AI slop refers to low-quality, mass-produced digital content—text, images, video, or audio—created by artificial intelligence with minimal human oversight.”
The primary difference between Newsom and Trump’s online behavior is that the president’s content feels authentically unhinged, a digital projection of the president’s runaway id. Newsom’s content is so cynical that his entire being feels more akin to an aggregator: recycled SEO and viral-bait content often ripped off from better sources designed for nothing more than engagement boosts.
Newsom’s politics are as unstable and desperate as his online persona. What should we do about homelessness? Provide services, but throw folks the hell out of here. Do Democrats need to support LGBTQ rights? Yes, except no. Is Israel an apartheid state? Of course, but absolutely not. We could do this all day.
Americans seem to notice the hypocrisy. Polling last month from NBC News showed that Newsom is less popular than Trump, with Trump underwater by 12 points and Newsom by 18. For comparison, Pope Leo XIV was up by 34, and Stephen Colbert was up 10 in the same poll. The least unpopular Democrat was Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was down by 11. (Note that Trump’s approval rating is worse today than last month, but updated polling that includes Newsom isn’t yet available.)
You don’t have to like Gavin Newsom. I don’t particularly love him. Now is a great time to promote the living fuck out of the most progressive candidate you can find. If the hypothetical highly progressive candidate wins, then that’s great! And if they don’t, then having a strong progressive in the primary will force Newsom and any other centrists to address their issues, possibly even adopt their policies or offer them a position in an even more hypothetical Newsom administration. All of those would be good for the progressive cause.
But.
The next president cannot be a Republican.
As much as you may find Newsom distasteful, you’ve got to see a meaningful difference between a President Newsom and a President Vance, Carlson, or Don Jr., and all of those are very real possibilities.
So don’t say anything you can’t take back. Don’t actively sabotage whoever the Democratic nominee might eventually be. Try to win your primary, but acknowledge that we have more in common with each other than we do with whatever godforsaken thing is going to emerge to run as the Republican nominee.