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\u201cThere is a California derangement syndrome that I\u2019m also deeply mindful of,\u201d Gov. Gavin Newsom recently told Politico.<\/p>\n
MAURO PIMENTEL\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
SACRAMENTO\u00a0\u2014 Gov. Gavin Newsom is known for his catch phrases. He likes to remind people that he\u2019s \u201cnot ideological\u201d but \u201copen to argument, interested in evidence.\u201d He frequently describes California as \u201cAmerica\u2019s coming attraction.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe future happens here first,\u201d he says often.<\/p>\n
Lately, as his profile as a prospective 2028 presidential candidate rises, he\u2019s embracing yet another pet phrase. Increasingly, he\u2019s been diagnosing his critics with \u201cCalifornia derangement syndrome.\u201d<\/p>\n
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He and his staff use the term to characterize people who criticize him as being irrationally obsessed with California, and desperate to paint it as a failed state. It\u2019s a play on the term \u201cTrump derangement syndrome,\u201d which President Donald Trump and his supporters coined to deflect criticisms of the Republican president in much the same way.<\/p>\n
Last week, Newsom\u2019s press office made two AI-generated posts in that vein. One, in response to a video of Trump calling Newsom \u201ca horrible governor,\u201d was simply an image of a pill bottle emblazoned with a prescription for \u201cNewsom derangement syndrome.\u201d The other, in reply to a clip of Fox News commentator Sean Hannity blasting California\u2019s income taxes and gas prices, was a video of an AI-generated version of Hannity holding a similar bottle.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cAh, the classic California derangement syndrome,\u201d AI-Hannity said. \u201cWhere common sense goes to take a permanent vacation.\u201d<\/p>\n