Gavin Newsom inadvertently admitted something I noticed long ago: on economic policies, they don't so much disagree with Trump as they hate his rhetoric.
Sure, they have some big policy disagreements, but fewer than they want you to believe. On immigration, they are worlds apart because they desperately need open borders to maintain their political power and NGO grift, and they can't quit alphabet ideology.
But despite their complaints that Trump increases costs for average Americans, they aren't going to reverse his signature policy: tariffs. They didn't under Biden, and wouldn't under Newsom. They may tweak it, but not drop it.
I don't want to underplay the differences between Democrats and Trump on policy issues. They want to spend less on defense and ramp up the spending that flows to Democrats and their allies — the organized crime they have been using to fleece Americans. Their technocratic dreams are incompatible with Trumpism and America First.
But what really drives them around the bend — especially the Democrat elites upon whom the Organized Crime Democrats depend for their intellectual and social leadership and votes — is how Trump talks.
This is what happened after Biden won in 2020. He didn't undo any of Trump's tariffs because it's a long-held favorite idea of Democrats. So Newsom is essentially saying the lousy policy will remain, but "Hey, no more trolling!" https://t.co/Pofeh5IBx5
— Jay Caruso (@JayCaruso) August 31, 2026
This is something I have mulled over for a long time — since about 2017 — because I realized my own negative reactions to Trump had far less to do with policy than with his style. Once I figured that out, I began to see that was true for many Never Trumpers and for a large fraction of the cultural elites.
My reaction to that realization was to calm down about Trump's style and focus more on what he does, not what he says or how he says it. Most of the people in my social class have just become more deranged over time, and in the process they have adopted the style and the policies of the radical left because they are as far away from Trump as you can possibly be.
In other words, they quit caring about results and just wanted to get rid of Trump. They became so obsessed that they didn't even notice their own style became far worse than anything they claimed offended them about Trump's style.
Trump's use of hyperbole to make points? They descended into rants that promoted absolute falsehoods. Trump's habit of criticizing Democrats in blunt terms? They started crying "Nazi," "Fascist," and "Threat to Democracy!"
Newsom even tries to copy Trump's style on X, making himself look like a dime-store version of the Don Rickles of presidents.
Newsom's admission on Canadian TV that if he were president, he wouldn't abandon tariffs as a tactic laid this bare.
Sure, I'll keep hurting your economy until you comply with my demands, but I will be nicer to you while I do it is a pretty strange pitch to make to Canadians. After all, for all the hurt feelings that Canadians may have, the bottom line is the bottom line, and Newsom admits that until the Canadian government gives us a deal we like, he would keep squeezing them.
On domestic policy, the Democrats have to fight Trump because his policies hurt their direct access to the public purse to fund the party and make their clients richer. But the issue that a big slice of their voting base cares most about is Trump's cultural style.
He's crude. He speaks in hyperbole. He insults people. He stabs them in the front.
They prefer stabbing people in the back with a smile on their faces and using soothing words while they do so. It's the words that matter almost as much as the policy differences.
Newsom and Trump clearly have ideological differences that would make them political opponents no matter what, but Newsom also knows what keeps many Independents and moderate Democrats voting for them isn't the policies; it's Trump's willingness to adopt a working-class style that offends them so much.
I wouldn't rename Lake Ontario or talk about Canada as the 51st state, as I bully you is the tell. In terms of policy, it means absolutely nothing, but in terms of style, it is a social signal that means almost everything to members of the cultural, political, and media elite here in the United States and the transnational elite.
When they say "threat to democracy," as much as anything, they mean "threat to my cultural preferences."
Ironically, many of the same people react to Hasan Piker for much the same reason. If a professor were saying the same things in a more refined way — many of them do — they are perfectly fine with it. In fact, they would nod their heads along or wave away the contradictions as policy differences they could work out or ignore.
But Piker is so CRUDE about saying exactly the same thing as Abdul El-Sayed or AOC, so it repels them.
Drop fewer F-bombs and shout a lot less, and they get along fine with extremists, and even hire them as professors or read their commentaries in the prestigious magazines and the New York Times.
I see plenty of people in my comments and online who wish Trump were more refined and less pugilistic, but who also see that on the big stuff he is usually right, so they support him.
For liberals, such an attitude is inconceivable. Class trumps policy for the elites.
Editor's Note: The mainstream media continues to gaslight, spin, and lie about President Trump, his administration, and conservatives.
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