Gavin Newsom just received some bad news that he’s ecstatic to share. The California Governor announced in a Monday video that “federal agents” are poking around his network of friends and colleagues “not because they found a crime, but because they’re simply trying to find one”.

Newsom delivered his theatrical, straight-to-camera message both to Donald Trump (“put my name on every and any enemies list that you have”) and his own wife  (“I love you and I’m sorry he’s doing this”) in announcing the situation. What’s unclear is whether these investigations — seemingly into potential conflicts of interest regarding “First Partner” Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s nonprofit work — are legitimate or tied to a specific Trump directive.

It’s easy to imagine either way. Quite often, the President’s high-profile enemies are not squeaky-clean, giving Trump cover to launch probes with clear partisan purposes. In the case of Siebel Newsom, an anonymous source told the New York Times the investigations were not political and “had been initiated by federal law enforcement officials in California, not launched by officials in Washington”. The Times also noted that while “critics have raised the possibility of self-dealing” involving Siebel Newsom, there is “no public evidence of wrongdoing”. Questions have nevertheless been raised because her nonprofit accepts donations from companies and organisations with business before the state. Separately, Gov. Newsom’s former chief of staff pleaded guilty to three corruption-related felonies last month.

In a different era, a governor and presidential hopeful would normally try to downplay news of any federal investigation. Drawing attention to it would be considered political malpractice. Now, though, Newsom knows it elevates him. Speaking of Trump’s “hit list”, Newsom gravely intoned on Monday: “Today I proudly join that list.” Trump, said Newsom, “hates that I’ve consistently called him out for his lies and deceit”.

Through this speech, the California Governor not-so-subtly turned the announcement into an opportunity for self-promotion. It’s a political lesson he took from one person and one person only: Trump himself.

Sensing the populist tide of institutional distrust before most of Washington, Trump defeated a crowded field of Republican rivals and then Hillary Clinton in 2016 by presenting himself as the enemy of Washington rather than a creature of it. After his standing collapsed in the aftermath of January 6, Trump regained his political footing with remarkable speed. Once Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted him, he surged past Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the 2024 Republican primary and never looked back. DeSantis himself attributed the stagnation of his campaign to this dynamic.

“In the end, they’re not coming after me,” Trump famously said amid the multi-front legal campaign he faced between White House stints. “They’re coming after you — and I’m just standing in their way.”

Trump is hardly shy about using the machinery of government against his political opponents. In January, he announced that “a fraud investigation of California” was underway. This is precisely the political opportunity Newsom is chasing. By positioning himself as a target of the administration, he can claim that he is being investigated because he is standing up to Trump — and doing so effectively enough to provoke retaliation.

Newsom may not be wrong in that calculation. Even if concerns about his wife’s nonprofit are legitimate, the political benefits of embracing an investigation led by Trump will likely outweigh the costs. It elevates Newsom above rival Democratic hopefuls, guarantees him national attention, and allows him to cast himself as one of the administration’s foremost adversaries.

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Emily Jashinsky is UnHerd‘s Washington correspondent.

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