Michelle Obama’s maxim “when they go low, we go high” was famously delivered to applause at the Democratic National Convention of 2016. Times have changed. The current approach to politics that has caught momentum in the Democratic Party is “we need to really meet fire with fire”.
Those were the words of an anonymous young staffer running the TikTok account of California governor Gavin Newsom, whose gloves-off, eye-catchingly pugnacious approach to social media has propelled him into the spotlight as an opponent to president Donald Trump and a potential future Democrat presidential candidate.
“THEY HATE THAT DEMOCRATS ARE WINNING,” read one typical post from the governor’s official press account that got 5.5 million views on bin fire website X this week. “THEY SHOULD CRY HARDER! SAD!!!”
The parody of Trump’s distinctive style – down to signing off posts with his initials “GCN” for Gavin Christopher Newsom – extends to appreciatively sharing grandiose images confected by admirers, such as one showing Newsom being prayed over by an angel-winged Hulk Hogan, or carved alongside the founding fathers into the rock of Mount Rushmore.
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“WHAT AN HONOR!” the account wrote.
The style is favoured by social media algorithms and has substantially increased Newsom’s number of followers and the eyes seeing his posts – including, it appears, within the Trump administration.
“The all caps tweets from Newsom’s team are very weird and not at all funny,” wrote White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson in response that was greeted by Democrats with glee.
Newsom’s combativeness is seen as filling a void of leadership within the Democratic Party, and sating an appetite for someone to fight back against Trump rather than seeking to conciliate. But it has raised concerns too.
“I think it’s entertaining for the moment, but I’m concerned that it’s going to turn even more voters off,” said Steven Maviglio, a California political consultant, noting the old warning against wrestling with pigs attributed to George Bernard Shaw. “It’s certainly helping propel him toward his ambition of being president.”
Maviglio noted that the posts are being made by the official California governor account, as much as by Newsom’s personal profile, “a danger” given that officials are not supposed to use taxpayer assets for political campaigning.
This was a norm that was smashed through long ago by Trump. Does it matter less if the other side is doing it too?
“I think Democrats feel we just have no choice. We have got to fight back,” said Matt Bennett, a strategist and founder of think tank Third Way.
The same question is being asked after the Republican-dominated Texas legislature re-drew the state’s electoral map to create five new Republican-leaning seats that could shore up the party’s precarious majority in the midterm elections of 2026.
[ Texas lawmakers pass new electoral map intended to favour RepublicansOpens in new window ]
Newsom’s response was to discard the Democratic position that congressional districts should be impartially drawn up. Gerrymandering? Two sides can play at that game.
“Can’t win by playing by traditional sets of rules. [Trump] plays by no rules,” Newsom said after making the first step in a tricky process to introduce a new electoral map of California. “We’re standing up to that, we’re responding to that. They fired the first shot, Texas.”
The governor uses a weekly podcast, This is Gavin Newsom, to let voters know he believes these are not ordinary times.
“At the exact moment of our press conference, Donald Trump sent what is increasingly being referred to as a private army,” he said in an episode last week, describing the moment that dozens of border patrol agents descended on his event to announce the California redistricting plan.
Newsom accused Trump of using police and military forces to intimidate political opponents, in a step towards authoritarianism.
“For me, it was obvious this is also a preview of things to come.”
Polls indicate Newsom’s popularity has increased along with his prominence. However public opinion about his plan to redraw congressional districts – which requires approval in a popular vote – appears to be mixed.
One crowd he has already won over? The “go high” Democrats of the past.
“Over the long term, we shouldn’t have political gerrymandering in America, just a fair fight between Republicans and Democrats based on who’s got better ideas,” former president Barack Obama began in a social media post, before backing Newsom’s redistricting plan, given the circumstances, as “smart” and “measured”.
“The bigger picture is that the Democratic brand, the party reputation, is in tatters,” said Darry Sragow, a veteran Democratic strategist. “You can have the moral high ground and no power. That doesn’t accomplish a whole lot.”
