Team Gavin's Having a Meltdown After a DeSantis Debate They Insist Newsom Won

Doug P. | 12:02 PM on December 01, 2023

This was the topic of another one of our stories today, but it's worth kicking off this post with a reminder that even Gavin Newsom appears to know that he lost last night's debate:

That was fun -- I could have kept going!
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) December 1, 2023

According to the "poop map" Gov. DeSantis showed at the debate, that's exactly what the people who relieve themselves on the streets of San Francisco have been saying.

As for the "I could have kept going" part of Newsom's post, maybe Gavin wanted to go on, but others on his team reportedly didn't:

Gavin Newsom is having an absolute meltdown over last night. His wife, the woman who tried bullying Rose McGowan into silence, ended the debate after he had a tantrum over DeSantis’s props. This is hilarious: https://t.co/3LoC2b1rsk
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) December 1, 2023

It's like the trainer in one of the Rocky movies when he yelled "throw the damn towel!"

👀 “A DeSantis aide said California First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom was the one who stepped in and ended the debate on her husband’s behalf after Hannity invited the two governors to go deeper into overtime. A second person on the ground confirmed that.” 👀 https://t.co/NvQ7vzIe2S
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) December 1, 2023

For people claiming debate victory, Team Newsom sure is serving up a lot of excuses and whining:

Before Ron DeSantis could unveil his “poop map,” Gov. Gavin Newsom team’s frustration with Sean Hannity and his crew centered on his promises to them that he would be a fair moderator, only to repeatedly sandbag the governor and give the entire affair a 2-on-1 dynamic — as they saw it.
“The debate was rigged, and Newsom still won,” Newsom adviser Sean Clegg said.
Newsom himself told people as the debate ended that he’d had fun — sharing that feeling on X where he added that he could have kept going for longer.
But the grievances from Newsom’s team inside the venue were just the start of the mass finger-pointing that followed the 95-minute melee late Thursday in the suburbs of Atlanta. Other alleged violations — of rules both written and understood — involve Ron DeSantis, the Republican Florida governor.

Newsom's people certainly don't make it sound like they think their guy won.

A Newsom spox said DeSantis didn't want to extend the debate either (suuuure):

An aide to Newsom who was in the room pushed back, saying both sides expressed a desire to go home after 95 minutes of TV mayhem.
“Ron didn’t want to do the debate anymore, either. Everyone shook hands and left,” said the Newsom aide, who was granted anonymity to relay closed-door exchanges.

But Newsom's side is the one that's still whining.