California Governor Gavin Newsom responded to President Donald Trump on Wednesday, suggesting the president may be showing signs of dementia.
The fight started earlier in the day at the White House. Trump stood before reporters and launched into one of his trademark tirades. He ripped into Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, calling them “grossly incompetent.” He bragged that he “saved” Los Angeles in June by sending in the National Guard. That boast came just days after a federal judge ruled the move illegal.
Trump was then asked by pro-MAGA reporter Brian Glenn about a possible “congressional investigation” into Newsom over the Pacific Palisades fires. That opened the door for more insults.
“This is a very incompetent guy,” Trump said. “I watched him with the hands I say, ‘What’s going on with the hands? There’s something wrong with him.’ You watch him. There’s something wrong with this guy.”
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Trump went on to accuse Newsom and Bass of dragging their feet on permits and failing to use water supplies to stop the fires. He blamed them directly for the destruction.
Newsom responded on X with a pointed post directed at what he sees as Trump’s biggest weakness.
“Do people with dementia repeat the same falsehoods and crazy conspiracies over and over again?”
The governor even included an answer. People with dementia, he wrote, “often repeat the same statements, questions, and sometimes false or mistaken beliefs, primarily because of memory loss and impaired reasoning.”
https://t.co/L8yEXXmtcW pic.twitter.com/SJq0FOZhvF
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) September 3, 2025
The timing of Newsom’s attack was no accident. Just minutes before, Trump had made one of his strangest claims yet. He insisted the fires would not have happened if more water had been released from the Pacific Northwest.
“Newsom didn’t allow the water to come from the Pacific Northwest. I demanded that to be open. If that were open, you wouldn’t have had the fire because all the sprinklers would’ve worked in the houses,” Trump said.
Experts and officials have rejected this story as false. Newsom himself has called it a “crazy conspiracy” many times. He repeated that phrase again on Wednesday.
The war of words is the latest in a long feud. Newsom has often mocked Trump’s claims and slammed his policies.
Featured image via YouTube screengrab
