Tommy Pham is a black Major League Baseball free agent outfielder.
Given his background, it should come as little surprise that he had some words for progressive California Gov. Gavin Newsom after a racially charged incident.
What may surprise some — given the typically cozy nature between celebrity athletes and Democrats — is that Pham seemed genuinely upset with Newsom.
To wit, Newsom, who’s widely viewed as one of the frontrunners to secure the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028, made waves at a Sunday event meant to promote his upcoming memoirs.
While speaking onstage with Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, who is a black man, Newsom made some less-than-flattering comments about the intelligence of black people.
“I’m not trying to impress you, I’m just trying to impress upon you, ‘I’m like you. I’m no better than you.’ I’m a 960 SAT guy,” Newsom told Dickens, which actually got applause from the audience.
“And I’m not trying to offend anyone,” Newsom continued. “I’m not trying to act all there if you got 940. Literally a 960 SAT guy… I cannot — You’ve never seen me read a speech, because I cannot read a speech.”
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Critics torched Newsom for the uncomfortable remarks, which many interpreted as the governor generalizing and denigrating the intelligence of black people.
And those critics included Pham.
In his Instagram stories (which self-delete after a set period of time). Pham lambasted Newsom for his comments.
Pham posted two stories, and neither was giving a charitable interpretation of Newsom’s remarks.
“I can’t relate I was a straight A student and scored well on my SAT he thinks black ppl are dumb,” Pham posted in response to an X post that shared the relevant clip, per Fox News.
In another story, Pham shared an older video of Newsom bragging about how he can read fast.
“Gavin Newsom when speaking to white people: ‘I read a 260 page book in an hour and a half,’” Pham posted.
If you strip away the applause lines and the stagecraft, you can see why Pham bristled. When a powerful, white, progressive politician frames his own academic mediocrity as a way to “connect” with a black audience, it’s hard not to hear the subtext.
The insinuation — intentional or not — is that lowered standards are somehow relatable. Anyone with a shred of integrity can tell you that that’s condescension dressed up as humility.
Pham’s response cut through the fog. He didn’t accept the premise. He didn’t nod along. He flatly rejected the idea that being black is synonymous with struggling academically. That shouldn’t be controversial — it should be obvious.
Yet time and again, progressive politicians stumble into rhetoric that suggests minority voters need their achievements downsized or their expectations managed. It’s astonishing that a movement so fluent in the language of “equity” keeps tripping over the implication that excellence is somehow culturally exclusive.
This is what critics have long meant by the “soft bigotry of low expectations.” You can wrap it in empathy. You can coat it in self-deprecation. But when you repeatedly signal that certain communities should identify with underperformance rather than achievement, you’re not empowering anyone.
You’re reinforcing the very stereotypes you claim to oppose. Pham, for his part, simply refused to play along.
And that’s the real takeaway.
Whether Newsom intended offense or not, the reaction underscores a broader frustration: voters — including black voters — don’t want to be patronized. They don’t need politicians lowering the bar in their name.
They need leaders who believe they can clear it.
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