Politics

Newsom Mocks Trump, 79, Over Utterly Deranged Posting Spree

TAKE THE PHONE AWAY

The president spent Wednesday night filling his Truth Social feed with conspiracy theories and AI-generated fake news.

Gavin Newsom gestures as he speaks during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 22, 2026.
Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has attacked Donald Trump after the 79-year-old president went on an unhinged social media posting spree.

The Governor Newsom Press Office X account—which has habitually mocked and attacked Trump and other MAGA figures for months—noted that the president posted 56 times on Truth Social in a single hour on Wednesday night.

Among the posts shared by Trump was an AI-generated TV news clip falsely claiming that Walmart was closing 85 percent of its California stores because of the state’s “$22 minimum wage”—even though California’s minimum wage is $16.90 an hour.

Screenshot of Trump's Truth Social post.
Almost nothing in the video Donald Trump shared about Walmart stores closing in California was accurate. Screengrab/Truth Social

The 79-year-old president also shared another AI-generated video of a fake blonde female newscaster claiming the Democratic governor was being “pushed to resign” because of a drug money-laundering scheme involving his office and Mexican cartels.

“Just to clarify: Walmart’s 303 stores in California are open. The AI robot is lying. Governor Newsom is not Pablo Escobar,” Newsom’s office wrote on X.

“We cannot believe we have to say any of this out loud. We cannot believe this is real life. And we truly cannot believe this man has the nuclear codes. Deep breaths, everyone. Three more years.”

Screenshot of Trump's Truth Social post.
Donald Trump was quick to share the fake claim that Gavin Newsom was working with Mexican drug cartels when he saw a fake blonde woman suggest it. Screengrab/Truth Social

Elsewhere, Trump’s frantic posting spree on Wednesday saw him share a baseless claim that anti-ICE protesters in Minnesota were being “bought and paid for” to the tune of “tens of millions of dollars.”

The president also reshared unearthed footage of Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old nurse shot dead by federal agents in Minneapolis, showing him in another confrontation with federal officers 11 days before he was killed.

The footage—recorded by The News Movement in Minneapolis and verified by the BBC—shows Pretti spitting at agents, calling them “trash,” and kicking out a taillight before being apprehended. Trump reshared a post from a MAGA commentator suggesting the video proved Pretti was a “domestic terrorist”—a baseless claim Trump administration officials had already attempted to push.

Donald Trump shares MAGA propaganda on Truth Social.
Donald Trump shared the MAGA propaganda on Truth Social during his Wednesday night spree. screen grab

Other topics in Trump’s late-night posting spree included his familiar false grievance that the 2020 election was rigged, including a claim that 300,000 votes had been illegally certified. Trump also fueled outrage over an alleged Minnesota fraud scandal and shared fawning posts praising his own speeches.

After a brief respite, Trump resumed his frantic Truth Social posting spree early Thursday morning, sharing updates roughly once a minute for about 40 minutes starting at 6 a.m. ET.

President Donald J. Trump uses his cellphone in the State Dinning Room at the White House on Thursday, June 18, 2020 in Washington, DC.
Donald Trump spent Wednesday night and Tuesday morning filling his Truth Social feed with conspiracy theories. The Washington Post/Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images

“TRUMP WON BIG. Crooked Election,” one post read, once again pushing the debunked claim about the 2020 results.

Trump has a long history of sharing fake news on Truth Social with his 11.6 million followers.

Last September, Trump shared an AI-generated “breaking” Fox News segment promising Americans will now have access to “medbeds”—a nonexistent type of medical pod that QAnon supporters and other fringe conspiracy theorists believe do everything from cure cancer to regrow missing limbs.

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

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