California Governor Gavin Newsom is ruffling feathers on the right with his social media posts that perfectly mimic Donald Trump’s signature all-caps style, wild rants, name-calling, and even AI-generated images. Conservatives say the parody shines a glaring light on behavior they argue has long been excused when the former president does it himself.
Fox News hosts didn’t hold back. “You have to stop it with the Twitter thing,” Dana Perino said Monday, addressing the potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender. “If I were his wife, I would say: You are making a fool of yourself, stop it… He’s got a big job as governor of California, but if he wants an even bigger job, he has to be a little more serious.”
Trace Gallagher added: “I don’t know what he’s trying to do, but it comes across as childish — you are the governor of the biggest state in the union — what are you doing?”
Trump’s late-night tirades on Truth Social, targeting perceived enemies and sharing once-unthinkable conspiracies, have long drawn criticism. Yet many argue the media has normalized his bizarre posts, allowing them to slide with little scrutiny.
Newsom, however, is taking a different approach — one that’s earning praise from Democrats and drawing massive online attention. Since Aug. 1, his @GovPressOffice account on X has amassed over 250,000 followers, more than 225 million impressions, and 1.5 million profile visits, according to his office.
“If you’ve got issues with what I’m putting out, you sure as hell should have concerns about what he’s putting out as president,” Newsom said at a press conference in Los Angeles last week. “To the extent it’s gotten some attention, I’m pleased. But I think the deeper question is, how have we allowed the normalization of his tweets over the course of the last many years to go without similar scrutiny and notice?”
“Now everyone’s so offended, ‘Oh, it’s so unbecoming of your position.’ But not the president of the United States?” he added, calling out the double standard.