NBC News’s Kristen Welker confronted Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) Sunday on whether his online trolling of President Donald Trump was helping the Democrats’ cause.

“You have been one of the most outspoken Democratic voices against President Trump,” Welker said. “And part of your tactics is to imitate some of what we see online from President Trump, so you mimic his all-cap posts, you send out similar memes. Do you run the risk of normalizing that behavior?”

“Quite the contrary,” Newsom responded. “The whole expression was to not allow it to be normalized. It was becoming normalized. All this – the normalization of deviancy across the spectrum of issues. But his communication – he’s dressing up as the Pope, as Superman. He’s…putting his face on Mt. Rushmore…It’s madness. And so I put a mirror up to that madness.”

Welker followed up, saying, “It reminds me of something Michelle Obama said once: When they go low, we go high. Is there still room for that mindset?”

“I would love to go back to that, but politics have changed, the world has changed –”

“So, no?” Welker asked as Newsom continued.

The rules of the game have changed. Now we have to rewrite the new rules. I’m trying to iterate, I’m in the process of doing that. But Michelle Obama also was interviewed about that comment, about going high is also going strategic, meaning, finding strategies to address concerns and anxieties. So, she’s evolved on her own foundational principles, but it’s the right one. We’re all better off. We’re all better off. This can’t continue forever. All of us living in the state of fear, anxiety and on edge, and, of course we want to go back to some semblance of normalcy, but you have to deal with the crisis at hand.

Newsom added, “It’s just been 10, 11 months of this presidency. We have three more years. Time to batten down the hatches, and it’s time for us to change if we want things to change, and that’s why our communication strategy has shifted.”

Watch the clip above via NBC News.

The post Newsom Defends Trolling Trump When Confronted By NBC’s Welker: ‘I Put a Mirror’ Up to His ‘Madness’ first appeared on Mediaite.

from Mediaite https://ift.tt/AJ5bT6P