Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) massively stepped up his social media game in 2025, savagely mocking President Donald Trump and members of his administration, matching Trump’s all-caps posts, signature sign-offs, and AI-edited content to create a firestorm online.
Newsom’s tone has been combative and crass, and has been defended as fighting fire with fire. His taunting tweets and posts across multiple social media platforms have earned him a huge following, surpassing any other governor in the nation. He has more than 3.7 million Instagram followers, 2.9 million followers on TikTok, 1.6 million on Facebook, 679,000 followers on Governor Newsom’s Press Office account on X, and more than 245,000 followers on Bluesky. He’s even on Trump’s own Truth Social platform, which he joined in 2022.
When Newsom needed to hype Proposition 50, his redistricting ballot measure, he didn’t just go on MSNBC or CNN. He livestreamed sit-downs with Substack star Heather Cox Richardson, popular YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen, and TikTok celebrity Mrs. Frazzled. He courted online content creators, leaning on influencers to help with rapid response, fundraising, and in-person events. Then there were the posts themselves, political and personal jabs so quick, mocking, and efficient that they forced even hard-nosed journalists and Trump allies to crack a smile.
“I’m just following his example,” Newsom has said. “If you have issues with what I’m putting out, you sure as hell should have concerns with what he’s putting out as president.”
Newsom has made fun of Trump’s hand size, his complaints about not being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, his approval rating, and a number of other insecurities. It’s not just Trump whom Newsom has gone after. He’s targeted Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, FBI Director Kash Patel’s size, and many others in Trump’s orbit.
After Texas House Democrats broke quorum in August and fled the state for California and Illinois, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) posted on X that the lawmakers were probably off having dinner with Newsom “at the French Laundry,” referencing a 2020 incident when Newsom attended a dinner party at the three-star Michelin restaurant during COVID-19.
Newsom replied to Cruz: “To be fair, he knows a lot about fleeing,” and posted an image of Cruz pulling a suitcase through the airport, referencing a 2021 low point for the Republican senator caught leaving his home state for Cancun, Mexico, during a weather crisis.
On Dec. 16, the governor announced a new state website that would track Trump’s “criminal compatriots.” The new website details the criminal records, corruption cases, and extremist ties of the people Trump elevates, protects, pardons, and surrounds himself with.
“With crime dropping — again — California is proving what real public safety leadership looks like,” Newsom said in a statement. “Meanwhile in D.C., Trump is a felon who surrounds himself with scammers and drug traffickers. We’re providing the public with a resource putting the facts in one place so Californians, and all Americans, can see who he elevates and who he protects.”
Newsom needs to transition to solutions
“While I think some of the novelty of these social media posts have worn off, it had a huge impact earlier this year as a way to put a mirror up to Donald Trump’s social media campaign and how MAGA reacted to it,” Democratic strategist David McLaughlin told the Washington Examiner. “I think now he has to work on transitioning to the next phase, which would be outlining the solutions he would have as the leader of America.”
Newsom, a presumed Democratic contender for the 2028 presidential nomination, has spent the majority of 2025 trying to elevate his national profile by repeatedly targeting Trump. He has also worked to ensure that California is seen as a leader in the resistance to the Trump administration.
“Gavin Newsom’s social media style evolves to suit his personality and what he wants to accomplish politically at any given moment in time,” Matt Klink, president of Klink Campaigns, told the Washington Examiner. “He gained strong social media coverage, which vaulted him into the top tier of 2028 presidential candidates, by adopting a Donald Trump-like style of “in your face” communications. The problem, though, is that style isn’t unique to Gavin Newsom, and it wasn’t sustainable for the long run. He still uses the hyper-aggressive style when it suits him; however, he has softened around the edges when he wants to communicate with the Democratic base.”
Klink called Newsom’s evolution in social media posts something that many California political insiders know and say about the term-limited governor.
“He is a gifted politician who will be whomever he needs to be at that moment,” he added. “He is known for being inauthentic, meaning that he will do and say anything that he thinks will reap political advantage, but to most voters look highly opportunistic, staged, and often fake. Yes, all politicians do this to a certain extent, but Gavin Newsom could teach a master class on the subject.”
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Ryan White, political expert and vice president at Think Big, told the Washington Examiner that the “incendiary tit for tat on both sides is becoming stale and is starting to get tuned out by the voting public.”
“A truly novel communications strategy would easily win the day, and probably the election, but it would require the discipline to stop swinging at every pitch and start making some pitches of their own in a way that does not perpetuate the race to the bottom,” he said. “Is that possible? Sure. But it would take a shake-up that neither camp seems interested in making.”
