Gavin Newsom’s fables create a target-rich environment for his critics

As Gov. Gavin Newsom was edging closer to declaring a 2028 campaign for president during a CBS News interview Sunday, a deepfake video of the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, appeared on YouTube denouncing Newsom and predicting his political downfall.

Fake Musk’s critique meandered through several current events, including Newsom’s reaction to the U.S. Department of Justice’s announcement that it would monitor voting in next week’s special election to decide the fate of Proposition 50, Newsom’s gerrymander of congressional districts.

The AI-generated Musk said Newsom had a meltdown that stripped away his carefully crafted façade and revealed a flailing politician. He predicted that Prop. 50 would fail and tank Newsom’s political career.

Newsom’s actual video response to the DOJ was sharply critical but by no means a meltdown. And voter polls, most recently by the Public Policy Institute of California, indicate that Prop. 50 will pass.

Nevertheless, the deepfake monologue signals that as Newsom edges closer to full-fledged candidacy, he will face escalating scrutiny not only in political media but from social media naysayers and deepfakers too.

Unfortunately for him, his life, career and the state he governs are target-rich environments. And he’s often his own worst enemy, because what he says often doesn’t square with reality.

For instance, his 2018 campaign promises — to build 3.5 million new housing units, create single-payer health coverage for all Californians and solve the state’s homelessness crisis — turned out to be fairy dust. And the $97.5 billion budget surplus he touted in 2022 was just an illusion.

Comedians Rob Schneider and Adam Carolla, historian Victor Davis Hanson and podcaster Joe Rogan, among others, produce a non-stop flow of videos about Newsom’s shortcomings. Even humorist Bill Maher, once a Newson admirer, is often critical.

This week, Newsom’s detractors got new ammunition when Newsom, appearing on the “All The Smoke” podcast, portrayed himself as overcoming poverty and neglect as a youngster after his parents divorced.

“My mom was 19, pregnant and divorced a few years later, with two kids,” he said, “came from no money and just hustled. You know, worked hard, grinding every single day. Two and a half jobs, no bulls—.

“We had roommates all the time because she couldn’t afford the rent,” he continued. “It was also about paying the bills, man. It was just like hustling and so I was out there, kind of raising myself, turning on the TV, just getting obsessed. I was sitting there with the Wonder Bread … the macaroni and cheese.”

Newsom’s description omits the fact that billionaire Gordon Getty semi-adopted him — payback for services Newson’s father, a lawyer, had long rendered to the family of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty. When Newsom started his wine and restaurant business, PlumpJack, Gordon Getty’s trust, administered by Newsom’s father, provided the initial capital.

The podcast generated a flurry of critical coverage, including an article in the New York Post and a barrage of derisive comments from Fox News personalities. It also drew a response from Newsom’s office.

“Anyone with more than an inch of curiosity would know that Governor Newsom was raised by his mother after her divorce from his father when he was 3 years old,” a Newsom spokesperson told The Post. “He has talked about moving between two different worlds, but he was raised by a mother who worked three jobs at one point — secretary, waitress, and paralegal.”

Newsom more or less gets away with spinning fables as governor of a deeply blue state, but a presidential campaign is a minefield.

The former college baseball player — whose description of his sports career is also full of self-serving holes — wants to play in the political big leagues, where gaffes can be game-changing.