California Gov. Gavin Newsom has spent much of the last year relentlessly trolling President Donald Trump, mostly on social media with a Trump-style persona.
And there are indications that it’s working.
Per The Daily Beast, Trump has announced a “fraud investigation” into California and Newsom.
Stay up-to-date with the latest news!
Subscribe and start recieving our daily emails.
“California, under Governor Gavin Newscum, is more corrupt than Minnesota, if that’s possible???,” Trump said on Truth Social. “The Fraud Investigation of California has begun. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
What “fraud” is being investigated? What investigative body is conducting the investigation? Trump was not clear about any of that.
Donald Trump is now reposting videos on Truth Social suggesting that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz had Melissa Hortman assassinated.
This is objectively evil, and calling it out should not be political. pic.twitter.com/ooWYWsuoeW
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) January 3, 2026
The post came the day after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2024, announced that he would not run for a third term as governor, amidst a fraud scandal in Minnesota. Trump and his allies had been relentlessly attacking Walz for weeks, including Trump sharing a video that implied Walz was involved in the assassination last year of Minnesota state legislative leader Melissa Hortman, Walz’s close friend and ally.
Other Republicans have participated in the piling-on, including Sen. Ted Cruz, who posted to X Monday, very falsely, that Walz “was caught stealing billions of dollars from the taxpayers.”
Baloney. He was caught stealing billions of dollars from the taxpayers.
That’s the very opposite of putting “the interests of the people” first.
And he’s not the only one. https://t.co/ZlTsbMmoPa
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) January 5, 2026
“Newsom, who is term-limited and will leave office in January 2027, has long been touted as a potential Democratic presidential hopeful and spent large parts of last year raising his national profile by being a constant thorn in Trump’s side,” The Daily Beast said. “This included relentlessly trolling the president by mimicking his unhinged, all-caps social media posts and sharing bizarre AI-generated images.”
“Newsom has attacked Trump from all angles as part of his trolling campaign. This has included frequently reminding the public of the president’s links to Jeffrey Epstein—and the administration’s failure to release all files related to the late pedophile—as well as mocking the frail health of the 79-year-old.”
