California Governor Gavin Newsom didn't hold back after President Donald Trump's primetime address on election security Thursday night. In a 53-second video posted on X, Newsom called the speech the "ramblings of a mad king" and suggested it provided a "legitimate" case for invoking the 25th Amendment — the constitutional mechanism for removing a president unable to perform their duties.
"Well, the only thing missing tonight in Donald Trump's speech was tin foil," Newsom said, taking aim at Trump's long-standing and widely disputed claims of fraud in the 2020 election. He acknowledged that "foreign interference in our elections" is a real concern, but added: "Nothing about what you watched tonight, though, was real. It's make-believe."
Newsom accused Trump of trying to "rig the election before one vote was cast" by casting doubt on the upcoming midterms before ballots are even counted. "That's what that whole thing was about tonight," he said.
Trump used Thursday's address to announce the declassification of documents he claimed revealed "shocking" vulnerabilities in voting machines and alleged Chinese interference in his 2020 loss to former President Joe Biden. But an Associated Press analysis found little new information in the released documents, noting that some were so heavily redacted that their findings were hard to determine.
The renewed focus on election fraud claims has also unsettled some Republican lawmakers, who worry that revisiting unproven allegations from 2020 could overshadow the party's legislative agenda ahead of the midterms, according to The Hill.
Newsom, widely seen as a potential Democratic presidential contender in 2028, has become one of Trump's most vocal critics as the administration ramps up its messaging ahead of November's elections. His latest remarks are likely to fuel further debate over the president's claims and the health of democratic institutions.
