favorite governor

Fox News has never been bothered by the Trumpian approach to social media, with its all-caps posts and multiple exclamation points. Its self-aggrandizing hyperbole. Its mean-girl name-calling. But this week, the MAGA network’s hosts were triggered.

“You have to stop it with the Twitter thing,” said host Dana Perino. Sean Hannity bemoaned the “performative confrontational style” that only “wins you points with the loony radical base.” Fox News anchor Trace Gallagher referred to the tone as “childish.”

So why the sudden dismay and hurt feelings? Because the taunts and boasts are coming from a Democrat, and not just any lefty but King Snowflake himself, California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Adopting Trump’s low-bar social media tactics, the X account of Newsom’s press office has spent recent weeks mimicking the president’s social media style to troll the trollers. They’ve nicknamed U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem “Commander Cosplay.” And Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) — who took that sunny Mexican vacation during a deadly 2021 winter storm in his state — is “Cancun Cruz.” As for the commander-in-chief? “Small Hands.”

Playing off the doctored images of a virile Trump posted by the president’s account on his own platform, Newsom’s account has generated equally delusional memes. One shows the governor’s face carved into Mt. Rushmore, another of him as a king on the cover of Time magazine and as a messiah-like figure worshiped by MAGAites Tucker Carlson, Kid Rock and the late Hulk Hogan (the latter post was followed by another that just read “I HATE KID ROCK!!! – GCN”).

This week on Fox News’ “The Five,” an incredulous Perino said of Newsom: “I don’t know where his wife is? If I were his wife I would say, ‘You’re making a fool of yourself, stop it!’”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, in a discussion Wednesday with Fox’s Jesse Watters, said that Newsom’s obsession with Trump is distracting him from doing his job as governor. “Why is he spending all this time trying to be fresh with President Trump?” DeSantis asked. “Why doesn’t he do his job and protect the people?”

“Fresh” with Trump? I don’t even know where to go with that other than therapy, especially since it was accompanied by a banner at the bottom of the screen that read: “Dems look for Big Daddy Energy.”

Newsom’s account promptly tweeted: “Jesse, please stop calling me Daddy. It’s disturbing.”

Fox keeps insisting Newsom’s SnarkPosting is a big fail, but the numbers would suggest otherwise. Since the beginning of August, the governor’s press office account has gained 250,000 followers and more than 225 million impressions.

And it’s clearly made an impression on Fox News.

“WOW! FOX NEWS CAN’T STOP TALKING ABOUT ME (GAVIN C. NEWSOM), AMERICA’S FAVORITE GOVERNOR!!!” Newsom posted Wednesday on X. “TONIGHT THEIR ENTIRE PRIMETIME LINEUP WAS ABOUT ME! JESSE WATTERS KEPT CALLING ME ‘DADDY’ (VERY WEIRD, NOT INTERESTED, BUT THANK YOU!). SEAN HANNITY (VERY NICE GUY) NEARLY CRIED BECAUSE I WON’T TAKE HIS ‘ADVICE.’ SORRY SEAN!!!! THEN THEY DRAGGED OUT THE B-TEAM OF DUMB DUMBS: ‘MEATBALL RON,’ TOMI ‘TOILET’ LAHREN, AND TEDDY ‘CANCUN’ CRUZ (HE EVEN FLEW BACK SPECIAL FROM MEXICO!) ALL WHINING ABOUT ME, GCN! THEY HAD TO ‘PLAY THE MUSIC’ TO SHUT TED UP ABOUT MY BEAUTIFUL HAIR (I GET IT! SO JEALOUS!). TOTAL DISASTER…”

Even the granddaddy of MAGA agitators, Steve Bannon, was impressed by Newsom’s online lack of decorum. “If you look at the Democratic Party, he’s at least getting up there, and he’s trying to imitate a Trumpian vision of fighting, right?” he told Politico. “He looks like the only person in the Democratic Party who is organizing a fight that they feel they can win.”

Fox pundits spent much of Thursday blaming Newsom and the “Sanctuary state of California” for a deadly Florida traffic accident involving an undocumented truck driver. It was preferable to reporting on another post that got under their skin (see below) or a political victory for Newsom when a ballot measure he pushed to redraw California’s electoral map was approved by the California Legislature. It calls for a November special election asking voters to redraw the state’s electoral lines. The ballot measure is in response to Texas’ proposed redrawing of its maps to favor Republicans in the 2026 midterms, possibly adding five more GOP-held seats to the House.

“NOT EVEN JD ‘JUST DANCE’ VANCE CAN SAVE TRUMP FROM THE DISASTROUS MAPS ‘WAR’ HE HAS STARTED,” said the Newsom press office post. “NOT EVEN HIS EYELINER LINES LOOK AS PRETTY AS CALIFORNIA ‘MAP’ LINES. HE WILL FAIL, AS HE ALWAYS DOES (SAD!) AND I, THE PEACETIME GOVERNOR — OUR NATION’S FAVORITE — WILL SAVE AMERICA ONCE AGAIN. MANY ARE NOW CALLING ME GAVIN CHRISTOPHER ‘COLUMBUS’ NEWSOM (BECAUSE OF THE MAPS!). THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER. — GCN”

Fox pundits and hosts aren’t the only media folk to find Newsom’s Trump-esque communiques troubling. MSNBC host Joe Scarborough called them “embarrassing.”

But as Newsom told the media last week, if the mockery bothers you, look to the original source. “If you have issues with what I’m putting out, you sure as hell should have concerns with what he’s putting out as president.” Fox News has concerns, but they’re not about Trump.