Skelton: Yes, Newsom suing Trump over tariffs was political. It was also necessary.

George SkeltonSACRAMENTO, Calif. — Give Gov. Gavin Newsom credit.

You can call it grandstanding and opportunistic, but suing President Donald Trump over tariffs was smart, bold and much needed.Sure, it was political. Newsom adroitly leaped ahead of other potential 2028 presidential contenders by taking aim through the court system at Trump’s allegedly illegal actions on tariffs.



Someone needed to seek a judicial ruling on whether the president can raise tariffs himself without congressional approval.Republican congressional leaders — Republican politicians generally — are too intimidated by their president to sneeze without his blessing. They’re meekly ceding their co-equal legislative power to the president.

And that’s worrisome for democracy.It’s about self-preservation. Republican members of Congress who must survive GOP primaries to win reelection fear getting on the bad side of the vengeful president and being “primaried.

”“Where the hell is Congress? Where the hell is Speaker [Mike] Johnson? Do your job!” Newsom proclaimed while announcing his lawsuit last week at an almond orchard near Ceres in the agriculture-rich San Joaquin Valley.“They’re sitting there passively [as Trump] wrecks the economy of the United States.”Actually, Newsom seemed to be crashing Attorney General Rob Bonta’s party.

Newsom and Bonta jointly filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

But Bonta — often working with other states’ Democratic attorneys general — already had filed 14 lawsuits challenging Trump policies. Bonta’s staff had spent significant time drafting the tariff suit before Newsom publicly surfaced as a plaintiff.“The president is acting as if he’s above the law.

He isn’t,” Bonta said before introducing Newsom at the almond farm. “Congress has the duty to set taxes, duties and, yes, tariffs.”For Newsom and California, challenging Trump in court is a bit risky.

The president has threatened to retaliate against California by withholding federal funds if state policies conflict with his. That includes money to help rebuild fire-ravaged sections of Los Angeles.That’s not just an idle threat, as Trump has shown in pulling back federal funds promised for universities and strong-arming law firms that have opposed him in court cases.

But as most of us learned as kids, you’ve got to stand up to a bully. And that’s what Newsom did.“No doubt, Trump isn’t going to give California anything anyway,” says Democratic political consultant David Townsend.

“This is a good political move by Newsom to position himself as anti-Trump on a solid policy issue.“All Democratic voters are looking for a strong anti-Trump leader.”OK, so Newsom is reading the tea leaves and realizes that lots of people are clamoring for a crusader to carry the fight against Trump’s policies.

That was demonstrated on the night before Newsom’s announcement when Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — two East Coast democratic socialists — attracted nearly 30,000 people at an anti-Trump rally in a Republican congressional district near Sacramento.

An essential ingredient of democracy is elected officials following the citizens’ will. And that’s clearly what Newsom is now trying to do on tariffs.“I can’t imagine anything more unifying” for California than challenging Trump on tariffs, Newsom said.

“We were hoping we didn’t need to go down this path. But we [are] prepared to go down this path.”Trump’s “unlawful tariffs are wreaking chaos on California families, businesses and our economy — driving up prices and threatening jobs,” Newsom said in a prepared statement.

The lawsuit represents a shift in Newsom’s strategy toward Trump. Previously, he has been practically mute, seemingly trying to play nice to avoid Trump’s wrath that could cost California federal money for disaster relief, higher education and Medi-Cal healthcare.Contrast that soft-tongue tactic with another Newsom announcement last week unveiling a lawsuit challenging Trump cuts to the AmeriCorps service program in California.

George Skelton has covered government and politics for 60 years, including at the Los Angeles Times since 1974. A former White House correspondent, Sacramento bureau chief, and political editor, he has written the Capitol Journal column on California politics since 1993. A Santa Barbara native, he grew up in Ojai and earned a journalism degree from San Jose State.

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