Finally someone is communicating with President Donald Trump in a language he can understand.
On Tuesday night, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) informed the president that California is going to go ahead and redraw the state’s electoral maps after Trump missed a deadline amid the ongoing redistricting battle. The Democratic governor also decided to deliver his message in the funniest way possible — by writing in the same style that Trump writes his social media posts.
“DONALD ‘TACO’ TRUMP, AS MANY CALL HIM, ‘MISSED’ THE DEADLINE!!!” Newsom’s office wrote in a pinned post on his X account. “CALIFORNIA WILL NOW DRAW NEW, MORE ‘BEAUTIFUL MAPS,’ THEY WILL BE HISTORIC AS THEY WILL END THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY (DEMS TAKE BACK THE HOUSE!).”
The message continued, “BIG PRESS CONFERENCE THIS WEEK WITH POWERFUL DEMS AND GAVIN NEWSOM — YOUR FAVORITE GOVERNOR — THAT WILL BE DEVASTATING FOR ‘MAGA.’ THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER! — GN.”
Not only does the language itself mock Trump, but the decision to open the announcement by calling Trump “TACO” — an acronym coined by Wall Street that stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out” and that Trump hates — was a great way of needling the president enough that he might actually read the message. The snarky insinuation that Newsom is Trump’s “favorite governor” was a nice touch as well.
Although Newsom’s announcement is funny, the GOP’s shady redistricting efforts are anything but.
Last week, several Democratic members of the Texas House fled the state to avoid a vote on a redrawn congressional map that Trump wants, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is more than happy to shove Trump’s request down lawmakers’ throats. Political maps are typically redraw every 10 years, and Texas’ mid-decade redistricting effort has been viewed by Democrats as a shameless gerrymandering scheme that would flip five seats currently held by Democrats from blue to red. The move will essentially help secure Republicans’ control in the U.S. House after the midterm elections in 2026.
Ever since the Dems in Texas fled, there has been an effort on the left to even the score, with Newsom and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) saying they’d be game to change their state’s political maps if Texas does.
In a threatening letter to Trump on Monday, Newsom said he’d “happily” stand down if Texas doesn’t go through with this BS. Newsom followed up his warning with another post on X that Trump can better understand.
“DONALD TRUMP, THE LOWEST POLLING PRESIDENT IN RECENT HISTORY,” the post began. “THIS IS YOUR SECOND-TO-LAST WARNING!!! (THE NEXT ONE IS THE LAST ONE!). STAND DOWN NOW OR CALIFORNIA WILL COUNTER-STRIKE (LEGALLY!) TO DESTROY YOUR ILLEGAL CROOKED MAPS IN RED STATES. PRESS CONFERENCE COMING — HOSTED BY AMERICA’S FAVORITE GOVERNOR, GAVIN NEWSOM. FINAL WARNING NEXT. YOU WON’T LIKE IT!!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.”
Newsom followed that up with another Trump-friendly message on Tuesday.
“FINAL WARNING DONALD TRUMP — MAYBE THE MOST IMPORTANT WARNING IN HISTORY!” the post began. “STOP CHEATING OR CALIFORNIA WILL REDRAW THE MAPS. AND GUESS WHO WILL ANNOUNCE IT THIS WEEK?”
It continued,“GAVIN NEWSOM (MANY SAY THE MOST LOVED & HANDSOME GOVERNOR) AND A VERY POWERFUL TEAM. DON’T MAKE US DO IT!!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.”
But on Tuesday, Texas went ahead with a vote and passed their redrawn maps in a special session, prompting most of Texas’ Democrats who remained in the state to storm out of the chamber in protest.
The Dallas Morning News reports that despite the vote in the GOP’s favor, the new map is “unlikely to go anywhere” because the Texas Dems that are still MIA deny the chamber a quorum. Lawmakers anticipate there will be another special session on Friday, if Abbott can wrangle his state’s wayward Democrats to return.
On Friday, Abbot went as far as having the GOP-controlled Texas House of Representatives issue civil arrest warrants for the Democrats who fled, and enlisting Texas state troopers to help hunt them down.
