California Governor Gavin Newsom (D), over the weekend, fueled speculation about President Joe Biden's replacement.
Newsom did so on Sunday, during an appearance on NBC's Meet The Press where he gave an oddly spirited defense of Biden that suggested that he's trying his best to defend Biden despite not believing in the President's power to win in 2024.
The California governor has been consistently mentioned as one of the leading candidates to replace Biden on the Democratic Party's presidential ticket.
Newsom, during the interview, appeared to try to throw his support behind Biden. But, it was an unconvincing effort. It was so unconvincing, in fact, that it made it appear as though Newsom, perhaps, wants Biden to be replaced.
Newsom, during the interview, was asked by anchor Kristen Welker whether he believes that "it is responsible for Democrats to put [Biden] at the top of the ticket given [concerns about Biden's ability to serve a second term."
Newsom answered in the affirmative, and he proceeded to try to make Biden look like a successful president.
"I mean, what he’s done in three years, it’s been a masterclass. Close to 15 million jobs, that’s eight times more than the last three Republican presidents combined. The economy is booming. Inflation is cooling. It’s .6% more than it was in the summer of 2020 at just 3.1%," Newsom said.
He continued, "We have American manufacturing coming home, all because of Biden’s wisdom, his temperance, his capacity to lead in a bipartisan manner, which is an underrepresented point. And, so, I have great confidence moving forward. And so the answer is, absolutely all in, in terms of the next four years for Joe Biden."
Somewhat surprisingly, Welker pushed back on Newsom.
Welker insisted that Biden's record is not the problem. Rather Welker argued that Democrats are concerned about Biden's ability to beat Trump. Newsom, however, disagreed and continued where he left off.
"I think he’s doing everything he needs to do. I mean, he’s got an extraordinary record. He’s doing everything he needs to do on Ukraine at the moment. He’s doing everything he needs to do to wrestle some common sense as it relates to a bipartisan approach to address the issue of the border when Republicans couldn’t take yes for an answer because they don’t want to make that a political issue. He is leading," he said.
Newsom concluded, "So, no, from my humble perspective, not only have the last three years been extraordinary, I’ve been out, as you know, on the campaign trail. I was just out in California. I’ve seen him up close, I’ve seen him from far. But here’s my point: it’s because of his age that he’s been so successful."
The problem, of course, with Newsom's pitch is that it is the complete opposite of reality, and the surest way to make something stick out is to put it next to its opposite.
Accordingly, Newsom may have just done more to get rid of Biden than any Republican has done.
