Bizarre Moment Newsom Falls Right Into Chinese Child, Then Grabs and Spanks Him
A common critique of many career politicians is that they don’t know how to assimilate into normal, everyday life.
And why would they? Politics and real life, as intertwined as they can be, are in two totally different realms.
Even so, California Gov. Gavin Newsom will have a tough time explaining away this awkward interaction he had with children when he visited China recently.
In what appeared to be a perfunctory photo op, Newsom was seen playing some basketball with the local youths during his trip.
Newsom, who appeared to think he was a Harlem Globetrotter with some of the dribbles and ball spinning he was attempting, clumsily dribbled into a pair of children.
That incident, in and of itself, is hardly noteworthy.
Newsom is not a basketball player, and nobody is expecting him to look like Larry Bird on the court.
But it’s what followed Newsom’s clumsy crash that is raising some eyebrows, if only for how bizarre it was.
You can watch the whole incident for yourself below:
Dribble charging!
Gavin Newsom,The governor of California is in a primary school in Beijing. pic.twitter.com/NgJf9GRK5E— Sharing Travel (@TripInChina) October 29, 2023
After Newsom bowls over a child with this basketball moves, he awkwardly wraps the child up before hitting him suspiciously close to his rear.
It was enough of an incident that various X users began calling out Newsom for “spanking” the boy.
“Gavin Newsom tackles a little Chinese kid, grabs him and spanks him,” conservative pundit Benny Johnson posted to X. “So creepy.”
Johnson added: “Perfect replacement for Joe Biden.”
It’s that last line from Johnson that adds a new wrinkle to this awkward interaction from Newsom.
If Newsom were just the Democratic governor of California, with no grander ambitions, perhaps people would just chalk up this bizarre incident as a blip and move on.
But there is ample, mounting evidence that Newsom, along with former first lady Michelle Obama, are largely viewed as two potential replacements for President Joe Biden should the incumbent president be unable to seek re-election.
No, this is not to say that it’s somehow “better” for a governor to awkwardly spank a child on a basketball court, as opposed to the president.
But a governor just represents 1/50th of the United States, and perhaps critics just chalk it up as “Oh, California.”
The president? Try 50 out of 50 states — and no such benefit of the doubt.
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