Gavin Newsom hits Trump with schoolyard taunts in new Kennedy Center scrap

Gavin Newsom ripped into Donald Trump during a swear word-laden tirade at an event promoting his autobiography.

The Governor of California held no punches when going after the president, suggesting the acts in office of the 47th POTUS do little to unite people. Speaking to Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens at the event promoting his newly published memoir, Young Man in a Hurry, Newsom quoted former House Speaker Sam Rayburn in his assessment of Trump.

"Breaking things is not strength," he said, with a reference to the Kennedy Center, the Washington, DC, cultural hub that Trump took over — and then closed down. "Tearing things down, that's not strength. That Rayburn building, I don't know if anyone- Sam Rayburn had a great quote. He said, 'Any', forgive the language, 'jacka-- can tear down a barn, but it takes a skilled carpenter to build one.'

"Tearing things down is not strength. Trump is not a builder. He's a jacka--." The clip of Newsom's comment has since been posted to his X account, along with a selection of other comments made by the governor at the event.

Newsom has made his loathing of Trump clear in recent weeks, with his press office on X calling out the president for failing to give US citizens a tariff profit check.

The DOGE dividend featured in planning documents written up during Elon Musk's time in the government, with the Department of Government Efficiency hoping to cut so much in-house expenditure that they could go on to give some money to taxpayers. This never came to be, though the team behind the governor has not forgotten.

Also missing, aside from the DOGE dividend, is an update on tariff rebates, which were promised by the president's team when he introduced tariffs to the economic plan.

A post to the Newsom Press Office X account reads, "Confirmed our tariff check three times in Trump’s fundraising emails. Where’s the check? Where’s the DOGE dividend?"

Attached to their post is a screenshot of the Trump tariff check, with three "confirm check here" buttons on a page with a picture of Trump holding a stack of bills.