Former President Donald Trump used his appearance at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on Friday night to deliver a series of pointed jokes aimed at California Governor Gavin Newsom and former Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump’s remarks touched on Newsom’s 2028 presidential ambitions and Harris’s standing in early polling for the next Democratic nomination.
Trump jested that Newsom had undermined his own presidential aspirations by praising Harris. "Gavin Newsom has come out and said he will not be running for president, because nobody can say what he said about himself and survive," Trump quipped. He continued to mock Newsom, referencing his past comments about dyslexia and reading prepared remarks. "Newsom was in big trouble when he openly admitted that Kamala was smarter than him. If Kamala is smarter than someone, you don’t want that person to be President of the United States of America."
These comments come as recent polling indicates Harris holds a notable lead over Newsom and other potential candidates in the race for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination. Polling data suggests Harris has a significant advantage across the most recent major polls.
Trump also criticized Newsom’s handling of California’s wildfires, stating, "I heard Gavin Newscum recently said we will lose our country if we don’t fight fire with fire." He added, "To be fair, there’s only one thing we know about Gavin, and that’s that he definitely doesn’t want to fight fire with water."
Further critiques from Trump included broad statements about California’s policies, which he claimed were "enabling wildfires, paying drug addicts to be homeless, giving free sex changes to illegals, and telling rich people they’re going to take away, all your money is going to be taken away." This final remark appeared to reference California’s controversial billionaire tax measure, scheduled for the November ballot. Trump asserted that people are "fleeing in droves" from the state.
In response to Trump's speech, Newsom's office posted several messages on social media, including "Donald Trump is a son of a b—h" and "Donald Trump is a pig." An AI-generated image depicting Trump looking into a mirror with the caption "who’s the greatest slob of all" was also shared. A separate post from Newsom's office stated, "Trump is cracking jokes about natural disasters while American families are still waiting for the disaster recovery dollars he promised."
This year's White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner was the first held since an assassination attempt on the president during the April event. Trump also used his address to criticize the media, calling the attendees "the largest group of Trump derangement syndrome people ever put together at one time." He also made a joke about President Joe Biden’s cognitive abilities and took a jab at Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez regarding her foreign policy comments.