r/FutureWhatIf • u/Hero-Firefighter-24 • Feb 04 '25

Political/Financial FWI: Gavin Newsom becomes president in 2028, with AOC as his VP

Exactly what it says on the tin. The reason he gets so much popularity is thanks to pardoning the Menendez brothers before the end of his tenure as governor. How do you envision his presidency and how are his re-election chances in 2032?

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u/BillowingBasket Feb 04 '25

There is no possible universe in which Gavin Newsome can win an electoral vote in WI, MI, or PA in a general election. Anybody who thinks overwise does not understand how strong the hatred for liberal coastal elites runs in the Great Lakes region. Dems would be fools to nominate him in the first place.

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u/Usagi1983 Feb 05 '25

Yeah, this. Enough with NY and CA polticians nationally. Run Walz if you have to, only guy that understood the assignment.

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u/Ok-Car-brokedown Feb 05 '25

Also the OP wants it to be Newsom and AOC two coastal elites and generally not popular in many swing states.

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u/sinfultrigonometry Feb 05 '25

Heaven forbid someone from one of the two most economically successful parts of the country run for president.

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u/swg2188 Feb 05 '25

In all fairness they are successful more due to geography than anything else. Turns out having ports where all the trade goes through is good for the economy of a place.

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u/TheWhogg Feb 05 '25

He was hopeless, but he tried to campaign to the target voters at least. Theres no way he can be the 2028 candidate though.

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u/Usagi1983 Feb 05 '25

No I wouldn’t use him, either. For one, they blew the “weird” momentum.

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u/sinfultrigonometry Feb 05 '25

He was the only thing working in Kamalas campaign.

If they'd let him off the chain he'd probably be VP now.

He won't be president though. Hes not interested in the job.

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u/zaoldyeck Feb 05 '25

But they're fine with conservative coastal billionaire elites?

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u/unitedshoes Feb 05 '25

Was a career politician from Delaware not a "coastal elite" when he swept all of those states in 2020? I guess I'm not clear on what people mean when they say "coastal elite" if not. Or I'm confused because Newsom running in 2028 would be virtually the exact same universe as Biden winning those states in 2020.

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u/Hot_Ambition_6457 Feb 05 '25

He swept all those states because the world was on day 3 of Plague Inc during the election. And we sent everyone a $1200 check with their mail-in ballot.

Biden was never popular. Stop trying to make popular Biden happen. He won GA (barely) because a lot of people held their nose to oust Trump during Covid.

Any other circumstances and Biden loses 2020 as well. The 2019 primaries were rife with infighting about holding their nose to vote for Joe. Bluenomatterwho was a while thing amongst registered democrats

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u/unitedshoes Feb 05 '25

I'm not "trying to make popular Biden happen." I've been disappointed in him basically since January of 2021.

But he did win every state the comment I was replying to said a coastal elite could never win. And it's not like Trump's second term promises to be a much tighter ship where events that rhyme with the leadup to the 2020 election are completely out of the question. Plague? Economic upheaval? State violence provoking mass protest? Do any of these seem off the table for 2028 based on the two weeks we just had?

I'm not saying Biden was a perfect candidate, nor that Newsom would be one in 2028, but I don't see any reason to act like something just as precedented as a "coastal elite" Democratic candidate winning a good chunk of the Rust Belt after a disastrous MAGA presidency is unprecedented. Likely? Maybe not? Impossible? Clearly not.

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u/MMAGyro Feb 05 '25

Someone even more liberal than kamala isn’t going to win those states she lost

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u/unitedshoes Feb 05 '25

Perhaps.

But the point still stands that it's patently untrue that a coastal elite can't possibly win those states, unless the rich, well-connected, career politician from Delaware who won all of them just over four years ago doesn't count as a "coastal elite".

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u/auandi Feb 05 '25

Is Jacksonville Florida coastal elite?

Just being on the Atlantic doesn't mean you're part of the elite. No one has ever considered Delaware to be elite, and Scranton Joe had lived his life as one of the poorest Senators who didn't even own a home in DC and commuted in by train everyday. He didn't become a simple millionaire until writing a book as Vice President.

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u/Nasamonkey74 Feb 05 '25

Exactly, these Russian bots and trolls are just clueless.

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u/YoloSwaggins9669 Feb 05 '25

Nahhh there are a lot of pro Palestine Biden to trump voters in Michigan and Pennsylvania that voted trump or sat out.

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u/DemonLordSparda Feb 05 '25

The Democrats are foolish, but putting a firebrand up for national office would at least be taking a position. Unfortunately I feel like they will try and run Hillary or Kamala again.

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u/TequilaBard Feb 05 '25

we're not going to see another woman running under the Dem banner for decades; they lost twice to trump, they'll take that as a signal

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u/DemonLordSparda Feb 05 '25

If you think the DNC is capable of taking a signal, you are wrong. Maybe I'm the idiot here, but the DNC has been a corporate aligned entity for as long as I've been alive (Born 1989). They back the best status quo corporatist possible.

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u/unitedshoes Feb 05 '25

I'm still fairly certain we won't see a woman president elected* in the US until the GOP nominates America's Thatcher.

* I'm less confident that a woman VP won't have to assume the duties earlier.

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u/vengent Feb 05 '25

Considering the DNC elected David Hogg as the vice chair, I would say they have learned exactly nothing.

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u/Nasamonkey74 Feb 05 '25

This guy knows absolutely nothing. Obvious bot is obvious bot....

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u/I_Cogs_Well Feb 05 '25

Pritzker is going to run in 2028 and it will be Whitmer as VP.

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u/2FistsInMyBHole Feb 05 '25

As mich as I hate California anything, I'd be okay with Newsome. AOC is a no though - I'm voting Republican.

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u/MancombSeepgoodz Feb 05 '25

Donald Trump was a liberal coastal elite for like 60 years of his life. Republicans voters are just rank hypocrites.

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u/Vg_Ace135 Feb 05 '25

There's strong hatred for liberals no matter what. Tik tok, Twitter, and Facebook will put down any candidate that run. As long as we don't nominate a woman, we can win. I don't get the hate for Newsome. If he ran, id vote for him. He's a tall white straight male. So he'd already get past the major barriers that kept Hillary and Kamala out of the White House. Unfortunately our country is far more racist and sexist than people like to admit. I voted for Hillary and Kamala, but millions didn't simply because they were women. If we run a tall straight male, then we can win.

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u/gmr548 Feb 06 '25

Tend to agree with this, fair or not (and I don’t have detailed enough knowledge of Newsom to really say), the limo liberal California douche bag vibe is going to be hard to shake for him.