Ron DeSantis is “fundamentally authoritarian”, but Donald Trump’s quest for “vengeance” poses an even greater threat to democracy, California’s Democratic governor Gavin Newsom said on Sunday.
Newsom took aim at the leading two candidates for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination during a hard-hitting and wide-ranging interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, the final episode with its long-time host Chuck Todd.
“I worry about democracy,” he said. “I worry about the fetishness for autocracy that we’re seeing not just from Trump, but around the world, and notably across this country.
“I’ve made the point about DeSantis that I think he’s functionally authoritarian. I’m worried more, in many respects, about Trumpism, which transcends well beyond his term and time in tenure.”
Newsom added: “The vengeance in Donald Trump’s heart right now is more of a threat.”
By law he can only be Governor of California for two terms, so somebody has to replace him. On a quick glance, no Republican has won a state-wide election here since Arnold Schwarzenegger, and I found only one other since the 90s. A more conservative Democrat is a possibility, but I’m not worried a Republican would win here.
I think Arnold Schwarzenegger only won because of both name recognition and because of the fact that, for a Republican, he was pretty liberal in his policies and positions.
I liked how he started with a lot of conservative ideas, but after listening to experts about those topics, changed his mind.
le gaspue!
Also that election was crazy… we had a ton of candidates and some were pretty out there just doing it for publicity, including some washed up actors and a pornstar.
There was also no real competition from Democrats as it was a recall election against a Dem incumbent.