Be careful if you’re mocking California Gov. Gavin Newsom. He just might fire back with something totally unexpected and uncomfortably embarrassing. Just ask President Donald Trump. In this latest social media spat between archrivals Newsom and Trump, the president certainly regrets the latest message the Republican Party posted on X because they got something back no one expected and certainly the GOP didn’t want to see, let alone Trump. (Photos: Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images, Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images) It started on Friday Jan. 23 when Newsom posted a photo of himself sitting at a desk working and captioned it “The man never stops working!” The post was a poke at Trump over his White House communications team, including Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who have claimed repeatedly that Trump dozing off in public at White House meetings and events is due to the fact that “he’s always working.” ‘Eff Him!’: Trump Explodes After a Reporter Knocks Him Off Script, Tries to Shut Her Up — She Stares Him Down and Trump Keeps Spiraling Right There But it quickly escalated from there. The GOP’s official X account then reposted Newsom’s photo below a new meme showing the governor sitting at that desk but drawing a picture of a smiling Trump surrounded by hearts. The man never stops working! pic.twitter.com/D58QE1HkMp— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) January 23, 2026 Not to be outdone, Newsom went in for the kill posting a meme of the back of Trump drawing the birthday letter of a naked woman linked to the President’s former close friend and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He didn’t need to say one single word to get his message across. That post went wildly viral with 128, 000 views and counting, more than 8,300 reposts, and more than 2,000 comments. Newsom stirring the Epstein pot resulted in just what you’d expect. Social media exploded, more than rising to the occasion to troll Trump and joke about the ongoing scandal. “Now how tf do you recover from that,” X user Fish Flakes demanded including a half dozen skeletons with his caption above a video clip of a startled gerbil. https://t.co/PGak3TNlcS pic.twitter.com/AGLFrrTW9H— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) January 23, 2026 Another X user simply responded, “LMFAOOOOO.” X user and award winning designer Chris Wallace probably said it best: “Damn the @GOP got absolutely SMOKED lmao.” The Wall Street Journal first reported the existence of the letter last summer, revealing friends of the disgraced financier sent him racy cards for his 50th birthday, including an extremely vulgar one from Trump with a drawing of a naked woman on it and his signature across the genital area.  The letters were then put together in a leather-bound book by Epstein’s then-girlfriend convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell, according to the Journal. A furious Trump went ballistic and sued WSJ and its owner Rupert Murdoch for a $10 billion lawsuit, calling the letter at the time of the report “a fake thing.” Trump has repeatedly denied he wrote or signed the letter, but Trump and Epstein were best buddies at the time and handwriting experts have verified Trump’s signature. Epstein, a disgraced financier and convicted sex offender, had ties to some of the most powerful people in the world, including presidents, billionaires and even royalty. Trump hung out with him during the 1980s and 1990s but insists he never went to Epstein’s private island and that he’s not on the so-called “client list,” but his former bromance buddy tech billionaire Elon Musk claims he’s seen the list and Trump is on it. Epstein was arrested in 2019 on charges related to sex trafficking minors and allegedly had a “client list” with the names of those who used his services. He died by suicide in a Manhattan jail not long after his arrest. Since then, conspiracy theories about a government cover-up have swirled. Trump’s MAGA supporters promoted the speculation for years, with Trump and Vice President JD Vance even stoking the conjecture during the 2024 campaign, promising to release the Justice Department’s Epstein files if elected. They have not released all the files and have stonewalled for months, even after Trump signed a law mandating the release by Dec. 19 and fresh batch of some 2 million documents was dropped on Jan. 30. Now a new court action is trying to force the Department of Justice to abide by the law and release the files in their entirety. ‘LMFAOOO’: The GOP Tried to Do Trump’s Dirty Work on Newsom — But by the Time They Realized It, Newsom Flipped the Script and Trump Caught a Nasty Stray ...read more read less