The California governor described White House reporters as ‘sycophants’

California Governor Gavin Newsom criticized the media for what he described as overly deferential coverage of Donald Trump, characterizing reporters in Oval Office press briefings as “sycophants.”

The Democratic governor — widely seen as a potential contender for the 2028 presidential race — made the remarks during a Sunday interview with progressive commentator Jack Cocchiarella.

Cocchiarella pressed Newsom on what he framed as “hesitancy” within the White House press corps to scrutinize certain subjects: namely, the 80-year-old president’s health.

“You see these press conferences in the Oval Office,” the governor replied. “You maybe have one or two reasonable reporters. They ask a question; there's no chance for a follow-up. And then it’s seven sycophants from news outlets.”

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[–] 63 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (21 children)

I can already see it. The DNC is going to shove this chucklefuck down our throats. I am tired of eating shit sandwiches. I don't know the answer but he is not it.

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  • [–] 6 points 4 months ago (15 children)

    Who cares. First get the nazi out and repair your democracy.

    What democrat wins is a luxury problem you don’t have room for. Trump won not only by cheating but also by manipulating “leftists” to not vote.

    Getting honest candidates is a luxury.

    First repair your democracy- reisntate free press, regulate propaganda channels like X and fox , fix party financing, demand transparancy,….

    Recovering the broken relationships with allies will take decades.

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  • [–] 26 points 4 months ago

    Biden campaigned as the dragonslayer who was going to get the Nazis out and force Trump out of politics. He spent four years tripping over his own dick and letting Trump get away with everything.

    Party Democrats aren't going to "repair (our) democracy." They don't want to, because doing so would jeopardize their personal economic interests.

    Trump didn't trick leftists into not voting. Democrats showed that they were unable or unwilling to do anything. Harris ran the same campaign as Biden: "I'm the only one who can defeat Trump." There can't be two Only Ones!

    And before you say it, I held my nose and voted for Harris. Plenty of people did. But you can't fault people for disengaging when the Democratic Party doesn't deliver on literally their only campaign promise. Not universal healthcare. Not the minimum wage. Not housing. Just "Trump bad" and "this is democracy's last chance" twice in a row.

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  • [–] 7 points 4 months ago

    Agreed. Stop the bleeding first, then triage based on wounds and prognosis.

    Recovering the broken relationships with allies will take decades.

    I'm fully prepared to not live long enough to see that repaired. Not that it's hopeless, but it really will take a lifetime.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago (3 children)

    The core of the problem is the extreme wealthy - no Republican candidate is going to do anything about that, Democrat candidates can be pressured into it.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago* (1 child)

    The Democrat candidate in 2024 did not respond to pressure and instead opted to run with a Republican by her side. If I believed any particular democrat was going to run on a platform of getting money out of politics and their background was aligned with those goals, then I wouldn't hesitate to vote for them but Gavin Newsom doesn't even support his own states billionaire tax. -In reference to common metaphor here Gavin Newsome will NOT stem the bleeding.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago

    My point is that you guys need to stop focusing so much on candidates, and start focusing more on organization. FDR was good in a lot of ways, but he did not show up magically out of nowhere, and he did not start the progressive movement on his own. The New Deal would never have happened without the urban unions and prairie populists.

    Gavin Newsom is not ideal, and you should fight to ensure someone better wins the primary - but he is still more likely to find himself in a situation where he has to please some people with some good ideas.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago (5 children)

    Voting for the lesser of two evils, over and over again, is how we got here, so nah. Do it right or let it burn.

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  • [–] 4 points 4 months ago (4 children)

    No it’s not. It’s the opposite

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  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago (3 children)

    when a democrat is in office it’s column A when republicans are in office its column B.

    ok look the result is the same

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago (2 children)

    That’s not even remotely true. The trump regime is unique, only comparable to e.g. The first years of the nazis and idiocracy.

    Nothing in the US is comparable to it. Stop this Russian propaganda

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago* (1 child)

    sure, trump is uniquely fast in his rightward push, as opposed to DNC democrats moderate rightward push.

    we are one minute from eclipsing nazi germany and yet we still argue for the lesser of two evils. ESPECIALLY since we are years away from another election and have all the time we need to not feild a peice of shit, but nope, time to buckle in for another inevitable false compromise

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  • [–] 0 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    Newsom is just as much of a fascist as Trump

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago (1 child)
  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago

    This piece of giant shit fucked up California so much. He's to blame for all the fires, he stopped funding fire departments to do controlled burns and left it to the "consumers".

    Also, so many whistleblowers came out from his fundraising foundation that he and his wife were embezzling funds during the Biden administration, Biden's doj launched an investigation still going on today.

    He also used prison populations to fight fires as slave labor with no chance of becoming a fire fighter upon release because of their criminal records.

    He regularly makes sure to cover for his habitually drunk driving asshole of an uncle, including VEHICULAR MANSLAUGHTER. And plays the stock market just like his corrupt cunt aunt.

    He gave billionaires WATER RIGHTS to waste on growing fucking almonds that DIRECTLY CAUSED droughts in the central valley.

    This fucking swamp taint needs to have his personal winery dumped with the round up he approved to dump on forests, killing any life and draining into municipal water infrastructure. He's directly causing more cancer and health issues for regular people

    Newsom is JUST AS MUCH OF A FASCIST AS TRUMP.

    HE SUCKS BILLIONAIRE COCK EVERYDAY, THAT'S WHY CALIFORNIA HAS THE MOST BILLIONAIRES IN THE FUCKING COUNTRY NOW.

    HE FUCKING DESTROYED MY HOME STATE

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  • [–] -1 points 4 months ago (4 children)

    They're going to do none of that.

    There are lots of good candidates that all deserve a look and a chance to be vetted publicly.

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  • [–] 4 points 4 months ago* (2 children)

    Where were all those candidates 2024?

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago (1 child)

    ...not running, because the sitting president ran for re-election?

    Do you not know anything about politics or are you just pretending to be this way?

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  • [–] 18 points 4 months ago

    Please for the love of god don't let this fuckhead be the Democrat Party presidential candidate.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/13/california-law-online-age-checks-00606115 - Google, Meta, and OpenAI "supported" this. Does anyone really think their motive is to "protect the children"?

    Age checks is a/the path to a national login system.

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  • [–] 10 points 4 months ago (6 children)

    Honestly I doubt much of anybody gives a fuck what Newsom thinks, these days. His term ends this year.

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  • [–] 18 points 4 months ago (5 children)

    He's the worst choice for President who isn't actually a Nazi.

    He also might be the only choice for President who isn't a Nazi.

    Whether or not he's the Democrat nominee, the nominee will be someone that virtually nobody actually likes.

    We're going to hold our noses and vote for them, or we're going to get President Vance and eight more years of Heritage Foundation policy.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago

    Every time I say this the internet falls on me. As a cis-straight-white-male who is close to a fairly well planned (but not exorbitant) retirement, I won't be hurt by a third much trump term... But I will feel very sorry for those who are NOT cis-straight-white-males who stayed home and helped it happen.

    Historically, there are very few instances of radical change in government... Incremental progressive change is the best we can hope for...

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago (3 children)

    No chance, I think. The only poll which doesn't place Harris in the lead, usually by double digits, gives it to Buttigeig. I think if it comes down to either Harrs vs Newsom or Buttigieg vs Newsom then the supporters of candidates who lost will put their weight behind the opponent to Newsom.

    Newsom is a dishonest, anti-democratic, anti-tax, anti-bodily autonomy, etc candidate. While these qualities may have helped with California's redistricting, he will not be popular enough for the majority in the DNC 2028 primaries.

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  • [–] 5 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    dishonest, anti-democratic, anti-tax, anti-bodily autonomy

    In other words, he's going to be the perfect corporate shill and have billions in dark money behind his campaign.

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  • [–] 47 points 4 months ago (9 children)

    Reminder that Newsom is a snake and can go fuck himself

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  • [+] -6 points 4 months ago (7 children)

    Future President Gavin Newsom is a snake and can go fuck himself

    Fixed it for you

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  • [–] 15 points 4 months ago (6 children)

    He doesn’t have to be president when the primary hasn’t even happened.

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  • [–] 7 points 4 months ago* (4 children)

    But he's the Next One Up, he's already got the nomination. The primary is a formality.

    The last time the DNC let a grassroots candidate take over and ruin the plans for the Next One Up, we got 8 years of a young, transformative President. They're not gonna let that happen again under their watch!

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  • [–] 13 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    Uh you really didn't. Obama was pretty much business as usual save for the affordable care act and some good foreign policy decisions.

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  • [–] 0 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    Yeah, if you don't count all the good things he did, he was kinda so-so....

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  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago

    If he did a grand total of 1 (one) transformative thing, then "eight years of a young, transformative president" isn't the way to describe him. He was also beaten to his claim to fame by Mitt Romney, so... yeah. By that standard Romney would've been an amazing choice for president.

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  • [–] 6 points 4 months ago*

    I wish Obama was 1/10th as "transformational" as people like you (or conversely, Fox News) claim he was.

    Dude didn't even support gay marriage until Biden kind of forced his hand on it.

    Still, sadly, the best president of my lifetime. So that's just how low the bar is.

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