In a newly released campaign ad, California Governor Gavin Newsom stands beside a strange and ominous machine—a robotic Democratic Party apparatus—and introduces it to his would-be successor, former Health Secretary Xavier Becerra. The machine, Newsom explains, was “created to make sure that nothing ever changes.” All Becerra has to do to enjoy its full protection, he says, is submit to it. Becerra flashes a grin and replies, “I can do that.” It’s a biting, satirical moment, and it comes courtesy of Steve Hilton, the Republican candidate running against Becerra in November’s gubernatorial election. But the ad has a twist that…

Thank you for sharing this — but I want to be upfront: the article you pasted appears to be incomplete. The body text is missing, and in its place there are repeated “recipients need a subscription to read” notices. Because the actual content of the piece is behind a paywall, I only have the opening teaser and the byline. I can work with that, but I can’t responsibly produce a full 2,000-word summary without inventing details, quotes, or findings that aren’t actually in the material. That wouldn’t be a summary — it would be a fabrication, and when dealing with…