Gavin Newsom posted a social media message Wednesday calling Trump’s SpaceX stock purchase “One. Big. Grift.” He was wrong about the basic facts, wrong about what the disclosure actually shows, and almost certainly wrong about whether it will help him politically. But wrong has never stopped him before. Here’s what Newsom didn’t tell you.
Fact one: Trump’s portfolio is managed by third-party financial institutions, not by Trump himself. White House spokesman Davis Ingle confirmed those institutions “replicate recognized indexes, such as the Schwab 1000.” SpaceX lobbied index providers to include its shares before listing — which means when SpaceX entered major indexes after its IPO, it landed automatically in virtually every passive investment portfolio that tracks those indexes. Including Trump’s. Including, almost certainly, millions of ordinary Americans’. Newsom is calling the automatic, third-party replication of an index purchase a “grift.” He knew this or he should have.
Fact two: Trump lost money. SpaceX shares were added to the portfolio around June 23 at approximately $150 per share. They closed at $135 Monday. If Trump had been running an insider trading scheme through SpaceX, he’s the worst insider trader in the history of markets. The stock went down.
Trump bought stock in Elon Musk’s SpaceX… a federal contractor regulated by his own administration.
One. Big. Grift.https://t.co/tKzqpFpkV9
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) August 25, 2026
Fact three: White House crypto czar David Sacks addressed this directly in June: “The President’s assets are in a blind trust. His sons are not in the government. They’re adults and they’re allowed to engage in business.” A blind trust means Trump doesn’t make the trades. That’s the whole point. Newsom either doesn’t know what a blind trust is or chose to pretend he doesn’t.
Yes, well, Trump's blind trust (and it is a blind trust) purchased SpaceX stock earlier this year for $150/share. It closed this week at $139/share.
Dumbest 'grift' ever, huh, hair gel?
Maybe have your basement-dwelling staffer do some research before posting this BS.
— USA Features Media (@USAFeatures) August 27, 2026
The “grift” narrative isn’t original to Newsom either. It’s a coordinated Democratic talking point — Senator Liz “Fauxcohontas” Warren and Rep. Robert Garcia sent a 17-page demand letter earlier in August demanding Trump’s investment records, explicitly building an impeachment investigation file for use if Democrats retake the House. Newsom is just the 2028 presidential candidate version of the same operation: throw mud, hope it sticks, hope the correction arrives after the damage is done.
The problem for Newsom is that he’s in no position to lecture anyone about financial corruption. The man who hid his tax returns behind a no-cameras, no-phones viewing room. The man under active federal criminal investigation. The man whose wife’s nonprofit had a $700,000 diaper contract with the state while he was governor. The man whose financial disclosures leave basic questions unanswered about how a couple with a failing for-profit production company lives in a $9 million mansion.
This is the person calling Trump a grifter for a stock his blind trust managers bought when it entered the index everyone else was also buying. The glass house construction company has been very busy in Sacramento. Put down the rock, Gavin.
