President Trump slammed California Gov. Gavin Newsom as unfit for the White House because he has “mental problems” in a thinly veiled reference to Joe Biden.
Speaking at an event in northern Kentucky on Wednesday, Trump said the governor “admitted he has mental problems, that he’s not a smart person.”
In his memoir, “Young Man in a Hurry,” Newsom wrote about his struggle with dyslexia, a common learning disability.
“He’s unable to read a speech, he can’t read, and all of the other things he said. He said he has a lot of mental problems,” Trump said of Newsom.
“Nothing’s wrong with it, but I don’t want the President of the United States to have a cognitive deficiency,” Trump said.
“When he admitted this, I said, I think he just lost the Democrat nomination,” he added.
Newsom fired back the president in a post on his press office’s X account, sharing a clip of Trump’s remarks while adding a similar jab.
“Grandpa’s talking about himself again. We wish him well — it’s never too late to seek mental treatment,” the post read.
Newsom revealed in the past that he was diagnosed with dyslexia in 1972, when he was around 5 years old.
The diagnosis was thrust back into the spotlight after he mentioned the disorder at an event in Atlanta last month while promoting his new memoir.
The governor’s comments followed an earlier attack from his press office on X Wednesday. The post called out Trump’s swollen ankles this week after a photo spread online. The image showed Secretary of State Marco Rubio in shoes that seemed too big, bringing back an ongoing debate about Trump’s gift-giving and his visible health issues.
“Maybe Trump just assumes everyone else has swollen ankles,” the governor’s press office wrote on X.
The two leaders have been trading barbs frequently — with Newsom continuing his criticism of Trump’s handling of the ongoing war in the Middle East.
“Drone issues have been top of mind,” Newsom said during a news conference Tuesday to announce new funding for mental health and drug treatment as it relates to homelessness.
“We’ve been aware of that information, we’ve been working collaboratively with the [State Operations Center],” he added, referring to California’s emergency and disaster management agency.
Newsom said he has yet to discuss the threats with President Trump and cast blame on the White House for starting a war without purpose that has sent gas prices surging.
“I haven’t talked to the president directly about this and I wish the president would talk to the American people about what this is all about, what’s the end game?” Newsom said.
He added, “We’ve seen no real end game in sight when it comes to the Strait of Hormuz.”
Newsom said the state of California has been working with international partners to assess the threat of an oil shortage.
“It’s all about a posture of preparedness for worst-case scenarios,” Newsom said, adding that there are “break the glass scenarios” for rising oil costs.
“The questions are in abundance at the moment on what can happen next. We’re meeting consistently with representatives in the [oil] industry.”
He noted, “Uncertainty is the most certain feature of the Trump administration.”
