California Gov. Gavin Newsom has unlocked a new strategy for exciting Democratic voters online and getting under Republicans’ skin: acting like President Donald Trump. On X in recent weeks, Newsom’s press office account has relentlessly mimicked Trump’s PR style by writing narcissistic, insult-laden posts, often in all capital letters and littered with needless parentheticals and strangely placed quotation marks.

 TRUMP JUST FLED THE PODIUM WITH PUTIN — NO QUESTIONS, NOTHING! TOTAL LOW ENERGY. THE MAN LOOKED LIKE HE’D JUST EATEN 3 BUCKETS OF KFC WITH VLAD. IS HE AFRAID THE PRESS WILL ASK ABOUT ME??? (AMERICA’S FAVORITE GOVERNOR) AND THE FACT I “STOLE THE CAMERAS” THIS WEEK WITH “THE MAPS”? MANY PEOPLE ARE SAYING HE BEGGED PUTIN TO HOLD HIS HANDS (TINY) ON THE WAY OUT. ADMIT IT, DONNIE J… YOU’RE TERRIFIED BECAUSE THIS WAS THE WORST WEEK OF YOUR LIFE BECAUSE OF ME, GAVIN C. NEWSOM. “THE MAPS” WILL END YOUR PRESIDENCY, RETAKE CONGRESS FOR THE PEOPLE, AND EXPOSE YOUR RIGGED “LITTLE GAME.”

Newsom seems to be having fun. He’s reposting AI-generated memes of his face carved onto Mount Rushmore (“WHAT AN HONOR!”). He’s putting down his Republican opponents (“NOT EVEN HIS EYELINER LINES LOOK AS PRETTY AS CALIFORNIA 'MAP' LINES,” he said of Vice President JD Vance.) He spread a meme falsely claiming there were “worldwide calls” for him to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, skewering Trump’s obsession with securing one. And, as Trump commonly does on Truth Social, Newsom’s been ending some posts with “THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!”