Fox News host Dana Perino melted down on air over Gavin Newsom’s deliberate imitation of Donald Trump’s erratic social media style on Elon Musk’s X.
The official press office of the Californian governor has actively tweeted like Trump in recent weeks, often using blocks of capital letters, repeatedly complimenting himself, insulting the president and his administration, and posting random memes.
Newsom’s office account went on a Trump-style rampage over the weekend and into Monday, calling Fox host Tomi Lahren “woke,” labelling Kristi Noem “Commander Cosplay,” and posting parody memes of Kid Rock and JD Vance.
On Fox News’ The Five on Monday, Perino—a White House press secretary under George W. Bush—said Newsom was “making a fool of himself” and even called on his wife to intervene.
“You have to stop it with the Twitter thing,” a triggered Perino said. “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!’
She added, hinting at rumors of a future potential presidential run, “Do not let your staff tweet—and if you are doing it yourself, put the phone away and start over. He’s got a big job as governor of California but if he wants an even bigger job he has to be a little more serious.”
The Daily Beast has contacted Fox News and Gavin Newsom for comment.
Newsom’s office’s X account reposted footage of Perino’s complaints on Monday, with the caption “ALMOST A WEEK IN AND THEY STILL DON’T GET IT.”
The account has targeted several MAGA identities outside of the president, including Casey DeSantis and Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem.
When Noem blamed the Californian DMV for issuing a license to a driver involved in the death of three people in Florida, Newsom clapped back by posting on X, “Hey, Commander Cosplay: the federal government (YOU) already confirmed that this guy meets federal and state immigration requirements -- YOU issued him a work permit (EAD). Oops. As usual, you are either lying or clueless.”
Newsom explained to reporters last Thursday he was “just following” the brash and unpresidential social media example of Trump as an experiment.
Over the last week that has included calling out JD Vance’s eyeliner use, asking for the release of the Epstein files and borrowing Trump’s signature sign-off ‘Thank you for attention to this matter!’ with his initials.
The Californian governor told media last week, “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 said he was “pleased” his Twitter parodies had “gotten some attention,” then added, “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 Saturday during the president’s Russian summit in Alaska, Newsom’s X account posted an all-caps rant that included the insults, “TRUMP JUST FLED THE PODIUM WITH PUTIN — NO QUESTIONS, NOTHING! TOTAL LOW ENERGY. THE MAN LOOKED LIKE HE’D JUST EATEN 3 BUCKETS OF KFC WITH VLAD. IS HE AFRAID THE PRESS WILL ASK ABOUT ME??? (AMERICA’S FAVORITE GOVERNOR)."
The post ended with Newsom stating “ENJOY YOUR FLIGHT HOME, DONALD — YOU’RE PUTIN’S PROBLEM NOW. I’M AMERICA’S SOLUTION. — GCN”
Fox host Lahren said on Saturday in response, “Gavin and his team of beta males who sit down to pee actually think they’re trolling the president and actually think this is making Gavin look like a badass.” She added of the state of California, “I don’t know if it’s the weed or the gender-neutral bathrooms, but something is wrong over there.”
Newsom’s office replied on X, “Tomi’s account is basically Yelp for toilets now.”
She has now released a YouTube video criticizing Newsom, claiming his attempts to “troll” Trump were the “ultimate FAIL”.
