‘You’ve got to be yourself’: Vance hits out at Newsom for imitating ‘Trump-style’ posts

US Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday ridiculed California Governor Gavin Newsom for imitating President Donald Trump’s social media style, calling the approach inauthentic and unlikely to help Democrats win over voters.Speaking on Fox News’s The Ingraham Angle, Vance dismissed the strategy as misguided. “This idea that Gavin Newsom is somehow going to mimic Donald Trump’s style, I think that ignores the fundamental genius of President Trump’s political success, which is that he’s authentic,” Vance said.“He just is who he is,” Vance added. “You’ve got to be yourself. You’ve got to talk to people honestly about the issues.”Newsom, considered a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender, has in recent weeks rolled out a new online strategy that mirrors Trump’s distinctive approach, long, capitalised rants, dismissive nicknames for rivals, boasts about his policies, and posts laced with exclamation marks. According to the New York Times, his press office X account, which once shared routine policy updates, has transformed into a parody of Trump’s Truth Social feed, branding him “AMERICA’S MOST FAVORITE GOVERNOR.”The change comes amid Democrats’ post-2024 election soul-searching, with some party figures arguing they need a sharper, Trump-like tone to compete. Vance, however, urged them to rethink. “Some free political advice from the president of the United States, stop sounding like crazy people,” he said. “Don’t be a crazy person. Be authentic. If the Democrats did that, they’d do a hell of a lot better.”Vance also pointed to what he called the success of Trump’s federal crime crackdown in Washington, DC, where the president declared a public safety emergency on 11 August. According to the vice president, violent crime dropped 35% and robberies fell 55% in just nine days. “These numbers highlight that law and order is a question of political will,” he told Fox News. “If you’ve got the political will to enforce the law, you can make even cities like DC safe again.”Newsom, for his part, has defended his mocking online style. He argued it is a deliberate attempt to expose Trump’s rhetoric by reflecting it back. “If you’ve got issues with what I’m putting out, you sure as hell should have concerns about what he’s putting out as president,” the governor recently said, as reported by the New York Times.His office has continued with the approach after seeing a surge in online engagement, with follower numbers climbing significantly this month. While some Democrats have embraced the strategy as “fighting fire with fire,” critics say it risks looking childish. Conservative commentator Tomi Lahren recently declared that Newsom had “embarrassed himself” to the point of being disqualified from higher office.Vance’s blunt message, however, was that no amount of theatrics can replace policy. “Gavin Newsom can mimic Donald Trump all that he wants to, but they’re still going to lose unless they get better policies that actually serve the American people”.