Conservative Activist Christopher Rufo Defends ‘Impressive’ Gavin Newsom From Racism Charge

(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Christopher Rufo offered a defense of California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) on Monday, amidst outcry over controversial comments he made while promoting his new memoir, Young Man in a Hurry, in Atlanta on Sunday.

“I’m not, you know, I’m not trying to impress you. I’m just trying to impress upon you, I’m like you. I’m no better than you,” said Newsom during a discussion with Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens (D). “I’m a 960 SAT guy. And you know, I’m not trying to offend anyone [and] act ‘all there’ if you got 940. But literally a 960 SAT guy.”

He went on to claim that no one “seen me read a speech, because I cannot read a speech,” citing his struggles with dyslexia.

The prospective presidential candidate has been pilloried by a murderer’s row of conservative bigwigs, including Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rick Scott (R-FL), and rapper Nicki Minaj.

“His way of bonding with black ppl is to tell them how stupid he is & that he can’t read,” argued Minaj. “Do ya love it?!?!! Do ya just love it, black ppl?!????”

Rufo saw it differently, though.

“I know we’re supposed to laugh at Newsom, but he’s an impressive talent whose political instincts are vastly superior to the perfect-test-score nerds who like to think they can outsmart him,” submitted Rufo while sharing the video of Newsom speaking in Atlanta. “You can put up as many IQ charts as you want, but it’s a mistake to underestimate Newsom.”

“It also appears to be a majority white crowd, or, at least, not an exclusively black crowd,” observed the conservative activist in a tweet that included a video of the crowd. “Is the argument here that he’s condescending to whites? Or is it only condescending if he says this to blacks? I’m not a fan of Newsom, but we should be honest.”

“Totally agree not to underestimate him but also think we have to point and laugh at stuff like this and show how ridiculous he is,” submitted columnist Karol Markowicz in a reply to Rufo.

“Sure, but even with this clip, he’s humbling himself before the audience, which is a democratic sentiment, not sure that this kind of thing hurts him,” he shot back.

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