Scrolling through TikTok you see animals, #relatable, sports, and then, what’s this? An edit of Democrats attempting to humiliate and provoke their opposing Republican party? The official Tiktok of California Gov. Gavin Newsom does exactly that, as one can see in frequent posts criticizing the current U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration. Within these posts the Governor receives, sometimes, thousands of comments encouraging Newsom to run for president.
On Aug.17, 2025, Newsom posted a video on TikTok that told Americans to “wake up” while asking for consent to counter Trump’s push for mid-decade redistricting in Texas. Titled Proposition 50,which replaces existing congressional district maps with new ones from the state legislature. This video has amassed over 26 thousand comments and 2.5 million views with massive amounts of support, with various comments like user kashrenee posting, “GAVIN NEWSOM 2028!”
On Nov. 5 Newsom made various posts about the passing of Prop. 50, some being memes and others being clips of his statement following the proposition’s/amendment’s passage in November, 2025. Newsom posted a video of a WWE takedown clip with Trump being “takedown” by Former President Barack Obama and Gov. Newsom. The video continues with other Democratic figures taking down many other Republican figures. This being a 48 second video, captioned “Now that’s what we call a takedown.”
Whereas, on Oct. 6, Trump posted a video telling TikTok to thank him for “saving” the app and receiving backlash with comments like, “We owe you nothing.” The president has made no post since. However, Trump’s Team, run by his presidential campaign staff, has posted various videos with no mention of Newsom’s videos nor his Prop 50. But the team did post a video on Nov. 5 with a clip of Trump yelling “Kamala! You’re fired!” followed by a nationalistic video edit featuring clips of Trump and all things considered “American.”
Although the President and Gov. Newsom posts similar videos, many of the same nature and style, he is met with extremely different reactions. Every scroll through Trump’s TikTok comments there is equal amounts of support and hate. Whereas Governor Newsom’s videos are rarely faced with criticism in the comments.
