News Analysis: Newscum's decision to fight fire with fire could have profound political consequences

Deep in the badlands of defeat, Democrats have soul-searched about what
went wrong last November, tinkered with a thousand-plus thinkpieces and
desperately cast for a strategy to reboot their stalled-out party. 

Amid the noise, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has recently championed an
unlikely game plan: Forget the high road, fight fire with fire and
embrace the very tactics that virtue-minded Democrats have long decried. 

Could the dark art of political gerrymandering be the thing that saves
democracy from Trump’s increasingly authoritarian impulses? That’s
essentially the pitch Newsom is making to California voters with his
audacious new special election campaign. 

As Texas Democrats dig in to block a Republican-led redistricting push
and Trump muscles to consolidate power wherever he can, Newsom wants to
redraw California's own congressional districts to favor Democrats. 

His goal: counter Trump’s drive for more GOP House seats with a power
play of his own. 

It's a boundary-pushing gamble that will undoubtedly supercharge
Newsom's political star in the short-term. The long-game glory could be
even grander, but only if he pulls it off. A ballot-box flop would be
brutal for both Newsom and his party. 

The charismatic California governor is termed out of office in 2026 and
has made no secret of his 2028 presidential ambitions. 

But the distinct scent of his home state will be hard to completely
slough off in parts of the country where California is synonymous with
loony lefties, business-killing regulation and an out-of-control
homelessness crisis. To say nothing of Newsom's ill-fated dinner at an
elite Napa restaurant in violation of COVID-19 protocols — a misstep
that energized a failed recall attempt and still haunts the governor's
national reputation. 

The redistricting gambit is the kind of big play that could redefine how
voters across the country see Newsom. 

The strategy could be a boon for Newsom's 2028 ambitions during a moment
when Democrats are hungry for leaders, said Democratic strategist Steven
Maviglio. But it's also a massive roll of the dice for both Newsom and
the state he leads. 

“It’s great politics for him if this passes,” Maviglio said. “If it
fails, he's dead in the water.” 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/news-analysis-newsom-s-decision-t
o-fight-fire-with-fire-could-have-profound-political-consequences/ar-AA1K
Fyy1 

Dead it is.