Newsom is an unapologetic douchebag and it's funny, there is no denying that he has done some bad shit to maintain his position.
This entire shtick is clearly leaning into it as well.
Trump captivated the world with a similar energy in 2016. Gavin can't quite go that far because he's been in politics this long and doesn't have the same "larger than life" image that Trump did either.
Also, Gavin in no way sees himself as some big political outsider. He's just aping the "being a cunt on twitter" and doing it the way Donald use to do it, to Donald, and it's funny because Donald sucks and he sold out his base.
JD is completely manufactured and nobody can expect him to do anything serious on immigration or he'd have to deport his own wife.