Joe Concha slams article on ‘disruptive’ Gavin Newsom
This story raises questions about governance, accountability, and American values.
Gavin Newsom told Vanity Fair he’s a “disruptor at heart. ” Joe Concha saw that for what it was, and the Washington Examiner columnist did the right thing in calling it nonsense. The governor of California wants to be seen as a rebel shaking up the system.
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Washington Examiner columnist Joe Concha slammed a Vanity Fair article in which Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) said he’s a “disruptor at heart.” “I’ve been at this awhile. To the extent I’m established, in that context — but I’m notoriously a disruptor at heart.
I’ve never been for the status quo. Quite the contrary. I have a record that consistently challenges the status quo, and I tend to take risks to a degree that few elected officials do,” Newsom told Vanity Fair.
America was built for the baby boomers. Now it must build for their old age Even seashells would make a better national reserve than Bitcoin National Guard deployment tallies up $49 million in food costs alone The article, titled “Gavin Newsom Is Ready for His Next Act.
Will Democrats Ever Give Him a Shot at the White House ?” details Newsom’s 2028 aspirations. Concha said Newsom stays true to the essence of the magazine with his own vanity. “Sycophantic is the only word that comes to mind,” Concha said on Fox News’s Fox & Friends First Thursday. “Vanity is what Gavin Newsom is all about.
And if you look up ‘status quo’ in the dictionary, literally his picture is probably right there.” Concha said Newsom “disrupted California” by trying to build a failing high-speed rail from Los Angeles to San Francisco.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority now estimates the first phase won’t be completed until 2032, according to its 2026 business plan . State Sen. Tony Strickland, vice chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, told the New York Post it will cost “$231 billion and climbing” for the whole program.
He “disrupted the budget by not laying down even one track,” Concha said. Concha also highlighted the high taxes , homelessness , and poverty rates in California . “He still has the highest homeless rate in the country that is disruptive to communities in places like San Francisco, Sacramento, and Los Angeles,” Concha said.
Concha also highlighted the devastating impact of the California wildfires and that homes have still not been rebuilt. An investigation in June showed millions of dollars from Newsom’s wildfire relief fund, aimed at helping victims of the 2025 fires, were diverted to anti-ICE riots .
Vanity Fair asked Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) about Newsom in the same article. “He wants the rhetoric of boldness without actually the courage of pissing people off. … The politician that Gavin Newsom most resembles is Bill Clinton ,” Khanna said.
While Khanna meant the comparison critically, Newsom has embraced Clinton as political inspiration and named him as a role model , according to Fox News. NEWSOM SIGNS LAW BANNING ICE SHOCK GLOVES IN CALIFORNIA Concha argued that in 1994, when Clinton lost the midterm election , he pivoted more to the center and would probably be a Republican today. “Gavin Newsom, if you could find me anywhere where he has negotiated with Republicans the way Bill Clinton did, you win valuable prizes,” Concha said.
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Gavin Newsom told Vanity Fair he’s a “disruptor at heart.” Joe Concha saw that for what it was, and the Washington Examiner columnist did the right thing in calling it nonsense. The governor of California wants to be seen as a rebel shaking up the system. But he has spent his whole career inside it, and the system has worked out pretty well for him. That’s not disruption. That’s redecoration.
Really, what has Newsom disrupted? He locked down California businesses while he sat unmasked at the French Laundry. He lectured parents about school closures and then sent his own kids to private school in person. He presided over a state where homelessness exploded and businesses fled. When you call that a “disruptor at heart,” you’re just admitting you’ve disrupted the lives of millions of people. Concha was right to call out the absurdity. Californians have the receipts, not the rhetoric.
The Vanity Fair profile plays along because it treats “disruptor” as a compliment. But it’s a word that means something different when you’re the one with the power. Actually disrupting Sacramento would mean fixing the mental health system, building housing, and telling the public health officials when they got it wrong. Instead, we get a politician who talks about himself in magazine profiles. Real disruption is in Washington now, and it’s the kind that makes excuses obsolete.
Commentary written with AI assistance by the New Republican Times Editorial Board.