Gavin Newsom Throws His Own Staff Under the Bus and the White House Fires Back

The Slimeball Label Fits

You know what’s worse than having bad principles? Having none at all. That’s the accusation the White House leveled at California Governor Gavin Newsom this week, and honestly, it’s hard to argue with the evidence.

Here’s what happened. Newsom’s office posted on X calling an ICE officer-involved shooting “state-sponsored terrorism.” That’s not just inflammatory rhetoric. That’s dangerous, reckless language that puts law enforcement officers at risk. These are men and women doing their jobs, enforcing federal immigration law, and California’s governor just casually compared them to terrorists.

But when conservative commentator Ben Shapiro pressed Newsom about the comment on his podcast Thursday, the governor suddenly developed amnesia. He walked it back. Distanced himself. Threw his staffers under the bus like they’d gone rogue and posted something without his knowledge or approval.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson wasn’t buying it for a second. “Newscum is an inauthentic slimeball who has no principles,” she told Fox Digital on Friday. The nickname alone is brutal, but she didn’t stop there. “He simply says whatever he thinks he needs to, in the moment, to get attention.”

When Politicians Play to the Crowd

This is what political cowardice looks like in 2025. Newsom wanted to score points with his radical base in California, so his office fired off that inflammatory post. State-sponsored terrorism. Let that sink in. He’s accusing federal law enforcement officers of being terrorists for doing their jobs.

But the second someone with a microphone and an audience challenges him on it, he folds. He retreats. He claims it wasn’t really him, it was his staff. As if we’re supposed to believe the governor of California has no control over what gets posted under his name.

Jackson nailed it when she said Newsom is “happy to smear ICE officers and incite violence against them when he thinks it will score points with his radical left base.” That’s exactly what this is. Performative politics at its worst. Say whatever gets applause from the activists, then scramble for cover when someone asks you to defend it.

The ICE officers Newsom’s team smeared aren’t abstract concepts. They’re real people with families. They wake up every day and go to work knowing half the country has been told to hate them. They enforce laws passed by Congress and signed by presidents. That’s their job. And calling them terrorists doesn’t just insult them. It endangers them.

The Bigger Picture Matters Here

This isn’t just about one governor’s duplicity. It’s about a pattern we’ve seen from Democrats for years now. They demonize law enforcement when it’s politically convenient, then act shocked when crime rises and communities suffer. They call for defunding police, then quietly increase budgets when the backlash hits.

Newsom represents everything wrong with modern progressive politics. It’s all performance, no principle. All calculation, no conviction. He wants to be president someday. Everyone knows it. But as Jackson pointed out, “Newscum will never be ready for primetime.”

She’s right. Presidential leadership requires consistency. It demands courage. You can’t govern a nation if you can’t even stand behind your own statements for 48 hours.

California deserves better than this. The state faces massive challenges. Homelessness, crime, an exodus of businesses and middle-class families. Instead of addressing those problems, Newsom spends his time posturing for the cameras and testing talking points for a future presidential run that, if there’s any justice, will never materialize.

The White House’s response was harsh but necessary. Someone needs to call out this kind of political theater. ICE officers deserve our support, not our slander. They’re enforcing laws that protect American citizens and maintain the integrity of our borders. That’s not terrorism. That’s patriotism.

Newsom can’t have it both ways. He can’t incite his base with extreme rhetoric, then pretend he’s a moderate when challenged. Americans see through it. We’re tired of politicians who stand for nothing except their own advancement.

The governor just learned a hard lesson. When you throw your own people under the bus, don’t be surprised when someone calls you what you are.

American Conservatives