Gavin Newsom is abusing his office as leader of California to trash Trump | Opinion
As governor of California, Gavin Newsom has crossed a dangerous line by announcing a new website to trash the President of the United States as the “criminal in chief.”
There’s a big difference between the state officially announcing this under the office of the governor versus the campaign of a candidate running for, say, president.
Newsom is misusing his office in a strange emulation of President Donald Trump himself.
The governor’s latest stunt was announced Tuesday on his official governor’s website with the following headline: “Newsom launches website tracking Trump’s top 10 criminal cronies as new data shows California crime continues to drop.”
I tried to view the new website, but the governor’s link simply returned to his press release. So much for the details of the government. But the missive provided plenty to get the flavor.
Illustrating the governor’s statement was a picture of a scowling Trump with “felon” in red letters, emblazoned across the president’s chest. The state provided numerous links to Trump’s felony convictions in recent years, how a Trump faith adviser was guilty of sexual abuse, and how some pardoned participants of the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection have gone on to commit rapes and domestic violence.
Meanwhile, California is portrayed as the peaceful, shining state, basking in its golden glory.
Homicides are down. So are robberies and aggravated assaults. Even Oakland, so violent that an In-N-Out left town last year, is safer.
There has long been a place where California has provided comprehensive statistics about criminal trends statewide and locally, where partisans don’t cherry-pick the data. It’s called the California Department of Justice.
And there’s a place for Newsom, as the unannounced candidate to replace Trump as president, to post such highly partisan commentary. And therein lies the contemporary problem.
Newsom’s presidential campaign is in full swing
Newsom wants us to believe that he isn’t even going to begin considering whether to run for president for nearly a year, until after the mid-term elections in November are over. That’s what he told CBS in October. “Otherwise, I’d just be lying, and I can’t just do that,” he said. With a straight face.
But by all outward indications, Newsom has been planning this run for the president for months if not years. Why else would he be commissioning a book about himself? Just in time to be fodder for the presidential primary? What good is this new website for the citizens of California? How does this address any of our affordability problems that Newsom runs from like the plague?
Trump should be open season for Democrats and even Republicans who stand for true justice and good government. By weaponizing the U.S. Department of Justice to go after political enemies such as former FBI chief James Comey and former National Security Adviser John Bolton, the president has degraded the country and the highest office in the world. And this is just one example of a novel of tragedies unfolding in Washington in this assault on our democratic values.
But there is a way for Democrats and sane Republicans to fight back. It’s to show how they are different from Trump — not just a version of the same.
Newsom, who is refusing to separate his presidential candidacy from his role as governor of all of California, now runs the risk of tarnishing the state’s highest office.
The California government has no business assembling this anti-Trump, pro-Newsom website. The governor has no business ordering its creation, which he has apparently done.
Maybe, just maybe, the governor should focus on governing. And then run on a record of what he has actually done. Attempts to one-up Trump at his own game just makes Newsom — and the state government — the sure loser.
This story was originally published December 18, 2025 at 5:00 AM.