The internet intently watched as Gov. Gavin Newsom walked onto the tarmac as President Donald Trump arrived in California on Friday afternoon to tour the devastation left by the Los Angeles wildfires.
Newsom and Trump played nice for the cameras despite a fraught relationship in which Trump has repeatedly derided the California governor as "Newscum." The two shared what appeared to be a classic politician power handshake, briefly exchanged words, and gave a short address to reporters before fielding questions.
The awkward meeting came after Trump threatened to withhold federal aid if the state doesn't enact a voter ID law.
But the internet appeared more concerned with their initial meeting — with some dragging Trump for appearing to "cower" to Newsom.
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"Trump cowers to Newsom. Of course," wrote Mike Madrid, co-founder of The Lincoln Project, on X.
In a separate post, Madrid wrote: "Trump goes full beta male cowering to Gavin Newsom on the tarmac. Weak."
"The asymmetry of our politics - Trump can heap vicious personal abuse on Newsom (“Newscum”) but Newsom has to be the bigger person and welcome Trump to his state with grace and civility," remarked former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan.
In response to Hasan, S.V. Dáte, White House correspondent at HuffPost, wrote: "EVERYBODY treats Trump like a toddler."
"Ouch. I've always thought Trump is sort of alpha-ish but, no. Look at the way Newsom completely takes over the conversation immediately and Trump is just defensive/reacting/listening, instantly in his place. Wow," chided attorney and former senior advisor to the Trump campaign A.J. Delgado.
"Donald Trump doing his weird lean with Gavin Newsom. Methinks Donald isn't well," jabbed the social media account Art Candee on Bluesky.
Correction: A previous version of this article misidentified the owner of the social media account "Art Candee." This article has been updated.