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PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   13229 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of May 18, 2026

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I think Newsome said he had like a 960 IQ.

960 SAT. FWIW, he says that while excusing it as the result of dyslexia, but I've never seen anything that made me think he was better than actual average, which is much lower than what the average sequestered shape rotator monks here think is average.

The circles he runs in would indicate he’s well above average. Smart rich people just don’t talk to average people. Looks like his wife graduated from Stanford. Those types never marry average intelligence guy.

The circles he runs in would indicate he’s well above average.

Eh, he got into those circles via his father (and is now writing memoirs about how he had a hardscrabble childhood with his divorced mom working three jobs and he had to deliver newspapers as a kid and his dyslexia meant he had trouble at school) and basically, from what I can gather, sucking up as hard as he could to the Gettys and hanging on to that association with an iron grip:

Newsom and a group of investors created the company PlumpJack Associates L.P. on May 14, 1991. The group started the PlumpJack Winery in 1992 with the financial help of his family friend Gordon Getty. PlumpJack was the name of an opera written by Getty, who invested in 10 of Newsom's 11 businesses. Getty told the San Francisco Chronicle that he treated Newsom like a son and invested in his first business venture because of that relationship. According to Getty, later business investments were because of "the success of the first".

I'm not saying he's dumb, but he didn't work his way up from nowhere to mingle with the rich nor was he exactly born into those circles.

I just disagree he could be truly average. Even with connections from birth you can flunk out. He’s got to be at a minimum a midtwit so something like 1200-1300 real SAT score intelligence. Top 10%.

People who think Newsom's IQ is sub 1000 SAT equivalent just have not interacted much at all with that actual level of intelligence. No one would confuse him for bright, but he's well above average.

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