A memoir seemingly is a prerequisite for a US presidential hopeful. His visit drew a crowd of well over 500 people, including former Secretary of State John F. Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee.
Newsom, 58, has not voiced his intention to run, nor did he Friday, during the latest stop on his national book tour. Instead, the two-term governor criticized Trump, appealed for vigilance and the need to “fight fire with fire.”
“This guy is not screwing around, nor can we” Newsom, also a former mayor of San Francisco, said. “We have got to fight fire with fire.”
A woman in the audience shouted, “Newsom in ‘28!”
Governor Maura Healey’s message carried the same tone in the lead up to her introduction of Newsom.
“We need to shake it up” she said. “It’s a moment for disruption … we’ve got a country to save.”
Healey praised Newsom’s handling of Trump’s call up of the National Guard in Los Angeles last June.
Newsom has been “incredibly strong,” she said. “I think he is responding to the kind of force that this moment requires of all of us.”
Brian Tyler Cohen, a YouTuber and podcast host, moderated the standing room only event in the auditorium. Many more crowded into an overflow room to watch and listen.
Newsom, who was San Francisco’s youngest mayor in 100 years when he was elected at 37 in 2003, called his book a “memoir of discovery.”
He recounts being raised by a single mother, never understanding why his father had left, and the challenges of growing up with dyslexia.“How I felt like I was dumb, and my mom struggled with a son who was struggling,” Newsom said.
The book also explores the father of four’s past relationships and the ups and downs that shaped him, Newsom said.
“That’s what this book is about,” he said, “all the mistakes I made and how I tried to make up for them.”
Newsom said there was a discussion and spirit of optimism at Jackson’s funeral in Chicago earlier in the day, that was reflective of the late civil rights leader’s ideology.
“We can shape the future,” Newsom said. “We’re not bystanders to the future. The future’s not in front of us, it’s inside of us. It’s decision, not conditions, that determine our faith and future.”
“I think it’s the spirit that defines this moment,” he said.
Otherwise, Trump will “break this country,” Newsom said.
“Donald Trump is all about destruction, and destruction is not strength,” Newsom said. “He’s not a builder.”
“We have to remain vigilant,” he said.
Brook Meggs, 69, of Sudbury, attended with his wife. It was their attempt to become a bit more political as they feel their ideals “have been rebuked and trampled on in recent years,” Meggs said.
Newsom made a good impression, he said.
“He can be rather glib” and give off an air of “a glitzy California star kind of guy who thinks he has all the answers,” Meggs said.
But on Friday, in person, Newsom was “definitely more human, definitely more relatable and more inspiring,” said Meggs, a musician who generally votes Democrat.
“Tonight made him considerably more appealing to me, and I think stronger as a candidate,” Meggs said.
Tonya Alanez can be reached at tonya.alanez@globe.com. Follow her @talanez.
