President Donald Trump took aim at California Governor Gavin Newsom during a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney this week, deriding the Democratic leader’s record on infrastructure and wildfire response while daring him to run for president in 2028.
Though Trump said he would “love” to see Newsom enter the race, he added that the California governor’s performance “pretty much put him out of the race,” citing mounting failures in the Golden State that he claims have eroded Newsom’s credibility on the national stage.
At the center of Trump’s criticism was California’s embattled high-speed rail project, a long-delayed and massively over-budget effort to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles by train in under three hours.
Initially estimated to cost $33 billion and be completed by 2020, the project has ballooned to a staggering $106 billion and remains far from completion.
“A little train going from San Francisco to Los Angeles that’s being run by Gavin New-scum—the governor of California,” Trump said, using one of his signature mocking nicknames. “Did you ever hear of Gavin Newsom? He has got that train—the worst cost overrun I’ve ever seen. It’s like, totally out of control.”
Despite the harsh rhetoric, Trump claimed he had once maintained a good relationship with Newsom, saying, “I always liked Gavin. I just got him a lot of water, you know, I sent in people to open up that water because he refused to do it.”
Trump said his administration tried to boost California’s water availability by overriding environmental regulations and added that wildfires in Los Angeles could have been extinguished quickly if his advice had been followed.
“If they would have done what I said to do, they wouldn’t have had the fires in Los Angeles,” Trump insisted. “Those fires would have been put out very quickly.”
Trump’s criticism of Newsom’s wildfire response dates back to 2017 and 2018 when devastating wildfires destroyed thousands of homes and structures across California.
In one of his early presidential acts, Trump visited Southern California to survey the damage and later issued an executive order directing federal agencies to override certain environmental restrictions in California.
His order included provisions to expedite debris removal, override protections for endangered species that restricted water flows, and investigate the City of Los Angeles' use of federal disaster relief funds.
Turning again to the rail project, Trump expressed outrage over its mismanagement. “I’ve watched a lot of stupid people build a lot of stupid things,” he said. “But this is the worst cost overrun I’ve ever seen.”
Trump said he told his Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, that the federal government under his leadership would not be financing the failed project. “This government is not going to pay. It’s 30 times over budget. It was supposed to be a simple train,” Trump said.
Duffy, in February, launched a Department of Transportation review to determine whether the California High-Speed Rail Authority had met the conditions of its federal funding agreements.
At the time, Duffy warned that if the state failed to uphold its commitments, the administration would consider reallocating those funds to infrastructure projects elsewhere in the country.
Although Newsom has not officially declared his intention to run for president, he has long been seen as a rising Democratic figure with national ambitions.
Term-limited and unable to run for governor again in 2026, speculation about a 2028 bid has grown in recent months. However, Trump suggested Newsom’s perceived failures as governor would be a liability on the national campaign trail.
“That one project alone—well, that and the fires and a lot of other things—pretty much put him out of the race,” Trump said. “But I’d love to see him run.”
Newsom, for his part, appears to be focusing on federal partnerships that could boost California’s influence in industries such as media and entertainment.
In a statement provided to The New York Times, Newsom expressed interest in working with the Trump administration on a $7.5 billion federal tax credit program designed to strengthen the U.S. film and TV production industry.
“California built the film industry – and we’re ready to bring even more jobs home,” Newsom wrote on X. “We’ve proven what strong state incentives can do. Now it’s time for a real federal partnership to Make America Film Again.”
Newsom’s comments came as the White House weighed new protectionist measures aimed at revitalizing domestic film production. According to administration officials, the federal government is considering multiple options to “safeguard our country’s national and economic security while Making Hollywood Great Again.”
Trump announced on his social media platform, Truth Social, that he had authorized the Department of Commerce and the U.S. Trade Representative to initiate a 100% tariff on foreign-produced films entering the United States.
“We’re done letting Hollywood sell out to foreign countries,” Trump wrote, positioning the initiative as both an economic and cultural safeguard.
Though Newsom and Trump remain ideological opposites, their mutual interest in bolstering the film industry is one of the few areas where cooperation might occur.
Yet political observers see Newsom’s outreach as strategic, designed to maintain national relevance while avoiding direct confrontation with Trump’s growing influence on Republican-led federal policymaking.
For now, Newsom continues to brush off speculation about 2028, choosing instead to tout California’s progressive accomplishments and economic strength.
But Trump has made it clear that if Newsom does run, he’ll be waiting. “Let him run,” Trump said, smirking. “We’ll see how far he gets with that train and those fires.” As both men continue to shape the national conversation from opposite coasts and political extremes, the prospect of a future electoral showdown between them remains very much alive.
