On multiple recent occasions, His Hairness has accused political adversaries of using Grindr
Th TWe single most consequential act in Gavin Newsom’s otherwise startlingly inconsequential political career was his decision as mayor of San Francisco to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples. On February 12, 2004, he ordered the city clerk to issue the first of what would soon become thousands of licenses.
I have a small personal connection to that event, in addition to the friends that were able to marry, in some cases after decades together. I had just finished a Constitutional Law class at UC Hastings, where I was a first year law student. I was walking to the civic center parking lot when I noticed a crowd gathered on the steps of City Hall. I wandered over to see what was going on. A couple waiting in line told me the city was granting marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.
Thus San Francisco became the first city in the country to grant such licenses. I was witnessing history. It was appropriate that I’d just come from that Con Law class, as the ensuing debates in California and nationwide would hinge upon the fundamental right to marry.
I disagree with Newsom on just about everything. On a personal level, I can’t stand the man. I’m disgusted at what’s become of my beloved California during the Brown-Newsom Era. I’ve had the unfortunate experience of meeting and interacting with him on numerous occasions, and he’s even more of a snake oil salesman in person than he is on TV. It’s not just the slicked-back hair. He’s oleaginous from head to toe. He’s also dumb as a brick. When you talk with him you can actually feel individual brain cells committing suicide.
Nevertheless, I give him credit — grudgingly — for that one decision. Then again, he managed to screw even that up. In a closely contested presidential race between George W. Bush and John Kerry, he gift-wrapped an issue to the Republicans. Leaders in his own party, up to and including Bill Clinton and Nancy Pelosi, begged him to wait. Bush won, and we got four more years of neocons and their forever wars.
Political timing aside, Newsom’s decision was and remains the right one.
Which is why it’s so peculiar, not to mention disgusting, to see him hurling homophobic insults at conservative figures on social media. Yesterday, the governor’s press office replied to a post from conservative influencer Benny Johnson (I don’t know who that is, either). Johnson posted that Newsom should be “terrified” about investigations into fraud in California. Johnson has a point. Fair ball.
In response, Newsom wrote, ““We got a call from Grindr after this and said your team was their biggest users. Congrats!”
Grindr, is, of course, a dating app that caters to gay, lesbian, and trans people.
First of all, it’s a bizarre non-sequitur, the equivalent of an elementary school yard taunt.
“You got a bad grade on your math test.”
“Yeah? We’ll you’re gay!”
Second, what? The taunt is homophobic in so many ways it’s difficult to know where to start. Who came up with it? Have they been fired?
Apparently not. In response to inquiries, Newsom’s office smugly doubled down: “We love gay people and it’s very woke of you to ask about this! We’re sorry some conservative snowflakes had their feelings hurt. We hope they recover!” They sent the same response to multiple outlets.
Again, what? It’s “woke” to point out homophobia? Is woke now an insult? Whose feelings were hurt? Why would you think it would hurt someone’s feelings to suggest they’re gay in the first place, unless you think being gay is bad?
I’m so confused.
Also, the tweet is grammatically hopeless. Does it mean that someone from Grindr called Newsom’s office, and was told that Johnson’s team are its biggest users? Or did Grindr call the office to report that his team are their biggest users?
Also, it’s worth pointing out that in the context of woke Democrats, the response is hugely exclusionary. It mentions gay people, but none of the rest of the LGBTTQQSS++ brigade. Isn’t that a heresy? Grindr doesn’t cater solely to gay men.
This isn’t the first time Newsom has launched homophobic attacks against conservative figures. In January, Johnson said he was planning to travel to California to investigate fraud, prompting Newsom to respond, “We’ll make sure Grindr servers are ready…”
That was then….
Newsom’s obsession with Grindr is deeply strange. Obviously, he isn’t making these posts himself, but he’s also apparently cool with them. He and his staff seem to think they’re real zingers. And do they really think that childish taunts are going to distract anyone from the fast-growing mountain of evidence that on Newsom’s watch Californians have been bilked out of tens and maybe hundreds of billions?
If that’s really where their heads are at, things in the Golden State are even worse than anyone imagined.
Earlier in that January chain, Newsom took the strange to a new level. In response to Johnson’s original post, Newsom accused him of cheating on his wife. Again, it’s less than childish.
“There’s massive evidence of fraud on your watch as Governor.”
“Yeah? Well, you cheated on your wife!”
This is some Trumpian level stuff. Actually, I take that back. At least Trump is good at taunting his adversaries. Newsom’s efforts are just kind of sad.
Gavin Newsom has always been a deeply weird individual. He seems to think his slipperiness is a virtue. He believes in nothing so much as his own specialness. That specialness may finally be coming apart. On Monday, House Republicans announced an investigation into hospice fraud in California. Democrats will claim it’s a witch hunt and fishing expedition.
But it could prove deeply problematic for Newsom personally. Fraud has been rampant on his watch. During the COVID pandemic, when he wasn’t dining at the French Laundry he was overseeing a state unemployment system that lost at least $30 billion, and possibly as much as $60 billion, to fraud and abuse. For perspective, 28 states have budgets under $30 billion.
Last April, officials in Newsom’s own office were forced to acknowledge an audit that found $24 billion in homeless spending over five years couldn’t be accounted for. The Brown-Newsom boondoggle known as high speed rail has spent nearly $15 billion without laying a single foot of track. His signature COVID era homeless housing initiative, Project Homekey, has spent billions on hotel rooms and apartments, thousands of which remain empty four and five years later.
The list goes on, and this is just the stuff that’s been surfaced. For Newsom, it’s worse than bad optics. Much of the money that’s been either siphoned by fraudsters or wasted by bureaucrats is federal tax dollars. You can bet your bottom dollar that every single one of Newsom’s opponents will seek to flay him for this. The attack ads practically write themselves: “Gavin Newsom has been wasting Americans’ taxpayer dollars for years. He cannot get anywhere near the White House.”
Newsom has been in politics virtually his entire adult life. His path to power was paved by some of the most influential families in the state — his father, a state appellate judge, saw to that. In his professional and personal lives, he’s committed sins that would have laid waste to the careers of less garrisoned politicians. He’s been protected from on high.
Until now. As he ramps up his PR machine and takes his image national, people are getting an unvarnished look at the man. His weirdness is escalating along with his profile. And the manchild who would be king hasn’t even entered the gauntlet of a national campaign yet.
I suspect his Grindr ripostes are part of his recent attempt to burnish his image with conservatives, along with his sudden break with transgender activists. To which I can only say, good luck, Gav.
If I’m right — and I’m pretty sure I am — it’s the ultimate reveal as to just how utterly bereft of values and convictions Gavin Newsom is. Championing same sex couples’ right to marry is one of the few decent things he’s done in his quarter century in politics. Maybe the only decent thing. That he’s now suddenly eager to resort to cheap homophobic invective and to throw trans people under the bus is pretty much all you need to know about him.
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