California Gov. Gavin Newsom is back swinging, this time at President Donald Trump’s truth meter and his vanity, and he’s not exactly whispering. After Trump’s splashy stop at Chequers, the British prime minister’s country retreat, the president sat down for a Fox News hit and reeled off a familiar list of tall tales, including the old chestnut that “we won in 2020, big.” Newsom pounced, accusing Trump of lying live on air and calling him, in all caps, “DOZY DON,” while jabbing at the president’s looks.
Team Newsom even posted a Fox clip on X to make the point. The California governor’s press office blasted out a screed that doubled as a dare to regulators. If a late-night comedian can be benched over a joke, the statement argued, then Trump, a sitting president, should not be allowed to spout falsehoods unchallenged on national television.
“DOZY DON WHO LOOKS AWFUL RECENTLY, ‘THE HANDS,’ IS LYING ON LIVE TELEVISION, HIS SO CALLED ‘FCC CHAIR’ BRENDAN CARR MUST IMMEDIATELY APPLY THE MADE UP ‘JIMMY KIMMEL’ RULE AND KICK TRUMP OFF TV, LET’S GO BRENDAN,” the post read, signed with GCN.
DOZY DON WHO LOOKS AWFUL RECENTLY (“THE HANDS”) IS LYING ON LIVE TELEVISION!
HIS SO CALLED “FCC CHAIR” BRENDAN CARR MUST IMMEDIATELY APPLY THE MADE UP “JIMMY KIMMEL” RULE AND KICK TRUMP OFF TV!!! LETS GO BRENDAN! — GCN https://t.co/rLdRb5LyFR
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) September 18, 2025
The insults were not random. Trump’s appearance has been a magnet for snark throughout the state visit. Cameras caught close-ups of his hands again, with heavy makeup visibly caked near a recurring bruise he has tried to conceal, and social feeds lit up with side-by-sides and slow-motion zooms.
Then there were the cankles, which critics seized on as the First Couple disembarked from Marine One at the White House after the transatlantic flight, sparking a fresh round of body chatter. A droopy, exhausted look at a 9,11 memorial earlier in the month added fuel to the narrative that the president is, at minimum, running on fumes.
Beyond the optics, Newsom drilled into substance. Trump cheered Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension like it was a campaign win, but the governor flipped the logic. If networks are willing to yank a comedian over a controversial monologue, what happens when a president uses the same airwaves to claim victories that do not exist and to sell economic fantasies that voters cannot verify at the grocery checkout, Newsom asked.
Trump: “When you have a network and you have evening shows and all they do is hit Trump… They’re licensed. They’re not allowed to do that.”
We CANNOT normalize this.
HE IS NOT GOING TO STOP. pic.twitter.com/OTAylLXUYo
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) September 18, 2025
During the Chequers interview, Trump declared that his policies, including sweeping tariffs, have “solved inflation” and “solved prices.” In reality, prices remain stubborn for basics, and inflation pressures have been worsening since May, especially for households feeling the pinch of housing, transport, and food.
Pressed on when Americans will feel his promised boom, Trump answered that the turnaround will arrive “when the factories start opening,” then veered back to the comfort zone, attacking unfavorable polls and praising the supposed billions upon billions in new investment that he says are already secured.
There is no such thing as free speech under Donald Trump’s reign.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) September 18, 2025
Newsom, who champions a very different vision of growth back home in California, framed the moment as a split screen, one where a president is celebrating a talk show suspension and a feel-good Fox segment while Americans are staring down rising costs and stagnant wages.
Newsom believes that Trump is trying to bluff his way through bad headlines with bigger boasts and thicker foundation, and that the press should stop playing makeup artist. If broadcasters are going to referee what comics can and cannot say, the governor argued, then they should also blow the whistle when the most powerful man in the country looks into the camera, shrugs off the facts, and calls it victory.
