California Governor Gavin Newsom says America needs a president who can heal divisions and repair the breach. It’s a noble sentiment — one rooted, as Newsom himself noted, in biblical language and moral clarity.

But as Joel Pollak explains, Newsom’s own conduct has made one thing clear: he is doing exactly the opposite.

On a recent episode of Breaking Battlegrounds, Pollak — opinion editor at The California Post and longtime political journalist — broke down how Newsom’s public behavior, especially over the past several months, has quietly disqualified him from the very role he claims to seek.

From “Repairer” to Chief Troll

Pollak points to Newsom’s own words, spoken in response to an interview, where the governor described his ideal presidential candidate as someone who could mend America’s deep divisions.

The problem? Newsom has turned his taxpayer-funded press office into what Pollak describes as a full-time political troll account.

Not playful jabs.
Not clever satire.
But profanity, sexual jokes, and vulgar attacks — all funded by the public and aimed at escalating political conflict rather than calming it.

According to Pollak, Newsom’s defenders argue this is simply “fighting Trump measure for measure.” But that comparison doesn’t hold up.

Trump, Pollak notes, uses provocation strategically and sparingly. Newsom’s approach is constant, crude, and deliberately inflammatory — a style more associated with political activists than executive leadership.

Taxpayer Dollars and Political Abuse

This isn’t just about tone. It’s about accountability.

Using public resources to mock political opponents, amplify obscenity, and fuel division isn’t governance — it’s abuse of office. And for a governor who claims to be positioning himself as a unifying national leader, it raises a fundamental question:

How can someone who widens the breach every day credibly promise to repair it?

Pollak argues that Newsom’s strategy is transparent. By presenting himself as the loudest, most aggressive anti-Trump figure in the Democratic field, Newsom hopes to dominate the early conversation heading into 2028.

But there’s a fatal flaw in that plan.

The Trump Obsession Problem

Donald Trump won’t be on the ballot in 2028.

Yet Democrats — Newsom included — continue to frame every move, message, and identity around Trump. Pollak points out that Newsom even speaks as if Trump is running again, structuring his entire political persona around opposing a man who won’t be there.

That obsession may play well in progressive media circles, but it does nothing to unify the country — and it doesn’t prepare a candidate to lead beyond partisan warfare.

If the goal is to bring Americans together, running permanently against a political ghost isn’t leadership. It’s avoidance.

Disqualified by His Own Standard

Newsom set the bar himself: America needs a president who can heal, unify, and bridge divides.

By that standard, Pollak argues, Newsom has already failed.

Instead of lowering the temperature, he raises it.
Instead of restoring trust, he erodes it.
Instead of repairing the breach, he profits politically from keeping it open.

As Breaking Battlegrounds co-host Chuck Warren put it bluntly, Newsom has become one of the easiest figures in American politics to fact-check — because so much of what he puts out simply doesn’t align with reality.

And in the end, that contradiction may be the most disqualifying thing of all.

Transcript

Sam Stone: Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with us, Chuck Warren. I’m Sam Stone. Continuing on now with our guest, Joel Pollak, opinion editor at the California Post. Follow him on X at Joel Pollak or very soon at the California Post.com, where you can go right now and get signed up sister, new sister paper to the New York Post and a very exciting development. But recently, Joel, you had a piece in the New York Post, a Newsome disqualifies himself from the presidency in his own words.

I thought you really hit that on the head. Going through that article, it’s like everything Newsom complains about Trump doing. It’s pretty much the same stuff he’s doing.

Joel Pollak: Well, what Newsom said in response to an interview was that he wanted the next presidential candidate to be what he called a repairer of the breach, citing the Bible. And that’s a really admirable notion, but Newsom has done anything but, and in fact, in the last several months, Newsom has positioned himself as the trolling chief and he turned his taxpayer funded press office account into a constant troll account that makes fun of the president and not just in cute little ways but actually in quite obscene ways.

Sexual jokes, profanity. Now they say that they’re just responding to Trump measure for measure but Trump is more effective first of all and secondly a little more sparing. He’s not just generally gonna go out there and drop f-bombs the way Eric Swalwell does and the way Newsom does and his troll accounts have started to do it.

It’s really just a form of abuse of public taxpayer funds. And more than that, it just reinforces divisions. I mean, Newsom says that if the next presidential candidate wants to be effective, they have to be repairers of the breach. Well, he’s not a repairer of the breach. He’s widening the breach. And he’s doing it so that he can position himself as the most anti-Trump candidate in the Democratic field heading into 2028. You know, someone has to remind these people Trump’s not going to be on the ballot in 2028.

Newsom actually pretends Trump’s gonna run for another term, but Trump’s not gonna be on the ballot and they’re making it all about Trump, but that’s where the Democrats are right now. They’re just obsessed with him. So Newsom is positioning himself maybe cleverly in this political way by saying, hey, I’m the most outrageous guy against Trump. But that’s not repairing the breach. I mean, if Newsom says we need a president who’s gonna bring people together, well, he just disqualified himself.

Chuck Warren: We often fact check Gavin Newsom’s tweets on our social media. He’s like the easiest person in world to fact check because he never puts anything out that’s truthful.

Listen to the full episode of Breaking Battlegrounds anywhere you stream your podcasts!