California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been getting a lot of attention for his online mockery of President Donald Trump‘s social media posting style.
Replicating Trump’s attacking, weaving, all-caps rhetoric, the X account of the Governor’s office has snidely mirrored Trump’s posts in an attempt to expose what the Governor characterizes as the pomposity and juvenile tenor of Trump’s communication. The strategy has infuriated many on the Right, while being (mostly) celebrated for ingenuity by the Left.
But in Newsom’s own posts — not those from his parodying office account — the Governor tends to respond to the President and his actions more directly.
On Friday morning Trump appeared on the Fox & Friends sofa and told what Newsom blasted as an “outright lie by the President of the United States.”
An outright lie by the President of the United States. https://t.co/8XWj3LPlYq
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) September 12, 2025
In a conversation that included little fact-checking or challenging follow-up questions, Trump said: “Like, in some cases, California doesn’t have ballot boxes. They send out 38 million ballots, nobody knows where the [expletive] they’re going, then they come back, Democrats get more than Republicans. It’s so unfair, the system.”
Newsom faced the customary MAGA-fueled criticism for his response, with the common taunt that he is a “failed governor” and accusations that he, and not Trump, is the one lying.
In these replies, numerous Newsom detractors report receiving ballots addressed to family members or former residents who no longer live in the state or at a particular address — and these ballot recipients are convinced that other people, seeing an opportunity for fraud, would attempt to cast those ballots on behalf of the non-resident.
But the Governor also found plentiful support in the comments for his claim that Trump is lying, with answers from such sources as the California Secretary of State’s office to query results from ChatGPT presented to refute Trump’s assertion.
Our irresponsible, selfish, and dishonest President! Who doesn’t feel one bit of shame, conscience, or hesitation in damaging people’s trust in our institutions/systems, if he will benefit financially, politically, or emotionally. It’s who he has always been, from back when he… pic.twitter.com/aLVFDuQjIJ
— mamma says! (@mammasaysstuff) September 12, 2025
[NOTE: Newsom wasn’t specific about which part of Trump’s statement was a lie. Trump’s claim that California doesn’t have ballot boxes is untrue; Trump’s claim that California sends out mail-in ballots to residents is true, though the number is not 38 million as he claims.]
The population of California is 39 million. I believe Trump is just saying that Ca sends mail in ballots to everyone, which in fact, is true. Ca sends out 22 million mail in ballots every 4 years. That is in fact all eligible voters 18 and over.
— OneLove4Peace (@OneMind4Peace) September 12, 2025
As one commenter writes: “The population of California is 39 million. I believe Trump is just saying that Ca sends mail in ballots to everyone, which in fact, is true. Ca sends out 22 million mail in ballots every 4 years. That is in fact all eligible voters 18 and over.”
Newsom could also have been targeting Trump’s allusion to the late President Jimmy Carter — and Trump’s assertion in the video that he and Carter are on the same page when it comes to mail-in ballots. The President’s dubious suggestion that Carter agreed with his position on mail-in voting also drew attention in the comments, where many responders rejected Trump’s claim.
Trump said: “Jimmy Carter, they had a commission, he said ‘anytime you have mail-in voting it’s a crooked election.'”
Jimmy Carter had something else to say… pic.twitter.com/0370ntqBaV
— JEFF (@CreechJeff) September 12, 2025
Carter, a Democrat whose public image remains popular especially among evangelical Trump voters, was a Democrat — and Trump understands that evoking an alignment between his views and Carter’s on voter fraud can work to make his position seem bipartisan.
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