Gavin Newsom has continued his trolling streak with a post mocking Pete Hegseth at one of his public low points.
“California: this weekend, be the good Pete,” his press office wrote on X Saturday, alongside a photo of former Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in uniform as a “public servant” and a less flattering image of the defense secretary chugging from a champagne bottle in a wet shirt as a “public nuisance.”
The second photo came from Fox News’ All-American New Year broadcast in 2023, during which the now-defense secretary seemed notably jolly as he drank from glasses, bottles, and even his own hands in between bouts of being dunked in a vat of alcohol.
A year after the Fox New Year’s bacchanal, Hegseth was tapped by Trump for his current position, and his former colleagues at Fox News came forward with a whistleblower report in The New Yorker alleging unprofessional conduct.
Intoxication was a recurring issue in the report, with one former Fox employee telling NBC News: “For the sake of national security, I really hope he has stopped drinking.”
Another anonymous source claimed, “He should not be secretary of defense. His drinking should be disqualifying.”
Other claims included staffers needing to give Hegseth wake-up phone calls “because we knew he’d be out partying the night before,” smelling alcohol on him, and needing to carry him out of events due to intoxication.
Hegseth denied claims of a drinking problem during an appearance on the Megyn Kelly show, while his lawyer Tim Parlatore told The New Yorker that he and his client were “not going to comment on outlandish claims.”
Another denial came from a spokesperson for the Trump transition team, who said: “These disgusting allegations are completely unfounded and false, and anyone peddling these defamatory lies to score political cheap shots is sickening.
“As a decorated combat veteran, Pete has never done anything to jeopardize that, and he is treating his nomination as the most important deployment of his life.”
Despite denying the claims, CNN anchor Manu Raju wrote on X at the time that Hegseth had promised not to drink if sworn into his role in the administration.
Hegseth has not yet responded to Newsom’s jab, which came amid a flood of online activity from the California governor. Trump has gone so far as to call for Newsom to stop mocking him online, but the Democrat is showing no signs of slowing down.
Alongside repeated hits at Trump and Hegseth, Newsom has made targets of plenty of other big names in the administration and across the MAGA sphere.
The social media maverick posted an AI video of Trump and Hegseth in cuffs alongside Stephen Miller on Tuesday, in response to a MAGA “Cuffing SZN” clip of ICE agents cuffing suspected illegal immigrants. He also gained the wrath of Elon Musk this week, with the tech bro calling him “evil” for saying that his daughter Vivian “hates” him.
