”
Newsom and Beshear, both two-term governors who continue to poll strongly in their respective states, are widely regarded as frontrunners for the Democratic Party nomination in the 2028 presidential elections.
Speaking with Maher on Friday, Beshear seemed reluctant to bad-mouth his prospective opponent, telling the comedian he broadly backed Newsom’s pushback against Trump, but also lamented feeling as though the current state of political discourse in the United States had led to Newsom’s methods being warranted.
“He’s pushing back in his way,” Beshear said. “It’s not my way. It’s just not me. But I think everybody has to take their style and do what’s best for their people. But I think he is standing up. I think he’s pushing back and I think it takes all of us in our own ways.”
Beshear later expressed a note of cautious optimism, given his view of the MAGA administration’s performance thus far, ahead of midterm elections next year.
“I think people don’t like extremism and people feel the country may have swung too far one way and now is swinging too far the other way and it’s impacting their daily lives,” he told Maher. “But, even before we get to midterms, the Democrats are going to win the governorship of both New Jersey and Virginia. We’re working really hard to make that happen.”
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