To the editor: Columnist Mark Z. Barabak decides to write about Gov. Gavin Newsom’s political aspirations, as if that were something bad (“With his new podcast, Gavin Newsom may just talk himself to political death,” March 12). We need someone like Newsom, who has national recognition, to take the lead in replacing President Trump four years from now. Newsom is smart enough to realize that being more of a centrist will get more people out to vote than being an extreme left-wing, one-topic hero.
You can’t just focus on LGBTQ rights and not recognize the fact that the majority of Americans really are concerned about transgender athletes playing women’s sports. There is a factual biological issue there. It’s not just ideological, and it has to be discussed and resolved.
The United States needs someone who can embrace a little bit of the left and a little bit of the right because the majority all want to have fiscal security and social justice. The topics should be clean water and air, reduced interest rates on credit cards, tax cuts, reforms to veterans affairs, government bureaucracy reduction, infrastructure and sound immigration policies. The focus should be on everyone, not just special interest groups.
Linda Bradshaw Carpenter, Los Angeles
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To the editor: I’m not sure what kind of long game Newsom is playing by cozying up to right-wing voices like Charlie Kirk and Michael Savage, but he’d be wise to remember the old adage: you broadcast with dogs, you end up with fleas.
R. C. Price, San Clemente
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To the editor: Barabak could not be more wrong with his condemnation of Newsom. Newsom is the only prominent Democrat who understands that something has to change. We have to move toward the middle in our national rhetoric if we are to stop the slide towards fascism. Nothing else matters.
Jack Edelstein, Westlake Village
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To the editor: Can we please rebrand transgender athletes to elite athletes? This may be unfair in high school but at the college level and beyond, it’s just an advantage.
Penny Marquard, Northridge
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To the editor: Barabak bemoans the fact that so few California voters even know who is running for governor in 2026. Perhaps the L.A. Times can claim some responsibility for this. Ever since the disastrous fires in Pacific Palisades and Altadena, I look at the paper each morning and feel like I’m reading the Palisades-Altadena News. I do have the utmost sympathy for all those who have suffered such tremendous loss from these fires, however, do these stories need to take up so much of the front page every day?
When will The Times return to making national and international news front-page stories and not just a local newsletter? Until it does, your readers will have to get their real news elsewhere or remain ignorant about anything but fires when they vote for the next governor or, heaven forbid, president.
Barbara Rosen, Fullerton
