As Pete Buttigieg gets the glossy treatment in a glowing profile in The Atlantic that asks whether his new facial hair and house in the woods are “enough to convince America that he’s a man of the people” ahead of the 2028 Democrat primary, fellow 2028 hopeful Gavin Newsom is busy clarifying whether or not he can read.
The California governor made the wrong kind of headlines last month when he seemingly suggested his poor SAT scores and reading ability made him relatable to black people. The backlash was swift and Newsom is still dealing with the fallout.
Can Newsom Read?
MK Media’s Mark Halperin interviewed Newsom this week on Next Up, and he asked the governor point blank whether he can read. Here’s how he replied:
“I can read. I just have to underline it. I can’t read spatially… That’s why I can’t read a speech, Mark, because, spatially, I’ll lose the line… If you ever lend me a book – that’s why I don’t go to the library because I can never return the book – I have to underline. And then what I’ll do is I’ll take what’s underlined, and then I’ll put it… in pieces of paper, everything underlined, and then I’ll do that for hours and hours and hours. And then eventually I’ll put it on a little yellow card, which will have just quick notes. And then it’s in my head. But that’s the process. Everything online I have to print out. So I take what’s online, print out your blog or something, and then underline it and then put it in here. So, it’s a process.”
Halperin asked if that means Newsom can’t read on a phone or iPad, and the governor said he is able to. “I can,” he confirmed. “I just get, I start daydreaming. I start drifting off.”
The need to clarify his reading skills was born out of a head-scratching comment he made last weekend during a book tour stop in Atlanta when he told the mostly black audience that his poor test scores and reading ability make him “no better than you.”
“I’m not, you know, I’m not trying to impress you, I’m just trying to impress upon you, I’m like you,” a gesticulating Newsom told Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens. “I’m no better than you.”
That’s when he brought up the test scores and reading ability. “You know, I’m a 960 SAT guy. And, you know, and I’m not trying to offend anyone, you know, trying to act all, ‘there,’ if you got 940,’” the governor continued. “Literally a 960 SAT guy. You’ve never seen me read a speech because I cannot read a speech.”
Lack of Authenticity
On Tuesday’s Megyn Kelly Show, Megyn said Newsom is missing the point of the controversy. “I actually don’t doubt him that he’s got some sort of a learning disability,” she said. “But what you actually said to the audience was, ‘I’m like you. I can’t read. I got a 960 on the SAT.’ So this dyslexic or not – he is not saved by this. This is not a crutch to get out of what was an offensive comment in the way it was delivered to this particular audience.”
Megyn’s guest, Glenn Greenwald, agreed that he doesn’t care about whether Newsom needs to underline things he is reading or if his mind wanders. But he has an issue with the timing of the disclosures.
“He has been in public life for 20 years. Why now? Why was this suddenly thrust forward as something we have to hear about Gavin Newsom from Gavin Newsom,” he asked. “It just seems very exploitative… I think it’s very much like, ‘What will make me seem relatable is if I talk about my disability.'”
Megyn believes it is part of a larger pattern of Newsom trying to reframe his background as he weighs a run for higher office. “It is part of the same thing that… has him out there like ‘single mom, mac and cheese,’ meanwhile, his dad was a judge and he was getting boatloads of dough from the Getty family, and was featured in a magazine article with the Getty kids, Gavin front and center, with the caption, ‘children of the rich.'”
“This is a uniquely weird politician thing. He would be better off just pulling a [Donald] Trump like, ‘Yeah, I was so lucky. The Gettys took such good care of… and I was born to a really smart dad who was a judge and a mom who was loving and worked hard,'” Megyn said. “Just own your actual history. That’s what ‘authentic’ looks and sounds like.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Greenwald by tuning in to episode 1,265 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.