A war of words has erupted between Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and multiple members of the Trump administration and its allies over his handling of the Los Angeles protests and the president’s decision to send in troops.
Newsom, widely assumed to be a leading contender for the Democratic 2028 presidential ticket, fired back at criticism from the administration with a barrage of social media posts, emails, and interviews, calling out President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Sens. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Tom Cotton (R-AK), and Jim Jordan (R-OH).
Newsom’s pushback came after the Trump administration deployed 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to Los Angeles to tamp down protests sparked by Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation raids. Several solidarity protests have since taken place around the country.
The Trump administration has painted the scene in Los Angeles as a dangerous, lawless hellscape, going so far as to say the city would have been burned to the ground had he not intervened. Newsom has insisted he has everything under control and is suing Trump in an effort to stop him.
To be sure, there is no love lost between the president and the governor. Trump has long criticized Newsom, whom he often refers to as “Newscum,” on various issues, including his response to the Los Angeles wildfires and the state’s transgender athlete policy. Newsom, for the most part, had only hit back sparingly until now.
Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday that if he were border czar Tom Homan, he’d arrest the “grossly incompetent” governor.
Newsom shot back on X: “The President of the United States just called for the arrest of a sitting Governor. This is a day I hoped I would never see in America. I don’t care if you’re a Democrat or a Republican, this is a line we cannot cross as a nation — this is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism.”
Vance, one of the early favorites for the 2028 Republican presidential ticket, also got in on the action, posting: “‘Do your job. That’s all we’re asking.”
Newsom replied: “Do YOUR job. We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved. Rescind the order. Return control to California.”
Vance later responded to a video shared by Homeland Security’s X account of a masked demonstrator holding a Mexican flag while standing on top of a tagged car with burning cars lining the street.
“This administration will not be intimidated by lawlessness,” he wrote. “We will stand by the FBI agents tracking down violent criminals, by the guardsmen, local police, and Marines restoring order, and by the ICE agents enforcing our immigration laws. President Trump will not back down.”
The social media spat between the ambitious politicians could be seen as a messaging preview if the two face off against each other in the presidential election.
Newsom also took a swipe at Hegseth on Sunday. It was in response to an X post from Hegseth featuring a screenshot of a post from Trump on his Truth Social platform. In that post, Trump congratulated the National Guard for doing a “great job” in Los Angeles following “two days of violence, clashes, and unrest.”
Newsom called Trump and Hegseth “smart guys” in his own X post.
“Smart guys running the operation. The National Guard wasn’t even deployed on the ground when Trump posted this. Pete Hegseth runs the Pentagon as well as he throws an axe on a Fox News set,” Newsom said, referring to a 2015 incident in which a man was hit by an axe tossed by Hegseth.
On Tuesday, Hegseth said that deploying troops to Los Angeles would cost the country $134 million and defended the move during a congressional committee hearing, asserting that “we ought to be able to enforce immigration law in this country.”
Cotton also got in on the action, taking a swipe at Democrats in general and blaming the party for pockets of violence that broke out in Los Angeles.
“They demand open borders, or they will riot,” Cotton wrote on X. “And Dem politicians like Newsom will back them. It won’t work. We must never tolerate this lawlessness.”
Newsom replied: “The only one supporting lawlessness is you and every one of Trump’s minions who are allowing him to illegally militarize our city and incite violence.”
Jordan, another strong Trump ally, indirectly referenced some LA protesters carrying flags from Mexico, writing: “We fly the American flag in America,” to which Newsom responded, “Like this?” with pictures of the Jan. 6 demonstrators storming the U.S. Capitol holding American flags.
Newsom also had some choice words for Tuberville, who told Florida’s Voice to “lock up” the governor.
HEGSETH CITES 2020 MINNESOTA RIOTS AS REASON FOR SENDING NATIONAL GUARD INTO LA
“LA looks like a third world country — anarchists are in charge, law enforcement is being attacked, and the rule of law is nonexistent,” the former Auburn University football coach said.
Newsom replied on X that Alabama had a homicide rate three times higher than California, is ranked third in the entire country, and to “stick to football, bro.”