Trump’s Worst Fear Hits with Surprise Counter-Attack

27 Aug 2025 · 19 min · 6 chapters

Ask about this episode

Ask anything about it. ChatGPT or Claude reads this page and answers with the times it was said.

Connect VO and ask about every podcast you hear, including the moments you saved. Add to ChatGPT · Add to Claude

In short

Gavin Newsom’s social-media counterattacks to Donald Trump—mocking Trump’s “hand action,” claiming Trump’s dementia via a “valve” water story, and crediting Newsom posts with Cracker Barrel restoring its older logo. It also covers Trump administration claims about AI/industrial control, labor layoffs, and immigration/economy impacts.

Guests

No guests are mentioned; the episode is presented as commentary on Newsom and Trump clips/posts.

Key claims

Newsom says MAGA influencers misunderstand his jokes; he claims Cracker Barrel changed back because of his August 21 post; he argues Trump’s “valve” story is dementia/confabulation; he says red states rely on federal subsidies from blue states; he claims Trump’s tariffs and immigration raids harm jobs and agriculture.

Notable examples

Cracker Barrel logo change; Sean Hannity praising Newsom; Axios/Howard Lutnick and AI/industrial stakes; John Deere layoffs in Iowa; Trump “hundreds of millions of gallons” water-to-Pacific claim; Newsom posts comparing murder rates across states/counties.

Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.

Chapters

Tap a time to open that second in VO

Gavin Newsom Mocks Trump

0:00 to 1:30

Learn how California Governor Gavin Newsom uses humor to critique Trump.

“Donald Trump's worst nightmare has arrived.”

Cracker Barrel Controversy

1:30 to 4:30

Discover the back-and-forth between Newsom and MAGA influencers over Cracker Barrel's logo.

“The new one looks like cheap Velveeta cheese from Walmart, the place for groceries, An old fashioned term.”

Trump's Bizarre Statements

4:30 to 7:39

Explore Trump's strange remarks about water management in California.

“Department of Labor goes, American workers first.”

Newsom's Response to Trump

8:00 to 14:00

Understand Newsom’s rebuttals to Trump's claims about California and its economy.

“Governor Newsom then plays this clip of Donald Trump And it's Donald Trump saying, we sent in hundreds of millions of gallons of water per day to the Pacific Ocean.”

Governor Newsom's Defense Against Trump

14:00 to 15:06

Learn how Governor Newsom is countering Trump's policies and rhetoric.

“His war on affordability and small businesses are having real impacts.”

Newsom's Bold Stance

15:07 to 15:19

Discover Newsom's fierce approach in mocking and challenging Trump.

“Governor Newsom fighting back hard, mocking Donald Trump, calling Trump a loser, calling Trump pathetic, calling Trump dementia laden.”
Hear the part that matters, and keep it.Open this episode in VO. Double tap your headphones to save a moment as you listen.
Get VO free

Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

0:00Ben Meiselas:Donald Trump's worst nightmare has arrived. He is getting mercilessly mocked and bullied and getting a taste of his own medicine. California Governor Gavin Newsom is leading the way with posts like this, calling Donald Trump tiny hands, little hands and words to those effects. Wow, Gavin Newsom writes, President Trump says about me, Gavin C. Newsom, he's a nice guy, looks good. Thank you for the kind words, little hands. Everyone seems to be talking about me, America's favorite governor, GCN. And Gavin Newsom posts this video, play the clip. He's a nice guy. Looks good. Hi, everybody. How you doing?

0:43Ben Meiselas:Then Governor Newsom takes credit for the fact that Cracker Barrel will be adding in the white man back to its logo, American dream achieved unlocked. After MAGA started bullying Cracker Barrel for changing its logo and saying that they were going to like boycott it. Cracker Barrel's like, all right, you want us to put the white guy in? Okay. And then Governor Newsom said, ah, it was me who did it. Wow. After Governor Newsom called for Cracker Barrel to keep its old beautiful logo, today the company did exactly that. Thank you, Governor. America is grateful for you. And then Governor Newsom says a massive win for Patriots all because of me, Gavin C.

1:28Ben Meiselas:Newsom. Congratulations. And he refers to his post actually, which took place on August 21st, where he said, what is all caps? What is wrong with Cracker Barrel? Keep your beautiful logo. The new one looks like cheap Velveeta cheese from Walmart, the place for groceries, An old fashioned term. Fix it ASAP. Woke is dead. Thank you for your attention to this matter. And the funny thing is that all of the MAGA influencers are like losing their minds that Governor Newsom is mocking Donald Trump like they still don't get it. And Governor Newsom's like they still don't get it. MAGA influencer Eric Dougherty goes, California Governor Newsom is now claiming Cracker Barrel changed back their logo because of him.

2:15Ben Meiselas:Gavin is in way over his effing head. Robbie Starbuck, a MAGA influencer, goes, Gavin Newsom is trying to take credit for the logo reversal of Cracker Barrel now. I know his party loves a crackhead, but it doesn't mean they need to act like they're on crack all the time. Sorry, Gavin Newsom, but Democrats are the ones who created woke. You own it. Nice try though. So the MAGA Republicans like create a fake issue that Democrats are not talking about at all. What was it like two weeks ago? They're like Sydney Sweeney's hot and she's wearing jeans. Look how hot she is in those jeans. And Democrats hate the fact that she's in jeans because Democrats are woke.

3:01Ben Meiselas:We love Sydney Sweeney. stop making the hot girl take off. Just stop making her talk about the jeans and make her take off the jeans. Stop it. And then people like, dude, what are you talking about? Like, this is not, this is not a real thing that people are talking about. Like, why are you going freaking nuts? And then Governor Newsom posts the following. Wow. Sean Hannity says, Gavin, you're doing great. I'm proud of you. Even Fox News agrees that I, Gavin C. Newsom, am the number one governor in the U.S. history. Only I can change hearts, minds, and Fox's awful ratings and honor GCN. And he plays this video of Hannity play this clip.

3:41Gavin, you're doing great. I'm proud of you. Now, thank you for your attention to this matter.

3:47Ben Meiselas:Governor Newsom then posts this AI image of Donald Trump in a Soviet uniform. And Axios goes, Justin, government will take stakes in more companies. Top Trump advisor says that's one of the new things that Howard Lutnick, Commerce Secretary, is saying. After the Trump regime is taking over the methods of control and production of Intel, they're looking at Lockheed Martin, Palantir AI, and other companies as well. So Donald Trump's been putting massive banners with his face on it over government buildings, Kim Jong-un style. So then Governor Newsom puts this photo right here of Kim Jong-un with his dad.

4:27Ben Meiselas:Thank you, glorious leader. And this is, again, the U.S. Department of Labor goes, American workers first. And it's a big picture of Donald Trump's face. One of the things that Donald Trump said during that bizarre press conference he did yesterday in his cabinet meeting is Trump goes, you know, you've got this incompetent governor. It's Gavin Newsom. He's very handsome, though. Very good looking guy. But he does weird things with his hands. Do you see that strange hand action? I'll play you the clip again. It's a longer version of what I showed you at first. But Governor Newsom responds, you really want to have the conversation about hands.

5:04Ben Meiselas:Donald Trump's hand is literally decomposing, not to mention Donald Trump's hand gestures. But Trump's hands are showing indicia. Again, I'm giving you my opinion based on all the medical people I've spoke to of major cardiovascular issues and constant blood work that's being drawn, causing a discoloration of his hands. Also, his cankles are like 19 inches around or something. Here, play this clip. You can't handle it. You have an incompetent governor there. You have an incompetent governor in California, Gavin. I know him very well. He's incompetent. He's a nice guy. Looks good. Hi, everybody.

5:45How you doing? He's got some strange hand action going. I don't know what the hell his problem is. It's a little weird, to be honest. A little something shaky going on there. But, you know.

5:56Ben Meiselas:Governor Newsom then posts the following. We hate to say it, but Mike Pence is right. P.S. Don't expect this to happen often. And Governor Newsom is, quote, tweeting or, quote, whatever the hell you call it now, former Vice President Mike Pence saying, John Deere is laying off 238 workers at three factories in Iowa. The company said tariffs and lower commodity prices are to blame. Tariff costs in the quarter were approximately$200 million, which brings us to roughly$300 million in tariff expenses year to date. Right now, the headlines are chock full of data breaches and regulatory rollbacks, making us all vulnerable.

6:35But you can do something about it. Delete.me is here to make it easy, quick, and safe to remove your personal data online. As someone with an active online presence, privacy is really important to me. I've been following all the data breaches in the news. In a recent Coinbase breach, a hacker got names, addresses, phone numbers, the last four digits of social security numbers, and even masked bank account numbers. Data brokers can vacuum up a lot of that data, build a searchable profile about you, and sell it to whoever wants it. Thankfully, Delete.me can help remove it from those sites and keep your info from falling into the wrong hands.

7:06Delete.me does all the hard work of wiping you and your family's personal information from hundreds of data broker websites. You sign up, tell Delete.me exactly what information you want removed, and their experts take it from there, sending you regular privacy reports showing what they found and removed. And it's not just a one-time thing. Delete.me is always working for you, constantly monitoring and removing your personal information. Take control of your data and keep your private life private by signing up for Delete.me. now at a special discount for our listeners. Get 20 % off your Delete Me plan when you go to joindeliteme.com slash Midas and use promo code Midas at checkout.

7:45The only way to get 20 % off is to go to joindeliteme.com slash Midas and enter code Midas, M-E-I-D-A-S at checkout. That's joindeliteme.com slash Midas, code Midas.

8:00Ben Meiselas:Governor Newsom then plays this clip of Donald Trump And it's Donald Trump saying, we sent in hundreds of millions of gallons of water per day to the Pacific Ocean. They turn a valve. The valve heads out. And this is Donald Trump's like bizarre dementia-laden story. I mean, in my opinion, it's reflective of dementia or just complete detachment from reality. So after the fires were 100 % contained in January in Southern California, 100 % contained, meaning no more risks of the fires, right? Donald Trump sends the Army Corps of Engineers to Northern California to empty the reservoirs there containing billions of gallons of water, which are reserved in a reservoir for farmland during dry periods, particularly this summer.

8:56Ben Meiselas:Trump emptied all that water out into the farmland, which is not even anywhere near Southern California, which didn't need the water anyway, because first off, the water is not going to put out the fires. Number one. Number two, it's a different reservoir system. Number three, it's not the Northern California. California is like the biggest state in America. So Northern California to Southern California is almost like the difference between New York and like South Carolina or like Virginia. OK, it's very far. They're not connected. But that's what Donald Trump did. So Governor Newsom posts this AI image, a glimpse into Trump's make believe world of giant water valves in Northern California.

9:42Ben Meiselas:Because I'll play you the clip of what Trump said, which Gavin Newsom quote posts with this stuff. Trump says he turned on a valve in Northern California, which is connected to Canada, okay, which California doesn't border Canada. You turn it on and then he put out the fires. So here's what Governor Newsom posted, a giant faucet. Also, Governor Newsom posts, he asks Grok, which is like the AI software for X, formerly Twitter. Do people with dementia repeat false things over and over again? Yes, people with dementia can repeat false statements or beliefs, a behavior often linked to memory impairments and cognitive changes.

10:21Ben Meiselas:This can manifest as confabulation where they create or repeat false memories to fill gaps in recollection or preservation where they fixate on particular ideas or statements. Here's what Donald Trump said. These people are sick. There's something wrong. So we send hundreds of millions of gallons of water a day into the Pacific Ocean. They turn a valve and the valve heads out and we turn the valve back. I actually had to do it using force. We turn the valve back and now they have water, but not as much as they should have because they should. And I'm telling Gavin Newsom by by this conversation right now, turn the rest of the water on.

11:07Turn it on.

11:08Ben Meiselas:Okay, and it's just so perfect. He's saying that Donald Trump has dementia. Finally, call him out because none of it's normal. And when Newsom is doing it, it hits hard. Governor Newsom then posts the following. It's like Fox is saying, look, Newsom is saying that the new Cracker Barrel logo looks like Velveeta cheese. And then Governor Newsom goes, wow, even Fox is crediting the greatest governor in the world. I, Gavin C. Newsom, for making Cracker Barrel great again. Thank you, GCN. Trump's Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson goes three plus hours of Trump's cabinet meeting with updates from all the cabinet members and many questions.

11:48Ben Meiselas:The most transparent administration in history to which Governor Newsom responds. So you're finally going to be releasing the Epstein files. Also, I love that Governor Newsom keeps on posting the crime statistics of red states where crime is substantially higher than blue states. There's also other important data as well. Look at a state like California. It gives to the federal government$80 billion more than it takes, whereas Texas takes more than$70 billion than it gives. OK, blue states are giver states. Red states, by and large, are taker states. Red states are bankrupt and don't exist without being subsidized by the blue states.

12:32Ben Meiselas:So when MAGA attacks California, that's what's keeping them alive, these red states. Also, when they attack LA County, if Los Angeles County were a state, it would be the fourth largest giver state in the United States, but it's a county. But if it was a state, that's how much it contributes to the federal government. If California was a country, it would have the fourth largest GDP in the world, okay? So when people attack, oh, California, there's California, that fourth largest GDP in the entire world. But Governor Newsom posts photos like this. Arkansas's murder rate is 2.6 times higher than San Francisco's.

13:13Ben Meiselas:Why won't Fox report that or this? Fox News is refusing to report that Louisiana's murder rate is nearly four times as high as California's. Also earlier, Howard Lutnick said regarding Lisa Cook, the Federal Reserve governor who the Trump regime is trying to unlawfully fire, the crook always says, I'm not going anywhere, to which Governor Newsom posts a photo of Donald Trump saying, I'm not going anywhere. Trump's a felon. Trump's a sexual abuser. Trump's a fraud. Trump is all, he's a bankruptor. He's a loser. Call him out. And I like that Governor Newsom is calling him out at all turns. He goes, Donald Trump turned a booming economy into a stagnant one in record time.

14:00Ben Meiselas:His war on affordability and small businesses are having real impacts. From his chaotic tariffs to his job and economy killing immigration raids, California will continue to fight back. Governor Newsom posts, Trump's immigration raids are destroying our agriculture workforce, inflating costs, creating worker shortages, and destroying communities. On California Farm Worker Day, we honor the hardworking men and women who power our economy. We will not stop defending your rights. And when you see Fox and Sean Hannity say, well, Ron DeSantis of Florida says California may be number one, but for all the wrong reasons, Governor Newsom says wrong categories, California is the fourth largest economy in the world.

14:49Ben Meiselas:Number one in manufacturing, number one in farming, number one in new business startups, number one in tech and VC investments, number one in Fortune 500 companies, and number one in public education system, public higher education system. So there you have it. Governor Newsom fighting back hard, mocking Donald Trump, calling Trump a loser, calling Trump pathetic, calling Trump dementia laden. That's how you have to do it right now. Those are the rules. The rules are there are no rules. Attack, attack, attack. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million. Thanks for watching.

15:41Ben Meiselas:you

From the publisher

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Donald Trump getting clobbered by a shock and awe counter-attack by California Governor Gavin Newsom who is pummeling Trump into the dirt with an aggressive campaign of fighting fire with fire that Trump has never seen before.

Get 20% OFF your DeleteMe plan! Go to https://JoinDeleteMe.com/MEIDAS and enter code: MEIDAS at checkout!

Visit https://meidasplus.com for more!

Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts:

MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast

Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af

MissTrial: https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial

The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast

The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan

Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen

The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show

Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats

Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54

Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown

On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman

Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered

Coalition of the Sane: https://meidasnews.com/tag/coalition-of-the-sane

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More from The MeidasTouch Podcast

All 2,215 episodes
Trump’s Worst Fear Hits with Surprise Counter-AttackThe MeidasTouch Podcast · 19 min
Listen in VO