Source: Anadolu / Getty
California Governor Gavin Newsom trolled President Donald Trump on social media over GOP redistricting efforts, and those online loved the effort.
Republicans in the state of Texas have pursued aggressive redistricting in order to hold onto power at the direction of President Donald Trump, but California Governor Gavin Newsom is fighting fire with fire – especially on social media.
On Tuesday (August 12), his office put out a post on X, formerly Twitter done in the style of Trump’s own post on
his Truth Social social media network.
“FINAL WARNING DONALD TRUMP — MAYBE THE MOST IMPORTANT WARNING IN HISTORY! STOP CHEATING OR CALIFORNIA WILL REDRAW THE MAPS,” the post began. “AND GUESS WHO WILL ANNOUNCE IT THIS WEEK? GAVIN NEWSOM (MANY SAY THE MOST LOVED & HANDSOME GOVERNOR) AND A VERY POWERFUL TEAM. DON’T MAKE US DO IT!!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.”
The post immediately went viral, garnering over five and a half million views and 13,000 reposts. It came after Newsom sent a letter to the White House imploring Trump and the Texas GOP to stop their gerrymandering efforts, stating that he was “playing with fire” and it was “risking the destabilization of our democracy.” He then said that if Texas moved forward, then he would direct California to do its own redistricting process to help Democrats.
Trump stated that Texas Republicans were “entitled to five more seats” due to his winning the state in the 2024 presidential election. Redistricting normally happens every decade in accordance with federal law after the release of figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. The Texas Senate passed the new congressional map (which would particularly eliminate Representative Jasmine Crockett’s seat in Congress) in a 19-2 vote, but the vote in the state House hasn’t happened as Democrats have left the state, denying the GOP majority a quorum to pass it.
A previous post from Newsom’s office also drew high attention for referring to the nickmane given to Trump amid his constant tariff squabbles with other nations and the shifting deadlines, “TACO”, which stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out”. Newsom has said that he will look into holding a special election in November to address redistricting in California through a ballot measure, which will be voted on by residents.
