How Gavin Newsom Gets Away With Everything

Gavin Newsom's ability to take heat is second to none.

Particularly, his ability to slip out of direct questions. When cornered, he slips out so well, he evinces a Luciferian presence to his detractors.

This post isn't meant to go into political preferences, but really to take a deep dive into influential techniques.

"He's Got Every Gift"

Let's the start with the basics. He's tall, good looking, and well-spoken. These automatically trigger biases in people. Newsom is the living embodiment of human confirmation bias. RFK Jr. puts it really well:

"He's got every gift...he's very attractive, eloquent, and articulate"

We can debate that these aren't the only things that matter, but RFK Jr is an example of how some physical features can be a detriment. He has an incredibly raspy voice due to a medical condition. He's very articulate (even if you disagree), but he loses a lot of points because some people just can't get over it enough to listen to him speak even if they are huge "Kennedy fans".

You can absolutely hate Gavin Newsom, think he's Satan, blame him for California's demise, accuse him of terrible things, but you have to admit, he's an outstanding communicator. He talks very slow and clearly, his raspy voice sounds casual, and he makes orchestrated use of body language. This person doesn't think in terms of slides or pretty graphics, he thinks of fully orchestrated, in-person, communication. You could write a PhD on his hand gestures alone.

He's Sharp as a Tack

He's also sharp. At first glance, it's easy to look past that his lack of a name brand school (he went to Santa Clara University) or even a law degree, but his father was a Stanford educated judge and also the personal attorney to the Getty oil family.

He's smart genetically, grew up with a parent that understands logic, but also has a natural handicap that keeps his head out of the books (dyslexia). Along with that he has privilege; not the kind where your family bails you out, but the kind of upbringing that sets you up for success. He likely has zero limiting beliefs about money and power and grew up with a front row seat to how the world really works. He likely took note of who was successful, why they were successful in their communication, and adopted traits over time. That experience and pattern recognition doesn't come from books or school.

He's unshakably confident. He always holds a smile (perfectly straight white teeth), stands tall, and even if belittled, he doesn't flinch. It can be part trained or just a natural tendency. I personally think it's just the way he is. From observation, a lot of politicians I've met are people who just have some habits or features that work naturally for influence.

It's Not Just Him

Another one is big eyes that don't blink. It sounds silly, but they're hypnotizing.

Another is a British accent. It's so pleasant and soothing someone can be talking about anything and you sort of believe them.

When someone has innately influential features and they are super confident with clear communication skills, they do very well in politics. If that sounds ridiculous, think about the amount of people who care about success, the power to make a difference, but are scared to speak in public or can't take people hating them.

Dodging Lasers

The part that makes Gavin Newsom interesting isn't his initial pitch. In fact, he actually isn't particularly great at selling something. You don't think to yourself, "Wow, Gavin Newsom started a movement and sold everyone on this idea".

You're floored that this person is super powerful and can take direct questions better than anyone else on earth.

California's Homeless Problem

If you've ever been to California, you know that it's beautiful there, but the elephant in the room is the massive homelessness. Hey, how can all these people be homeless? Who's in charge? The Governor, ya screw that guy, he's doing a terrible job! His response:

"I get it... you want this and you want it now...

But that doesn't do justice to the injustice that is perpetuated"

Dang that's a good reason. Ya, I do want this fixed and ya, I do want this now and you're right this is hard. Hey, wait a second isn't this your responsibility or something. I'm confused about my question. Why is my lifestyle degrading when you're in charge?

What He Does

He actually tells the truth. To those that hate his guts and say he's a liar. I'm not saying he never lies. It's just in these key moments he tells the truth in ways you agree at a key moment. Let's break down the last video in more detail.

"I get it you want change..." Yeah, that's right I do want change

"And you want it now..." Yeah, I do want it now

"But that doesn't do justice to the injustice that is perpetuated" Gosh, you're right this is a big problem how could I expect this to be so easy to fix.

In that moment those are the only thoughts you can naturally think of. Unless, you have a mental model of EXACTLY what he did to increase homelessness or what he didn't do and how that's his fault. But to everyone else who views it simply as I know something's wrong and that should be enough, which is frankly most people, he's really good at dealing with with that...

California's Economy

Take this exchange, companies are leaving California because of its policies like high taxes, etc...That should be obvious evidence of why he's failed California's economy, right? Not quite...

His response: "Tesla, Elon Musk all these companies exist here because of California's framework"

Oh damn, he's right. Entrepreneurs move to Silicon Valley to build companies. Pretty good example. How can you say that CA is terrible for business when CA is where these businesses grew. It's shocking he would even have an answer. He does really well being prepared, citing statistics, and keeping his frame. Whereas Hannity sticks with his point of companies leaving.

What's Going On Here

Again, he puts out a shocking truth (see Pattern Interrupts) that's hard to argue with which makes you think: whoa Tesla and Elon Musk...if any state could tout that they'd be proud.

But when you slow down and think about Elon Musk hates this guy and has way better reasons for why California policy is messed up and why he left. We could argue that Newsom's point isn't actually a full justification that exonerates him from the burden of proof for how this keeps happening under his leadership, but he's not on trial. The interviewer asks him a direct, damning question, and he stands his ground and makes you at least feel he's not 100% wrong even if you don't trust him.

That's enough for the situation he's in. He doesn't have to survive an investigation. He just has to deal with one loaded criticism. He wins because he has a method and a system and he prepares. Hannity loses because he thought he had a silver bullet, but one idea people agree with can be eroded by 5-10 shocking truths in different contexts that sow doubt. Plus, you're just shocked that he could even do that. "Wait what the heck happened here, I thought he would be skewered by that. I know I would". It's the equivalent of winding up for a haymaker just for someone to duck and sting you with jabs.

Worse, Hannity had no other counters and he only wins if Newsom acknowledges defeat, stutters when asked something so damningly direct, or says something stupid. In Newsom's case, he knows what's going to happen and from his standpoint, he knows that people can't get over really a few criticisms about California and they obsess with getting him to fold after they go all in. Then when they fail to do that, they lean on morality or call him "a snake", but he in a way wins, because he's still the Governor, and he didn't give the other side the satisfaction of winning the exchange by their definition.

Where People Go Wrong

If you were to debate Newsom, it's not a good idea to do the same thing everyone else does thinking you're special. He knows the lasers that are coming and has near infinite preparation, it's automatic. You can't expect him to fold or accuse him of being the devil. It's just not effective as a persuasive tactic because morality is inherently debatable. Evil can't be an absolute thing and you thinking he's evil is very subjective. We can acknowledge people distrust him, but you can't extrapolate that to him being literally Evil because that's not a truth. It's an opinion.

And at the end of the day, he's a successful good looking Governor of the 4th largest economy of the world. He starts with a position of power.

Debate vs Desantis

Newsom is a fearless debater and challenged Desantis on his own turf in a debate hosted by Fox.

Ron Desantis made the mistake of saying "he's lying to you". Great for posturing the moral high ground, but morality is subjective. He has a few key moments even showing a map where the regions of San Francisco are identified that have fecal matter. Graphic, fair play and DeSantis does a much better job operating FL in ways people would naturally agree with (ex: few homelessness). However, he's relying on perceived truths which, are in fact, very subjective.

"He's lying"...that's actually debatable and in response to certain statements that statement can be untrue. In this case, Gavin Newsom, expanded the scope of the discussion to not just crime, in general, but also murder/gun violence, which he cited cases in Florida, being higher. Desantis countered with articulating the numbers were higher as a whole in California due to the normalization of petty crime, but also, by doing so, conceded to Newsom's point that Florida does have more of the worst crimes.

Newsom actually had statistics and a very sharp argument. This wasn't actually a lie. He just expanded and defined new territories of a discussion and then carved out his wins. Here, Desantis lost ground, but was probably greedy in hoping he could maintain the entire posture of California has more crime, and thus, missed opportunities to win more of this debate topic.

Something pithier could've been:

"I don't try my best

and pour millions of dollars

...for crimes in my State to skyrocket"

"We do have higher cases of violent crimes,

Those are difficult,

But mine are down"

Desantis also speaks in long sentences like an essay or the way people write, which is not as effective as slow pauses where chunks of spoken word can be absorbed through the subconscious. If he improved this, it'd be a very simple coaching fix to improve his debate skills. His ideas are great (he's no dummy), but it's an easy fix that his debate team probably hasn't picked up on yet. By accident, he did follow that principle along with the pattern interrupt principle when he told the story of Gavin Newsom's father in law moving out of California. This was a hit.

Summary

In conclusion, Gavin Newsom is not a master salesman. His mastery of influence comes from his debate preparation and his ability to handle objections at a world-class level. He is one of the best in the world at these abilities that aren't typical amongst his peer group and experts struggle to articulate or even break down what it is that he's doing.