Internet culture is weird. One day you’re a high-profile politician dealing with a state budget, and the next, your name is inextricably linked to a raunchy, surrealist heavy metal song about gay cowboys. If you've spent more than five minutes on a certain corner of the internet, you’ve probably seen the "Gavin Newsom Ram Ranch" connection pop up. It’s the kind of thing that makes you do a double-take.
Is it a real political scandal? A bizarre endorsement? Honestly, it’s mostly just a fever dream of trolling and "outsider art" colliding with the mainstream.
The Man Behind the Meme: Grant MacDonald
To understand why anyone is talking about Gavin Newsom and Ram Ranch in the same breath, you have to know about Grant MacDonald. MacDonald is a prolific Canadian artist who became an internet legend for a song called "Ram Ranch."
If you haven’t heard it, it’s... unique. Released around 2012, it features a heavy metal riff and MacDonald’s distinct spoken-word delivery describing, in graphic detail, the goings-on at a fictional ranch involving eighteen naked cowboys. It was originally a protest against homophobia in the Nashville country music scene. MacDonald felt the industry was too straight-edged and exclusionary, so he went in the exact opposite direction.
But Grant MacDonald didn't stop at cowboys. He is incredibly prolific. He has thousands of songs on streaming platforms. And a significant chunk of his discography is dedicated to—you guessed it—Gavin Newsom.
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Why does Grant MacDonald write about Gavin Newsom?
It's a bizarre obsession. MacDonald has released entire albums with titles like F**n' Gavin Newsom. These tracks aren't political critiques in the traditional sense. They are surreal, often explicit, and wildly repetitive rants that mix the Governor's name with references to the Getty family, billionaires, and "Ram Ranch" style imagery.
For example, MacDonald’s songs often mention the Gettys, the elite San Francisco family that famously helped fund Newsom's early political rise. While real journalists at the Los Angeles Times have written serious investigative pieces about the "eight elite families" who backed Newsom, MacDonald takes that factual nugget and spins it into a hallucinatory musical universe.
The "Ram Ranch Resistance" and Political Trolling
The connection stayed in the weird corners of Spotify and YouTube for years. Then came the 2022 "Freedom Convoy" in Canada.
Protesters were using the Zello app to coordinate blockades. Counter-protesters, looking for a way to disrupt the channels, started "sound-bombing" the chats. Their weapon of choice? "Ram Ranch." The song became a symbol of the #RamRanchResistance, used to drown out political organizers with high-volume, explicit lyrics about the ranch.
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Because Newsom is a frequent target of the same political demographic that supported the convoys, the meme-sphere began to merge. Trolls started using MacDonald’s Newsom-specific tracks to mock both the Governor and his detractors simultaneously. It’s meta-irony at its peak. You’ve got a Canadian musician writing erotica about a California Governor, which is then used by activists to annoy truck drivers.
Fact-Checking the Connection
Let's be clear about what's actually happening here.
- Is Gavin Newsom affiliated with Ram Ranch? No. There is no record of the Governor acknowledging the song or the artist.
- Is there a real "Ram Ranch" in California? There are several ranches with "Ram" in the name, like the Rush Ranch Open Space Preserve, but they have zero connection to the song or the Governor's private life.
- Why is this ranking on Google? People see the song titles on Apple Music or Spotify and assume there is a "hidden chapter" or a leaked story. In reality, it’s just the result of one artist’s strangely specific creative output.
Why This Meme Persists
Basically, Gavin Newsom is a "main character" of American politics. He’s polished, he’s from a wealthy San Francisco background, and he’s a polarizing figure. This makes him the perfect canvas for "outsider" artists like MacDonald.
The juxtaposition of a high-power politician and the raw, unpolished, and explicit nature of "Ram Ranch" is what makes the meme "sticky." It’s the shock factor. When you search for the Governor and find an 8-minute track of a man shouting about the Getty family and cowboys, it creates a digital rabbit hole that is hard to ignore.
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What Most People Get Wrong
The biggest misconception is that there’s some "there" there. People look for a scandal involving a ranch or a secret party. They think maybe a "Ram Ranch" owner donated to the Newsom campaign.
While Newsom did receive criticism for accepting donations from a pot farm owner involved in an ICE raid (as reported by Fox News in late 2025), that has nothing to do with the cowboy song. The internet just likes to take two unrelated things—a controversial politician and a viral, raunchy song—and mash them together until they feel connected.
Key Takeaways for the Curious
If you’ve stumbled upon this corner of the web, here’s what you actually need to know:
- It’s Art, Not News: The songs are the work of Grant MacDonald, a Canadian artist known for "outsider music."
- The Getty Connection: MacDonald mentions the Gettys because of their real-life historical support of Newsom, but the songs are fictional and surreal.
- Trolling Weapon: "Ram Ranch" is frequently used as a tool for digital disruption by various political factions.
- No Actual Scandal: There is no "Ram Ranch" scandal. It’s a case of search engine results being dominated by a very productive independent musician.
If you’re looking for actual policy critiques of the Governor, you’re better off looking at the California state budget or his recent podcast, This is Gavin Newsom, where he talks to people like Marshawn Lynch. The "Ram Ranch" stuff? That’s just the internet being its usual, chaotic self.
The next time you see a weird reference to 18 cowboys and the California Governor, you can safely assume you're looking at a meme, not a news report. It's a bizarre footnote in the digital history of the 2020s, showing just how weird the intersection of politics and "troll culture" can get.
To stay informed on actual California political developments, follow the Governor’s official legislative updates or vetted political reporting from the Sacramento Bee. You'll find plenty of real debates there—just fewer cowboys.