Fighting Stupid With Stupid: Gavin Newsom’s New Approach to Trump
Trump’s famously dramatic way of posting on social media is not lost on any left leaning person in or outside of politics. Most dissenting responses garnered by his posts are either simpler statements of disagreement or more outspoken cries of disgust and outrage. California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, seems to have a different approach altogether when it comes to the manner of Trump’s social media presence.
Newsom’s method of retaliation spits Trump’s over the top social media style right back at him in an attempt to not only mock and troll the president, but to also make an important point. Fox News anchors in particular have taken the bait and only further proved why Newsom is doing this.
Perino responded to the nature of Newsom’s tweets with, “You have to stop it with the twitter thing. I don’t know where his wife is? If I were his wife I would say, “You are making a fool of yourself, stop it!””
After Perino’s criticism, Newsom’s press office amped up the style of the tweets and wrote, “DANA ‘DING DONG’ PERINO (NEVER HEARD OF HER UNTIL TODAY!) IS MELTING DOWN BECAUSE OF ME, GAVIN C. NEWSOM! FOX HATES THAT I AM AMERICA’S MOST FAVORITE GOVERNOR (“RATINGS KING”) SAVING AMERICA – WHILE TRUMP CAN’T EVEN CONQUER THE ‘BIG’ STAIRS ON AIR FORCE ONE ANYMORE!! TRUMP HAS ‘LOST HIS STEP’ AND FOX IS LOSING IT BECAUSE WHEN I TYPE, AMERICAN NOW WINS!!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER. – GCN.”
Perino is not the only Fox News anchor to fall for Newsom’s new social media strategy. Trace Gallagher responded on air to a tweet he made on August 15th with, “I don’t know what he’s trying to do, but it comes across as childish – and you are the governor of the biggest state in the union – what are you doing?”
Newsom’s press office responded back with, “BIRD-BRAIN TREY GALLAGHER (A SO-CALLED FOX “NEWS” HOST THAT NOBODY HAS EVER HEARD OF) SAYS MY POSTS ARE “CHILDISH” AND “UNBECOMING” OF A LEADER – CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? MANY ARE SAYING FOX (“EDIT THE TAPES”) NEWS SHOULD CANCEL HIS PATHETIC LITTLE “BEDTIME SHOW” IMMEDIATELY. THEY ARE CALLING IT THE MOST BORING PROGRAM IN CABLE HISTORY. TOTAL SNOOZE FEST! SAD!!! - GCN.”
Gallagher and Perino have both jumped in to double down on their statements all while seeming blissfully unaware of the fact that each of their responses are only helping Newsom make his point.
Newsom hasn’t exactly been quiet with his reasoning either. While talking with reporters, he briefly touched on why he’s mimicking the president’s social media style, explaining, “I’m just following his example. If you’ve got issues with what I’m putting out, you sure as hell should have concerns about what he’s putting out as president,” and continuing on to say, “I think the deeper question is how have we allowed the normalization of his tweets, Truth Social posts over the course of the last many years to go without similar scrutiny and notice?”
On August 19th’s edition of CNN’s Reliable Sources newsletter, Andrew Kirell pointed out that Newsom’s mimicry effectively baited the right people.
“The effort, clearly designed to hold a mirror up to MAGA and “bully the bullies,” so to speak, has evidently gone over the heads of many conservative media personalities, baiting them into making Newsom’s point about Trump’s behavior on their own,” he wrote.
