Democrats need more of that. He’s using their own strategy—outreach, narrative testing, and framing—in California with Prop 50. If you want to beat your opponent, you have to understand them. Newsom’s one of the only Democrats actually trying.

This is not an endorsement—it’s strategy that’s notable . If we want to win future elections—2026, 2028—we need to understand the MAGA playbook and be able to use it against them. Newsom appears to have a spine Biden did not, and that willingness to go on offense matters in a tight national cycle.

I have learned more about how MAGA thinks than I did during four years of Trump’s first term.