Will the Democrats go "dark woke" to take on Trump?

Americast

BBC

Politics, Government, News

4.2 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 28 August 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sharing AI-generated images of himself riding a horse, waving a giant flag, inserting his face on Mount Rushmore...sound familiar?

If you're California Governor Gavin Newsom, that's entirely the point as he embarks on a new strategy to combat Donald Trump online, by imitating him.

It’s all part of a “dark woke” strategy which sees Newsom playing Trump at his own game on social media. Is the approach an online blueprint for the wider Democratic Party, and what are the risks for taking on the president so directly?

HOSTS: • Sarah Smith, North America Editor • Anthony Zurcher, North America Correspondent • Marianna Spring, Social Media Investigations Correspondent

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This episode was made by George Dabby with Rufus Gray and Alix Pickles. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The series producer is George Dabby. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts.
0:05.1	On the podcast today, we're going to be talking about Gavin Newsom, the California governor,
0:09.5	who has come up with a bold new strategy that some people are calling dark, woke.
0:13.9	So we'll be asking what it means when he's taking the fight to Donald Trump online in very Trumpian terms. But sadly, we have to start with
0:23.7	yet another school shooting that's happened in America in a church in Minneapolis on Wednesday morning.
0:29.6	This is Thursday morning, US time when we're recording this. Anthony, bring us up to date with what we know
0:35.2	so far. Well, we know that there have been two deaths.
0:38.0	Two children were killed in this shooting.
0:40.4	It was at a school that is affiliated with the church.
0:43.1	It happened during morning mass proceedings.
0:46.8	The assailant also subsequently killed himself.
0:50.3	We know the name of that assailant.
0:52.1	We have a little bit of background on motivations, but it seems like there was no political agenda to this. But the investigations are ongoing. The weapons that the assailant purchased were done so legally. The police have discovered more weapons in different homes and facilities. So it is obviously a tragic,
1:14.6	another tragic shooting in this country, one that brings back memories of Sandy Hook, the elementary
1:21.9	school in Connecticut, where someone went in and killed more than a dozen, I believe, school children there.
1:29.6	And Donald Trump and other public officials have made public statements about it.
1:34.6	The flags are flying half-mast at the White House and in federal buildings.
1:39.6	And the community is just beginning to come to grips with the latest.
1:44.8	Yeah.
1:45.5	And the assailant who actually identified as a woman more recently and it changed the name
1:51.2	from Robert to Robin.
1:53.1	And there are quite a lot of online, I don't know if you would call the manifestos or
	...

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