Live by looks, die by looks. Gavin Newsom is governor of the largest state in the Union not because he can point to any success whatsoever in more than two decades as a professional politician but because he looks the part. His hair is perfectly gelled, a superb mix of salt and pepper. His wife, Jennifer Siebel, is so pretty she not only acted in Hollywood for a time but once dated George Clooney. In California, you may have noticed, looks can get you far. A reporter for SFGate went on the campaign trail with Newsom in 2003, when he …
This article appears as “If Looks Could Govern” in the April 19, 2021, print edition of National Review.
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