logo
All you need to know about Gavin Newsom, the Californian governor fighting with Trump over LA protests

All you need to know about Gavin Newsom, the Californian governor fighting with Trump over LA protests

Independenta day ago

California's governor Gavin Newsom has found himself in another war of words with president Donald Trump, after protests in LA turned violent.
The Democrat has dared the Trump administration to arrest him after he opposed the president's decision to deploy the National Guard to deal with the chaos.
But Newsom's fight with Trump over his 'deranged' decision is just the latest skirmish in a longstanding rivalry with the president.
Here's what to know about Newsom's career to date.
From mayor to governor
Newsom's political career began on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1997, and during his time there, he supported a ban on tobacco advertisements visible from streets and tougher penalties for landlords who broke rent control laws.
He married commentator Kimberly Guilfoyle in 2001, and the pair separated in 2004. She later gained prominence on a Fox News chat show and became a senior advisor to Donald Trump, before getting engaged to Donald Trump Jr.
In 2004, he was elected as mayor of San Francisco after being supported in his campaign by Democratic heavyweights including Bill Clinton and Al Gore.
Later that year he gained national attention when he directed the city to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples, a directive which broke state law, and California's Supreme Court later struck down his directive.
He had begun dating film director Jennifer Siebel in October 2006, and in January 2007 Newsom admitted to a 2005 affair with the wife of his friend and former chief of staff. The following month he announced he would seek treatment for alcohol use disorder.
Newsom and Siebel married in July 2008, and have four children.
Newsom was elected lieutenant governor of California in late 2010 and was sworn in in January 2011, serving under governor Jerry Brown. He supported a failed bid to end capital punishment in the state in 2012, and again in 2016.
After a failed bid in 2009 to secure the Democratic nomination for governor, he ran again in 2018 and was successful, winning the nomination and subsequent election to be sworn in on January 7, 2019.
In March that year, he declared a moratorium on capital punishment, effectively ending the practice for as long as he remains governor.
Newsom also began pardoning immigrants who faced deportation under the first Trump administration's crackdown on immigrants with criminal records.
Newsom's time as governor of California is term-limited, and he will leave office after the 2026 election. He has not said if he plans to run for president, but their have been longstanding rumors he is considering a campaign for the 2028 election.
Ongoing rivalry with Trump
Newsom has had a longstanding rivalry with Trump, who has long called the governor 'New-scum' – which Newsom derided in an interview with The Atlantic as a lame 'seventh-grade nickname''.
In the same interview, he said his team was 'Trump-proofing California', working to oppose whatever hostile White House measures they could.
Their rivalry has ratcheted up over the ongoing riots in LA.
'If Governor Gavin Newscum, of California, and Mayor Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, can't do their jobs, which everyone knows they can't, then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!' Trump wrote on Truth social.
Later, after sending in the National Guard to confront protestors in the city, despite no request from California to do so, Trump continued to deride Newsom's handling of the situation.
'Great job by the National Guard in Los Angeles after two days of violence, clashes and unrest. We have an incompetent Governor (Newscum) and Mayor (Bass) who were, as usual (just look at how they handled the fires, and now their VERY SLOW PERMITTING disaster. Federal permitting is complete!), unable to to handle the task,' Trump said.
He later added: 'Governor Gavin Newscum and 'Mayor' Bass should apologize to the people of Los Angeles for the absolutely horrible job that they have done, and this now includes the ongoing L.A. riots. These are not protesters, they are troublemakers and insurrectionists. Remember, NO MASKS!'
Newsom has pushed back hard.
'Decisive leadership? You didn't even know when your own national guard was deployed on the ground,' he said on X, in response to a tweet from vice president J.D. Vance.
'Stop fanning the flames'.
Newsom also hit out at Trump's border tzar for threatening to arrest him 'for speaking out'.
'Come and get me, tough guy,' he wrote on X. 'I don't give a damn. It won't stop me from standing up for California.'

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Secret CIA file exposes agency's playbook for turning government protests into violent riots
Secret CIA file exposes agency's playbook for turning government protests into violent riots

Daily Mail​

time24 minutes ago

  • Daily Mail​

Secret CIA file exposes agency's playbook for turning government protests into violent riots

A damning classified document has been uncovered that reveals how the CIA plans out and set off riots which destabilize governments. In a 92-page 'playbook' written in 1983, officials mapped out how they would pay criminals and other 'agitators' to ramp up anger among ethnic minorities and students with the goal of having them riot in the streets. This declassified document was recently brought to light on social media, amidst claims that protesters in Los Angeles were being paid thousands of dollars to riot against the Trump Administration. Several people on X have posted images of Craigslist ads promising to pay between $6,500 and $12,500 for 'tough bada--es' to enter the city during the protests. The CIA guide entitled 'Psychological Operations' served as a manual for starting antigovernment movements in other countries, although conspiracy theorists have claimed that those tactics are being used against the White House as well. However, no evidence has been revealed that directly connects CIA operatives with triggering violence during protests here in the US. Originally, the CIA used this strategy of teaching guerrilla fighters how to influence people's minds to take down the Nicaraguan government, which the US viewed as a communist ally of the Soviet Union and Cuba. The document specifically detailed how the agency would hire criminals and train professional protesters in order to make mass riots look like spontaneous uprisings against an allegedly unpopular government. In a 92-page 'playbook' written in 1983, CIA officials mapped out how they would pay criminals and other 'agitators' to ramp up anger among ethnic minorities and students The CIA document, declassified in 2023, explained how agents would take control and organize mass gatherings and steer them towards violence against governments believed to be acting against the interests of the US intelligence community. 'The control of mass meetings in support of guerrilla warfare is carried out internally through a covert commando element, bodyguards, messengers, shock troops (incident initiators), poster carriers (also used to give signals), and slogan shouters, all under the control of the external commando element,' CIA officials wrote. Intelligence officials broke down this plot into several steps, starting with a 'front organization.' Guerrillas infiltrate groups like labor unions or student organizations, secretly controlling them to push anti-government ideas. Next, guerrillas used 'armed propaganda,' acting friendly, helping communities, and showing that their weapons protect the people, not control them, in order to gain their trust. Slogans and speeches would then provide simple, emotional sayings to excite crowds and focus their anger on the government. The manual then suggested using small groups of trained agitators to stir up crowds at protests, making it look like a big, spontaneous movement. This could also involve paying criminals to march along with normal protesters. These instigators would provoke violence and create 'martyrs' in the crowd to turn people against the government the CIA was hoping to bring down. In the 1980s, the goal of this plot was to weaken the Nicaragua's Sandinista government by turning the public against it. By winning people's hearts and minds using these tactics, the CIA hoped to create chaos through protests that undermined government control. The guerrillas would then aim to overthrow the regime and replace it with a government friendly to US instead of the Russians. The CIA rioting manual was aimed at the general population, especially peasants, workers, and students, pushing them to rally them against the government while avoiding being seen as terrorists. However, the CIA's plans failed in Nicaragua. The CIA-backed Contra rebels were never able to achieve a decisive victory, despite significant funding from the US government. The agency tried to paint the Sandinista government as an oppressive and foreign-controlled regime, but the plan to set off riots and support the rebel movement never paid off. The Sandinista government was eventually voted out of office in 1990. The 1983 document was kept a secret for nearly 40 years, before it was eventually released into the CIA's archives. While the plan failed in Nicaragua, it gave the agency a guidebook for how to justify violent uprisings around the world for decades. 'When the cadres are placed in or recruited from organizations such as labor unions, youth groups, agricultural organizations or professional associations, they will begin to manipulate the groups' objectives,' the document detailed. 'The psychological apparatus of our movement, by means of these internal cadres, will prepare a mental attitude which, at the crucial moment, could become involved in a fury of justified violence,' the CIA stated. This wasn't the first uncovered CIA plot that used public violence to influence people around the world. Host of The Why Files, AJ Gentile, revealed during a May 27 episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast that US intelligence agents worked to frame the Soviet Union for a series of deadly car bomb attacks after World War II. The information, which Gentile said he feared to make public, was all part of a plot called Operation Gladio. Gladio is believed to have begun shortly after the end of the war in 1947 or 1948, but the operation allegedly kept going until at least 1990, when the Italian government revealed its existence to the world. According to Gentile, approximately 110 civilians throughout Italy were killed between the 1960s and 1980s in a scheme designed to create opposition against communist Russia in case they ever invaded Europe. As for civil unrest here in the US, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claimed on Monday that demonstrators in Los Angeles were being paid and that the ongoing riots were part of a professional operation. 'These are organized. These are people that are being paid to do this. You can follow how they behave, the signals they give to each other in these crowds and these protests to instigate violence,' Noem told Fox News. Noem claimed the Trump Administration now has evidence that the Los Angeles riots are an organized plot against the US government but did not reveal what they had found out.

Tulsi Gabbard warns world on brink of 'nuclear annihilation'
Tulsi Gabbard warns world on brink of 'nuclear annihilation'

Daily Mail​

time25 minutes ago

  • Daily Mail​

Tulsi Gabbard warns world on brink of 'nuclear annihilation'

President Trump's intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard has released a dire warning about imminent 'nuclear annihilation' in a video showing San Francisco getting bombed. The director of national intelligence posted a several-minute video on her personal X account Tuesday morning with an ominous message about impending nuclear peril. The footage begins with Gabbard noting how she recently visited Hiroshima, site of the WWII nuclear blast. 'It's hard to find the words to express what I saw,' she says. 'This attack obliterated the city, killed over 300,000 people, many dying instantly, while others died from severe burns, injuries, radiation, sickness and cancer that set in the following months and years. Nagasaki suffered the same fate, homes, schools, families, all gone in a flash.' Her post reveals that she walked away from the experience with a 'haunting sadness' that 'will stay with me forever.' As she spoke, the video cut to footage of blast victims in 1945 and the flattened skylines of the bombed-out city remains. 'Yet this one bomb that caused so much destruction in Hiroshima was tiny compared to today's nuclear bombs,' she continued as renderings showed the colossal scale of modern day weapons. Gabbard then delivers a menacing verdict: 'We are closer to the brink of nuclear annihilation than ever before.' Scenes in the post depicted a simulation of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge shattering due to a nuclear explosion. Other seemingly AI-generated scenes showed the greenish dusk that could be caused from nuclear fallout as clouds choke out sunlight from reaching the ground. Though she did not highlight specific foreign adversaries the DNI did condemn unnamed 'political elite warmongers' who she accused of stirring fear. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not immediately return the Daily Mail's request for comment about the purpose and intended audience of the video. A recent ODNI threat assessment published in March sheds light on which countries have the capabilities Gabbard warns of. 'China remains intent on modernizing, diversifying, and expanding its nuclear posture. China's nuclear weapons and advanced delivery systems pose a direct threat to the Homeland and are capable of delivering catastrophic damage to the United States and threatening U.S. military forces here and abroad,' the annual threat assessment states. 'Russia has the largest and most diverse nuclear weapons stockpile that, along with its deployed ground, air and sea-based delivery systems, could inflict catastrophic damage to the Homeland,' it continues. The intelligence report also reveals that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un 'remains committed to increasing the number of North Korea's nuclear warheads and improving its missile capabilities to threaten the Homeland and U.S. forces, citizens, and allies.' Iran was mentioned in the report, though the intelligence community's assessment is that they are not actively working to restart their nuclear weapons program. Trump has also been trying to secure a nuclear deal with Tehran, though negotiations are ongoing. Estimates suggest there are over 12,000 nuclear weapons across the globe currently, enough to kill billions of people worldwide. Tensions over nuclear weapon use against adversaries have increased since the war in Ukraine broke out. In November 2024, for example, Russian President Vladimir Putin officially lowered the country's threshold for nuclear launches. 'As we stand here today, closer to the brink of nuclear annihilation than ever before, political elite warmongers are carelessly fomenting fear intentions between nuclear powers,' Gabbard says.

Trump tells France 'you would be speaking German right now' if not for America as he touts Army parade
Trump tells France 'you would be speaking German right now' if not for America as he touts Army parade

Daily Mail​

time32 minutes ago

  • Daily Mail​

Trump tells France 'you would be speaking German right now' if not for America as he touts Army parade

President Donald Trump needled France Tuesday saying 'you would be speaking German right now' had it not been for the U.S.'s involvement in World War II, as he again touted Saturday's Army parade. 'We're going to celebrate our country for a change,' Trump said, expressing frustration that the U.S. hasn't held military-centric celebrations to mark significant military milestones. Trump then told reporters how he had recently called up France as they were celebrating the World War II victory. 'But we helped them a lot,' Trump said. 'As you know, I don't have to get into that, but I called up other countries, they're all celebrating the victory. We're the only country that didn't celebrate the victory and we're the one that won the war, OK?' 'If it wasn't for us you would be speaking German right now, OK?' the president continued. 'We won the war - you might be speaking Japanese too - you might be speaking a combination of both. We won the war and we're the only country that didn't celebrate it and we're going to be celebrating big on Saturday,' the president added. Saturday's Flag Day parade, which also happens to be Trump's 79th birthday, is to mark the Army's 250th anniversary, as the U.S. military formed before the Declaration of Independence was signed. It was a 2017 visit to France that got Trump mulling military parades. He was invited by French President Emmanuel Macron to attend Bastille Day celebrations, which in 2017 also coincided with the 100th anniversary of the United States entering World War I. During Trump's first term, he tried to host a military parade, but the idea was scrapped due to the high cost of fixing Washington, D.C.'s roads, among other hiccups. Instead, in 2019 the president held a 'Salute to America' on the Fourth of July in front of the Lincoln Memorial, where tanks were on display, and several flyovers occurred. Now on Saturday, Trump is finally getting his military parade. 'We're going to have a fantastic June 14 parade, Flag Day, it's going to be an amazing day. We have tanks, we have planes, we have all sorts of things. And I think it's going to be great,' he boasted. During his back-and-forth with reporters in the Oval Monday - before he headed to Fort Bragg to kick off the Army's 250th anniversary celebrations - he also warned protesters not to try anything. 'By the way, for those people who want to protest, they are going to be met with very big force,' Trump said. 'And I haven't even heard about a protest, but you know this is people that hate our country, but they will be met with very heavy force,' the president added. An organization called 'No Kings' is organizing demonstrations across the country on June 14th, the day of the military parade. The threat to demonstrators comes amid Trump sending Marines to Los Angeles and federalizing National Guard members to quell protests that broke out over Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in the area. 'If there's an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it. We'll see. But I can tell you, last night was terrible. The night before that was terrible,' Trump also said Tuesday. 'If we didn't send in the national guard quickly, right now, Los Angeles would be burning to the ground,' Trump told reporters in an impromptu Oval Office meeting with members of his team.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store