Gavin Newsom: Trump Pushing ‘Complete Bill of Bulls**t’ on Rural Voters

Appearing Sunday on Axios on HBO, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) claimed the Republican Party’s policies aimed at bettering rural communities is a “complete bill of bullshit.”

A partial transcript is as follows: 

JIM VANDEHEI: You were talking about something interesting, you were talking about this sort of toxic masculinity. And you said, quote, “the most dangerous words in the English language are ‘man up,’ ‘be a man,’ and ‘don’t be a sissy.'”

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM: Yeah.

VANDEHEI: Really? Those are the most dangerous words in the English language?

GOV. NEWSOM: Yeah, I think because a lot of things can be explained in that respect. What was the most interesting part of this 2016 election was the number of white men of working age that are not working any longer.

VANDEHEI: Most people would say it’s just an expression like “Man up,” right? “Toughen up.”

GOV. NEWSOM: Well, “Man up,” that sort of reinforces the frame. I think that’s a weak thing to say. It’s weak.

VANDEHEI: Any Trump voter — I have a lot of family members who voted for Trump, too — they would say, “you don’t understand me, you don’t understand my life.”
GOV. NEWSOM: Somehow I spent 50 years of my life in rural California in one of the reddest parts of the state, in Placer County. We grew up with these folks. I have deep respect for people in the rural community. Deep. I just don’t want them to be lied to. I actually care about them. I’m not using them as a pawn. They’re not being respected, they’re being lied to. They’re not connected to any movement.

VANDEHEI: Right.

GOV. NEWSOM: You think Trump cares about them? He’s a sole practitioner. You think they’re being protected? We’re actually ginning up more anxiety, more fear, which makes communities less safe. They’re getting a completely raw deal. They’ve been sold a complete bill of bullshit… It’s a complete yarn of crap. And it’s just damn sad. There’s a formula for this and Trump, he’s a nostalgic guy, but he’s not necessarily moored to history. I’m not sure he knows that history, but he certainly has a sense of nostalgia and that’s what he’s exploiting.