Few spectacles in modern politics are more grating than a self-righteous political spouse lecturing everyone else on morality while enjoying the privileges of power and a friendly media ecosystem.
Jennifer Siebel Newsom, who insists on the title First Partner rather than First Lady, has carefully cultivated an image of herself and her husband, California Governor Gavin Newsom, as unwavering champions of womens rights and protectors of reproductive freedom.
As reported by RedState, that branding has become central to the Newsoms political identity, especially in the wake of the Supreme Courts June 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade and the 2025 OBBB legislation that cut off federal Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood.
In the aftermath of those developments, Siebel Newsom has proudly positioned California as a sanctuary for abortion on demand, ensuring not only broad access to the procedure but also taxpayer-backed funding streams to subsidize it. That posture was on full display Wednesday, when the governor and his wife convened a press conference to celebrate his signing of a bill allocating $90 million in emergency funding for Planned Parenthood in the state.
The event was staged as a political tableau: Democrat legislators flanked the governor, Planned Parenthood officials stood as honored guests, and a large sign reading Stopping Trumps War on Women was affixed to the podium. Gov. Newsom used the occasion to reiterate his administrations ideological commitments, proclaiming that California values women, their choices, and their fundamental right to health care ... [The state's] latest investments support Planned Parenthood and protect access to critical resources for women and families across the state.
Yet the most revealing moment of the event came not from the governor, but from his wife, whose reaction to the press corps underscored the increasingly authoritarian streak in progressive politics when it comes to media scrutiny. At one point, Siebel Newsom erupted in frustration at reportersmost of them womenfor daring to ask questions that were not narrowly confined to the Planned Parenthood funding bill.
We just find it incredulous that, um, we have Planned Parenthood here, and women are 51 percent of the population, and the majority of other questions - all of these questions -- have really been about other issues, she scolded, making clear that she expected the press to stay on the administrations preferred talking points.
So, it's just fascinating we have this incredible women's caucus and incredible allies, and you're not asking about it. This happens over and over and over and over again. You wonder why we have such a horrific war on women in this country, and that these guys are getting away with it. And you don't seem to care. So I just offer that with love.
Video of the exchange quickly circulated online, with one clip noting, Wow Jenifer Siebel NewsomCAs First Partner and Govs wife scolds California Capitol press corps for not asking on topic questions at a Planned Parenthood press conference. You dont seem to care. Most of the journalists in the room repping AP to NY Times were women. The optics were striking: a wealthy, politically connected progressive woman berating female journalists for exercising basic professional independence, all while claiming to speak on behalf of women everywhere.
Observers also noticed the governors body language as his wife launched into her tirade. Those who rewatched the footage saw Gavin Newsom appear visibly uncomfortable, as if embarrassed by the outburst, even as he tried to maintain composure at the podium. Perhaps even funnier was that he didnt echo her and he continued taking off-topic questions after she said this, according to KCRA reporter Ashley Zavala, suggesting that even the governor recognized how overbearing her performance appeared.
Members of the press, including some who are hardly conservative, pushed back publicly against Siebel Newsoms attempt to police their questions. One journalist responded pointedly on X, writing, This is ridiculous. Journalists ask questions, and while you can dictate your answer, you can't control the questions people ask. If you don't want to be asked questions, write a news release with some canned quotes and be done with it. ???? https://t.co/pEJfPhjtsl
Another reporter highlighted the broader pattern of powerful officials bristling at accountability, remarking, In the grand year of 2026, longtime powerful public officials are still perplexed why journalists ask important questions. https://t.co/aywwfA4agS For all the lefts rhetoric about defending democracy and a free press, the reaction from the First Partner suggested a preference for cheerleading over genuine scrutiny.
The tension became even more glaring when the subject turned to the Jeffrey Epstein files, a topic that has raised uncomfortable questions for elites across the political spectrum. At the very same press conference where Siebel Newsom accused female reporters of contributing to a horrific war on women by asking off-topic questions, she declined to say a word when confronted with a query about Epstein-related fallout.
Gov. Gavin Newsom told reporters today he reached out to Casey Wassermans team and said he looks forward to talking with him amid Epstein files fall out, one report noted. @LaurelRosenhall asked First Partner Jenifer Siebel Newsom if she had any comment on the situation, she did not.
The contrast was stark: the First Partner was eager to denounce a supposed war on women when it served her ideological narrative and bolstered Planned Parenthoods funding, but fell silent when asked about a notorious sexual predator whose network touched powerful figures in politics, business, and entertainment. So, yeah. She won't comment on a notorious sexual predator, but she'll tear into female reporters over asking her husband some inconvenient questions. Make it make sense, one critic observed, capturing the frustration many feel with selective outrage from progressive elites.
Siebel Newsoms posture is especially galling given her repeated insistence that she is deeply invested in womens safety, dignity, and opportunity. Yet, as RedState Managing Editor Jennifer Van Laar reminded readers, that concern seems to evaporate when women become inconvenient to the Newsoms political ambitions or social climbing.
The way you cared about your husband's secretary, @JenSiebelNewsom? You know, his best friend's wife? Van Laar wrote, resurfacing a damning passage attributed to Siebel Newsom about the woman involved in Gavin Newsoms infamous affair. The quote read: but i am not going to blindly support a woman who has cheated on her husband multiple times and watch while my boyfriend is the only one who gets punished..and, what, for something a long time ago when the man was going through a crises- divorce, the loss of his mother, the pressures of being mayor, etc. and he was vulnerable and lonely? and, what's your definition of affair? he's been so hurt by this all -- personally and professionally- and it was a few nothing incidents when she showed up passed out outside of his door. come on guys, have a heart. I have tried to see Ruby's side of the story but unfortunately everyone near to her has stories and says she is bad news."
Van Laar repeated the challenge in a follow-up post: The way you cared your husband's secretary, @JenSiebelNewsom? You know, his best friend's wife? but i am not going to blindly support a woman who has cheated on her husband multiple times and watch while my boyfriend is the only one who gets punished..and, what, for something a long time ago when the man was going through a crises- divorce, the loss of his mother, the pressures of being mayor, etc. and he was vulnerable and lonely? and, what's your definition of affair? he's been so hurt by this all -- personally and professionally- and it was a few nothing incidents when she showed up passed out outside of his door. come on guys, have a heart. I have tried to see Ruby's side of the story but unfortunately everyone near to her has stories and says she is bad news." For a woman who now lectures the nation about a horrific war on women, the contempt in that message toward another woman caught in a scandal with her husband is difficult to reconcile with her current rhetoric.
All of this unfolds against the backdrop of the Newsoms broader policy agenda, which includes aggressive support for gender ideology that undermines the privacy and safety of women and girls in sports and locker rooms. While Jennifer and Gavin Newsom loudly proclaim their commitment to womens rights, they have opposed efforts to ensure that biological males are kept out of female athletic competitions and intimate spaces, leaving many women to wonder whose interests are actually being protected.
The episode at the Planned Parenthood press conference crystallizes a pattern that has become familiar in progressive politics: moralizing lectures about womens rights from those who are quick to silence dissent, ignore inconvenient victims, and weaponize gender rhetoric for partisan gain. As critics have put it, You just couldn't make this stuff up if you tried. You just couldn't, and for many Californians weary of the theatrics, the most constructive step Jennifer Siebel Newsom could take for public discourse would be to step back from the spotlightand, as some wryly suggest, take Sparkle Beach Ken with her.
Login