The latest escalation in President Trump's feud with California Governor Gavin Newsom finds him quite characteristically and yet again threatening to withhold federal funds from the state, and Newsom is already punching back.
Newsom quipped in an interview with The Daily podcast last week that he hasn't been called "Newscum" since a seventh-grader called him that back in middle school in Marin County. But Trump likes the nickname, and in true bully fashion he used it again Wednesday when asked by a reporter whether his feuding with the governor could have an impact on California's request for $40 billion in disaster aid following January's wildfires in LA.
"Yeah, maybe,” Trump said, per the New York Times, quickly turning to attacking Newsom. "The man's incompetent. He shouldn't have fires like that. You clean the floor of your forest and you won't have any fire." Trump clearly isn't familiar with the forest-free environs of Pacific Palisades.
Trump continued, "It could impact. You know, hatred is never a good thing in politics. When you don’t like somebody, you don’t respect somebody, it’s harder for that person to get money if you’re on top."
Reporter: “Will your recent dust-ups with Gov. Newsom impact additional wildfire relief?”
— Republican Accountability (@AccountableGOP) June 18, 2025
Trump: “Yeah, maybe…Hatred is never a good thing in politics. When you don’t like somebody, you don’t respect somebody, it’s harder for that person to get money when you’re on top.” pic.twitter.com/GRCEIs4TL5
While some immediate disaster aid came during the latter days of the Biden administration, California is still waiting for Congress to approve the $40 billion in long-term recovery aid, which will ultimately land on Trump's desk later this year.
Newsom isn't back down from criticisms of Trump, and he continues to enjoy a national stage for his comments following last week's dust-up over the National Guard being sent into LA to quell immigration protests there.
"Sucking up to the President should not be a requirement for him to do the right thing for the American people," Newsom said in a tweet today. "These are families who’ve lost their homes, their belongings — the irreplaceable pieces of a life built over decades, reduced to ash. Only a truly disturbed person would threaten to withhold aid from victims because they don’t like someone."
The feud between the two men is bound to escalate further, with a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals likely to rule this week on the legality of Trump federalizing the National Guard at a time of protest over his mass-deportation policy in Los Angeles. Those judges sounded inclined to uphold the president's authority in a hearing on Tuesday, but the case is likely to be appealed further, possibly to the Supreme Court.
In an interview Wednesday, LA Mayor Karen Bass said, "Los Angeles does not want to be a laboratory experiment" for Trump's abuses of power. She added, in a tweet, "Our brave, courageous service members have no reason to still be in Los Angeles. They deserve better than this."
Top image: U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters as workers install a new flag pole on the South Lawn of the White House on June 18, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump said that he personally paid for the pole and another just like it on the North Lawn and their installations. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
