Gavin Newsom raised himself on the mean streets of Marin County, California.
“It was also about paying the bills, man,” he recently told former NBA stars Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes on their popular “All the Smoke” podcast.
“It was just, like, hustling. And and so I was out there kind of raising myself, turning on the TV, just getting obsessed. I was sitting there with the Wonder bread [and] macaroni and cheese.”
Like Steve Martin in “The Jerk,” Newsom apparentlystarted out as a poor black child.
Even Jackson laughed, saying it sounded like his own biography.
But it’s a fabricated “poorigin” story for the ages.
Newsom left out a few key details in the portrayal of himself as a downtrodden latchkey kid who used sports to overcome his learning disability and go from stacks of Wonder bread to the French Laundry.
The 58-year-old comes from a prominent Bay Area family. His father was a judge and attorney. Sure, his parents were divorced, and he was mostly raised by his mother, Tessa. She, like many people in America, worked more than one job.
But unlike most kids, Newsom was close to the nexus of power. Early on, he was mentored by political kingmaker Willie Brown and both his professional and political ambitions were financed by the Getty oil dynasty — his dad managed the billionaire family’s trust.
But hey, he was just hustlin’ and hooping his way out of trouble — all while looking like the rich d-bag in every 1980s movie.
Newsom is a shameless chameleon who will morph into whatever persona pleases his present company.
When he interviewed Charlie Kirk for his “This Is Gavin Newsom” podcast in March, six months before the Turning Point founder’s assassination, Newsom turned fawning: saying that his son was so pumped, he wanted to play hooky from school to meet Kirk.
This week, Newsom was asked on CNN how his son reacted to Kirk’s death. The California governor back-pedaled, saying his son “wasn’t a fan of him as much as he was familiar with him.”
The slick pretty boy is no fool. He’s laying the groundwork for a presidential run in 2028 and reading the room.
He’s also showcasing a major plot twist in America.
Suddenly, there is this belief that to be somebody in the future, you had to have been a no one in the past. No access. No silver spoon in your mouth, and no advantages.
It’s why the phrase “nepo baby” has become the most withering label. Even established, wealthy stars want to unburden themselves of their privilege.
It’s why elites lean into victimhood, hoping it will absolve being born on third base.
Sometimes it’s annoying but harmless. Meghan Markle, the daughter of a Daytime Emmy-winning lighting director, lamenting how she “grew up on the $4.99 salad bar at Sizzler.” Or Victoria Beckham claiming in the “Beckham” documentary that her childhood was “very working class” — before her incredulous husband admonished her to “be honest” and admit her father drove a Rolls-Royce.
But things get murkier when it’s politicians scrubbing their real lives in service of the idea that the only virtue is in struggle and getting your hands dirty. Or, in the case of Kamala Harris, allegedly getting french-fry grease on your shirt from working at McDonalds.
Team Harris thought that would be a clever way to dirty up her resume and make her more relatable to working folks. But they couldn’t even prove that it happened.
The Democrats used to be the party of the working class before abandoning them. In a bid to rebuild an out-of-touch brand, party leaders are overcompensating by clinging to any shred of a blue-collar existence.
Look at their next great hope, Graham Platner — the self-professed “working class” man now running for a US Senate seat in Maine. (You know, the one who allegedly has a Nazi tattoo.) The Washington Post crowned him one of its “rugged guys of the 2026 midterms” while foodie mag Bon Appetit wrote about “How Graham Platner Went From Working-Class Oysterman to Maine’s Zohran Mamdani.”
Please.
Platner’s father was a prominent attorney in Maine. As a kid, the candidate briefly attended Hotchkiss prep academy — a place so pricey the tuition could secure a down payment on a home.
And, of course, there is Mamdani, the son of a Columbia professor and an Oscar-nominated director, who downplays his family’s wealth and masquerades as a workingman’s savior rather than the champagne socialist he is.
The great irony is that Donald Trump, a billionaire, has charmed the working class by flaunting his tax bracket. He knows how rich people act because he’s one of them, and he’s sharing the secrets.
Stuck in an identity crisis, the Dems are struggling to find authenticity and common sense.
But no one needs to be insulted by a guy like Newsom reimagining himself as a man of the people. Americans are smarter than that.
