Chuck Todd Asks Gavin Newsom If Trump Winning ‘Will Break Us?’

Meet the Press host Chuck Todd asked California Governor Gavin Newsom if four more years of ex-President Donald Trump “will break us?”

Trump has a miles-long lead over the rest of the GOP field, a lead that seems to increase with every new set of criminal charges against him. And a buzzed-about poll released this week showed President Joe Biden in a close second to Trump and performing poorly with voters.

In a preview of an interview that will air on this week’s edition of NBC’s Meet the Press, Todd asked Newsom if he thought the country could take another 4 years of Trump, and Newsom answered that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis might not be much better:

CHUCK TODD: Do you think another four years of Donald Trump will break us?

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM: I – I don’t – I hope we don’t have to experience that. But I worry about democracy. I worry about the fetishness for autocracy that we’re seeing not just from Trump, but around the world, and notably across this country. I’ve made the point about DeSantis that I think he’s functionally authoritarian. I’m worried more, in many respects, about Trumpism which transcends well beyond his term and time in tenure.

CHUCK TODD: Do you think Trump or DeSantis would be a greater threat to democracy?

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM: I’ll leave that to more objective minds. I’m concerned about democracy fundamentally.

CHUCK TODD: I understand you say for more objective minds. What’s in your mind?

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM: I think the vengeance

CHUCK TODD: Tell me what’s in your mind?

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM: I think the vengeance in Donald Trump’s heart right now is more of a threat.

Todd will depart MTP after this week’s show to make way for new moderator Kristen Welker, the first Black woman to take the reins of the landmark program.

Watch above via NBC’s Meet the Press.