Is Gov. Gavin Newsom’s new MAGA-inspired merchandise a big hit, a bad joke, or some combination thereof?
On sale at Mr. Newsom’s “Patriot Shop,” unveiled on Sunday, the merchandise generated about $300,000 in sales on its first day, according to the governor’s team, with healthy demand for items like a T-shirt depicting the governor as “the chosen one” — touched by a haloed Hulk Hogan — and a familiar red hat reading “Newsom was right about everything!”
Those products are both legitimate campaign swag — with proceeds going to support a California ballot measure meant to tip congressional districts toward Democrats — and an elaborate parody, reflecting the look of President Trump’s own merchandise, which has come to dominate the nation’s political iconography over the last decade.
The Patriot Shop is just the latest salvo in Mr. Newsom’s ongoing trolling of Trumpworld, which has also included using a feisty social media feed to taunt the president and his style of posting, complete with his use of ALL CAPS and idiosyncratic, sometimes perplexing, vernacular.
The governor’s online efforts have drawn anger and sometimes bewildered reactions from the right — “We get the joke,” said Dana Perino, a Fox News host, adding, “It’s just not funny” — but heaps of praise from more liberal commentators, who say it’s a sign of life in a Democratic Party that has been mired in finger-pointing and infighting since Kamala Harris’s loss in November.
At the same time, Mr. Newsom’s repeated ridicule of Mr. Trump has also led to inevitable questions as to how long he can keep up the joke, particularly in light of widespread speculation that he is gearing up for a 2028 presidential run.
James Carville, the Democratic political guru who helped elect another governor, Bill Clinton, to the presidency in 1992, said while that Gov. Newsom “is very good at seeing an opportunity and seizing it,” just mocking the president wouldn’t be enough.
“What he’s doing effectively is he’s skewering Trump,” Mr. Carville said. “Now, do I think that can be very effective for a very long time? No.”
Mr. Newsom admits the gag may eventually become tired, but he seems tickled by the prank, telling a crowd in Sacramento on Wednesday night that he would be rolling out even more products on the ballot campaign’s website, possibly including “a Trump corruption coin.”
“I’ve quite enjoyed myself,” Mr. Newsom said at an event sponsored by Politico, adding that his goal was “putting the mirror up to the absurdity of all of this.”
One advertised item seemingly giving the governor particular joy was a signed $100 Bible, which Mr. Newsom and his site said had already sold out, though the Campaign for Democracy — his PAC, which is running the merch site — declined to say exactly how many Bibles it had sold, if any.
At the same time, the governor seems quite serious about the bigger mission to “wake up” the opposition to Mr. Trump.
“I’m sick and tired of Democrats being on the losing end in this country and our democracy being on the losing end,” he said. “We’ve got to fight fire with fire.”
Of course, imitations are rarely as successful as the original, in a pop culture landscape that is littered with terrible sequels, rickety reboots, and less-than-lustrous comebacks.
And since their party lost the White House in November, other Democrats have also sometimes sought to emulate Mr. Trump — and other trends in our often coarse political discourse, including the use of obscenity. Part of Mr. Trump’s lasting appeal among his supporters, after all, has been his seeming authenticity. Can a sendup of his style also resonate on the left?
Political merchandise has long been used for a variety of purposes in campaigns, helping drive home messaging, form bonds with supporters and establish a candidate’s brand. It’s also been a way, especially for Mr. Trump, to raise funds, fusing the desire to shop with the desire to be politically active.
But Mr. Trump’s campaigns have gone far beyond the usual T-shirts, buttons, bumper stickers and yard signs, following the president’s lifelong habit of putting his name on almost everything he touches. $28 golf balls? Yup. $15 Christmas wrap? You got it. $43 copies of executive orders? Done.
The official campaign website links to a specular array of tchotchkes and includes a “Back to School” section consisting almost entirely of $40 MAGA ball caps.
Even more products — including a “Trump 2028” hat — appear at the Trump Store website, which is part of the Trump Organization, the family business, but naturally often touches on political themes as well. The president has also promoted — and profited from — cryptocurrency products that have been criticized as ethically dubious.
Bruce Newman, a professor of marketing at DePaul University who has studied political messaging, said Mr. Trump had successfully used the MAGA hat, in particular, “to look strong,” something also conveyed by Mr. Newsom.
“He can handle that kind a hat,” Mr. Newman said, referring to Mr. Newsom. “He’s got the mouth, he’s the persona, he has the personality.”
For his part, the governor, who has confidently cast himself as a forceful Democratic foil for Mr. Trump, has displayed a knowing sense of humor in his merchandise. He has played off the president’s ego and bluster, including calling his online shop “the greatest merchandise shop ever made” and himself “America’s favorite governor.”
“MANY PEOPLE ARE SAYING THIS IS THE GREATEST MERCHANDISE EVER MADE,” Mr. Newsom said in announcing the opening of the store on X.com.
It’s just one many inside jokes: Click on his “Newsom was right about everything!” hat — echoing one that Mr. Trump wore in the Oval Office last week — and you’ll see a footnote: “Humility is overrated.”
Mr. Newsom, who is prevented by term limits from running for re-election next year, is also offering a mug reading “Newsom ’26,” with another note — “Because apparently term limits are just suggestions now” — a reference to Mr. Trump’s suggestion that he might seek a third, and decidedly unconstitutional, term.
Merchandise builds camaraderie among supporters of a candidate, in the same way jerseys might among fans of a sports team. But Mr. Newsom has also seemingly turned the typical purpose of campaign swag on its head, said Anastasiya Pocheptsova Ghosh, an associate professor of marketing at Arizona State University who has written about political merchandising.
“They’re not designed to necessarily rally supporters internally, but more to signal to the opposite party, in a fashion language, that we are the opposite of you, using your own conspicuous signals,” Ms. Ghosh said.
But copying Mr. Trump’s style will probably take Mr. Newsom only so far.
“Is he going to attract more new voters to him, undecideds?” she said. “No. Is he going to make his base happy? Yes.”
Experts point to a few breakthrough moments in the history of campaign merchandise, including the “Hope” image of Barack Obama, created by the street artist Shepard Fairey, that became ubiquitous in the 2008 race and is still inspiring spinoffs.
In the face of Mr. Trump’s branding prowess, Democrats have tried to recapture some of that magic — for example, with the Harris/Walz camo hat, seemingly inspired by the singer Chappell Roan, and “Kamala is brat” merch during the so-called Brat Summer, prompted by the British pop star Charli xcx.
But Trischa Goodnow, a professor of communication at the Oregon State University who analyzed 2024’s campaign merchandising, said the nature of the items sold by the two presidential candidates might also have reflected their divergent visions.
The Harris/Walz campaign, for instance, “didn’t stray far from traditional merchandise,” signifying “the tried-and-true way of doing things.” Whereas Mr. Trump’s merchandise — everything from gold sneakers to his glowering mug shot — suggested that was he “going to shake things up,” Ms. Goodnow said.
Those who have dared to make fun of Mr. Trump — who regularly uses put-downs and sometimes harsh humor in his politics — say that the president can be delicate when the joke is on him.
“Like most funny people, he is sensitive,” said Jeff Ross, the well-known insult comic, who has roasted Mr. Trump on Comedy Central.
Mr. Ross said that in general, it’s not the punchline itself that upsets the subject of a roast; it’s when people like co-workers or friends laugh at the joke.
“That’s what hurts their feelings,” said Mr. Ross, who currently has a one-man show on Broadway, adding that Mr. Trump and other stars “like being the center of attention, even when there’s a target on them.”
While most Trump defenders have tried to dismiss Mr. Newsom’s tactics, even some Republicans say the governor’s mockery has been landing.
Susan Del Percio, a Republican political strategist, said that while she thought Mr. Newsom — and Democrats in general — would be better served by concentrating on issues like affordability, she had to admit the governor had struck a nerve.
“I will say, it’s effective,” Ms. Del Percio said. “It drives Trump and the MAGA people crazy.”
Jesse McKinley is a Times reporter covering politics, pop culture, lifestyle and the confluence of all three.
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