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4h ago

Newsom’s Trump-Style Trolling Delivers Polling Boost, Faces Partisan Blowback

Fresh polling plus viral metrics indicate the governor’s mirror-Trump routine is resonating with Democrats despite conservative pushback.

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Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., waits to speak to a crowd at a coffee shop during a two-day swing through South Carolina on July 8, 2025, in Mullins, S.C.
California Governor Gavin Newsom raised $6.2 million in the week following the launch of his ballot-measure effort to redraw California’s congressional map.

Overview

  • CNN data analyst Harry Enten cited a Politico–Citrin Center–Possibility Lab survey showing 75% of California Democrats are excited about a 2028 Newsom run, up from 35% in 2023, with Newsom leading Kamala Harris in his home state.
  • President Trump labeled Newsom “incompetent” and mocked California’s condition, drawing a Trump-style retort from the governor, while White House allies publicly shrugged off the mimicry as flattery that failed to rattle the president.
  • Newsom’s press office has flooded X with all-caps posts, mocking nicknames and AI-generated memes, with the account adding roughly 250,000 followers and recording more than 225 million impressions since early August.
  • Reactions have split widely, with Fox News hosts calling the posts childish and inauthentic as Bill Maher praised them as “very funny,” and columnists on the left warning the shtick risks trivializing substantive issues.
  • Beyond the memes, Newsom advanced a redistricting push as California lawmakers approved a ballot measure for a November special election on new congressional maps, framed by his team as a counter to expected GOP gains in Texas.