‘Make America Gavin again’ – The California governor has upped his trolling and is upsetting Republicans everywhere
SEATTLE – Throughout his career Donald Trump has used the power of the presidency to make millions – and maybe much more – selling everything from branded steaks and cologne to crypto, bibles and guitars.
Highlighting a willingness to enrich himself while still in office in a fashion never seen before, the non-profit watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said this year that it identified at least 168 new product lines the Trump Store launched after he won re-election.
“That marks 168 more items sold by a president-elect’s company for personal profit during the presidential transition period than any former president-elect,” the group added.
(Earlier this month, The New Yorker estimated that Trump, 79, and his family had made $3.4bn through licensing deals, meme coins and more. The White House did not comment on the claim.)
However, now at least one Democrat is attempting to go toe to toe in the merch war.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has been engaged in social media hand-to-hand combat with Trump, using his CAPPED UP style for posts and deploying the President’s signature hyperbole to poke fun.
His team, led by a young social media strategist, has posted AI-generated images of Newsom on Mount Rushmore and being prayed over by Tucker Carlson.
Newsom’s over-the-top efforts have stung Republicans, with Trump’s supporters on largely loyalist network Fox News criticising the governor. Host Trace Gallagher said – with apparently no sense of IRONY: “I don’t know what he’s trying to do, but it comes across as childish and – you are the governor of the biggest state in the union – what are you doing?”
Newsom hit back by saying the posts were an effort to highlight how Trump’s often outlandish claims had become normalised.
“I hope it’s a wake-up call to the President of the United States following his example,” he told reporters. “If you have issues with what I’m putting out, you sure as hell should have concerns about what he’s putting out as President.”
And Newsom, 57, has now stepped up his prodding of the President, who last week spoke in the Oval Office wearing a red baseball cap with the slogan: “TRUMP WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING!”
Newsom has announced his own online store, The Patriot Shop, where people can buy Trump-style products, albeit with a Democratic Party and Newsom flavour.
There is a hat with a logo “NEWSOM WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING”, a vest that says “Trump is not hot”. There’s a $100 bible that the shop claims is already sold out. (The logo for the white shirt may have been inspired by the President’s criticism of Taylor Swift after she endorsed Kamala Harris for the presidency last year, and he claimed the singer was no longer “hot”.)
The products, which raise money for Newsom’s political action committee, the Campaign for Democracy, were announced with a joking flourish by the governor who declared that many people were saying “this is the greatest merchandise ever made”.
Newsom’s actions have received less than full backing from some in the Democratic Party, who believe he should be focused more on its many challenges as it prepares for the 2026 midterm elections.
Yet Newsom is one of just a handful of Democrats who are prepared to take on Trump on multiple fronts: using social media, making his case on the Trump-friendly Fox News, and setting up his own podcast and inviting on the likes of Steve Bannon, former Trump’s campaign manager.
When Trump sent in the Marines and National Guard to Los Angeles in what was widely seen as an attempted power grab, Newsom responded in more traditional form, by holding press conferences and backing lawsuits against the President’s actions.
The change of tack could point to something more, though. Newsom has never tried to hide his presidential ambition.
While he’s been more more than ready to take on the President in a political cage fight, displaying the sort of spirit many Democrats say has been lacking since Trump returned to the Oval Office, he has also moved to the centre on a couple of policy issues, including dropping his previous support for transgender athletes participating in girls’ and women’s sports.
He has called on the leaders of California cities to crack down on homeless encampments. These moves would help him adopt a more centrist position if he wins the Democratic nomination in 2028.
The governor is also involved in hitting back at Trump’s effort to gain extra congressional seats in the 2026 midterms, overseeing the redrawing of his state’s constituency maps in retaliation to moves by Texas that were demanded by the President.
And in terms of social media, he may have influenced the thoughts of Maryland governor Wes Moore, who was awarded the Gold Star for serving in the US Army. The state’s biggest city, Baltimore, is among those to which Trump wants to send National Guard troops.
Over the weekend, Trump, who avoided military service after a family doctor provided a medical exemption by saying he had bone spurs, wrote on Truth Social: “Did Wes Moore, the Governor of Maryland, lie about getting a Bronze Star?”
Moore retorted sharply on X: “Did Donald Trump, the President of the United States, lie about an injury to dodge the Vietnam draft?”
