Strategically, voting in the wrong Democrats is what enabled the Republicans to do all of that. The US was in decline long before this batch of Republicans, and the Clintons had a lot to do with it.

Gavin Newsom believes in nothing. I honestly don’t see any reason to believe he would govern any differently than Vance. He’s nothing but a political opportunist, and the opportunities he seems drawn to are all coming from the right. Having Vance in office would fire up progressive resistance. Newsom would drive progressives to despair.