“The View” co-host Sara Haines criticized California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s new Trump-style approach to social media on Friday, arguing that his strategy of “playing someone else’s game” is ineffective in moving the party forward or countering President Donald Trump.
Haines said that while Newsom has been able to reach wider audiences through his podcast appearances and heavy focus on social media, her support has shifted to other Democrats, including Maryland Gov. Wes Moore.
“This is why I’m a big proponent for Gov. Wes Moore. I love Sen. Elissa Slotkin. I love Rep. Sarah McBride. Their style of speech — they’re so solid in who they are and not changing to play someone else’s game,” Haines asserted.
“As an athlete, we were taught don’t let someone else take you off your game, what you do well. I think that’s one thing we’re seeing is the reason Newsom is talking that way and doing that is because Trump did it. Nobody outdoes Trump.”
Co-host Joy Behar pushed back, arguing that Newsom isn’t imitating Trump but mocking him.
“Mocking him is fine, but people are all so done with that,” Haines countered. “They want substance. They want solutions. They want solving problems.”
Continuing to push back, Behar argued that to get your message across, you first need the public’s attention.
“I think he had our attention already,” Haines replied. “I would just rather they push someone to the front that’s more like a Gov. Wes Moore. I think he is the one that will sweep in when people hear him talk. He needs no prep, no notes, no nothing because he feels everything he believes to his core, and he takes action.”
Since mid-August, Newsom’s press office account on X has gone viral for posting in a Trump-like style. It has called Newsom “AMERICA’S FAVORITE GOVERNOR,” typed in all-caps, and issued mocking nicknames for critics.
Newsom’s strategy has drawn mixed opinions from Democrats, with some praising the humor and others criticizing the approach as too unserious.
Last month, former DNC Chair Donna Brazile criticized Newsom’s social media tactics against Trump during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” emphasizing that “these are serious times.”
“Everybody likes a good laugh, and now he’s about to, I guess, issue his own cup and golden tennis shoes and who knows what else,” Brazile said. “These are serious times that require serious people to be at the table.”
Conversely, comedian Bill Maher applauded Newsom’s “trolling” of Trump on social media, claiming that the California governor has “grasped the essential thing about American culture in this day and age.”
“I’ve never seen a Democrat do this,” Maher told his “Real Time” panel. “I think it’s very funny.”
When asked for comment, a representative for the Office of Gov. Newsom referred Fox News Digital to the governor’s remarks made on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on Wednesday.
Speaking about his new social media strategy, Newsom told Colbert, “The strategy is inspiration—desperation, the two driving forces in life. Everything we were trying to do to break through wasn’t working, so we decided to do something to your point; a novel, humor. I’ve got to say oftentimes democrats, we are a little, you know, we are not as humorous as we should be. A little stiff. We thought we’d have some fun with it. I never imagined it would break through like it has and get under the skin of the President of the United States and some of my friends.”
Fox News’ Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.
