President Donald Trump is furious with California Gov. Gavin Newsom over Newsom’s threats to fight fire with fire. Newsom warned Trump in a threatening letter to stop trying to gain congressional seats through unprecedented redistricting efforts in red states or California, and potentially other blue states, would follow suit.
The war of words continued Monday during a White House Press conference. The Mirror US is reporting that Fox News cut off the President during a profanity-filled rant about the “jerk” Gavin Newsom.
During the press conference, Trump went even further, reverting to childish name-calling as usual. “Gavin Newscum is incompetent. He’s got a good line of bullsh-t, but that’s about it. He’s incompetent,” an angry Trump ranted.
It all started two weeks ago when Trump ordered Texas Gov. Greg Abbot to find him five congressional seats to try and insulate the U.S. House’s slim Republican majority during the 2026 midterm elections. Abott, in a rare mid-decade gerrymandering effort, ordered state lawmakers to redraw voting districts, something usually done every 10 years after the U.S. Census, to remove five seats filled by Democrats and give them to Republicans.
Texas Democrats have so far prevented the redistricting by leaving the state last week. They fled to Illinois and other blue states to prevent the Texas GOP from reaching a quorum, the minimum number of lawmakers needed to validate any gerrymandering vote.
Newsom sent a letter to Trump Monday saying California “cannot stand idly by” as Texas — and other Republican-led states — try to follow Trump’s directive to create Republican-favored congressional maps, according to Politico.
“If you will not stand down, I will be forced to lead an effort to redraw the maps in California to offset the rigging of maps in red states,” Newsom said. “But if the other states call off their redistricting efforts, we will happily do the same. And American democracy will be better for it.”
He called Trump’s redistricting order “hyper-partisan” and an attempt to “rig” upcoming midterm elections.
“You are playing with fire, risking the destabilization of our democracy, while knowing that California can neutralize any gains you hope to make,” Newsom wrote. “This attempt to rig congressional maps to hold onto power before a single vote is cast in the 2026 election is an affront to American democracy.”
But Newsom wasn’t done. He took his ultimatum to Trump to social media to emphasize how serious he is about responding in kind.
“Donald Trump: It’s time to call Greg Abbott and tell him to stand down. You are not ‘entitled’ to 5 congressional seats. If you do not call your lapdogs off, CA will act quickly and swiftly. We will go to the ballot. We will neutralize whatever gains you make. We will not stand by while you light Democracy on fire,” Newsom posted on X.
As you can imagine, social media erupted along party lines. MAGA voters, of course, defended Trump’s gerrymandering efforts and criticized Newsom.
Trump opponents see his midterm attempts to gain seats as trying to rig the midterms because Republicans are on track to lose their tiny majority in the House of Representatives.
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