Gavin Newsom won headlines Friday after he trolled Elon Musk — by attacking his relationship with his children.
“We’re sorry your daughter hates you, Elon,” the California governor’s press office posted on X.
Yes, this is the same Gavin Newsom who recently said Democrats’ next presidential nominee needs to be “someone who is a repairer of the breach.”
By that standard, he has disqualified himself.
Newsom has spent much of the year trolling President Donald Trump, trying to match — or exceed — Trump’s provocative rhetoric.
Last week, responding to a White House post of footage of criminal illegal aliens being arrested, Newsom posted an AI-generated video showing Trump handcuffed and crying on a street curb.
Ironically, Newsom once boasted that he had banned such AI “deepfake” videos. But a federal judge said Newsom’s ban violated the First Amendment.
Now such videos are part of Newsom’s daily output.
His “@GovPressOffice” account on X.com blasts obscene anti-Trump jokes, in between official announcements about the state.
On Thursday, after the White House posted an image of Trump as a character from the popular Minecraft video game, @GovPressOffice reposted it with a comment: “Donald Trump confirms he loves minors.”
Once in a while, even Newsom realizes he’s gone too far.
After Trump visited Israel to finalize a deal that freed the remaining hostages, Newsom’s office posted an image of the president with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling them “Dumb and Dumber.”
He took that one down, amid backlash.
He also drew criticism for telling a podcaster “I’m going to punch these sons of bitches in the mouth” — weeks before Charlie Kirk was assassinated.
Newsom blames Trump’s rhetoric for deepening our national divisions.
But he isn’t doing anything to change the tone, or to set an example.
The governor is literally selling kneepads online as a crude way of attacking anyone who works with Trump.
When Andrew Ross Sorkin of the New York Times asked about the gag, Newsom cited its fundraising success: “We’ve raised hundreds of thousands of dollars,” he said.
And that is the point.
Newsom is using offensive rhetoric to raise money, with an eye on a presidential run.
He is also casting himself as his party’s de facto leader, and the favorite to win the nomination in 2028.
The governor is betting — or hoping — that Democratic primary voters won’t look at his record in office.
Instead, he is trying to lead his party in standing up to Trump as provocatively as possible.
Trump won’t be on the ballot in 2028 — much as Newsom pretends otherwise, to alarm Democrats into supporting him.
But the damage Newsom is doing to American politics will be long-lasting.
Trump’s rhetoric can be deeply offensive and divisive. But occasionally, it is useful: his tough talk has encouraged America’s enemies to step carefully.
After Trump threatened “fire and fury” against North Korea, for example, dictator Kim Jong Un stopped launching long-range missiles and started playing nice.
More recently, Trump scolded Hamas and Israel into accepting a ceasefire in Gaza that saw all of the living hostages released.
Newsom has little to show for his flame wars on social media — at least for residents of California. (He recruited 100,000 new contributors for himself.)
While complaining about Trump’s rhetoric on an East Coast media tour, Newsom abandoned the people of Stockton, where a mass shooting claimed four lives over Thanksgiving weekend — three of them children.
Stockton mayor Christina Fugazi told local news outlet KCRA that Newsom’s absence had hurt: “For my community it’s been a little tough . . . we often feel like we are left behind.”
Newsom’s attacks on Trump have also discouraged the federal government from sending California more money for relief after recent wildfires.
The governor showed up in Washington earlier this month asking for $34 billion in aid. He attacked the White House for not having sent the money in 11 months.
Yet Newsom has spent those 11 months trashing Trump and destroying his relationships in the administration.
He behaved rather differently in 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, when Newsom — then a first-term governor — needed to show California residents that he was achieving something.
“Every single thing [Trump] said, they followed through on,” Newsom said, thanking the president.
But the governor, having reached his two-term limit, has ambitions for even higher office.
Those ambitions come first — before his duties to his state, and his own responsibilities as a role model.
Newsom’s language goes beyond crude insults.
He spins conspiracy theories — like Trump running for a third term — in the hope of frightening voters into supporting him.
Newsom even claims that Trump is using Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to intimidate voters.
Not to deport illegal immigrants — which Trump prides himself on doing — but to rig elections.
That kind of crazy talk just reinforces division — and despair.
If Newsom wants to be a “repairer of the breach,” he should lead by example.
Fire the staffers who use state-sponsored social media accounts to troll the opposition.
And stop selling those kneepads.
Joel Pollak is The California Post’s Opinion Editor. The California Post, a sister publication to The New York Post, will be launching early in 2026.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
