Newsom office’s mockery of McMahon over trans athletes backfires for ‘proving’ critics’ point

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Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) faced backlash for an online post from his office Wednesday, diminishing concerns from Education Secretary Linda McMahon that California is discriminating against women by requiring female athletes to compete against transgender-identifying biological males.

McMahon announced Wednesday that California violated Title IX when it allowed a transgender athlete to compete in the state high school track and field finals last month. McMahon said the Trump administration gave the California Interscholastic Federation ten days to “remedy” the situation before being reported to the Department of Justice. Instead of encouraging CIF to comply, Newsom’s office made a statement mocking McMahon.

“It wouldn’t be a day ending in ‘Y’ without the Trump administration threatening to defund California,” Izzy Gardon, Newsom’s communications director, told the Washington Examiner Wednesday. “Now, Secretary McMahon is confusing government with her WrestleMania days — dramatic, fake, and completely divorced from reality. This won’t stick.”

Newsom’s office later shared an old clip of McMahon participating in a WWE stunt with the caption, “Live look at Linda’s legal claims.” In the video, wrestler Glenn Jacobs, then known by the stage name Kane, picks up McMahon, flips her upside down, and slams her into the ground in a tombstone move.

The reposting of the clip prompted Jacobs, now Tennessee’s Knox County Mayor, to respond. Jacobs superimposed Newsom’s face onto his and labeled McMahon “women’s sports.” Then he captioned the edited photo, “Pretty sure this is more accurate.”

Another X user responded to the original post, “Thanks for proving our point. Men are stronger than women. I can’t believe you actually posted this display of male violence.”

“This is literally of a video of a man taking down a woman easily because of how biologically strong a man is. Posted by @GavinNewsom office,” podcaster Sophia Lorie wrote. “Thank you for the prime example of the injustice you’re allowing in the state of California.”

“Hard to believe a real government office tweeted this after @EDSecMcMahon found California in violation of Title IX. Ironically, the video is a perfect visual of why they’re not in compliance,” OutKick’s Riley Gaines wrote.

“Newsom’s press office posted a video of a man beating a woman to mock girls demanding fairness in sports,” California Assembly Republicans Communications Director George Andrews commented. Andrews included a South Park clip of a transgender-identifying biological male at the top of a podium with women as the runners-up.

LINDA MCMAHON THREATENS CALIFORNIA WITH DOJ INVESTIGATION OVER TITLE IX VIOLATION

McMahon said it’s been months since she wrote a letter to Newsom regarding the matter and the 1,500 schools under the CIF’s jurisdiction. Newsom’s office confirmed to the Washington Examiner that he received a letter but dismissed its legal implications.

Among the demands to reverse the Title IX violation, the Department of Education is seeking to strip medals, titles, and honors from transgender athletes and retroactively reassign them to biologically female athletes going back over a decade. Additionally, the CIF is expected to certify the sex of its athletes on an annual basis using school records.

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