As Donald Trump continues to blame Governor Gavin Newsom for the California wildfires, onlookers have resurfaced similar interactions between the pair that date back to 2019.
In a now-viral post on X, user Ron Smith shared a screenshot of the interaction between Newsom and Trump in the midst of the state’s wildfire season of 2019. At the time, the president-elect accused Newsom of doing a “terrible job of forest management,” adding that the governor had failed to “‘clean’ his forest floors” and demanding that he “do burns and cut fire stoppers.” Newsom’s response — which serves as a mic drop moment so intense you can still hear it ricocheting — was a “brutal takedown,” according to Smith.
“You don’t believe in climate change,” Newsom quipped, calling to mind Trump’s policies around global warming and renewable energy. “You are excused from this conversation.” It’s not just a searing two-sentence read, but a fitting one, since Trump has in the past said climate change was “invented by the Chinese,” that he doesn’t know if global warming is “manmade,” and that climate concerns are driven by “global warming hoaxsters.” Oh, he was also obsessed with inflated claims about windmills killing birds for a hot minute there, too.
Naturally, then, Trump’s contribution to any discussions about climate change-induced wildfires should be taken with a grain of salt, which Newsom proved with finesse. “We need more politicians who are not afraid of Trump,” Smith added of Newsom’s clapback. The resurfacing of the interaction feels particularly pertinent amid the current California wildfires since Trump and Newsom have again traded barbs over the handling of the natural disaster.
In a post on Truth Social (where else?), Trump addressed the governor as “Gavin Newscum” (which feels reminiscent of the equally weak “Tampon Tim”) and said he “is the blame for” the “virtually apocalyptic” conditions currently ravaging southern California. Mustering the same clapback energy as he did in 2019, Newsom’s office quickly responded to Trump’s message. “The Governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need,” Newsom’s communications director, Izzy Gardon, told USA Today.
To back him up in his attack on Newsom, Trump had the support of his bestie, billionaire, and the quasi-FLOTUS. “These fires are easily avoidable,” Elon Musk wrote on X, probably assuming we could just buy our way out of a natural disaster. “Nonsense regulations in California prevent action being taken, so year after year homes burn down and more people die.” As someone who has been in politics for decades, I can’t even imagine how infuriating it must be for Newsom to hear critiques from a guy who thinks rally stages are trampolines.
In any case, it’s not the first time Newsom has gone toe-to-toe with the former president. Last year, the governor took to social media to respond to one of multiple Trump meltdowns during the ascent of his presidential opponent, Kamala Harris. “Oh, he’s scared,” Newsom wrote, in a caption that aged about as well as the yogurt that’s been sitting in my fridge since September. At this point, Newsom and Trump should step away from their keyboards and get in an actual ring. Who knows, maybe Linda McMahon could be the referee?
