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Newsom Wordlessly Trolls Trump’s ‘Insurrectionist’ Democrats Claim

The California governor tore into the president and one of his top aides over the Capitol riot.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 24: California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks onstage during the Clinton Global Initiative 2025 Annual Meeting at New York Hilton Midtown on September 24, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by JP Yim/Getty Images for Clinton Global Initiative)

Getty Images for Clinton Global

By Julia Ornedo

The Democratic troller-in-chief is back with a fresh dig at Donald Trump.

California Governor Gavin Newsom hit back at the president in a wordless X post on Tuesday after Trump branded Democrats as “insurrectionists” over their resistance to passing his “big, beautiful” megabill in July.

During a rambling press conference at the Oval Office, Trump sang praises for House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune for getting his massive bill passed despite strong opposition from Democrats and a handful of Republican renegades.

WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 07: U.S. President Donald Trump (R) and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speak to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House on October 07, 2025 in Washington, DC. Carney and Trump will meet in the Oval Office and later have a bilateral lunch where they are expected to discuss a range of topics including U.S. tariffs. Carney visited the White House earlier in the year after he was elected prime minister. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Trump delivered rambling responses to the press as he sat next to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the Oval Office.

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

“We got a bill passed that we really—I said, ‘Let’s see if we can get it all done, because these Democrats are like insurrectionists, okay?’ They’re so bad for our country, their policy is so bad for our country,” he told reporters.

Newsom responded on X with two images of rioters storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

One photo showed the U.S. Capitol teeming with protesters waving “Trump 2020” flags, while another showed insurrectionists clashing with Capitol police who were working to stop them from breaking past the barricades.

Sought for comment, the White House wordlessly sent the Daily Beast two photos of riots that broke out during protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles in June.

Anti-ICE raids in Los Angeles

Protesters took to the streets after the Trump administration deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles earlier this year.

Getty Images

A flash bomb explodes on the 101 Freeway near the metropolitan detention center of downtown Los Angeles, California on June 8, 2025, following an immigration raid protest.

A flash bomb explodes on the 101 Freeway near the metropolitan detention center of downtown Los Angeles, California on June 8, 2025, following an immigration raid protest.

Eric Thayer/AP

On Monday, top Trump aide Stephen Miller made a similar claim about “riotous assemblies” that Newsom shut down with another image from Jan. 6th.

“When in our history have we tolerated unlawful riotous assemblies night after night around FBI buildings, or ATF buildings, or DEA buildings?” Miller told CNN. “This is the textbook definition of domestic terrorism.”

Miller made the comment in a screechy interview with CNN as he defended the administration’s heavy-handed response to anti-ICE protesters.

Newsom responded with an image of rioters wielding Trump flags against the backdrop of a Capitol covered in smoke from tear gas.

More than 1,500 people across the country were charged with federal crimes over the Capitol riot. As soon as Trump returned to the White House in January, he issued sweeping pardons to insurrectionists who were earlier sentenced to decades in prison.

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Julia Ornedo
Julia OrnedoReporter

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