Is he completely turning his views because he wants to run in the presidential race?
What you need to understand is that Newsom doesn’t have views. What he has in the place where his views and values should be is cynical calculus trying to optimise for donations to his presidential campaign. I really think that sincerely held positions are so foreign a concept to him that on some level, he’s incapable of comprehending that other people do actually believe in things such that it informs their decision-making.
He’s like the platonic ideal of an establishment liberal: it’s all just a game of realpolitik to him, and that’s also why he’s never gonna be able to maintain a base of popular support—people are sick to death of this cynical bullshit and want representation that’ll actually stand for something.
The four-episode Dirk Gently miniseries.