Overview

• California’s official @GovPressOffice has leaned into all-caps taunts, nicknames and AI images signed “GCN,” explicitly parodying the president’s posting style.
• Dana Perino and other Fox News personalities criticized the posts as unprofessional, drawing an in-character clapback from Newsom’s account and fueling wider coverage.
• Steve Bannon told Politico that Newsom is mimicking Trump’s combativeness and warned MAGA figures to pay attention because the effort is intensifying.
• The White House answered a Politico inquiry with a meme suggesting Trump is unfazed, a rare official response that underscores how widely the tactic is resonating.
• Newsom’s team cites roughly 1 billion August impressions, hundreds of thousands of new followers since August 1, and fresh polling and betting-market gains as strategists caution about slacktivism, fatigue and potential governance risks.