{"id":370253,"date":"2025-08-24T17:27:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T17:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/370253\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T17:27:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T17:27:09","slug":"no-holds-barred-fight-californias-governor-takes-off-his-gloves-to-punch-back-at-trump-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/370253\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018No-holds-barred fight\u2019: California\u2019s governor takes off his gloves to punch back at Trump | California"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the opening weeks of Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s second term, Gavin Newsom<\/a> wagered that peacemaking was best: a tarmac greeting for Air Force One, an Oval Office visit and a podcast slot for Maga\u2019s biggest names. But then Trump came for California<\/a>, and its governor dropped the niceties.<\/p>\n

With a flood of all-caps social media posts, a counterpunching redistricting proposal and a string of lawsuits challenging the new administration, Newsom is not just taking on Trump, he\u2019s stealing his tactics: fight, fight, fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to wake up, disabuse ourselves as Democrats,\u201d Newsom said<\/a> on a podcast last week. \u201cI\u2019m sick of being weak. I\u2019m sick of being effete. I\u2019m sick of being non-consequential. It\u2019s not good enough to say it \u2013 it\u2019s time to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newsom has charged on to the national stage as a recast political brawler willing to wield power as ruthlessly as the other side. On Thursday, he signed redistricting legislation establishing a special election to ask voters to temporarily redraw the state\u2019s congressional boundaries and give Democrats as many as five additional US House seats in next year\u2019s midterm elections.<\/p>\n

The ballot measure is a direct attempt to \u201cneuter and neutralize\u201d Texas\u2019s partisan gerrymander, engineered at Trump\u2019s behest, to safeguard Republicans\u2019 fragile House majority. At a bill-signing ceremony on Thursday, Newsom cited the president\u2019s claim that he was \u201centitled\u201d to five additional congressional seats in the Lone Star state: \u201cThat should put chills up your spine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now the California<\/a> referendum transforms an off-cycle election year into a high-stakes national showdown that could determine control of Congress \u2013 and set the stage for 2028. For Newsom, who\u2019s term-limited and widely viewed as a presidential contender, the success \u2013 or failure \u2013 of this 11-week sprint could carry major consequences for his political future.<\/p>\n

The November special election gives voters in deep-blue California a chance to strike back at Trump, who has relentlessly tormented the state since returning to the White House. But by temporarily overriding California\u2019s independent redistricting commission \u2013 long a point of pride in the Golden state \u2013 Democrats are being asked to \u201ccompromise their own values,\u201d said Kim Nalder,<\/a> a political science professor at California State University, Sacramento.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s been a guiding light for a lot of Democrats \u2013 the whole \u2018they go low, we go high\u2019 idea,\u201d she said. \u201cOne of the risks is that the Democratic party \u2013 and Newsom himself \u2013 become associated with this all-out brawl, no-holds-barred fighting, rather than having a particular set of political principles that they stand by no matter what.\u201d<\/p>\n

How Californians will decide remains uncertain. A Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll released<\/a> on Friday shows 48% of registered voters in the state support Newsom\u2019s redistricting plan, compared with 32% who oppose it. Another 20% are undecided, providing an opening for either campaign to make their pitch.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Proposition 50 passes, and Californians succeed in adding more House seats, and is partially, if not completely, responsible for flipping the House next year, he\u2019s a hero, plain and simple,\u201d said Bill Whalen,<\/a> a Hoover Institution fellow who was a speechwriter for Pete Wilson, the former Republican governor of California.<\/p>\n

Even if the initiative falls short in November, Whalen believes Newsom still benefits. \u201cHe still gets credit among those same Democrats for fighting the good fight,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t see how he fails.\u201d<\/p>\n

The all-out political war between the president and California\u2019s governor erupted earlier this summer, when Trump seized control of California\u2019s national guard and deployed US marines to Los Angeles, over Newsom\u2019s objections, to suppress protests against the federal immigration crackdown. The raids are ongoing, and Trump has targeted the state in other ways: an attempt to strip federal funding from UCLA, and tariffs<\/a> that threaten California\u2019s economy \u2013 the fourth largest in the world.<\/p>\n

Newsom has argued that Trump was not just a threat to his state \u2013 but to the entire 249-year-old American project. While his approach might offend virtue-minded Democrats, he says the moment demands it.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I\u2019ve changed,\u201d he said<\/a> recently in a local news interview. \u201cThe facts have changed. We need to change.\u201d<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, as Newsom has stepped up his attacks on Trump as a \u201cweak\u201d and a \u201cfailed\u201d leader, his social media team has trolled the president online \u2013 unleashing a jumble of unfiltered, stream-of-consciousness rants, AI-generated political fan art and schoolyard taunts, some of it signed with the governor\u2019s initials, GCN, meant to parody the president\u2019s own chaotic posting style.<\/p>\n

National guard troops and a group of protesters in Los Angeles, California, on 10 June. Photograph: Robyn Beck\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Newsom says he\u2019s simply holding up a mirror. \u201cIf you\u2019ve got issues with what I\u2019m putting out,\u201d he told reporters last week, \u201cyou sure as hell should have concerns about what he\u2019s putting out as president.\u201d<\/p>\n

The posts have gone viral \u2013 racking up millions of views, thousands of comments and driving a flood of engagement. They\u2019ve also caught the attention of the right. Fox News hosts, Kid Rock<\/a>, JD Vance and even Trump himself have all taken the bait, provoking what the governor\u2019s staff gleefully dubbed \u201cMaga meltdowns\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cJESSE WATTERS KEPT CALLING ME \u2018DADDY\u2019 (VERY WEIRD, NOT INTERESTED, BUT THANK YOU!)\u201d his office clapped back, in an 188-word tweet about Fox News\u2019s breathless coverage of Newsom\u2019s furious posting streak.<\/p>\n

\u201cGavin Newsom can mimic Donald Trump<\/a> all that he wants to,\u201d Vance told Fox News host Laura Ingraham, \u201cthey\u2019re still going to lose unless they get better policies that actually serve the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump, for his part, weighed in on his own social media platform, Truth Social, vowing to save \u201cthe Once Great State of California\u201d from \u201cNewscum\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cTriggered?\u201d Newsom replied with a wink<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Berkley poll suggested that California voters back his gloves-off strategy with the president by a nearly two-to-one margin, with just 29% saying they\u2019d prefer a more cooperative approach. The tougher posture lands especially well with younger voters: 71% of Californians under 30 say they approve.<\/p>\n

In a blitz of media appearances last week, Newsom escalated his rhetoric.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re fighting fire with fire,\u201d he said on The Siren podcast<\/a>. \u201cAnd we\u2019re going to punch these sons of bitches in the mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n

The response was telling: no \u200bDemocratic moralizing, no rebuke from party leaders, no pressure on Newsom to apologize. Instead, his team promoted<\/a> the interview to his legions of new followers and supporters replied with MAGAesque AI images<\/a> of the governor as a superhero.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are just not used to seeing this kind of rough around the edges, non-poll-tested messaging coming from Democrats,\u201d said Olivia Julianna<\/a>, a 22-year-old Democratic activist from Texas and social media influencer who interviewed Newsom for the episode. \u201cIt\u2019s real, it\u2019s raw, it\u2019s authentic, and it shows that he\u2019s a fighter.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Democrats brace for the loss of up to five US House seats in her state, under the redistricting plan approved by the Texas legislature on Saturday<\/a>, Julianna said voters alarmed by Trump\u2019s increasingly brazen power grabs are desperate for leaders who offer more than just fighting words.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe want to feel like someone is standing on the frontlines ready to go to battle for us,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what it feels like Gavin Newsom<\/a> is doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newsom\u2019s new fight-fire-with-fire strategy isn\u2019t always trained on Trump.<\/p>\n

When the Bed Bath & Beyond chair announced<\/a> on Wednesday that he wouldn\u2019t reopen stores in the state, calling it \u201coverregulated, expensive and risky\u201d, Newsom\u2019s press office fired back. \u201cAfter their bankruptcy and closure of every store, like most Americans, we thought Bed, Bath & Beyond no longer existed,\u201d it said<\/a>. \u201cWe wish them well in their efforts to become relevant again.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also taken on his own party. Earlier this year, Newsom declared the Democratic brand \u201ctoxic\u201d in an interview with provocateur Bill Maher \u2013 a diagnosis backed by polling<\/a> and voter registration trends<\/a>, but striking language for the leader of the largest blue state who could seek that same party\u2019s nomination.<\/p>\n

He enraged progressives \u2013 already wary of his record on housing and homelessness \u2013 when he questioned the fairness of transgender athletes competing in women\u2019s sports. The comments, during a conversation with rightwing agitator Charlie Kirk on the inaugural episode of the governor\u2019s podcast, This Is Gavin Newsom<\/a>, marked a split from other top Democrats on the issue and rattled some of his LGBTQ+ allies.<\/p>\n

In response to a Guardian story<\/a> about the loss of care for trans youth in California, a Newsom spokesperson said critics should point the finger at Trump, not at a governor whose \u201crecord supporting the trans community is unmatched\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone wants to blame Gavin Newsom for everything. But instead of indulging in Newsom derangement syndrome, maybe folks should look to Washington,\u201d the spokesperson said \u2013 invoking a pejorative phrase, \u201cderangement syndrome\u201d, used by Trump supporters to mock the president\u2019s detractors.<\/p>\n

While his sharper tone has angered some on the left, the redistricting gambit has managed to unite progressives and establishment Democrats \u2013 sending Newsom\u2019s once-stalled approval rating soaring<\/a>.<\/p>\n

His redistricting plan has drawn praise from across the party, including Barack Obama, who called it \u201ca responsible approach<\/a>\u201d, the former House speaker Nancy Pelosi<\/a> and the entire congressional delegation of California Democrats. With the ballot initiative in motion, he challenged other blue state leaders to follow suit, laying down the gauntlet for fellow Democratic governors with presidential ambitions as Trump expands his push to secure Republican advantages in states such as Indiana, Ohio and Missouri.<\/p>\n

That aggressive posture \u2013 in effect becoming an \u201canti-Trump troll\u201d \u2013 has been cathartic for many Democrats, Nalder said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDemocrats nationwide have been feeling like the Trump administration<\/a> has been punching their values and their party and democracy itself in the face repeatedly day after day and they\u2019re just ready for somebody to punch the bully back,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd Newsom right now looks like he could be that guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gavin Newsom greets Donald and Melania Trump in Los Angeles on 24 January as the newly elected president arrives to inspect wildfire damage. Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein\/AP<\/p>\n

Newsom\u2019s campaign faces mounting opposition from Republicans, including those not in Trump\u2019s Maga camp. The popular former Republican governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, a longtime Trump critic and advocate of independent redistricting, has promised to<\/a> TERMINATE GERRYMANDERING<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

Former House speaker Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, has also vowed to pump money into what some observers predict<\/a> could quickly become one of the most expensive contests in Golden state history.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe voters of California have a say,\u201d he said in an interview on CNN. \u201cIf you truly believe in your power of your own vote, you should vote against this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newsom has raised more than $6.2m from 200,000 donations in the week since he officially launched<\/a> the ballot campaign at a rally in Los Angeles last week, according to his team.<\/p>\n

There, Newsom stood side by side with labor leaders, members of the teacher\u2019s union and the head of California\u2019s Planned Parenthood. His redistrticting plan even earned the endorsement of Sara Sadhwani, a Democrat who served on California\u2019s 2020 independent redistricting commission. Making the case for tossing out her work, she declared: \u201cExtraordinary times call for extraordinary measures\u201d.<\/p>\n

As Newsome spoke at the Japanese American National Museum\u2019s National Center for the Preservation of Democracy earlier this month, federal agents, armed and masked, fanned out across the complex. Newsom said their presence could not have been coincidental, though a Trump administration official called the accusation \u201cmisinformed<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

The next day, the governor\u2019s office filed a freedom of information request seeking details on the administration\u2019s involvement in the decision to send border patrol agents to that location.<\/p>\n

It was just more fuel for Newsom\u2019s argument: his campaign is not just about congressional districts, but a referendum on Trump \u2013 and American democracy.<\/p>\n

\u201cDonald Trump, you have poked the bear,\u201d Newsom says in a new ad<\/a> for the redistricting campaign, as the camera flashes to the grizzly on the state\u2019s flag. \u201cAnd we will punch back.\u201d<\/p>\n