California Gov. Gavin Newsom has ridiculed President Donald Trump being given the inaugural Fifa Peace Prize at the 2026 World Cup draw, by showing off his own spoof accolade.
The Democrat posted a Photoshopped picture on X, in which he is handed the first-ever “Kohl’s Peace Prize” by Fifa President Gianni Infantino.
The fake ceremony, shared on the Governor Newsom Press Office account over the weekend , takes place in front of one of the company’s many department stores.
“Thank you!!” the governor wrote as he reposted the shot to his personal account.
Trump was widely mocked after being honored with the prize by Infantino at Friday’s ceremony at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
The accolade had been hastily announced in early November, shortly after the president lost out on the much-coveted Nobel Peace Prize to Venezuelan political activist Maria Corina Machado.
The Fifa award’s creation and selection process was widely felt to lack transparency, with no criteria or other candidates publicly named, and it was not discussed with the Fifa Council.
Human Rights Watch raised concerns about its legitimacy but soccer’s world governing body did not provide a response to its inquiries.
While Trump himself welcomed the medal as “truly one of the great honours of my life,” fans looking on to see which countries would be drawn against each other in next summer’s tournament in the U.S., Canada and Mexico were less kind, calling the gesture “pathetic,” “corrupt,” and “beyond parody.”
Asked at the draw by CNN correspondent Kaitlan Collins whether it was appropriate for him to receive a peace prize while threatening war with Venezuela, Trump answered that it was because he had “settled eight wars” and subsequently attacked Collins online as “stupid and nasty.”
Newsom has given over his press office account this year to serve as an outlet for ruthless parodies of the president’s eccentric social media posting style. He has replicated his all-caps prose and initial sign-offs to lampoon Trump’s messaging, as well as the many ups and downs of his administration.
A recent example found the governor sending up Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s “civility” campaign to encourage airline passengers to dress more smartly.
Newsom posted a photograph of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr ambling barefoot down the middle aisle of a plane with scant regard for other travellers or basic hygiene.
The governor has previously mocked Trump as “Dozy Don” for appearing to fall asleep in meetings, also making light of his health concerns, habit of hawking branded merchandise like watches and spirits, and specific incidents like “Escalatorgate” at the United Nations.
Newsom told late-night host Stephen Colbert in September he wanted to “put a mirror up to Trump and the absurdity of what’s going on in this country, the absurdity of Donald Trump, the absurdity of these [conservative news] networks playing into it.”
