Masked and armed US Customs and Border Patrol agents showed up to menace a Gavin Newsom event last week, and now Newsom is demanding records explaining why, and whether Fox News somehow had a hand in this.

California Governor Gavin Newsom clearly hopes to be seen as leading the Democratic opposition to Donald Trump's agenda, as with his taking the mantle of trying to gerrymander California's congressional seats in response to the Texas gerrymandering. And Newsom also wants to be seen as the Number One anti-Trump troll, as evidenced by his office’s recent spate of all-caps tweets parodying Trump’s moronic tweet vernacular.

These two strategies have converged, as Newsom’s press/conference rally last week on his proposed Democratic gerrymander drew masked and armed Customs and Border Patrol agents presumably hoping to stir up shit and menace Newsom supporters. Newsom is apparently both trolling, and acting strategically, as KTVU reports has submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request demanding all records of why federal agents were called to his press conference.

“Trump’s use of the military and federal law enforcement to try to intimidate his political opponents is yet another dangerous step towards authoritarianism,” Newsom’s office said in a Monday press release. “Trump is attempting to advance a playbook from the despots he admires in Russia and North Korea. We will not back down in our defense of democratic freedom, and the Trump administration should answer for this pathetic and cowardly behavior.”

Newsom’s press release also contains the very interesting tease that his office  “requested information about the administration’s communications with Fox News to embed a reporter and camera crew with the group of ICE agents.” Was there some actual Fox News-Trump conspiracy to manipulate/propagandize the coverage of this incident? Or is Newsom just starting another attention-seeking conflict with Fox News to elevate himself as the top general in the so-called Trump resistance?

The gerrymandering (or “redistricting”) fight Newsom is picking could meaningfully change the makeup of the US Congress. Yet Newsom is embellishing that real fight with a headline-grabbing sideshow fight over FOIA requests and Fox News, the results of that fight being completely meaningless.

Trump probably just doesn’t give Newsom’s camp the documents they’re demanding, and nothing ever comes of it. Or maybe Trump does give Newsom the documents, Newsom can claim there was a conspiracy, and still nothing ever comes of it. Same end result either way.

But Gavin Newsom is positioning himself to be perceived as a major pain in Donald Trump’s ass, and Newsom clearly thinks that will translate into a political win for him.

Related: Majority of Americans Dislike Trump and Newsom, But They Hate Elon Musk More, According to Gallup Poll [SFist]

Image: @GavinNewsom via Twitter