Ten turbulent months have passed since Donald Trump won the US presidential elections and eight since his return to the White House.
His victory had a global impact, with nationalist and extremist movements seeing it as a confirmation of the failure of progressive, global, and social policies.
Following such an intense electoral confrontation, a period of time must pass to have enough data, information, and statements to objectively analyze what happened.
Donald Trump is not a popular president. He wasn't in his first term, nor is he now. His victory was by just a few tens of thousands of votes in three key states in the northeastern US, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, which tipped the scale in favor of the Republican leader.
It should also be noted that in 2024, Donald Trump also won the popular vote, with a difference of 2 million votes out of over 150 million cast.
It was a historic victory for MAGA (Make America Great Again) and a complex one for the Western world due to the aggression unleashed by Russia in its attempt to conquer Ukraine, with the strange closeness between Trump and Putin being known.
The original sin
Donald Trump's return to the White House was a severe blow to the Democratic Party, which lost control of the House of Representatives and the Senate, entering a strong crisis, without leaders and without a strategy for the 2026 midterm elections.
The drama of the Democrats was triggered by the failure of the party's leaders to persuade Joe Biden not to run for a second term.
Many months before announcing his candidacy for a second term, Americans noticed that Biden's health was deteriorating, with memory and orientation problems, and the main concern in society was that due to his age and cognitive impairments, he no longer had the capacity to lead the US.
"He was known in Washington for his congenital tendency to tell overly long stories, make gaffes, and inappropriate comments. Even in well-choreographed Zoom calls, with a friendly audience, Biden could slip up," as stated in the book "The Original Sin" by journalists Jack Tapper and Alex Thompson, who investigated the mechanisms that led to the Democrats' decision to let Biden run for a new term and how this decision gave a strategic advantage to Donald Trump.
Joe Biden's decision to run also blocked political competition within the party, so after the first Biden-Trump debate, decisively lost by the former, the party drifted, being pushed in front of Kamala Harris, the Vice President of the US, to salvage what could be salvaged, but failed.
After her defeat in the elections and Trump's glorious parade to the White House, after all the madness with tariffs, executive orders, hunting migrants, and sending the National Guard to cities like Los Angeles and Washington, Democratic strongholds, no one expected a new party leader to emerge soon who could find and exploit Trump's vulnerabilities and MAGA.
The first post
"DONALD TRUMP, IF YOU DON'T WITHDRAW, WE WILL HAVE TO LEAD AN INITIATIVE TO REDRAW THE (ELECTORAL) MAPS OF CALIFORNIA TO COMPENSATE FOR THE MANIPULATION OF THE MAPS IN REPUBLICAN STATES. BUT IF OTHER STATES WITHDRAW THEIR REDISTRICTING INITIATIVES, WE WILL DO THE SAME. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS ISSUE!" - This is the first post made on the X network on August 11 by Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, a Democrat, in large letters and imitating the superior style of Donald Trump, with the aim of mocking the US president.
The post had 5 million views, 14,000 comments, 13,000 shares, and 96,000 reactions.
The text is a reaction to the redrawing of the electoral map of Texas, controlled by Republicans, so that in the 2026 elections they can win an additional 5 representatives in Congress by changing the boundaries of districts to create new ones where Republican voters are the majority.
...fighting fire with fire, and I think it had a big impact. It's the result of frustration with the president and the determination to see the Democrats finding new ways to fight back
Bob Shrum, Democratic strategist, for Financial Times
Meanwhile, the redistricting process was validated in Texas, and in California, a referendum will be held in November to approve a new electoral map of the state, which will favor Democrats this time.
Starting from this dispute and following Gavin Newsom's success by adopting an ironic take on Donald Trump's rhetoric, a new political movement has emerged in the US around the Governor of California, deeply worrying Donald Trump and his associates.
Patriots vs. MAGA
Within two weeks, Newsom's X account reached 500,000 followers, and his posts reached millions of Americans.
The governor has never hidden his intentions to secure the party's nomination for the 2028 presidential race.
Last year, he was one of those who supported, after Joe Biden's withdrawal, holding internal party elections, criticizing the automatic designation of Kamala Harris as the candidate in the presidential race.
Gavin Newsom has been the governor of California since 2019, and in 2023, he won a second term, easily defeating the Republican opponent (60% - 40%).
He is married to Jennifer Siebel, a documentary filmmaker, and they have four children together, two girls and two boys.
Until recently, Newsom was not seen as a potential leader of the Democratic Party, but his strong reaction following Donald Trump's decision to deploy the National Guard on the streets of Los Angeles and the support received from California voters prompted him to engage in a direct confrontation with Donald Trump, using a surprising communication strategy that exaggerates, parodies, and mocks the behavior, speech, and character of the US president.
I know Gavin very well. He's an incompetent guy, he knows how to say nonsense. And he's not doing his job
Donald Trump, President of the US
The success was striking, and as a result, Newsom is now promoting an alternative political movement to MAGA, titled PATRIOTS, trying to motivate the demoralized Democratic electorate following last year's political defeats and Trump's actions launched immediately after taking power.
Newsom destabilized Trump
Until the November 2026 elections, the first major test for the Democrats, when obtaining the majority in the House of Representatives and elections for a third of the Senate seats will be at stake, many things can change.
But until then, Newsom has taken the lead of the Democrats and managed to reinvigorate the Opposition at a time of pessimism when too few believed that innovation in politics was possible. The Governor of California brought something new, using the opponent's dearest weapons - not respecting any rule in conveying the message, putting continuous pressure on the opponent, and not being afraid of ridicule.
At least for now, Newsom is the first American politician who has managed to destabilize Donald Trump, the so-called Teflon candidate, making him doubt his ability to control and motivate his electorate.