Opinion: Prop. 50 a stepping stone for Newsom’s nascent presidential campaign

California Gov Gavin Newsom answers questions in Sacramento after signing decree Aug calling for a special vote on a redrawn congressional map Photo by Godofredo A V squez Associated Press The odds are astronomically high that California voters will ratify Proposition Gov Gavin Newsom s scheme to grab five more congressional seats for his Democratic Party However passage may have little or no impact on next year s congressional elections since it merely offsets the five-seat grab that Texas Republicans enacted earlier at President Donald Trump s behest What happens vis- -vis redistricting in other states particularly those controlled by Republicans is more likely to determine the ballot s parameters by either enhancing or reducing Republican chances of maintaining their very slim House majority That mentioned Newsom s audacious confrontation of Trump is a major step toward capturing his party s presidential nomination in a prize he still insists with rapidly decreasing credibility he has not decided to pursue By framing Prop as a tool to block Trump s authoritarian tendencies Newsom emerges as the de facto leader of a political party that is trying to find a way forward after last year s embarrassing loss Moreover his extensive fundraising for the Prop campaign gives him a list of thousands of foreseen supporters for a presidential campaign I haven t decided Newsom insisted to Kristen Welker on NBC s Meet the Press which aired Sunday before emitting a word salad of criteria for a candidate that seemed to embrace himself to wit I think whoever runs and this is just my objective belief subjective but I hope it s objective for a lot of Americans it reminds me a little of Isaiah You need to be a repairer of the breach spiritually and physically But it s not just about restoration the forces of restoration It s also forces of transformation And what I mean by that is what are the trend lines that define the future You know I m here We re in the future business I m here in California Future happens here first We re America s coming attraction I worry about the future of work Newsom continued I worry about the announcement from Amazon I worry about earnings going up profits skyrocketing and headcount going down meaning less and less people having access and opportunities I think whoever runs has to paint a vision for the future a journey that we can be on together that s not just about upsurge but about inclusion issues of debt and entitlement issues around resource And I still believe in weather issues All those issues need to be front and center eventually for whoever s the nominee of our party So if one makes the wholly logical assumption that Newsom is conducting a shadow campaign despite his insistence to the contrary how does he build on the Prop campaign that portrayed Trump as the devil incarnate and himself as the resistor in chief During his Meet the Press interview Newsom hinted that he will continue to troll Trump on social media and engage in other unconventional maneuvers to bolster opposition because Trump has used those tools himself The rules of the contest have changed Newsom notified Welker Now we have to rewrite the new rules I m trying to iterate I m in that process of doing that His tactics Newsom implied are justified by Trump s authoritarianism This can t continue forever all of us living in this state of fear and anxiety on edge he stated And so of module we want to go back to selected semblance of normalcy But you have to deal with the dilemma at hand It s just been months of this presidency We have three more years Time to batten down the hatches And it s time for us to change if we want things to change And that s why our communications strategy has shifted It sure sounds like Newsom wants to be the catalyst for that change