Gavin Newsom Eviscerates 2 Republican Bigs In Surgical Posts About Minneapolis

On Jan 27, 2026

Gavin Newsom seems to love goofing on President Donald Trump and his allies. The California governor’s images and wisecracks on social media give the Republicans a taste of their own medicine and keep the Democrat in the news as he likely weighs a 2028 presidential bid.

But on Sunday, Newsom was all business in slapping down Vice President JD Vance and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ala.) for their comments about the suspicious fatal shootings in Minneapolis by federal agents.

First, Newsom responded to Vance’s anecdote about Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with Customs and Border Protection officers being locked in a restaurant by protesters before fellow federal agents came to help.

“This is just a taste of what’s happening in Minneapolis because state and local officials refuse to cooperate with immigration enforcement,” Vance wrote on X. “They have created the chaos so they can have moments like yesterday, where someone tragically dies and politicians get to grandstand about the evils of enforcing the border. The solution is staring everyone in the face. I hope authorities in Minneapolis stop this madness.”

Yeah, Newsom wasn’t buying that one.

“Only a true psychopath could genuinely believe this story justifies the shooting of an innocent VA nurse,” he wrote, referring to Alex Pretti.

Pretti was the second protester shot dead in Minneapolis this month by federal officers deployed by the Trump administration. The previous victim was Renee Good.

Administration officials claimed the killings were justified and called the two terrorists, but video and witness accounts put that assertion in serious doubt.

Cotton took a similar tack to the veep.

“The deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti are regrettable tragedies,” the Alabama Republican wrote. “They could’ve been avoided—& further unrest can be avoided—if state & local officials work with federal law enforcement and stop encouraging civilians to interfere. There can be no mob veto on enforcing the law.”

Newsom clapped back hard.

“Your state has the 7th highest homicide rate in the nation — over double California’s,” he wrote. “Spare us the grandstanding over ‘enforcing the law’— you’re a heartless fraud.”

https://t.co/poPTftCd0y

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) January 26, 2026

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Your state has the 7th highest homicide rate in the nation — over double California’s.

Spare us the grandstanding over “enforcing the law”— you’re a heartless fraud. https://t.co/poPTftCd0y

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) January 26, 2026

It’s unclear exactly which study the governor was referring to, although 2023 data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2025 shows Alabama with a homicide rate of 14.8 per 100,000 people, nearly triple that of California at 5.1.