Anyone who watches USC football games is likely familiar with the cadre of towel guys on the sideline.
It doesn’t matter if the Trojans just won on a Hail Mary or are down by 40 points and just made a routine tackle – there is no play where the guys aren’t right there ready to show their team spirit by enthusiastically whipping their towels.
What would it look like if towel guys went into politics? Gov. Gavin Newsom’s social media team does a great impression.
In recent months, Newsom’s spokespeople and their branded X account have recently become sassiest in Sacramento.
No matter who they’re responding to, how wrong they might be, or how lame they look, Newsom’s towel guys are right there to whip those towels. As a spokesperson told me, their efforts have ramped up recently because “that’s what this moment demands.” They’re trying to beat President Donald Trump at his own game and it’s sad to watch.
A few weeks ago, Senator Alex Padilla was very briefly detained for intentionally causing a scene at Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s press conference.
When Elex Michaelson, a news anchor with Fox 11 Los Angeles, posted on X a video of the incident, Republican Assemblyman Joe Patterson replied: “If I busted into a press conference with the Governor or Sen. Padilla, I promise you, the same exact thing would happen to me.”
Maybe Patterson was right, maybe not. But for those of us who remember former Republican state Senator Janet Nguyen being escorted off the Senate floor for protesting communism, it wasn’t hard to see Patterson’s point.
Well, it wasn’t hard for anyone but Newsom’s press team.
“Bullshit,” came the reply from the branded account @GovPressOffice.
Newsom desperately craves national attention, a theme throughout his time as governor. He’s assumed lots of identities to try to boost his poll numbers and recently he has taken a combative tone because he recognized that that’s what young, progressive activists want.
The towel guys are following suit and this new strategy includes swearing to look tough. It also includes personal attacks on lawmakers.
“I’d politely ask you to leave,” Newsom’s Communications Director Izzy Gardon posted in response to Patterson. “Though you do not deserve politeness in this moment for this grotesque tweet, you bald little man.”
A minor slight, sure, but a stunning breach of decorum. It’s the kind of thing that would get most legislative staff fired or at least reprimanded. But not for the towel guys trying to meet the moment.
What makes Gardon’s tweet so bad is that just a day or so before his communications operation blew what Newsom had hoped to be a big defining speech by broadcasting without audio. Viewed holistically, it’s quite amateurish.
Another towel guy, Brandon Richards, replied to a post from Republican Congressman Kevin Kiley condemning the high-speed rail project that is a failure by every objective measure.
But objective measures are of no concern to towel guys. Richards responded: “Kevin Kiley is out here boasting about seeking to end a project that would boost the Central Valley’s economic output and has created thousands of good-paying jobs to date….”
Richards is trying to sound cool with “is out here,” but it’s not cool. It’s not witty. It’s not even correct. California’s high-speed rail project is billions of dollars over budget, years behind schedule and with no end in sight. It’s only viable to connect two places that don’t want or need to be connected, Chowchilla to Shafter.
This is not something to brag about, and is why Newsom, Richards’ boss, expressed doubts and scaled back the project in his first state of the state address. Richards getting in Kiley’s replies only highlights a losing issue that he should be trying to avoid.
There’s an entire X feed of more silliness like this. In a response to questions for the column, like if they regret any of the posts they’ve published, Richards showed no ability to look inward (much like the governor he serves), and made the whole thing about Trump, which is the California Democrat way to deflect attention from their actions and absolve themselves of any responsibility.
“Californians are facing near-daily attacks from this Administration — including the unprecedented deployment of troops on our city streets. We’re not going to sit back while our Constitution is shredded,” Richards emailed to me.
Richards sent that quote as part of a 123-word statement that he asked I publish in full. Of course I won’t publish it in full because it’s way too long, as he should know.
I believe his comments are fairly represented here though.
Team Newsom loves saying things are “first in the nation” or “unprecedented,” but the deployment of Marines in California is actually not unprecedented. This kind of sloppiness will not serve Team Newsom well on a national stage.
Democrats love to condemn Trump as authoritarian and even compare him to Hitler. But if Trump is authoritarian, if he is shredding the Constitution, if he is actually like Hitler, why are they imitating him?
Maybe that’s too much introspection for towel guys, but it’s a question they should ask themselves at some point.
Matt Fleming is a columnist for the Southern California News Group. Follow him on X @FlemingWords