Gavin Newsom, California's governor and presidential hopeful, is aggressively embracing a form of masculinity aligned with the online right, signaling a broader Democratic Party shift away from feminism and diversity advocacy. His podcast features conservative figures like Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon, where he controversially labeled transgender athletes' participation in women's sports as 'deeply unfair.' He uses provocative language online, including memes and phrases like 'mog or get mogged,' drawing from the manosphere's toxic rhetoric. This strategy reflects a recognition that the party's traditional progressive stances have lost their countercultural edge, now seen as mainstream dogma.

Newsom's approach targets alienated white men, though his commitment to diversity initiatives limits his appeal to that demographic.