When you speak the truth, you don't need a special referee. Bernie went on a Fox News town hall and got an audience to mostly all raise their hands in support of Medicare for all.

We all have more in common, once we all sober up...

Looks like Lemmy has not seen Newsom debate. And apparently didn’t see Newsom school Hannity on his show last month.

This has been Newsome's shtick for a minute. During his reelection campaign, he spent campaign funds advertising on Fox in Florida. He's been going to red states to give speeches. He gave an interview to Sean Hannity just a month or so ago. He's brandishing his reputation as a democratic fighter not afraid to go into hostile territory and news environments to stand up for liberal values.

DeSanits in particular has been a foil for Newsome since at least the coronavirus days when Florida was open and getting crushed under the delta wave. He regularly attacks DeSantis on abortion, book bans, teaching that slavery wasn't so bad, on and on. When DeSantis sent migrants on a plane to California, Newsome instantly reacted suggesting that DeSantis could be charged with kidnapping (this made his staff none to happy btw, Newsome can be like Trump in that he tweets out policy forcing his staff to react without notice).

Newsome is term limited, so he's done in 2026(?). He's been on the campaign trail trying to become Bidens number one bestest surrogate. He's building his brand for a presidential run in 2028. Also he just loves the spotlight. I doubt there is much logic to that beyond that.

And it doesn't matter what happens at the debate, so there's no real downside. Viral clips will be shared of good zingers each contestant got in, each side will talk about how their guy crushed the other guy. None of this will change anyone's mind. It's all just a show, and Newsome loves to be on stage.

I mean this in the least condescending way possible, but you don't understand how American politics works.

The absolute best scenario for Democrats is for the Republicans to split their ticket between Trump and DeSantis - or anyone else, but there doesn't seem to be anyone else thus far with his pull on the national stage.

It'll be Clinton-Bush-Perot but in reverse.

Gavin Newsom wants to be president. Maybe not this cycle, but defo the next cycle

Probably partly related to Newsom's continual use of the "pied piper" strategy, trying to boost right-wing opponents so that he doesn't have to face off against anyone left of center.

He's doing this because he wants to run for President in 28 and he is cultivating his brand on the national stage.

It's a big gamble tho, you're right about that.

Smart to not have an audience.

Fox Entertainment*

Hey lets not insult the Florida swamp chimps with that comparison, I propose Gitmo Ghoul.

I can’t imagine this going well. DeSantis will not properly debate, he’ll probably just try to talk over him. And Fox ‘News’ won’t do anything to properly moderate DeSantis, like muting his mic when he speaks out of turn.

It’s on Fox News so there will be no moderation for DeSantis while Newsom will be held to the strictest of standards. I expect a bunch of gotcha questions directed to Newsom with not enough time to properly answer while DeSantis gets softballs with all the time he needs.