California Governor Gavin Newsom laughed at a podcaster’s brutal description of MAGA figures including Kash Patel and Kristi Noem in an interview snippet released Thursday.
Newsom appeared bemused in the podcast appearance alongside Suzanne Lambert, content creator and host of the Mean But True podcast, recorded at the annual holiday meeting of the Democratic Governors Association.
However, in a podcast preview posted to Instagram, he also set a more serious tone, noting the importance of using humor to challenge dictators.
“I wish that you would just do everyone a favor, given that Hollywood is in California—all these people want is to be famous and get press, that’s all they give a s--t about,” Lambert said to Newsom. “Just give Kash Patel a jacket that says ‘Donald Trump’s special boy’ in a youth large, because that’s apparently what he was looking for. Have someone give them a role in a movie or something so they get out of office because I’m just over it.”
Lambert was referring to reports that FBI Director Kash Patel refused to disembark from the plane after flying to Utah following the murder of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk unless he was given an FBI raid jacket, as well as patches to add to the borrowed jacket. Patel later lashed out at Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell over comments he made about Patel’s cosplaying.
Responding to Lambert, Newsom, who laughed and repeated the “youth large” comment, said, “It’s funny, but it’s also so damn serious, right? You have to laugh at it, we have to bring a sense of humor to our fight as well. I think it’s important.”
“You got me on youth large,” he added.
”What dictators want is this perception that they’re dominant, that there’s a sense of power—and by the way, our reaction to them sort of creates that power, this fear and this anxiety gives them that power, gives them that perception of power—but when you could turn a mirror on them and laugh at them, they can’t take that.”
Newsom also mentioned Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who has repeatedly faced criticism for her penchant for dressing up in costumes, including tagging along on ICE raids in full glam, an ICE baseball cap and a bulletproof vest.
“And her Dollar Tree hair extensions?” Lambert interjected. “Look, I love hair extensions, and guess what? I love Botox and filler, that’s not a secret. I don’t know where she’s getting it from, I don’t know if there’s a black market that I’m not aware of or if her c is just a Democrat who can’t stand her, I don’t really know.”
Noem’s cosplay photo ops became so notorious that it saw her parodied on South Park and criticized by fellow conservatives
Newsom has been engaging in a campaign of concerted social media trolling of the White House since Trump’s inauguration in January, making fun of not just the president but members of his Cabinet and other prominent MAGA figures in addition.
Trump’s niece Mary Trump has said that her uncle’s “increasingly frantic behavior” shows that he is paying close attention to Newsom’s attacks, particularly those that highlight the president’s record-breaking unpopularity, and is “furious” about them.
