California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) spent all day on social media Saturday, defending his incendiary claim that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller is a “fascist.”
Newsom decided to call Miller a “fascist” just days after the same accusation was carved into the bullet casings apparently used in the assassination Charlie Kirk. He had also called Miller, who is Jewish, “SS” — a reference to the Nazis who led the Holocaust.
As Breitbart News reported, several prominent commentators called on Newsom to stop the hateful rhetoric, including Andrew Kolvet, who co-hosted Kirk’s radio show and was close to the late conservative leader.
But Newsom persisted, and spent the entire day on Saturday defending and doubling down on “fascist.”
Often, Newsom appeared to imitate President Donald Trump’s rhetorical style, as he has done in the past.
Newsom’s press office account is an official account, used for official government communications. It is run by the governor and by junior staff members, who boast of their role in Newsom’s rhetoric on social media.
The strategy appears to be to impress Democrats by fighting Trump with the same rhetorical weapons he uses — though there are several differences. Trump avoids “punching down,” reserving his attacks for politicians, journalists, and people who have attacked him first. He rarely attacks the staff members of rival politicians.
Newsom has also eschewed any responsibility for the kind of rhetoric that led to Kirk’s assassination.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Zionist Conspiracy Wants You, now available on Amazon. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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