As Gavin Newsom Stacks Up the Disasters, His Comms Team Is Melting Down

The group of underdeveloped, overconfident youths manning the communications for California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) is encountering some issues. The once high-flying digital savants in charge of his social media are in a tailspin at the moment, matching the fortunes of their boss, and the reality is exposing the vacuous nature of their office.

It is coming at a vital time for Newsom, as he has been undercutting his own fortunes and is reaping negative results. A recent poll shows that Newsom has been hemorrhaging numbers, seeing his support nearly cut in half in recent months. That his once highly touted comms team has devolved into a petulant hive means things will not improve any time soon.

It has been a brutal February for Newsom. The man has been spotted in numerous places across the globe, save for the state where he is employed. In that time, he chalked up an impressive list of debacles in just one month. For a man consumed with currying adulation to build his presidential bid, Governor Brylcreem has come away looking like he ran out of pomade. (Metaphorically, of course.)

Things began with the administration saying it needed to take over the non-existent fire-rebuilding process, he was roundly mocked for the tongue-bath profile he received in Vogue, and DHS showed he was a simp on immigration enforcement. Gavin’s wife delivered humiliating comments at a presser, and he went to Munich and managed to be overshadowed by AOC. He is watching economic migration firsthand: Valero Oil has absorbed over $1 billion in exit costs to leave the state, and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg has relocated, pitching his tent now in the fiscally-friendly state of Florida. Gavin shamed himself (if he is even capable of that emotion) when he gave a gushing video about laying track for the boondoggle speed rail line that was supposed to have been finished years ago, and is unfathomably billions of dollars over budget.

Gavin’s reading comprehension has been a feature this month as well. He got into a beef with Ted Cruz, wailing that it was mean for the Texas senator to insult his reading ability when he has dyslexia. Cruz was noting when Gavin got some details of the past wrong, leading him to say Newsom was “historically illiterate.” Then there was the ill-fated visit in Atlanta, where Newsom insulted the audience by saying that, like them, he, too, was stupid and was unable to read. That he touted that deficiency while on a book tour was all the more remarkable.

Maybe this is why he delegates communications to his vibe crew.

It was late last summer when Newsom was receiving raves from the press after he reconstituted a social media account (@GovPressOffice) to become a trolling source targeting the president. The young duo of activist cranks, given the charge of going after Trump with memes, mockery, and mimicking his style, were hailed while displaying content that was often sophomoric and lazy. That was all because they were attacking the mortal enemy of the Democrats and the press.

But as the new year rolled around, two things happened. Newsom began losing traction, and his comms team was facing a growing list of serious questions and requests for comments. Suddenly, they were being contacted not for quotes to put in glowing puff pieces but needing to address serious issues or Newsom’s growing tendency to speak in hand grenades. His celebrated quipsters were not equipped to handle this shift.

Recently, in response to Gavin’s comment about being dyslexic, his communications office was asked if they could provide any medical proof that he has this condition. Susan Crabtree, from Real Clear Politics, contacted the office, and she was on the receiving end of a vulgar refutation.

SEE: Boom: MS Gov. Tate Reeves Schools Gavin Newsom on California Reading Scores vs. Mississippi

Now, this is not to get squeamish over such crudeness. Politics, like hockey, is a rough and tumble environment. (Just look at the crying over Team USA, and how the teammates are barely concerned.) But to see the very people complaining about Trump turning around and behaving in the same manner towards the press shows how hollow the past outrage has been.

The head of the Newsom account, Izzy Gardon, doubled down on his profane response, apparently operating as if they were still insulated with all of the media adulation that had cocooned them last year. What's becoming clear is that this team lacks the talent to navigate tough issues — unable to spin adverse news or deflect criticism with any real skill. They seem to believe that the crude method of their attack memes will also work with news inquiries.

In the wake of the Crabtree retort, more outlets have been inquiring of them, and those, too, became denigrated as not “real” news sources. That this is attempted with long-established media entities shows the abject lack of skill.

In a new brewing issue for Newsom, there have been questions regarding the jet-set governor not attending the state budget presentation, something that originates from him. When Josh Koehn, from the California Post (the newly launched West Coast version of the New York Post), reached out about this detail, Gardon insulted them as a “comic book” outlet. When alerted in a follow-up email that the San Francisco Chronicle also reported on the governor’s absence, that paper, too, was dismissed by Gardon as equally invalid.

Just to chime in, here's an email from Gov spokesman when I asked why Newsom didn't attend his own budget presentation.

Izzy called The Post the "New York Comic Book." When I told him @sfchronicle reported the unusual absence, he wrote: "I’d put that outlet in the same bucket." https://t.co/3r4HUbOzEo pic.twitter.com/9pwEo8ST5W
— Josh Koehn (@Josh_Koehn) February 25, 2026

What we are seeing here is a comms team flailing, not prevailing. All of that initial praise the team was receiving in the press was all heat, and they took it as validation. This is a squad that fell prey to huffing their own flatulence, so they continued with the audacious displays but never worked on creating substantive content. Now, as Newsom faces real questions on real problems — many that he had a hand in creating — when they should be providing that substance, it instead leads to panic and delivering venom.

As Harry Enten displayed in his polling assessment, Izzy and his team have not built up Gavin’s profile.

Look at this. Google searches for Gavin Newsom down 63 percent from the August peak. You remember back then? It was when he started that social media, right, going after President Trump, there was a lot of interest from Democratic voters, but maybe that interest is waning off just a little bit. And of course, you don't necessarily want to wane it off just yet.

Gavin’s celebrated comms team has delivered the opposite of their mission statement. They felt at ease churning out reactive content, but they never developed proficiency in actual messaging. Now, at a time when Newsom needs relief from his public relations, they are turning out to be anti-social.

That is disastrous for a political campaign, but it falls in line with most of the results he has imparted on his state. Maybe someone should remind Gavin where it is located on the map.

BONUS CONTENT

One of Izzy's first journalistic targets was RedState Managing Editor Jennifer Van Laar; a few days before his attack on Susan Crabtree, he tried hard to troll her and failed to be funny. Van Laar posted a photo in which she wore a hat knit for her by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, and Izzy was right there to ask Grok to "make this a pink pu**yhat circa 2017," then replied with the AI photo after she called him out.

Jenny, why didn’t you include the pic??? Grok worked hard on it! pic.twitter.com/owoRX7CLCF
— Izzy Gardon (@iGardon) February 19, 2026

Super funny stuff, there. That is, if you're in third grade.

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