As we reported Monday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom appeared in a cringe clip with CNN host Jake Tapper, where the two looked like they were auditioning for an Abercrombie & Fitch catalog as they attempted to fly-fish in Montana. Newsom rather gruffly explained that if former Vice President Kamala Harris decides to run for president in 2028, he’s out.
Gavin Newsom says he won’t run for president if Kamala runs while out fly fishing with Jake Tapper. Kamala 2028! It’s inevitable, climb aboard the train @BuckSexton! Also the amount of work required to film a fly fishing interview is beyond absurd. pic.twitter.com/zbBT6SVWHt
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) September 15, 2026
“I wouldn't run if she ran," Newsom growled, presumably wanting to play the cowboy.
As I wrote, I think he was doing what George W. Bush famously knew as “strategery.” (Fun fact: Bush never actually said that. It was Will Ferrell on Saturday Night Live portraying him.)
Gavin gets to look like the magnanimous, virtuous guy who isn’t power-hungry at all — he just wants to do what’s best for the country. (A quick look around California will tell you that is not true.)
It also puts Kamala on notice that he’s lurking out there, that she’s a terrible candidate, and that she’s going to have to make her intentions known in the very near future. Could he be attempting to play 4D chess here? I’ve always said he’s a terrible governor, with possibly the worst record in the country, but I’ve never said he’s stupid:
If he runs against a black woman, he’ll be vilified as a traitor to his race-based party, and he knows that. By claiming he’d take some sort of higher road, meanwhile, I’d bet he’s guessing that she’s not going to enter the race. Despite her leading many polls asking who will be the eventual Democrat nominee, she proved to be one of the worst candidates in modern times and has done herself no favors since…
Much as I hate to say it, it [saying he wouldn’t run against Harris] could end up being a pretty slick approach.
It may be slick, but it failed in one of its apparent objectives: making the famously coiffed governor come across as authentic. Admittedly, that’s an almost impossible ask because he’s one of the least genuine politicians in the entire nation, and it often feels like he was manufactured by a 3-D printer. Inquiring minds want to know: Was he sporting hair gel under that hat?
Folks had an awful lot to say about the Fish Bros:
How lucky are we that a camera crew just happened to be standing in a Montana river while two guys who can’t cast pretended to fly fish.
— Pro America Politics (@proamericapol) September 14, 2026
Totally organic. Not staged at all.
CNN is doing the Lord’s work trying to make Newsom look like a regular dude.
Herculean task.…
Does it look like Gavin’s black, collared button-down shirt (or pullover; can't quite tell) is one you’d wear fishing? It seems like it would be more appropriate at a Hollywood Hills party than it would be in a Montana stream. “Why is newsom [sic] fly fishing in business casual,” a post that drew almost 150,000 users wondered.
Tapper, meanwhile, looked like a math teacher at a community college. He looked kind of like this guy:
Conservative pundit Ben Shapiro wasn’t buying into the moment either: “It was as normal to watch that as President Trump doing sort of equestrian riding,” he said on CNN. “I'm not sure exactly what's happening here.”
RedState’s own Ward Clark couldn’t resist:
Why didn't you have any men on the show?
— Ward Clark (@TheGreatLander) September 15, 2026
A commenter responded to my wife’s X post about the cosplaying duo:
Brokeback Creek
— GordonT64 (@GordonT64) September 15, 2026
The episode reminded Heritage Foundation Media Fellow Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) of another failed Democrat’s attempt to portray himself as a regular guy when he’s anything but. “Gavin Newsom's fly fishing is on par with Tim Walz's hunting," he wrote.
It may be fun to mock Newsom for antics like these, and the fact that he’s actually, underneath all the smoothness, seriously weird, with his serpentine moves and bizarre hand gestures during many a press conference or interview.
What causes Gavin Newsom to move like this? pic.twitter.com/QGy4PLOpc9
— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) September 9, 2026
The reality is, however, that he’s a clear and present danger to America because he wants to bring California-style progressivism and failure to the rest of the country.
It’s easy to say, “Oh, come on, that guy can’t win the Big One,” but I would simply point you to the reality that Joe Biden inhabited the Oval Office for four years, and we have an actual Marxist serving as the mayor of New York City.
Kamala Harris, meanwhile, lost both the Electoral College and the popular vote to Trump — but that margin was only a dangerously slim 1.5 percent. Somehow — it boggles the mind — 75 million Americans thought she’d make a good president despite the fact that she can’t string a coherent sentence together.
Newsom is much more wily and capable than Harris could ever dream of being. I hope and pray that he never gains traction outside the loony Golden State, but I’ve seen him win easily too many times before to get overconfident.
We must continue to criticize him heavily, expose his record, and yes — mock him into the next century. I’m more than happy to do my part.
