The Goods 4/10/24
I came across this video in my Youtube algorithm since I’ve been listening to a lot of Loveline with Dr. Drew and Adam Carolla.
This interview with Gavin Newsom is at least 11 years old. I believe he was the Mayor of San Francisco at the time.
Newsome waxes poetic with the typical neoliberal jargon about homelessness, racism, unemployment - all the usual political talking points.
Carolla is on point in this interview and very funny. He savagely rips on the Mayor of LA and pushes Newsom to the wall on several issues, mainly traffic tickets, but in general it sounds like Newsom is Carolla’s stand-in for the archetypal politician that everyone hates. Gavin Newsom is the perfect guy for that.
Look at this wannabe Patrick Bateman. A turdnugget of the highest order.
(I’m working on the concept of dingalings versus turdnuggets as a system of categorizing people I think are irritating. As of right now Newsom is a Turd. I think the distinguishing characteristic is that turdnuggets have the capability to severely fuck your life up whereas dingalings are just dingalings. These categories aren’t a strict binary, they can be combined - “He’s a certified turdnugget with severe dingaling tendencies.” Try it out sometime.)
Gavin Newsom’s father was a tax attorney for the Getty Oil family, but he’s so trained in PR speak that he continually refers to any group of people as “folks” like he’s a relatable everyman. “Hey pal, I know most politicians are crooked, but I’m really lookin to help folks out!” This use of folks predates the modern googoogaagaa speak of liberal arts students. It’s word magic regardless, even if Newsom is more of an ideological cynic than someone who goes by a fairytale gender - it’s a matter of degree.
When it comes down to the wire all communists, bicycle messengers and disillusioned graphic designers will vote for Gavin Newsom over the black face of white supremacy - a masterful piece of doublespeak sloganeering.
You’re never going to get the perfect politician, but it’s funny how radical the rhetoric of young left wing people is compared to who they end up legitimately going to war for. It goes from kill the rich to supporting two wars on the other side of the world. But that’s just youth baby, I’ve been there. Although, If you’re a fanatic for Newsom, Biden or Hilary Clinton you’re 1000x more insane to me than someone who’s just as enthusiastic for Trump. I can’t even really explain my logic with that it’s just a gut feeling.
I’ll admit that it’s satisfying to set up a strawman voodoo doll of Gavin Newsom. I don’t live in California so he doesn’t mean anything to me. It’s a little pathetic I’d reckon, like the people who complain about Ron DeSantis but don’t live in Florida. There’s just something I dislike about Gavin Newsom and people like him which drives me to shoot lasers from my pupils. I dislike hollow people who speak in platitudes. It’s forgivable if you’re young and enthusiastic. It’s not forgivable if you’re probably going to run for president in the future. I know every politician does this, but Gavin Newsom is the meme of Patrick Bateman with he/him pronouns on his business card. He locked down California like a police state then went out to parties without wearing a mask. Turdnugget.
Anyways, the interview by Carolla is a great study of the lizard-humanoid hybrid. The comedian Kurt Metzger had one of my favorite insults of all time, I forget who he said this about, but he called someone “a shell of a puppet” and I feel like this perfectly fits Gavin Newsom.
Other Links
Loveline with Glenn Danzig in 1995
Loveline with Deftones in 2000
Adam Carolla rant on L.A. building codes
Louis CK talks about his movie script Annie’s Beard (I think about this a lot)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paul_Getty_III
"It is often tragic to see how blatantly a man bungles his own life and the lives of others yet remains totally incapable of seeing how much the whole tragedy originates in himself and how he continually feeds it and keeps it going." - Carl Jung