Newsom Loses Again

California’s coiffed governor can no longer “sterilize political content” of satirical videos

Clinton judge Charles Breyer has barred President Trump from deploying National Guard troops to conduct law enforcement actions, prompting California Gov. Gavin Newsom to post on X: “DONALD TRUMP LOSES AGAIN. The courts agree – his militarization of our streets and use of the military against US citizens is ILLEGAL.” Getting less attention was a strategic loss for Newsom going back to 2024.

The Coiffed One is tough to satirize but the Babylon Bee pulled it off with an “Official Gavin Newsom Election Ad,” available here (or right below). It shows Newsom touting his “favorite restaurant” the French Laundry, his “boss” Xi Jinping, millions fleeing California, Kamala Harris ready to replicate the disaster nationwide, and so on in fine style. Gov. Newsom didn’t like it.

“I just signed a bill to make this illegal in the state of California,” Newsom wrote. “You can no longer knowingly distribute an ad or other election communications that contain materially deceptive content — including deepfakes.”

Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2839, a “disinformation and deepfake” law, which last week US District Judge John Mendez ruled an unconstitutional “censorship through legislative fiat.”

Just as the government may not dictate the canon of comedy, the judge ruled, “California cannot preemptively sterilize political content.” It wasn’t Newsom’s first attempt at censorship.

The Coiffed One has ties to the powerful Brown, Getty and Pelosi families, and in 2019 a video of Nancy Pelosi appearing to be drunk gained more than two million views. Newsom responded by signing Assembly Bill 730, a ban on “deepfake” videos within 60 days of an election. That measure expired at the end of 2023 and judge Mendez has now nixed its 2024 replacement. So Gov. Newsom can no longer dictate comedy or sterilize political content.

Californians are well aware that their governor is shrink-wrapped in statist superstition. As people across the country should know, the Coiffed One is also as authoritarian as they come. And his sack dance over Breyer’s ruling may have been premature.

Steve finds evidence that “Trump might well win this issue at the Supreme Court,” and may eventually prevail on birthright citizenship. I once thought one of Steve’s predictions was wrong, but as it turned out I was mistaken. So hear him out on this one, and most everything else.