Two former Barack Obama aides went off Friday on California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other Democrats who dismiss Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation as a “distraction.”
Newsom, a moderate Democrat and possible 2028 presidential contender, called the fracas over the Maryland dad’s accidental deportation to an El Salvador megaprison the “distraction of the day.”
Pod Save America hosts Jon Favreau and Dan Pfeiffer took issue with Newsom’s “f—ing ridiculous” argument, which has been echoed by other congressional Democrats.
“I will stipulate happily that all the public opinion research says that the best way to drive down Trump’s approval rating is to talk about the economy,” Pfeiffer said. “Tariffs, inflation, economic chaos, market drops, tax cuts for billionaires, cuts to Medicaid—that is without a doubt the most persuasive message in all the polling.”
However, he said he believes that “Democrats look cowardly, calculating, and f—ing ridiculous if our response to the father and husband of a U.S. citizen being sent illegally in defiance of a Supreme Court order to a foreign gulag is to vomit up some poll test at talking points about tariffs.”
“I feel like some of these Democratic politicians are gonna be screaming, ‘What about the egg prices?’ as they are hauled off to El Salvador to rot in prison,” Pfeiffer added.
Favreau was in agreement. “My head’s gonna f—ing pop off my body,” he said after reading Newsom and other Democrats’ quotes downplaying Abrego Garcia’s deportation.
The Trump administration has defied the orders of multiple federal judges and the Supreme Court in refusing to return Abrego Garcia, who they claim is an MS-13 gang member (which his lawyers deny). Newsom, however, suggested it would be better to confront the president on his tariff policies.
The California governor has sued the Trump administration over the president’s sweeping tariffs, which he argues are “wreaking havoc” on California’s economy.
Abrego Garcia, who has spent the past month in El Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, was photographed for the first time since his removal on Thursday. He spoke to Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat who traveled to El Salvador and pushed to speak with his constituent.
After initially being rebuffed by President Nayib Bukele’s government, Van Hollen was pictured speaking with Abrego Garcia in photographs released by El Salvador. The setting for the conversation was a restaurant patio where the two men spoke over what appeared to be margaritas. The cheerful staging served as a jab at Democrats who had worried about Abrego Garcia’s wellbeing.
Bukele is a Trump ally who has supported the American’s claim that he is unable to comply with the court orders because Abrego Garcia is in the custody of El Salvador. The courts have rejected this argument.
Trump and the denizens of MAGA nation have praised Bukele and mocked Van Hollen for the Abrego Garcia photoshoot.
“I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar,” Van Hollen wrote in a post on X. “Tonight I had that chance. I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love.”
Van Hollen appeared on the Friday episode of Pod Save America, but the interview was recorded before he had had the chance to speak with Abrego Garcia.
