The wife of Governor Gavin Newsom is being torched over recently resurfaced remarks she made about taking her children on a trip through Southern “red states.”
Scott Jennings, a conservative commentator for CNN, called Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s tone “condescending” and warned she could become a political liability for her husband.
In a clip circulating on social media, Jennings took aim at Newsom after she described a family trip in April 2023 intended to expose her four children to issues like racism, sexism, and bullying.
“Because, you know, that doesn’t happen in blue states,” Jennings said sarcastically in response. “It only happens in red states in the South.”
The CNN commentator played a clip of Newsom speaking with former Biden White House press secretary Jen Psaki, who now hosts a show on MSNBC. In the interview, Psaki asked why the trip — which included a stop in Alabama — was important for her children.
“Well … I know for a fact that we don’t get this history in our schools, and it’s part of enlivening them, building their curiosity, expanding their hearts, their empathy,” Newsom said. “So that they themselves can see in the world and recognize that we have work to do and that we have healing to do.”
“I am a truth seeker,” she added. “They need to know the truth.”
But Jennings wasn’t buying it.
“This lady, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, is gonna be a real problem for poor old Gavin,” he said. “We’ve now featured her comments a couple of times on the show, and the condescension towards everyone else in America is so thick.”
He continued: “The idea that we need to take our kids to Alabama — it’s the only way they’ll ever learn about racism — I mean, these people. They have no idea how they sound. There’s no self-awareness, absolutely nothing.”
Jennings went on to broaden his criticism, urging Democrats to “look inwards” at issues in their own states, including crime and immigration policies, rather than pointing fingers elsewhere.
The fiery exchange quickly gained traction online, with critics weighing in on Newsom’s remarks and Jennings’ blunt rebuttal — the latest flashpoint in the ongoing cultural and political divide between red and blue America.
