Jeff noted the extent to which Newsom seemed to be “doing Trump’s dirty work,” talking directly to Fox’s share of the Republican primary electorate with the obvious objective of finishing DeSantis off. He borrowed Trump world’s attack on Ron DeSantis as a “lockdown governor.” Indeed, “Donald Trump laid you out on this,” Newsom added in praise of Trump’s deft rhetorical maneuvering. “Donald Trump himself today called you ‘Red Ron’ for a reason,” the governor later said, “for a reason: because of your complete hypocrisy” in relation to his promises to confront China.

Newsom lifted an attack on DeSantis directly from Nikki Haley, who the California governor said had DeSantis “dead to rights” when she noted that the Florida governor had opposed offshore oil leases off the coast of the Sunshine State and blocked a fracking initiative in the Everglades. Later, Newsom sought to evade a question focused on how either debater would counter a rising China as president by invoking a claim Haley had made about DeSantis welcoming foreign investment to Florida from a Chinese firm that manufactures military aircraft. “Nikki Haley laid you out,” Newsom insisted.

Newsom relied heavily on the work already done by DeSantis’s primary opponents, but that overdependence paled in comparison to the degree to which the California governor leaned into Joe Biden’s messaging.

[Both Biden and Newsom are empty suits who lack the capacity for original thought or competence. Newsom just speaks better and doesn’t need a nurse. — Ed]