According to RedState, the governor’s official press office account on X, @GovPressOffice, has become notorious for juvenile, hyperbolic attacks on conservatives, including a post that all but likened White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller to a member of Hitler’s SS.
The account’s tone often resembles that of adolescent cartoon characters rather than serious public servants, yet it speaks with the authority of the governor’s office and is funded by California taxpayers. That dynamic became impossible to ignore on Thursday, when Newsom publicly undercut his own staff after being pressed by conservative commentator Ben Shapiro.
January 16, 2026
The clash unfolded on Newsom’s own podcast, where Shapiro confronted him over a particularly inflammatory post from the governor’s press office following an ICE operation in which Renee Good was shot. The official account had blasted out a stark, three-word condemnation: “STATE. SPONSORED. TERRORISM.” Shapiro challenged Newsom directly on the rhetoric, pointing out that such language poisons the political climate and demonizes federal law enforcement officers simply for doing their jobs.
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“Your press office tweeted out that it was state-sponsored terrorism, which, I mean governor, I just have to ask you about that. That sort of thing makes our politics worse, and it does,” said Shapiro, to which Newsom responded, “Yeah.” Shapiro then pressed the obvious point: “Our ICE officers obviously are not terrorists. A tragic situation is not state-sponsored terrorism.” Newsom, rather than defending his own office, quickly folded. “Yeah, I think that’s fair,” he conceded, effectively walking back the official position of his administration in real time.
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The episode was captured and circulated widely: “.@GavinNewsom WALKS BACK calling ICE operations ‘state-sponsored terrorism’: Shapiro: Your press office said it was ‘state-sponsored terrorism.’ Newsom: ‘Yeah…’ Shapiro: ‘Our ICE officers obviously are not terrorists…’ Newsom: ‘Yeah, I think that’s fair.’” Yet despite the governor’s on-air retreat, the original post remains online: “STATE. SPONSORED. TERRORISM.” The disconnect is glaring—Newsom publicly acknowledges the smear is unfair, but he has not ordered its removal, leaving his staff’s incendiary accusation standing as the official word of his office.
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For conservatives, the incident is not an isolated misstep but part of a broader pattern of Newsom saying one thing when cornered and doing another when it counts. Another revealing moment came earlier this year on his podcast, This Is Gavin Newsom, during a conversation with the late Charlie Kirk. Discussing the controversy over biological males competing in women’s sports, Newsom openly admitted the obvious: “I think it’s an issue of fairness, I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness — it’s deeply unfair.” In that setting, he sounded almost reasonable, acknowledging what millions of parents and female athletes already know.
Yet after that admission, he took no meaningful action to protect girls’ sports in California. “What did he do following that admission? Nothing. Zero, zilch, nada,” as critics have noted, while boys continued to compete against girls, displacing them from podiums, records, and scholarship opportunities. Instead of defending women’s opportunities, Newsom moved in the opposite direction, aligning himself with the most hardline elements of the progressive movement. “After admitting to me that men in women’s sports was a ‘deeply unfair,’ Gavin Newsom is turning his back on common sense and instead retreating to the fanatical left. His new lawsuit against the Trump DOJ claims banning boys from girls sports causes ‘serious harm’ to transgender…,” one critic observed, highlighting the governor’s legal offensive.
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That lawsuit, as described, argues that preventing biological males from competing in girls’ sports inflicts “serious harm” on transgender students, while ignoring the very real and measurable harm suffered by women and girls when their privacy, safety, and competitive fairness are sacrificed. His administration’s stance effectively elevates ideological dogma over biological reality and over the rights of female athletes who are losing medals, roster spots, and scholarships. “This isn’t ‘inclusion,’ it’s ideology over reality. And fortunately for us, this ideology is profoundly unpopular.” The political calculation is clear: appease the activist left, even if it means abandoning the very fairness he once acknowledged.
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Taken together, these episodes paint a portrait of a politician who treats principles as disposable and staff as expendable. When the heat is on, “Don’t get in a foxhole with Gavin Newsom. When the bullets start flying, he’ll use you as a shield. Can’t imagine his press office is feeling too positive about now.” The governor’s willingness to let his official account brand ICE operations as “state-sponsored terrorism,” then casually concede under questioning that “our ICE officers obviously are not terrorists,” underscores a deeper problem: “The man has no principle. Whichever way the wind is blowing, that’s the way he’ll turn. Boys in girls’ sports? Why that’s terrible, while I’m in this room — but when I walk into the next, I’ll say something completely different.”
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For a leader often floated as a future Democratic presidential contender, the pattern is telling and troubling. He presides over a state where law enforcement is vilified by his own communications shop, where girls are told to accept unfair competition in the name of “inclusion,” and where public statements shift depending on the audience and the political pressure of the moment. A
s some wryly note, “He’d make a good AI chatbot, though. You could train him very quickly to say whatever you want, especially if you have money to donate.”
