And it works, of course. Think about it: what percentage of people reading the coverage of it have any doubt he's alive and governing? Whatever you pick, it rounds down to zero.

You can read a basic story here at Gateway Pundit:

Gov. Gavin Newsom Clashes with Target Employee Who Blames Him for California’s Surging Theft Crime — Questions Employee Why He Should Pay in a State of Rampant Shoplifting (VIDEO) (2/1/2024)

Let's analyze the event, shall we? But we should do it from the perspective of the ghey operators. For the benefits we desire, what does it take to create it and what are the downsides?

So the "evidence" we have to generate is a tweet of a Zoom call with "Gavin" on it telling an anecdote, all downrezzed to a potato-phone video. That does not sound like much of a challenge when put that way, does it?

Also, notice that Gavin gets to state his case for people that have never heard it, doesn't he? That's a plus.

Did you notice, though, that at the end he questions why he himself should pay? Do you think a career politician would carelessly say such a thing aloud, as if it was a point that happened to cross his mind? The writer went a step too far to make it sound "real".

Now let's talk about downsides: they had to admit that there's a shoplifting problem in California. Is that a big secret? Not really. So do you see that was the bait? If you look around, you'll see how hard everyone chomps down on it.

Okay, now let's talk about "dogs that didn't bark". Do you think someone could brazenly shoplift and the Governor of the state could argue with the cashier about it with someone taking a cell phone video? Without a dozen people taking cell phone videos? No, of course not.

Let's back up a step and ask: what are the chances that there's such a crime and the Governor is right there? Everybody I know shops at Target and every other kind of store in California, and as rampant as shoplifting is I've never heard a single one of them say it happened in front of them. Ever. No, I don't live in the hood but neither does (did) Gavin.

Let's back up another step: do you think the millionaire hereditary Elitist fuckwad Governor of California does his own shopping at Target? I decline to believe anyone who's made it as far as reading these words actually believes that. Don't even bother trying to claim it.

Anyway, to seal the deal, here's the paid shill post from r/conspiracy:

Theft is so common in California that it happened right in front of Gavin Newsom, and when the cashier (who didn't realize it was Newsom) said they can't stop shoplifters due to the California government, Newsom got mad at her and asked to see the manager.

Over a thousand upvotes in 16 hours with the achingly phony top comment alone having 691 upvotes. There are 174 comments with some being shills, but obviously the vast majority are genuine "conspiracy theorists" taking the opportunity to stomp down hard when bad news comes along about a guy they despise.

It all seems very lame in retrospect but, again, see how well it works?