California Gov. Gavin Newsom has hit a departing Trump goon with a pair of withering parting shots.
Newsom, one of the administration’s most persistent antagonists, seized on the news that Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino was stepping down after decades at the agency.
“Good riddance. You ruined lives. Spread fear. And spewed hatred,” Newsom wrote.
“If you’re remembered, it will be as the smallest man who ever lived,” he added.
The California governor didn’t stop there. He went on to share an AI-generated image depicting the Statue of Liberty saying, “You’re fired” to a tearful Bovino—a pointed nod to Donald Trump’s signature line from The Apprentice.
The swipe landed as Bovino confirmed he would leave the agency at the end of March after nearly 30 years, calling the role “the greatest honor of my entire life” in remarks to Breitbart News.
Criticism of Bovino has often extended beyond policy. Jenn Budd, a former Border Patrol agent turned critic, described him as “the Liberace of the Border Patrol.”
“He was just a little Napoleon who wants you to think that he is the most moral and capable guy in the world, and everything around you is dangerous but he’s the one who’s going to save you,” Budd told The Times. “It’s all a show for him.”
Bovino’s public image has drawn scrutiny before. A Department of Homeland Security promotional video featuring him in a long black trench coat and spiked hair sparked online comparisons to authoritarian imagery and prompted a wave of mockery, including from Newsom.
Raised in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, Bovino joined the Border Patrol in 1996 in California’s El Centro Sector. He later served on international assignments in Egypt, Africa, and Honduras, and was a member of BORTAC, the agency’s elite tactical unit.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been contacted for comment.
