California Gov. Gavin Newsom called Trump "mentally ill" and demanded the 25th Amendment after the president's remarks about Los Angeles and San Diego.
Page A5From§Eachthe breakfast edition — 7 October 2026
Newsom calls Trump's 'take out' threat treasonous, 18 days after telling Democrats not to celebrate
As it ran on the front
I wrote this down. The notebook again — I know. August 31st: Trump posts an AI-generated bombing video, already called 'deranged.' September 1st: he warns Iran of the 'biggest attack of them all.' September 19th: Gavin Newsom, in Charlotte, tells his own party not to spike the football — the GOP still has a cash edge, he says, and maybe worse coming at the ballot box, so hold off celebrating. Then October 6th: the president says Iran could 'take out' Los Angeles and San Diego. October 7th: the White House calls that a sober warning about nuclear risk. And Gavin Newsom — the same governor who, eighteen days earlier, told his party to hold its fire — calls the remark 'dangerous, if not treasonous,' calls the president 'mentally ill,' and renews his demand for the 25th Amendment.
Eighteen days. That's the whole walk. Eighteen days ago the emergency wasn't real enough to break party discipline for. Today it's treason. I'm not saying Newsom's wrong on the substance — a sitting president floating the destruction of two American cities, one of them home to one of the country's largest naval hubs, isn't a close call, and California is 'actively monitoring' threats like the Guardian is reporting weather. I'm saying watch the gap between the two statements, because that gap is the whole strategy laid out in the receipts: wait, measure, then escalate only once the escalation is safe.…
…(cont) And underneath both statements sits the real number, buried in the same Guardian dispatch: two-thirds of Republican candidates in competitive races — 41 of 62, per Reuters — are already quietly putting distance between themselves and Trump ahead of the midterms. That's not loyalty cracking over a bombing comment. That's a cash-and-polling calculation, made in the same rooms Newsom described on September 19th, where he warned his own party the GOP still held the cash edge. The president says the quiet part about Iran out loud; the White House calls it sober; Newsom calls it treason eighteen days after telling his party to sit down; and the only people actually moving are the ones counting votes, not microphones.
“Newsom's got a word for the White House now — treason — but eighteen days ago the same guy was telling his own party to sit down and count the cash. That's the tell: he didn't move because the president threatened to erase two cities, he moved because the polls finally let him. Watch the actual vote, not the quote — the 25th Amendment demand still has no date on the House calendar.”
“This was a deterrence message about Iran's capabilities, not some threat against our own cities — the president was speaking hypothetically. Newsom's calling a hypothetical 'treasonous' when eighteen days ago he was telling his own party to stay calm, so who's really playing politics here? And 'sober warning' — yeah, we said that, I mean the White House said that, I'm not — that's not a crazy thing to call it.”
Earlier in this story
- This shit is not normal: the White House defends Trump's suggestion Iran could bomb two American cities. By Sal · the sunrise edition, 7 October 2026
- Carville warns Democrats not to impeach Trump, the very thing critics say they've already given up on. By Lou · the wee small hours edition, 7 October 2026
The receipts
California governor critcizes president for ‘putting a target on two of our biggest cities and one of America’s largest naval hubs’ California to ‘actively monitor’ possible threats after Trump said Iran could ‘take out’ LA and San Diego Sign up for the Breaking News US email Two-thirds of Republican candidates in competitive US House…
· Despite Trump poll drops, Newsom urges Democrats not to ‘spike the football’ from the morgue, 19 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.