As California Governor Gavin Newsom gets floated as a top contender for the Democratic Party in 2028, he&#8217;s going all in on anti-Trump rhetoric, but with a new twist.
In recent weeks, the social media account for the governor&#8217;s office has been posting rants on X that copy the tone and style of President Donald Trump&#8217;s off-the-cuff statements on Truth Social. While imitation is said to be the sincerest form of flattery, Newsom is copying Trump in an attempt to give the president &#8220;a wake-up call.&#8221;
Earlier this month, the Governor Newsom Press Office X account raised eyebrows when it began posting warnings to Trump in all-caps and closed out with Trump&#8217;s signature line: &#8220;THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.&#8221; Newsom&#8217;s Trump impersonation began over the Republican effort to redraw Congressional maps in Texas, which would likely strip five seats from Democrats.
&#8220;DONALD TRUMP, IF YOU DO NOT STAND DOWN, WE WILL BE FORCED TO LEAD AN EFFORT TO REDRAW THE MAPS IN CA TO OFFSET THE RIGGING OF MAPS IN RED STATES. BUT IF THE OTHER STATES CALL OFF THEIR REDISTRICTING EFFORTS, WE WILL DO THE SAME. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!&#8221; Newsom&#8217;s press office <a href="https://x.com/GovPressOffice/status/1954957300843917466">wrote</a> last Monday.
In the following days, the governor&#8217;s X posts only became more Trump-like.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
DONALD “TACO” TRUMP, AS MANY CALL HIM, “MISSED” THE DEADLINE!!! CALIFORNIA WILL NOW DRAW NEW, MORE “BEAUTIFUL MAPS,” THEY WILL BE HISTORIC AS THEY WILL END THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY (DEMS TAKE BACK THE HOUSE!). BIG PRESS CONFERENCE THIS WEEK WITH POWERFUL DEMS AND GAVIN NEWSOM — YOUR…
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) <a href="https://twitter.com/GovPressOffice/status/1955411757540970603?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 12, 2025</a></blockquote>
&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
WHEN SPEAKER “LITTLE MAN” JOHNSON IS STANDING IN “THE UNEMPLOYMENT LINE,” HE CAN THANK DONALD “TACO” J. TRUMP. TRUMP MISSED A SIMPLE DEADLINE — SOMETHING HE HAS OFTEN DONE WITH HIS MANY FAILED BUSINESSES — NOW CALIFORNIA WILL “FIRE” HIM WITH NEW, “MORE BEAUTIFUL MAPS.” HIGHLY…
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) <a href="https://twitter.com/GovPressOffice/status/1955654178556223673?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
DONALD IS FINISHED — HE IS NO LONGER “HOT.” FIRST THE HANDS (SO TINY) AND NOW ME — GAVIN C. NEWSOM — HAVE TAKEN AWAY HIS “STEP.” MANY ARE SAYING HE CAN’T EVEN DO THE “BIG STAIRS” ON AIR FORCE ONE ANYMORE — USES THE LITTLE BABY STAIRS NOW. SAD! TOMORROW HE’S GOT HIS “MEETING” WITH…
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) <a href="https://twitter.com/GovPressOffice/status/1956179690449985876?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
Newsom was asked last week whether the social media posts were part of a specific strategy from his team.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t know. I hope it&#8217;s a wake-up call to the president of the United States for following his example,&#8221; Newsom replied. &#8220;If you&#8217;ve got issues with what I&#8217;m putting out, you sure as hell should have concerns about what he&#8217;s putting out as president. So, to the extent it&#8217;s gotten some attention, I&#8217;m pleased, but I think the deeper question is how have we allowed the normalization of his tweets — Truth Social posts — over the course of the last many years to go without similar scrutiny and notice.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Gov. Gavin Newsom is asked what&#8217;s behind recent tweets on the <a href="https://twitter.com/GovPressOffice?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GovPressOffice</a> account where he appears to be mocking President Trump.
&#8220;I&#8217;m just following his example&#8230;.the deeper question is, how have we allowed the normalization of his tweets and Truth Social posts over the… <a href="https://t.co/aQe4Rw167G">pic.twitter.com/aQe4Rw167G</a>
— Daniela Pardo (@danielapardotv) <a href="https://twitter.com/danielapardotv/status/1956087527871537577?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
Despite what Newsom says, Trump&#8217;s social media presence has been in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/06/us/politics/donald-trump-twitter-use-campaign-2016.html">spotlight</a> since he jumped into politics in 2015, and it has been the <a href="https://ny1.com/nyc/queens/politics/2017/07/28/trump-s-use-of-social-media-to-announce-major-policy-changes-unprecedented--political-consultants-say">subject</a> of endless legacy media <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/07/donald-trump-facebook-social-media-capitol-attack">scrutiny</a>. The Left&#8217;s backlash to Trump&#8217;s social media snipes only added to the momentum that pushed Trump across the finish line in 2016 and again in 2024.
The White House blasted Newsom over the social media tactic, calling it inauthentic.
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“Nothing about Newscum is authentic — from his rehearsed answers to his flip-flopping policy positions – he goes whatever way the wind blows… so it makes sense that he would try to mimic the President’s wildly successful communication strategy. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but Gavin’s behavior is just getting weird at this point,&#8221; White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told The Daily Wire.
For Newsom&#8217;s X presence, the Trump parodies appear to be working — at least in terms of raw engagement. Before the press office X account began posting like the president, it would usually see between 200 and a few thousand likes, and some posts would hit 2,000 reposts if they were lucky. But when the governor&#8217;s office posts parodies of Trump, that&#8217;s a different story. Some of Newsom&#8217;s Trumpian posts reached over 100,000 likes and racked up around 15,000 reposts.
An official in the governor&#8217;s office told The Daily Wire that the press office X account has seen an increase of over 250,000 followers, while its engagement rate has gone up by more than 50% since August 1. Much of that engagement is negative, with many X users blasting Newsom&#8217;s social media tactic. Conservative commentators have also ripped the Democratic governor for copying Trump.
Fox News host Dana Perino, White House Press Secretary under former President George W. Bush, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dana-perino-warns-gavin-newsom-to-avoid-cringey-x-presence-and-he-doubles-down-instead?author=Virginia+Kruta&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=5&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=Dana+Perino+Warns+Gavin+Newsom+To+Avoid+Cringey+X+Presence%2C+And+He+Doubles+Down+Instead">said</a> on Monday that Newsom was &#8220;making a fool&#8221; of himself.
“You have to stop it with the Twitter thing. I don’t know where his wife is,&#8221; she added. &#8220;If I were his wife, I would say you are making a fool of yourself, stop it. Do not let your staff tweet, and if you’re doing it yourself, put the phone away and start over.”
Radio host Mark Simone <a href="https://x.com/MarkSimoneNY/status/1955713499750961437">added</a>, &#8220;Gavin Newsom is now paying massive tribute to Donald Trump by imitating him, copying him, trying to be him &#8211; look at his latest tweets. He is becoming Trump and the crazy left loves it (also a great tribute to President Trump).&#8221;
Newsom&#8217;s idea to channel Trump is connecting with those on the Left.
Jon Favreau, a &#8220;Pod Save America&#8221; co-host and former speechwriter for President Barack Obama, replied to Perino, saying, &#8220;Humor and mockery can be quite effective!&#8221;
&#8220;I mean, it&#8217;s pretty clearly a parody of Trump&#8217;s absolutely insane all caps, often non-sensical posts,&#8221; Favreau added. &#8220;Probably why all the people in my life who aren&#8217;t political junkies keep reaching out to say they don&#8217;t know much about Newsom but think the tweets are hilarious.&#8221;
Newsom&#8217;s Trump imitation isn&#8217;t the only social media tactic the Democratic governor has attempted this year. In February, Newsom <a href="https://www.kcra.com/article/gavin-newsom-launches-another-podcast/63942809">launched</a> a new podcast, the first episodes of which focused on discussions with “leaders and architects of the MAGA movement.” The first three guests on Newsom&#8217;s show were Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, conservative commentator Michael Savage, and former Trump Chief Strategist Steve Bannon.
Newsom said his podcast would seek to better understand conservatives while also asking how the Democratic Party could learn from Republicans&#8217; recent electoral successes.
“We already know what our disagreements are with the MAGA movement. I want to understand what the motivations are, the legitimacy of those motivations, and just really understand where people are coming from,” Newsom said. “They are influential — they are. They explain more things in more ways on more days about what’s going on and if we’re not trying to understand their motivations, we will be victims of their motivations.”
“At the same time, I want Democrats to come on and sort of challenge where we are on a lot of these issues,” he added. “And so I’m asking the same questions you’re asking of me: Where the hell is the Democratic Party?&#8221;
Newsom&#8217;s podcast launch was <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2025-04-01/gavin-newsom-podcast-charlie-kirk-maga-2028-election-essential-california">viewed</a> by some as an effort to position himself as more of a moderate who&#8217;s willing to reach a hand across to Trump supporters, as he&#8217;s considered a potential frontrunner in the 2028 Democratic presidential primary.
Six months later, Newsom is back to focusing all of his attention on attacking the president as Democrats push back on most of Trump&#8217;s actions — from immigration crackdowns across the country to the deployment of the National Guard and federal agents in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

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Gavin Newsom Is Embracing A New Social Media Strategy As 2028 Rumors Swirl: Trump Parodies