"Most striking, Mr. Newsom has drawn on the idiom of the manosphere and online right, communities noted for their unembarrassed racism and misogyny."

"In July, he called Mr. Trump’s adviser Stephen Miller a 'fascist cuck,' the latter being a term used to fault men for lacking sexual power and racial pride. In March, his press account shared a video of Mr. Newsom with the caption 'mog or get mogged.' This term describes a man who shows himself to be physically superior to other men and thus the 'alpha male of the group,' or AMOG, who 'mogs' lesser men.The most startling example of Mr. Newsom’s strategy came last week when he posted an image on social media comparing his looks to those of the immaculately groomed fictional villain Patrick Bateman, as played by Christian Bale in the 2000 film 'American Psycho.' The Bateman character, a serial killer whose hatred of women is rivaled only by his contempt for Black people, has become an object of fascination for the manosphere and online right, with memes coursing across X and TikTok.... The point is not that Mr. Newsom secretly desires the subjugation of women or minorities.... The point is that he is responding to a political and cultural energy that has shifted away from the celebration of feminism and diversity and toward the concerns of alienated, and especially white, men...."

Writes Matthew Schmitz, in "For Democrats, the Era of the Girl Dad and Male Ally Is Over" (NYT).