Yes, right wing talking points can be effective because they're overly simplistic and they count on the other side not being able to counter act them with similarly simple talking points. Newsome knocked it out of the park by not following standard Dem answers. Hence why Newsome saying that other countries have worse inflation rate so how is that Biden's fault if not demonstrating how well Biden is doing. Or that Biden has created more jobs than the last 3 GOP presidents combined. Or that even if Biden's job creation is a post-COVID bump why is the unemployment rate at a historic low?
You can't reply with a doctorate level thesis about why the GOP speaker is wrong. Have a few canned sentences that even a moron can understand. When you make a point, don't let them switch to another topic. Force them to reply to your response. Newsom made Hannity look like a 1st grader.
As far as Newsom on the big stage, he will have to address the question on "do you want America to be California." That GOP message will play in swing states. He will need to show how CA is in better than GA, AZ, WI, MI or PA. You can't be defensive. Instead he would need to stand proud of CA.
EDIT: I think a Dem CA governor could be elected President. Newsom's biggest problem is that he was the SF mayor. That's different since even liberal Dems struggle to explain SF.