California Governor Gavin Newsom decided to post a dramatic warning to President Trump on X this week, and the internet returned the favor by turning him into a laughingstock before the post had time to cool down.
“A warning to Donald Trump,” Newsom wrote, chest puffed up like a peacock at a campaign fundraiser. “I’m deploying election lawyers to key battleground districts in California to protect every vote. And I just made it a FELONY to illegally seize ballots.” Big talk from the governor of a state where counting votes apparently takes longer than building a transcontinental railroad.
Do you really think President Donald Trump is worried about Gavin Newsom, a guy who sits like this and grosses everyone out?
There was one small problem with the word “just.” The law Newsom was referring to, AB 282, was something he signed back in mid-September, not exactly breaking news. That bill makes it a state felony to seize ballots, election records, or certified voting technology before officials certify results. The whole thing was a response to Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco seizing roughly 650,000 ballots from a November 2025 election after a reported 45,896-vote discrepancy turned up in his county’s ballot count. Days after Newsom signed the bill, the state Supreme Court had already ruled that Bianco’s seizure was unlawful under existing law anyway. So Newsom was essentially running a victory lap for a race that ended weeks ago.
The replies came fast. You can read more about Newsom’s election lawyer deployment and the full reaction it triggered, but the highlights were something special. Reality television personality Spencer Pratt responded within minutes with a GIF of Bill Murray’s character Ernie McCracken from the movie Kingpin. Honestly, hard to argue with that take.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli had a sharper reply. “You’re going to protect every legal or illegal vote?” he asked. What about California citizens whose votes are being diluted by ineligible voters. Do their constitutional rights matter.” That question apparently does not have an answer the governor is prepared to give.
Essayli’s point wasn’t just a zinger, it reflected real ongoing federal concerns. President Trump had warned California election officials earlier this month that they could face lengthy prison terms if they count mail ballots from more than 20,000 people federal agencies have identified as likely noncitizens. A federal district court denied the DOJ’s emergency request to sequester those ballots, but Essayli announced the Solicitor General authorized an immediate appeal and the department filed a notice of appeal seeking an emergency order from the Ninth Circuit. So the fight is very much still on.
The other thing that got Newsom dragged in his own replies was a little thing called the Supremacy Clause. Article VI of the Constitution makes federal law the supreme law of the land, meaning a California state statute cannot override lawful federal investigations or federal election law. Apparently that detail did not come up in the brainstorming session before hitting send.
As things stand, the DOJ appeal is moving forward and federal pressure on California’s ballot process is not going anywhere. Newsom can deploy all the election lawyers he wants, but he might want to brush up on the Constitution before his next social media warning. The document has some real surprises in it.
