California Gov. Gavin Newsom used his official press office this week to post a mock California driver's license bearing his own portrait, a parody aimed at President Donald Trump after the State Department announced limited-edition passports commemorating the 250th anniversary of American independence. The special passports will prominently feature Trump's image on the inside cover, and Newsom, apparently, could not let the moment pass without making it about himself.
The governor's office posted the stunt on X, writing in all caps: "IN HONOR OF CALIFORNIA'S 175TH ANNIVERSARY, WE WILL BE ROLLING OUT A VERY SPECIAL DRIVER'S LICENSE FOR EVERY CALIFORNIAN THIS SUMMER!" A follow-up post continued the bit, as Fox News Digital reported:
"IT WILL FEATURE A HANDSOME, HIGH-QUALITY PHOTO OF ME, GAVIN C. NEWSOM. MANY PEOPLE ARE SAYING IT'S THE BEST LICENSE EVER MADE IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. THIS IS ABOUT CELEBRATING OUR BEAUTIFUL STATE (IT IS NOT ABOUT ME, DESPITE THE VERY HANDSOME PHOTO!). ENJOY!, GOVERNOR GCN."
The post was meant to mock Trump's rhetorical style. But the joke, a governor slapping his own face on a state-issued ID and calling himself handsome, landed closer to vanity than satire.
This was not an isolated moment of social-media mischief. Fox News Digital reported that Newsom has increasingly adopted a Trump-like rhetorical style on social media since last summer. His office has turned the governor's X account into something closer to a performance-art project than an instrument of governance.
In another post this week, Newsom's office shared a mock image of a U.S. passport featuring Trump alongside the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, a provocative insinuation delivered through an official government account. In a separate weekend post, Newsom called the president a "loser."
That word choice carries its own irony. Trump famously deploys "loser" against his critics. Newsom borrowing the insult while mimicking Trump's all-caps style and self-aggrandizing tone raises an obvious question: Is the governor mocking the president, or auditioning to be him?
The governor's recent book tour through New Hampshire has already fueled speculation about his national ambitions. The social-media stunts fit neatly into that trajectory, less about California policy, more about building a national brand.
When Fox News Digital reached out for comment, a Newsom spokesperson offered a response that tells its own story. The spokesperson said:
"It's fun to laugh at our s***-for-brains president who is trashing our great country."
That is a direct quote from an official spokesperson for the governor of the most populous state in the union, describing the sitting president of the United States. The spokesperson added a more polished line: "The best way to deal with Trump's absurd leadership is to call it out with a mirror until he takes his job seriously."
Set aside the substance of any policy disagreement. A governor's press office using profanity to describe the commander-in-chief is not wit. It is not strategy. It is the language of a political operation that has decided performative contempt is a substitute for governing.
Newsom's history of vulgar public attacks on political opponents is well documented. The pattern is consistent: when challenged or overshadowed, the governor reaches for the crudest available response.
The White House struck a notably different tone. A spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the president "is focused on saving our country, not garnering recognition."
The spokesperson went further:
"Anyone who finds an issue with President Trump celebrating the greatness of our country during our historic semiquincentennial celebration clearly suffers from a severe and incurable disease known as Trump Derangement Syndrome."
The limited-edition passports mark the nation's 250th birthday, a milestone that belongs to every American, regardless of who occupies the Oval Office. Presidents have appeared on currency, stamps, and commemorative documents throughout the republic's history. Newsom's framing of the passport as an act of presidential vanity ignores that basic precedent.
Newsom's office also waded into the weekend's White House Correspondents' Association Dinner with another post. The governor's account claimed that "VERY IMPORTANT PEOPLE" were approaching him in Washington, including "A TOP REPUBLICAN, I WON'T SAY WHO!" and urging him to attend the dinner. The post continued: "'YOU WILL DO MUCH BETTER THAN THAT LOSER TRUMP!' VERY KIND!"
The dinner itself was overshadowed by a far more serious event. A gunman allegedly shot a U.S. Secret Service agent nearby before being arrested. While that incident unfolded, Newsom's office was busy posting parodies about its own importance.
The contrast is hard to miss. A law-enforcement officer was reportedly wounded in the line of duty steps from the event Newsom was joking about attending. The governor's feed offered no acknowledgment, just more self-referential comedy.
Newsom's approval numbers at home tell a different story than his social-media bravado suggests. His disapproval rating has hit new highs, with a majority of Californians saying they have considered leaving the state. Residents dealing with a housing crisis, rising crime, and a cost of living that pushes working families toward the exits might reasonably wonder why their governor spends his time crafting parody driver's licenses.
The State Department's announcement of commemorative passports is a straightforward act, marking a once-in-a-generation national anniversary. Newsom chose to turn it into content. His office chose to respond with profanity. And the governor himself chose to adopt the very rhetorical style he claims to despise, right down to the all-caps self-praise and the anonymous "VERY IMPORTANT PEOPLE" who supposedly beg for his presence.
Meanwhile, speculation about Newsom's 2028 ambitions continues to build. If this is the preview, a governor who governs by tweet, insults by press release, and measures his day by how effectively he needled the president, voters outside California deserve to see it clearly.
There is also the matter of the broader public image the Newsom household projects. The governor's brand of politics treats contempt for half the country as a credential. That may play well on social media. It has not played well in Sacramento.
Newsom's spokesperson said the strategy is to hold up "a mirror" to Trump. But the mirror Newsom held up this week reflected mostly himself, his face on a fake license, his name in all caps, his office calling the president a profane name while claiming the moral high ground.
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Newsom just paid Trump the biggest compliment of the week. And he did it on the taxpayers' dime, from an official government account, while a Secret Service agent was allegedly being treated for a gunshot wound nearby.
When a governor spends more energy mocking the president than managing his own state, the joke isn't on the man in the White House. It's on the people who elected the man in Sacramento.
