Times Gavin Newsom Proved He's Better At Nicknames Than 'Tiny Hands' Trump

For many years, Gavin Newsom made a point of taking the moral high ground when it came to Donald Trump. However, as of 2025, it seems he's done with playing nice — and as it turns out, the governor of California can be pretty vicious when he chooses to. 

First thing's first, a note on those previous attempts at civility. Some will remember that back in 2018, Newsom told KQED, "You've got to have at least some semblance of a relationship [with the president]." As such, he continued, "It's not my intention to wake up every day trying to pick a fight. Quite the contrary." Fast forward to the first summer of Trump's second administration, and it was pretty clear Newsom was at his wits' end with everything from Trump's Truth Social taunts to his brutal nickname "slipping" out (ICYMI, it was "Newscum," and Newsom found it juvenile). Soon, signs of a brutal feud began to show. For one, in response to Trump ordering the National Guard's deployment in Los Angeles, he told MSNBC (via @Acyn) that Trump talked a big game online, despite being civil to his face. "We had a very decent conversation. ... He never once brought up the National Guard. He's a stone cold liar; he said he did," Newsom chided. He then issued a not-so-subtle reminder to Trump that the way he was addressing the situation online wasn't befitting of his rank, noting, "I've always wanted to approach engagement with the president of the United States in a respectful and responsible way." 

Suffice it to say, something snapped in Newsom that day, and in the months that followed, we saw him take a very different approach to his online interactions with the president. In fact, he might just have beaten Trump at his own game. 

Gavin Newsom first dipped his toe into the nickname game in May 2025, when he referenced Donald Trump's "TACO" sobriquet. Taco stands for Trump Always Chickens Out, BTW. 

Newsom's first Taco-related post to X kept things relatively subtle. "Let's TACO bout Donald Trump's big loss on tariffs and what that means for the American people," he quipped in the caption of a video. However, things ramped up significantly in August. Around the time that Newsom began trolling Trump in all-caps posts of his own, filled with wording similar to the president's infamous social media rants, he pulled out the moniker again — and let's just say, he seemed to enjoy himself. Poking fun at Trump missing the deadline he'd given him to respond to his message regarding redistricting (which had also been in all caps), he wrote in one post, "DONALD 'TACO' TRUMP, AS MANY CALLED HIM, 'MISSED' THE DEADLINE!!!" Later that day, Newsom used the nickname once again, this time holding back even less. "WHEN SPEAKER 'LITTLE MAN' JOHNSON IS STANDING IN 'THE UNEMPLOYMENT LINE,' HE CAN THANK DONALD 'TACO' J. TRUMP," the California governor penned. 

Think that was all? Nope. Not by a long shot. In the same post that saw him troll both Trump and Mike Johnson, Newsom took a swipe at the president's well-known track record of filing for bankruptcy. "TRUMP MISSED A SIMPLE DEADLINE — SOMETHING HE HAS OFTEN DONE WITH HIS MANY FAILED BUSINESSES," he wrote. This probably won't come as much of a surprise, but that wasn't the end of his Trump-inspired tirades.

Mike Johnson hasn't been the only one on the receiving end of Gavin Newsom's "little" jokes. Au contraire, the governor has also used his X account to taunt the president's hands, which he's deemed smaller than normal — "tiny," to be exact — on a number of occasions. 

First, while continuing to taunt the president for missing his deadline, Newsom wrote via X (again, in all caps), "DONALD WAS TOO WEAK (LITTLE HANDS) TO EVEN WRITE ME BACK." Not long after, he teased Trump's hands further, this time bringing Karoline Leavitt into the fray (and given Trump and Leavitt's height difference and the former's seeming obsession with being taller than he is, this one was sure to sting the prez). "DONNIE J. AND KaroLYIN' LEAVITT WILL HAVE THEIR (LITTLE) HANDS 'FULL' TODAY," he wrote in one post, which also saw him promise to hold a press conference regarding the redistricting debacle. Not just any press conference, mind. Per Newsom, it was to be "THE GREATEST PRESS CONFERENCE OF ALL TIME."  

Newsom has continued to poke fun at the size of Trump's hands in the time since, once even going as far as incorporating multiple disses into one line. That particular instance saw him chirp, "'SELF-PROCLAIMED' MASTER DEALMAKER DONALD 'TACO' TRUMP (TINY HANDS) WHO MISSED THE DEADLINE AND LOST (SAD!)." He still wasn't done, though. 

Donald Trump's vanity is storied to say the least, so when Gavin Newsom began poking fun at who is more attractive (and manly) between them, we almost hope Melania Trump was nearby with some burn ointment. 

TINY HANDS IS OUT HERE COPYING ME — BUT WITHOUT THE STAMINA (SAD), AND CERTAINLY WITHOUT THE "LOOKS." TOTAL BETA! — GCN https://t.co/AwjuS3div2 pic.twitter.com/OW8yXxmLYl

— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) August 16, 2025

Responding to a pic of Donald Trump pointing at Vladimir Putin while wearing a stern expression, the California governor was quick to point out the parallels between that and a picture of the president with himself — and TBH, it did look as though Trump had seen the pic and decided he'd recreate it when the time was right. Either way, enter Newsom with the original pic (where he also appeared to be significantly taller than the president) and another snarky all-caps X post. "TINY HANDS IS OUT HERE COPYING ME — BUT WITHOUT THE STAMINA (SAD), AND CERTAINLY WITHOUT THE 'LOOKS.' TOTAL BETA!" Newsom prodded. Given Trump's obsession with masculinity ... we'll refer once more to the burn ointment. 

Clearly enjoying his new pastime, Newsom was all but gifted a golden opportunity the next day when Trump posted what may have been a typo to his Truth Social account. Screenshotting Trump's post, which had read, "Bela," Newsom took the opportunity to roast him even further. "DONALD (TINY HANDS), HAS WRITTEN HIS AUTIOBIOGRAPHY THIS MORNING — UNFORTUNATELY (LOW IQ) HE SPELLED IT WRONG — 'BETA'" he wrote. Mic. Drop. 

Though Gavin Newsom has certainly zoned in on Donald Trump more than anyone else now that he's embraced the president's preferred mode of communication, like we said, he's picked on Mike Johnson and Karoline Leavitt as well (more on Leavitt in a sec). That said, JD Vance hasn't been exempt from the California governor's barbs, either. 

Still sticking with the redistricting issue, in a July 16 X post that reiterated he wasn't backing down, Newsom went all in on the VP. "NOT EVEN JD 'JUST DANCE' VANCE CAN SAVE TRUMP FROM THE DISASTROUS MAPS 'WAR' HE HAS STARTED," he wrote. He then joined the voices who've long poked fun at Vance's apparent penchant for smokey eye makeup. "NOT EVEN HIS EYELINER LINES LOOK AS PRETTY AS CALIFORNIA 'MAP' LINES," Newsom quipped. Clearly getting a kick out of the eyeliner jokes, Newsom poked fun at the VP's makeup once again when it emerged that Vance would be joining Trump for his meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy (after that last disastrous one). Responding to an X user who joked about it being an opportunity for yet another showdown between the VP and the Ukrainian president, the governor shared a snap of Olympic breakdancer-turned-meme Raygun with Vance's face edited onto it. "A highly anticipated 'showdown,'" he wrote. 

Hey, at least Newsom laid off the all caps that time. Small wins, right? 

As promised: Karoline Leavitt. Outside of the barb about her and Donald Trump's "(Little) hands," Gavin Newsom has repeated his scathing new nickname for Leavitt a number of times. 

In one X post, he wrote, "KaroLYIN LEAVITT WILL HAVE NO ANSWERS FOR THE SUPPOSED 'FAKE MEDIA' ABOUT CALIFORNIA'S BEAUTIFUL MAPS." In another, he decided to troll her for saying she would send over evidence that backed up the administration's demands for $1 billion from UCLA in order to regain access to federal funding. For reference, a reporter had asked Leavitt for her response to Newsom saying he planned to sue the administration over the demands. Leavitt had quipped, "Bring it on, Gavin." A day later, he did. "24 hours later and KaroLYING Leavitt still hasn't sent the 'evidence' she promised to send," the post read. Damn. 

Newsom's decision to skip the high road and go straight for the jugular certainly has been entertaining — and given some of what's been said by the administration and Trump more specifically, in some ways, his chirps feel fitting. Having said that, time will tell if he decides to keep up with his newfound hobby of trolling the MAGA crowd.