Victor Davis Hanson Says Gov. Newsom’s Image ‘Makeover’ Mirrors Kamala Harris As He Preps For Next Election Cycle

Hoover Institution senior fellow Victor Davis Hanson claimed Thursday on his podcast that Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom is attempting to “make over” his image, similar to Vice President Kamala Harris, in preparation for the next election cycle.

Newsom has toughened his stance on illegal immigration and homelessness within the last few months. Hanson suggestedon “The Victor Davis Hanson Show” that the reversals followed his loss in a Fox News debate against Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and have added to his alleged bitterness over the Democratic Party choosing Harris as the nominee.

“But we have not given attention to Gavin Newsom’s makeover. After he was dusted off by Ron DeSantis … and it was kind of like the hare and the tortoise,” Hanson said. “DeSantis was not as charismatic, his voice was a little different, but he just had all the facts and arguments. He just sort of wore Gavin down, and after 30 minutes Gavin was just an empty suit.”

“He understood that he looked like a left-wing idiot, and he knows that he’s very bitter about Kamala. Because he even said right at the convention that, ‘We didn’t need an open, isn’t that what I’m supposed to say?’ So he was thinking that, as the leading candidate, they were going to turn to him and he was planning to be the nominee. Now he knows that he’ll never be the nominee if she is elected, so he’s secretly hoping that she will not be elected,” Hanson continued.

Hanson also claimed Newsom has observed Harris’ “metamorphosis” on policy since becoming the party’s nominee and may see it as the right move to win the next general election cycle if he decides to run for president. Republicans have criticized Harris for flip-flopping on left-wing policies, including her stances on banning fracking and opposing the southern border wall, both of which she supported during her 2020 campaign.

“But even if she loses, and he wants to be the leading contender, he cannot run on a ‘I will do to America what I did for California.’ He’s looking at Kamala’s changes, her metamorphoses, and he thinks, ‘You know what? She’s absolutely right, as much as I hate to say it. She is a border hawk. She’s against homelessness in the street.’ So what is he doing? He’s down at the LA cement river aqueduct … picking up trash by himself with a, I don’t know, quarter million dollar a year photographer,” Hanson said.

In early September, Newsom vetoed a Democrat-led bill that would have allowed illegal migrants in California to apply for taxpayer-funded home loans, despite expanding state healthcare to cover illegal immigrants in late 2023. In August, the governor also blamed the state’s “policies and neglect” for the homelessness crisis, pressuring cities to clear encampments or risk losing state funding, even after billions had already been spent on the issue.