In a bold political move over the Thanksgiving holiday, California Governor Gavin Newsom's communications team directly targeted former President Donald Trump by leveraging an unlikely source: the conservative-leaning Drudge Report.
A Sarcastic Thanksgiving Greeting
The press office for the Democratic governor, which has built a reputation for trolling Trump in recent months, took to the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, to share a screenshot of the Matt Drudge-founded site's prominent headlines. The selected headlines painted a grim economic picture, reading: 'A TARIFF THANKSGIVING,' 'TURKEY PRICE UP 24%,' 'GRIM RETAIL SALES,' and 'CONSUMER CONFIDENCE SPIRALS.'
Accompanying the screenshot was a sarcastic caption from the Newsom team that declared, "Welcome to Trump’s golden era!" This jab was strategically timed, as it came while Trump and his allies were attempting to falsely claim that the cost of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner had decreased during his administration.
Escalating the Political Roast
Not content with a single post, Newsom's office later escalated its Thanksgiving trolling campaign. They shared another image, this time a more direct visual mockery. The picture featured a turkey with Donald Trump's head superimposed onto it. Adding a layer of meta-commentary, a "censored" sticker was placed over the Trump/bird's wattle.
This appeared to be a reference to their previous mockery of a Trump Time magazine cover. The caption for this post continued the sharp-edged humour, stating, "Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, except the turkey who incited the storming of the dinner table." This clear allusion to the January 6th Capitol riot solidified the post's political message, turning a holiday tradition into a pointed political critique.
Context and Implications
This episode highlights the increasingly sharp and public strategies used by political figures to challenge opponents and shape public narrative. By using a platform popular with conservatives to highlight negative economic indicators, Newsom's team aimed to blunt Trump's messaging and appeal directly to voters concerned about cost-of-living issues. The exchange underscores how social media remains a primary battleground for political discourse in Canada and beyond, where holiday events can quickly become platforms for partisan conflict.
