Gavin Newsom — once a capitalist, now a socialist

As Gavin Newsom’s governorship enters its final chapter, his eyes are no longer fixed on Sacramento.

They are fixed on Washington.

More specifically, on the White House.

Like Sauron’s obsession with the One Ring, Newsom’s political focus has narrowed to one overriding object of desire: the presidency.

As Gavin Newsom’s governorship enters its final chapter, his eyes are no longer fixed on Sacramento. AP Photo/Jeff Roberson

That is the only way to understand Newsom’s latest economic manifesto, released Friday under the banner of a national billionaires’ tax.

This was not merely a policy paper.

It was positioning.

Newsom is calling for a national tax on billionaires and Americans worth more than $100 million.

Newsom is calling for a national tax on billionaires and Americans worth more than $100 million. REUTERS

He wants to end the “tax-free lifestyle loan” — a feature of the current tax code that lets the ultra-wealthy borrow against their stock portfolios while reporting no taxable income, then pass appreciated assets to their children with the gains untaxed.

He wants to rewrite inheritance rules so that the state can take another cut of the trillions that rich people want to give to others.

He wants to create a national public equity fund giving Americans a stake in gains from artificial intelligence.

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In plain English, he wants Washington to tax, redistribute and socialize more of the American economy.

Under Newsom’s proposal, Washington would not merely regulate successful industries. It would claim an ownership interest in them. Silicon Valley entrepreneurs would build the companies, investors would risk the capital, and the federal government would arrive later demanding a share in the name of “fairness.”

Bernie Sanders should be thrilled. Elizabeth Warren should be smiling. And Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s newly elected mayor and national face of “democratic socialism,” should recognize a politician sprinting to catch up.

This is not accidental.

It is adaptation.

In plain English, he wants Washington to tax, redistribute and socialize more of the American economy. Anadolu via Getty Images

For the past year, Newsom’s national brand has been built around being the Anti-Trump. Democratic voters wanted a fighter, and Newsom eagerly auditioned — picking fights with red-state governors and becoming the party’s loudest prosecutor of the Trump era.

But being Anti-Trump is no longer enough.

The energy inside the Democratic Party is moving left through deep-blue urban centers. New York City has elected Mamdani. Washington, DC, Seattle, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and New York, to name just a few places, are all showing the same trend: The activist left is no longer content to protest outside the Democratic establishment. It is trying to take it over from within.

Newsom sees this.

He sees Mamdani. He sees the DSA-aligned candidates. He sees a party base increasingly animated by class warfare, wealth redistribution and hostility toward traditional capitalism — and low-turnout Democratic primaries delivering it power.

So Newsom is doing what Newsom does.

He is pivoting.

So Newsom is doing what Newsom does. Pivoting. David Buchan for Ca Post

That has defined his political career. Not ideology. Trajectory. Newsom’s positions move toward whatever lane offers the greatest opportunity for advancement.

In San Francisco, Newsom was the pro-growth mayor to business leaders and the bold champion of same-sex marriage to liberal activists — different pitches, same man, same ambition.

As governor, the pattern continued.

More right when the audience required it.

More left when the moment demanded it.

Always moving toward the next political opening.

He denounced gerrymandering as a threat to democracy while championing Proposition 50, a Legislature-driven congressional map designed to maximize Democratic seats.

That is Newsom in one sentence: condemning the tactic nationally while marketing it at home.

In San Francisco, Newsom was the pro-growth mayor to business leaders and the bold champion of same-sex marriage to liberal activists — different pitches, same man, same ambition. Anadolu via Getty Images

I remember an earlier model. When Newsom was first running for lieutenant governor, he came down to Orange County to woo business-aligned Republicans and donors. I was with him at events when he made his pitch.

He was going to be the Democrat who represented Republicans.

The Democrat who understood business.

The Democrat willing to challenge party orthodoxy.

He spoke about competitiveness, economic growth and reform. He projected pragmatism, not ideology. That version disappeared almost immediately after Election Day.

Now we are watching the latest reinvention unfold in real time.

Even his handling of California’s own wealth tax initiative tells the story. Newsom opposes the state measure headed for the November ballot, but not because he objects to taxing wealth. His complaint is that California is the wrong venue because billionaires can flee.

The Democrat willing to challenge party orthodoxy. David Buchan for Ca Post

His answer is not less confiscatory taxation.

His answer is a national version they cannot escape.

Newsom does not want to be seen as standing with California billionaires against the left. So within hours, he rolled out a federal alternative that lets him oppose the California initiative while still posing as a champion of wealth redistribution.

That is not courage. That is triangulation.

Newsom has concluded that the road to the Democratic presidential nomination runs through the radical left.

So he is positioning himself accordingly.

Gavin Newsom has spent two decades reinventing himself for the next office.

Now he is betting that the next Democratic nominee will not be the candidate who resists the party’s socialist turn, but the one who executes it most convincingly — and enthusiastically.

Jon Fleischman, a longtime strategist in California politics, writes at SoDoesItMatter.com