Gavin Newsom called for President Donald Trump to be removed from office after the president’s crackpot primetime rant.
The California governor posted a blistering video to X shortly after the 80-year-old president once again pushed claims of fraud and foreign interference in the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden.
During a 27-minute-long address from the East Room of the White House on Thursday night, Trump railed about what he called “shocking vulnerabilities” in U.S. election security.
“Our elections were left vulnerable to being rigged and stolen, and the trust of the American people was lost. This cannot be allowed to continue,” the president said.
Responding to Trump’s speech—which wasn’t even broadcast by some networks—Newsom called for action.
“Well, the only thing missing tonight in Donald Trump’s speech was tin foil,” Newsom said in his video. “This was a legitimate 25th Amendment moment—the ramblings of a mad king.”
The 25th Amendment lays out the constitutional process for removing a president who is unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office. Any attempt to invoke it would require the support of the vice president and a majority of Trump’s Cabinet, and therefore, the chances of that happening are close to nil.
Newsom added that while foreign interference in U.S. elections is a “real thing,” he dismissed Trump’s as “make-believe.”
“He wants to rig the election in 2026,” Newsom said. “He knows he’s going to lose—he needs to rig the election before one vote was cast. That’s what that whole thing was about tonight.”
The governor’s demand marks the latest escalation in his long-running public feud with Trump. Since the president’s return to office, Newsom has emerged as one of the administration’s most vocal critics, clashing with the president over many of his policies.
Trump, meanwhile, has frequently targeted the governor in public remarks and social media posts, often referring to him as “Newscum.”
Newsom was not alone in calling for the 25th Amendment to be invoked to remove Trump from office following his speech, which was immediately fact-checked.
Democratic Arizona Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari also weighed in on X, writing: “How can anyone deny the urgency of the 25th Amendment at this point.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for additional comment.
