California Gov. Gavin Newsom has savaged President Donald Trump after he received a newly created “peace prize” from a soccer organization.
Trump seemed almost to have forgotten his Nobel Peace Prize snub during a busy weekend at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., where he was honored by FIFA President Gianni Infantino with the newly established FIFA Peace Prize.
Newsom has made a habit of attacking the president by mimicking his over-the-top online style, and Friday’s prize presented an open goal.
Newsom, 58, posted an AI-generated image of him beaming as a smiling Trump handed him an award reading, “The Kennedy Center Inaugural Peace Prize.”
“TERRIFIC NIGHT ACCEPTING THE FIRST-EVER KENNEDY CENTER PEACE PRIZE!!!” he yelled in the caption.
“AUDIENCE WAS AMAZING (CHAIRS NOT GREAT, LIGHTING DISASTER). TRUMP AND JANITOR RIC GRENELL LET THE WHOLE PLACE GO TO HELL!! I TOLD THEM AS TRUMP DOZED OFF: RENAME IT THE NEWSOM CENTER!! ONLY I CAN FIX IT!!! CROWD WENT WILD — PEOPLE FAINTING, CRYING, SPEAKING IN TONGUES!!!”
Trump has given the once apolitical Kennedy Center a controversial makeover after returning to the White House, replacing its leadership with loyalists and appointing his ally, the former ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, as president. Despite backlash to these moves, the president has openly flirted with the idea of renaming the center after himself.
Newsom also turned his sights on Trump’s Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “EVEN RFK JR. WAS SO MOVED AND INSPIRED BY ME THAT HE GRABBED TWEEZERS AND TRIED TO TAKE OUT THE BRAIN WORM!” he wrote, referencing Kennedy’s infamous admission during the 2024 election that a parasitic worm “ate a portion” of his brain years earlier.
“A HISTORIC NIGHT FOR AMERICA. YOU’RE WELCOME!!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!—GCN” Newsom rounded off, a taunting nod to Trump’s habit of ending his Truth Social posts with “DJT.”
The president’s receipt of the brand-new award raised eyebrows after it was hastily created following the failure of his well-publicized bid to win a Nobel Peace Prize this year. Ultimately, that award was given to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who has tirelessly fought to transition her country from dictatorship to democracy.
Infantino, a staunch ally of Trump, had lobbied for Trump to win the Nobel Peace Prize. He was at Trump’s inauguration in January, with the two men’s relationship taking on heightened importance ahead of the World Cup in the summer.
Trump has already demonstrated why that relationship may be key, after threatening to move planned fixtures in the tournament out of Boston.
Trump attacked the city’s Democratic Mayor Michelle Wu, labeling her “radical left,” in a thinly veiled threat to blue cities that he could swipe games if leadership isn’t cooperative or unrest is deemed too high, ESPN reports.
“We could take them away,” Trump said. “I love the people of Boston, and I know the games are sold out. But your mayor is not good.”
Without offering details, he then added, “They’re taking over parts of Boston… we could get them back in about two seconds."
That relationship was in fine form on Friday, as Trump and Infantino bathed in the glow and carried out the tournament draw.
“This is truly one of the great honors of my life,” Trump said. “And beyond awards, Gianni and I were discussing this, we saved millions and millions of lives. The Congo as an example, over 10 million people killed and it was heading for another 10 million very quickly. And it just, you know, the fact that we could do that, India, Pakistan, so many different wars that we’re able to end, in some cases a little bit before they started, just right before they started.”
Trump had a busy weekend in Washington, much of it centered around the Kennedy Center, which he has now gone to great lengths to recreate in his own image.
He presented medals to the 2025 Kennedy Center honorees in the Oval Office before heading to the State Department for a celebratory dinner. The winners included Kiss, Sylvester Stallone and Gloria Gaynor.
The following day, Trump was back in the Kennedy Center, where he took the unprecedented step of heading up on stage to present the award ceremony himself.
He and the first lady had paraded down the red carpet before the event, which honors lifetime achievements in culture and art. Then, for the first time in the award’s existence, a sitting president delivered the keynote speech. He bragged about the exceptionality of this year’s edition and said it was going to get “rave reviews,” even though it hadn’t yet ended.
“This is the greatest evening in the history of the Kennedy Center. Not even a contest,” he claimed. “There has never been anything like it and the show is already getting rave reviews.”
He later added, “Now, I will say that I guarantee the fake news is going to give me horrible, ‘He was horrible as an emcee. Don’t ever let that happen again!’ But I guarantee one thing: we’re going get big ratings today. This place is hot.”
