JD Vance and Gavin Newsom traded barbs as anti-immigration raid protests in Los Angeles entered their fourth day.
After President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday that he would arrest the “grossly incompetent” Newsom if he were in border czar Tom Homan’s shoes, the California governor raised the alarm in a post on X.
“This is a day I hoped I would never see in America,” he wrote. “I don’t care if you’re a Democrat or a Republican this is a line we cannot cross as a nation — this is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism.”
Though Newsom was responding to Trump, it was the vice president who stepped in to clap back.
“Do your job,” Vance told the governor. “That’s all we’re asking.”
The Trump administration has repeatedly accused California leaders of failing to rein in protesters who have spilled out into the streets of Los Angeles to protest the raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Do your job. That’s all we’re asking. https://t.co/99Wqom5AbQ
— JD Vance (@JDVance) June 9, 2025
Scenes over the weekend included law enforcement pelting rubber bullets at crowds and protesters setting cars on fire as they called for an end to the government’s sweeping deportation blitz that split up families and at times mistakenly targeted citizens.
Hours later, Newsom replied: “Do YOUR job. We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved. Rescind the order. Return control to California.”
He was referring to Trump’s order that deployed 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles to quell the protests, a move that Democrats have branded an incitement of chaos.
But Vance wasn’t buying it.
“People who were already violating the law are only violating the law because President Trump started enforcing the law. This is the logic of Newsom and his stooges,” he said on X.
On Monday night, Newsom said he was informed that Trump was deploying an additional 2,000 Guard troops to Los Angeles.
The governor claimed that the first 2,000 troops deployed by the administration were not given food or water and were underutilized.
“Only approx. 300 are deployed — the rest are sitting, unused, in federal buildings without orders,” he said. “This isn’t about public safety. It’s about stroking a dangerous President’s ego. This is Reckless. Pointless. And Disrespectful to our troops.”
The Defense Department’s Rapid Response Unit hit back at Newsom, claiming his comments are a “bald face lie.” “These are soldiers fulfilling duties ordered by the @POTUS and the @SecDef,” the post read.
Newsom also made good on his earlier vow to take Trump to court over his decision to take over the National Guard.
The governor said the order was “a violation of the U.S. Constitution is an overstep of his authority.”
“We will not let this stand,” he said.
The post JD Vance and Gavin Newsom Point Fingers Over L.A. Protests in X Feud appeared first on The Daily Beast.
