No one has ever accused California Gov. Gavin Newsom of being consistent, or of having any actual principles, or of being much of an intellect, for that matter. Still, the fact that – while trying to bash a sitting president while in Munich – Newsom managed (accidentally, no doubt) to call a Big Lie on himself is a new milestone in self-owning.

At a Munich Security Summit, Newsom had this to say: “If there’s nothing else I can communicate today, Donald Trump is temporary. He’ll be gone in three years.”

Newsom was talking about Trump’s work to pull the country back from the climate lunacy that Newsom has been imposing on Californians.

But he clearly meant that in the broader sense, because he told the press at that same conference that, while Europeans “see us as a wrecking ball,” and that “they don’t think we’ll ever come back to our original form,” that “whatever happens, we can undo, we can shapeshift, we can fix it. … I’m here in many respects to remind everyone that Trump is temporary. … He’ll be measured in years, not decades.”

Newsom must think he’s pretty savvy to reassure Europeans that there are elections here in the United States and that presidents come and go, as they have 45 times in our history.

But that’s not what Newsom has been telling Americans.

No. Here in America, Newsom has been saying the exact opposite. That Trump is an existential threat to democracy. That he will inflict permanent damage on the country. That he must be stopped at all costs.

Back in January 2024, he said that Trump is “lighting democracy on fire,” and that fears that a second Trump presidency could be an authoritarian nightmare are well justified.

In June 2025, he posted on X that “The President of the United States just called for the arrest of a sitting Governor. This is a day I hoped I would never see in America. I don’t care if you’re a Democrat or a Republican, this is a line we cannot cross as a nation — this is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism. These are the acts of a dictator, not a President.”

When Trump ordered the National Guard into California to quell anti-ICE riots, Newsom warned that “California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes. This moment we have feared has arrived.”

And so on.

It’s weird, isn’t it, that a guy who wants to be president of the United States would go to Europe to reassure the Europeans that all is well while trying to scare the bejabbers out of Americans?

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently – and perfectly – described Newson as “a cross between Sparkle Beach Ken and Patrick Bateman.”

We’d add only that Newsom also seems to have a bit of Groucho — “Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them … well, I have others” — Marx.

Except that Groucho was making fun of politicians like Newsom.

–  Written by the I&I Editorial Board