Gavin Newsom on Why He’ll Maintain Trolling Trump

Governor Gavin Newsom speaks at Salesforce Tower on August 22, 2025, in San Francisco, California.
Picture: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu/Getty Photos

When the Trump administration flooded the streets of Los Angeles with Nationwide Guard troops to quell minor protests, California governor Gavin Newsom put up vociferous opposition. When Texas handed an audacious mid-decade redistricting plan, Newsom spurred the California legislature to observe go well with. Now Newsom is taking goal on the president with an in depth trolling marketing campaign, typically posting on-line within the bombastic, all-caps type of the president. Newsom’s on-line antics have provoked the ire of these on the suitable — and even some in his occasion — however the governor is hoovering up consideration at a time when many citizens are questioning the route of the Democratic Occasion. On the newest episode of Pivot, Newsom joined Kara Swisher as a visitor co-host and talked in regards to the origin of his trolling technique and what he hopes to perform with it.

Kara Swisher: I need to speak about your new position — troll-in-chief, as one newspaper put it. In the previous few weeks, you’ve flooded social media with all-caps posts, insults, AI-generated memes mocking Trump and his insurance policies. You lately acquired into the merch sport promoting MAGA-inspired Bibles, purple hats, and even “Make America Gavin Once more” flags, which is de facto humorous.

Fox Information has been melting down. Dana Perino mentioned that if she had been your spouse, she’d let you know’re making a idiot of your self. And whereas numerous liberals are loving this, you’ve got critics on the left who say the Democratic Occasion must do greater than be an anti-Trump occasion. I disagree. I believe that is extremely efficient, particularly that you just’re not stopping. Discuss in regards to the technique. I’ve theories on it, however I’d love to listen to it from you.

Gavin Newsom: I simply needed to place a mirror as much as the absurdity of all of this. I want Dana Perino and others have made that time months and months, years in the past. The all-cap tweets, Trump placing himself on memes because the Pope or placing him on memes as Superman or together with his shirt off, on high of various superhero characters or dinosaurs. I imply, it’s comical. And but, it’s grow to be so normalized and socialized in a means that’s not even critiqued on the intense proper. And so I simply needed to problem that and problem all these pundits on the market, problem all these folks, all these acolytes, folks which can be simply fawning over a man who places his image up on Mount Rushmore that does textual content like a 13-year-old or a 10-year-old.

It’s humiliating, it’s embarrassing. So this can be a mirror, and it’s a mirror not simply to Trump himself, however to those networks. These are the chatbots for the administration. And it’s not simply Fox, it’s One America Information, it’s Newsmax, and it’s all the oldsters within the right-wing media. And I’m glad they’re melting down over it. Their situational unawareness is moderately jaw-dropping, and we’ll maintain at it.

Swisher: How did you give you it? You might have given credit score to the entire crew in creating these memes. However somebody requested me about it and I mentioned, “Nicely, this does sound like him, the particular person I do know.” You could be very humorous and slicing and sarcastic and stuff like that. It’s kind of in your wheelhouse to do that.

Newsom: I recognize it. Look, I believe there’s one reply to that after which there’s a subtext. This factor, actually, it’s about iteration. I’ve at all times been prepared to attempt new issues. So, I’m at all times attempting to problem my crew: “Let’s see what works.” That’s why I went on Fox. That’s why I did the talk with Ron DeSantis. That’s why I used to be one of many first Democrats to go on Reality Social. That’s why I began a PAC just a few years in the past and solely went to purple states and began elevating consciousness and sources in elements of the nation the place I really feel the Democratic Occasion walked away. And so, it’s a part of that, but it surely’s additionally particularly a part of what we had been on the receiving finish of after the fires in January in L.A.

Swisher: And earlier than that.

Newsom: And only a totally different stage of mis- and disinformation. And to your level about earlier than that — look, the recall. I’m romantic. I at all times assume all politics is native. I used to be kind of born and bred with that assemble, however that’s not the case, clearly. And I intellectualized that, however I by no means absolutely internalized it till the recall. I had guys like Newt Gingrich and I had of us like Mike Huckabee and the RNC nationalizing their grievance. And, after all, all the oldsters at Fox and One America Information, et cetera, coming after us.

So I began to shift our method then. It actually acquired into excessive gear after the fires, when Trump and Elon Musk had been coming after us and so they had been profitable on simply rank lies about water coverage and all of the b.s. However what they did to federalize 4,000 of our Nationwide Guardmen and ladies and put 700 active-duty army on the streets of L.A. — that’s once we simply mentioned, “We’re on the opposite facet of this.” And we instructed the crew, “There’s no permission slip now. Not even forgiveness. You simply go and we go laborious, and we don’t cease.”

Swisher: And also you don’t cease. That’s what’s attention-grabbing about it — it’s relentless, which may be very totally different. I had instructed, I believe it was Kamala Harris, you’ve acquired to be virtually promiscuous now from a social-media viewpoint. You need to be in all places continually and never stopping, which I believe characterizes this fairly a bit. While you hear criticism that it’s an excessive amount of or cringey even from the left or proper, how do you reply that?

Newsom: You know the way I answered it? I haven’t actually mentioned this publicly, however I ship my crew a YouTube video of Marshawn Lynch on 60 Minutes Sports activities when he was requested about his operating type. And he says, about going into the entrance line, “Over and time and again and time and again and time and again and time and again.” So this notion of communication — I couldn’t agree with you extra. Trump’s success is the simplicity with which he communicates the identical factor in that cadence time and again and over and time and again. And we transfer week to week. It’s Infrastructure Week, and , now Baby-care Week and it’s Foster-care Week. And as a consequence, we’ve got weak messaging, and so they’re profitable the narrative conflict.

Phantasm guidelines. Information don’t matter. That’s what Fox understands. That’s what Trump understands. He floods the zone, and we’re continually on our heels and never on our entrance toes. And so, what we’re attempting to do is, sure, battle hearth with hearth with the redistricting substance and when it comes to our communication type. And we’re attempting to maintain at it. Look, you talked about the Patriot Retailer. Simply have a look at the stuff he’s promoting. Perfumes? That is embarrassing. The man’s hawking Bibles. Ours is bought out, so if you need it, sorry, it’s bought out.

Swisher: I hoped to get one.

Newsom: And if you need an actual prediction, we’re about to place a meme coin out. And you recognize what? Donald Trump, we’ll see how effectively your coin does versus our coin.

Swisher: Wow. You’re doing a coin. In fact you might be.

Newsom: We’re simply attempting to show up the warmth.

Swisher: Is it going to be known as Gavin Coin?

Newsom: No, I believe Trump Corruption Coin.

Swisher: Oh, okay. That’s a little bit lengthy.

Newsom: This is without doubt one of the nice grifters of our time. It’s simply jaw-dropping, and none of that is regular. Once more, none of that is humorous. I imply, it’s humorous in a single respect.

Swisher: It’s. You’re being humorous.

Newsom: It’s extraordinary what’s occurring. It’s jaw-dropping. His household is shipped out earlier than these overseas journeys, doing offers. Offers are actually executed earlier than tariffs are imposed. The crony capitalism that’s occurring, the folks which can be promoting their souls on this nation. I imply, that was madness on the Cupboard assembly. And Lutnick, speaking about socializing and nationalizing corporations like Lockheed. And also you’re fearful about Mamdani and a few grocery shops? And these guys are taking tidings from AMD, 15 % from Nvidia. I imply, that is severe stuff. The grift and the corruption, the self-dealing, is one thing that we are going to proceed to name out. I’m actually fearful about this nation. I believe we’ve crossed the purple line. I believe it’s rather more acute and profound than many individuals assume. And I’m simply attempting to wake folks up. That’s what that is all about. Get up, everyone.

This interview has been edited for size and readability.