By Andrew James | Sunday February 08, 2026 | 4 min read
There are moments in politics when the bully finally meets someone who knows exactly how to hit back—not with empty outrage, but with precision. Gavin Newsom’s response to Donald Trump’s latest racist outburst was one of those moments. It wasn’t polite. It wasn’t cautious. And that’s precisely why it worked.
Trump’s controversy began the way so many of his scandals do: with a post that never should have existed. A video uploaded to his Truth Social account depicted former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes dancing in a jungle, while Trump was cast as a lion. The imagery was grotesque, racist, and unmistakable. The reaction was immediate and fierce.
Instead of apologizing, the White House tried to duck responsibility. Press Secretary Carolyn Leavitt initially waved off the outrage as overblown, calling the post an internet meme. When even Republicans began condemning the video and calling for its removal, the story shifted again. Suddenly, it wasn’t Trump’s fault at all. A staffer, we were told, had posted it “by mistake.”
That explanation didn’t pass the smell test, and Gavin Newsom made sure it didn’t go unchallenged. His press office fired back with an all-caps post on X mocking the idea that Trump doesn’t control his own social media. Attached was an image styled like an autopen signature, a direct and biting reference to Trump’s long-running obsession with accusing President Joe Biden of hiding behind aides and mechanical signatures.
The point landed because it cut straight through the nonsense. Trump has spent years insisting Biden is unfit, senile, and incapable of acting independently. Now, when confronted with a racist post, Trump wants the public to believe he’s suddenly hands-off, unaware, and blameless. Newsom’s response asked the obvious question many Americans were already thinking: if Trump didn’t post it, who did?
But Newsom didn’t stop at calling out the excuse. He escalated—and that escalation mattered. As Trump allies tried to pivot the conversation toward immigration, with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accusing California of releasing criminals without notifying ICE, Newsom’s office accused the White House of manufacturing distractions. They reiterated that California cooperates with ICE when dealing with violent offenders and made clear they weren’t going to let Trump’s racist post fade quietly into the background.
Then came the moment that sent social media into overdrive. Newsom’s press office shared an image of Trump and Jeffrey Epstein photoshopped onto pigs standing in a pen, captioned simply: “Oink oink.” Crude? Absolutely. Effective? Undeniably.
This was the master stroke. Trump thrives on chaos and outrage, but he has always been deeply uncomfortable when forced to confront his own documented associations with Epstein. For years, Democrats and Republicans alike have tiptoed around that history, treating it like a third rail. Newsom didn’t tiptoe. He grabbed it and shoved it directly into the spotlight.
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That’s the lesson here. Trump survives by bluster, deflection, and the willingness of his opponents to play by rules he never respects. Dancing around his scandals gives him room to wriggle free. Naming them, repeating them, and refusing to let them be buried is how you shrink his power.
Predictably, Trump denied everything. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, he claimed he only saw the beginning of the video, insisted he’s the “least racist president,” and said the post stayed up for hours because staff didn’t watch it all the way through. When asked if he would apologize, he refused. No mistake, he said. Just a misunderstanding. Just another excuse.
At this point, the controversy is no longer just about a racist video. It’s about accountability. If a president can post something vile, leave it up for half a day, blame unnamed aides, and walk away without consequence, what does responsibility even mean?
Newsom’s approach suggests an answer. Bullies don’t back down when you politely ask them to behave. They back down when their tactics stop working. More Democrats—and Republicans with spines—should take note.