In short
Gavin Newsom’s escalating mockery of Donald Trump via AI memes and public rebuttals, framing Trump as reckless, abusive, and unfit, while defending California’s progressive policies and diversity.
Guest backgrounds
No guests are identified in the transcript; it centers on Newsom clips and commentary by the podcast hosts.
Key claims
Newsom says Trump is among the most destructive presidents in his lifetime; that Trump’s rhetoric normalizes insults (e.g., “retard,” “piggy”); that federal failures under Trump harm disaster warning systems; and that California’s success is “by design” through R&D investment and progressive taxation.
Notable examples
AI images of Trump in handcuffs (“cuffing season”); Newsom’s “knee pads are in the mail” response to Indiana’s Mike Braun; “I want to see trans kids” exchange; Elon Musk retort about his trans daughter; and criticism of NOAA/tsunami warning cuts after false earthquake alerts.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VONewsom's Offensive Against Trump
0:30 to 1:27
Discuss how Gavin Newsom is challenging Donald Trump and the MAGA movement.
“Donald Trump never saw this coming, and he's finally getting a taste of his own medicine and seeing what real power looks like.”
Critique of Trump's Presidency
1:27 to 2:52
Examining Newsom's harsh critique of Trump's record and behavior.
“Our commander in chief only needs a tiny nap to power through a full meeting.”
Newsom on America's Future
2:52 to 4:00
Governor Newsom discusses the risks to America under Trump's leadership.
“Whoever the next president needs to be prepared.”
Responses to GOP Criticism
4:00 to 5:12
Exploring Newsom's rebuttals to criticisms from Republican leaders.
“We'll not have a fair and free election if we don't continue to fight.”
Newsom's Support for Trans Rights
7:59 to 10:05
Governor Newsom expresses his support for the transgender community.
“Next, Governor Newsom responds to Katie Miller, Stephen Miller's wife.”
California's Economic Success
10:05 to 12:27
An overview of the factors contributing to California's economic growth.
“We saw that peak drop in 1970s to a relatively modest percentage of our overall population in this country.”
Critique of Trump's Administration
12:27 to 14:01
Examination of Trump's failures in federal agencies and disaster preparedness.
“My gosh, we have more Fortune 500 companies than we've had in a decade in California.”
Governor Newsom's Critique of Trump's Administration
14:01 to 15:36
Learn about Governor Newsom's criticisms of Trump's handling of federal disaster preparedness and response.
“Governor Newsom goes, Donald Trump is in poor physical health.”
Transcript
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0:30Ben Meiselas:Donald Trump never saw this coming, and he's finally getting a taste of his own medicine and seeing what real power looks like. California Governor Gavin Newsom going on the offense and sticking the dagger right into Donald Trump. He's calling Donald Trump for being sickly, weak, deranged, a criminal, a felon, a sexual abuser. Gavin Newsom is not holding back. Governor Newsom posting memes of it is cuffing season. Donald Trump, Hegseth, and Miller getting put in cuffs in this AI meme. They are a bunch of war criminals, and he's just shedding a light to who they are. And all of MAGA is freaking out.
1:12Ben Meiselas:Oh, Governor Newsom's doing AI images of Donald Trump's in handcuffs. Good, because Donald Trump has always been out there doing that. Now we're giving you a taste of your own medicine and showing you what it actually feels like when someone with strengths delivers that blow. You have Governor Newsom posting things like this. Wow, Donald Trump, a titan of wellness. His stamina is unmatched. Our commander in chief only needs a tiny nap to power through a full meeting. Get this man into the Olympics ASAP. And when Peter Navarro posted the AI image that Governor Newsom had displayed of Donald Trump in cuffs, Navarro is one of a he's a Trump lackey.
1:51Ben Meiselas:He's a Trump stooge. He goes, I went to prison defending the Constitution because of woke assholes like you. And Governor Newsom responds with a snowflake emoji because all these MAGAs at their core are a bunch of weirdos, a bunch of snowflakes, a bunch of pathetic grifters. And Governor Newsom's just showing them the mirror because this is who they are. Governor Newsom then posts this Fox headline. Newsom says that Trump is one of the most destructive presidents of his lifetime. This guy is reckless. I think Trump is one of the most destructive presidents and human beings in my lifetime. Governor Newsom says, wow, an accurate Fox News headline.
2:33Ben Meiselas:And then Governor Newsom gave this great interview with New York Times and Ezra Klein. and he says, you know what? You've got Trump out there. He goes, this guy's supposed to be the president of the United States. He's calling people the R word. He's calling women piggies. And he's saying, you're ugly and disgusting. Who is this guy? Here, play this clip.
2:53Gavin Newsom:Whoever the next president needs to be prepared. We can't keep this up. We're polarized. We're traumatized. We're exhausted. I can't even conceive of three more years of this. It really is. What's happening to our kids? Their brains are already being scrambled by social media and everything else we didn't talk about. But this, this is their role model? A guy who calls someone a retard? A guy who calls someone a piggy? This is our role model?
3:20Ben Meiselas:The president of the United States? Then Governor Newsom says that Donald Trump is the most destructive president and human being, frankly, in our history. Play this clip.
3:28Gavin Newsom:I think Trump is one of the most destructive presidents and human beings in my lifetime. I think this republic is at real risk, this country being unrecognizable. And I have no patience for people that want to indulge it. I can't stand the corny capitalism. I can't stand all these supplicants that are sitting there bending the knee to this president. I can't stand the universities have done that, the law firms that have done that, the individual corporate leaders that have done that, other governors, maybe Democrats and Republicans that have been complicit at this moment. This guy is reckless.
3:59Gavin Newsom:He's going to wreck this country. We'll not have a fair and free election if we don't continue to fight. I'm just I that's what matters to me. Seriously, I'm the future ex-governor. And who the hell knows what happens the rest of my life? Except one thing I know that matters the rest of my life is I have to look at my kids in the goddamn eye. I mean that. Seriously, that's not like a politician thing to look them in the eye and say that I, you know, not in that peril of being judged, not to have lived in the moment.
4:23Ben Meiselas:Now, in response to Indiana's governor, pathetic MAGA governor, Mike Braun, saying, I'm disappointed that a small group of misguided Indiana senators would not do Donald Trump's agenda. OK. By the way, there was a fact check of that on X. A majority of Republican state senators voted against the bill, not a small group. But then Governor Newsom responds, your knee pads are in the mail. XOXO, a win for America that the gerrymandering Indiana failed. And frankly, it's also because Governor Newsom with Prop 50 showed, MAGA, if you're going to pull these tricks, we're going to give you a taste of your own medicine and we're going to do it better than you because we actually have smart people doing it, not with your dummy Mandarin.
5:11Ben Meiselas:And all these MAGAs are freaking out. You have this Trump stooge go on CNN. And this guy's like, could you believe that Governor Newsom is posting these these videos of Donald Trump in handcuffs? And he's saying it's cuffing season. How is he doing this? This is so mean. Here play this clip. Can you do both? Ezra Klein has an interview with him basically saying he is the front runner for the Democratic Party. Yet what did he put out? An AI generated photo of the president of the United States in handcuffs this week. He told the Indiana governor, get down on your knees today in a post on X. So I don't know.
5:49I want to, oh, the president can't do it. But yet Gavin Newsom is now the front runner for the Democrats. Wait, I don't know. It's sort of a chicken and egg kind of situation. What are you talking about? No, we're talking about verbiage. We're talking about I'm saying what's chicken and egg is that you're sort of implying that Gavin Newsom started it and that it's fair that I didn't say Gavin Newsom started Republicans to continue it. When we all
6:11Ben Meiselas:I mean, do you realize that he's mocking Donald Trump? You realize that it is making fun of the behavior of Donald Trump, shining a light and shining a mirror to Donald Trump's behavior. It's not like Governor Newsom just started this. It's that Trump's behavior has been normalized. So Governor Newsom is saying this shouldn't be normalized. Look how crazy it is. And if you're going to play by those rules, I'm going to go two times harder than you. And then the MAGA snowflake is like, oh my God, you're coming after me. This episode of the Midas Touch podcast is brought to you by bookshop.org. You may be watching or listening to our show right now, but are you reading enough?
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7:59Ben Meiselas:Next, Governor Newsom responds to Katie Miller, Stephen Miller's wife. She goes, California is a hellhole. Thanks to Gavin Newsom, to which Governor Newsom responds right away. Our country is currently in hell because of your creepy husband. Now, during his interview with Ezra Klein of New York Times, Governor Newsom said, I want to see trans kids. I support the trans community because I want to be clear that it is my prerogative to make sure that we are an ally in the state of California and that we are an ally in this country. So Republicans mock that. They showed a photo of Newsom and said, I want to see trans kids.
8:41Ben Meiselas:To which Governor Newsom says, yep, RT. And then Elon Musk from his account goes, mocks Governor Newsom for saying that. And then Newsom responds to Elon Musk, correct. We're sorry your daughter hates you, Elon. because Elon has a trans daughter and Elon is very, very, very discriminatory against the trans community. He says the most hateful things about his daughter. Next, Governor Newsom says, our diversity is our strength. Here, play this clip.
9:10Gavin Newsom:I live in a state 27%, just so people understand. California, 27 % of the state is foreign-born. It's a majority-minority state. I mentioned the word pluralism before because we practice it. It's a word you don't hear a lot about. I think our strength is defined by that diversity. I know that offends J.D. Vance and everyone else and offends the folks you've referenced, truly offends them. That said, this is an issue that goes back. I remember this from my history books in the 1880s. This guy, Dennis Kearney, the Working Men's Party, started every speech beginning and end, said whatever else happens, the Chinese must go, led to the Chinese Exclusion Act.
9:48Gavin Newsom:He was in Oakland, California. The Bay Area was the center of that universe. There was walls, virtual walls that were being built and all these illustrations to keep the Chinese out of California. We were at peak immigration back then, peak populism out there. And so many respects back to Trump. I mean, Kearney was the original Donald Trump going after institutions, going after the media and obviously scapegoating others. We saw that peak drop in 1970s to a relatively modest percentage of our overall population in this country. that is now getting close to the old 1880s peak. So it's very familiar, all of this.
10:24Gavin Newsom:But I'm of the mindset, here's where I am on this. I'm of the Reagan mindset, life force of new Americans. He could have chosen any speech to leave the Oval Office. Ronald Reagan chose one speech to talk about the power of this country being defined that anyone can be part of this country. Nowhere else in the world is that the case, but it uniquely defines the greatness of America. I'm with Reagan on this point.
10:52Ben Meiselas:And Governor Newsom says the success of California is not an accident. It's because we're diverse. It's because of our progressive tax policy. It's because of our investing in R &D. That's why California is thriving. Here play this clip. We have a formula for success.
11:08Gavin Newsom:I mean, California's success is not an accident. It's by design. I mean, we have 18 % of the world's R &D. we invest in that. Billions and billions of those tax dollars go back into R &D tax credits. The UC system, I mean, how many more engineers, scientists, more Nobel laureates do we need? We have 13 ,700 active pending active patents in the UC system. Those ecosystems have created these trillion dollar companies, four trillion dollar companies, created and minted these billionaires that are complaining about California. That's the benefits that we have provided for these companies have laid the foundation for innovation and quantum and fusion and robotics in space and the future and dominating that space.
11:47Gavin Newsom:We have$180 billion. It's the largest since Pat Brown. $180 billion. It's build.ca.gov. You can look it up. Transparent website that shows the biggest investments in capital and infrastructure in California's history that is being invested as we speak. We've dominated manufacturing. 2.8 % of manufacturing, advanced manufacturing is in in place like Florida, it's 13.9 in California. We dominate in every critical category. Of the nation's total money - Of the nation's total, yeah, the nation's total. So we're number one in every category. So the economic opportunities, the growth, the energy, the daring, the creativity, all of that is present in California.
12:27Gavin Newsom:My gosh, we have more Fortune 500 companies than we've had in a decade in California. We have more unicorn companies we've ever had. Look at the venture capital that's going back into the state.
12:37Ben Meiselas:And then Governor Newsom mocked Donald Trump's post, you know, Donald Trump's post where he was like, my aura is so good. And anybody who talks, my aura is so good. What a weird dude. And then Donald Trump's like, anybody who criticizes my health, that's treasonous. That's treasonous. I am in the best health ever. So Governor Newsom mocks it and says, there has never been a governor who has worked as hard as me. My hours are the longest and my results are among the best. Actually, the best. I've stopped the great war between the charter schools and the teachers union, created the greatest economy in the history of California, fourth largest economy in the world, raised the minimum wage to levels never seen before.
13:15Ben Meiselas:Twenty dollars an hour for our fast food workers. Rebuilt our firefighting fleet. Now the largest in the world, created the largest tax cuts in the state's history. Then he goes on and on to mock Donald Trump. All of this created an aura around California that has led every other country in the world to respect us more than ever before, and certainly more than the loser president who always falls asleep at work. Then in response to one of the clips we posted of Donald Trump saying, for minors, do we love minors? I love minors. Governor Newsom says, good to know. And then Donald Trump posted a Minecraft meme.
13:50Ben Meiselas:America's most pro gamer president, Newsom writes. Donald Trump confirms that he loves minors. And in response to Donald Trump saying, anyone who says that I'm in poor health is committing treason. Governor Newsom goes, Donald Trump is in poor physical health. I want to read this too, because I think this is really important, you know, in all seriousness too. Governor Newsom says the Trump administration is failing where failure is not an option. Last week, a federally managed seismic sensor system sent a false shake alert to millions, incorrectly signaling a major earthquake and exposing serious technical and oversight failures in critical federal early warning networks.
14:31Ben Meiselas:Trump's attack on the NOAA, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, and cuts to the National Tsunami Warning System are undermining hurricane forecasting, flood prediction, and science communities rely on these as climate change fuels more extreme storms, leaving responders with less information as water levels rise. California is doing its part, investing in earthquake early warning, upgrading flood defenses, expanding coastal monitoring, and building one of the most advanced disaster readiness networks in the world. But disasters don't stop at state lines, and we need a federal partner, not a federal failure.
15:09Ben Meiselas:Finally, Governor Newsom says, in response to a Laura Ingraham post, Newsom writes, Fox News really doesn't know what to do with themselves now that Trump's influence is slipping. Going to need a new job soon, Laura. And Laura Ingraham goes, this is Indiana, the home of Mike Pence. They'd rather lose the entire country than do something that the press may deem unfair. There you have it, folks. Let me know what you think. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million subscribers. Thanks for watching. Be sure to add the Midas Touch podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts for new updates every single day.
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From the publisher
MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on California Governor Gavin Newsom going on the offense against Donald Trump and using his moral and formal authority to try and get Trump removed from office.
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