Bill Maher put Gavin Newsom on the spot, pointing out how the governor has started sounding and acting a lot like the very person he is building his brand opposing, President Trump.
In a revealing exchange, Maher directly addressed the similarities. “Many people would say that you are imitating him… you are the one who kind of imitates his style with the trolling. You’re suing Fox now,” Maher stated.
Newsom pushed back on the lawsuit: “We’re going into discovery. Fox better look to settle right now or apologize for defamation.”
Bill Maher tells Gavin Newsom he suddenly “sounds exactly” like President Trump ever since he unofficially started running for president.
— The Vigilant Fox ? (@VigilantFox) May 2, 2026
MAHER: “Many people would say that you are imitating him… you are the one who kind of imitates his style with the trolling. You’re suing Fox… pic.twitter.com/PfMBbpkfQI
Maher pressed: “Okay, but that sounds exactly like what he does. Suing media?”
Newsom responded, “Well, then don’t defame, don’t lie, and, you know…”
Maher concluded: “But that does sound like him.”
The clip captures the awkward moment as Newsom defends borrowing elements of the very playbook he has spent years attacking.
The observation lands at a telling time. Newsom’s California has become synonymous with policy failures—from unchecked immigration strains and urban decay to energy shortages and business flight.
Yet rather than own the results, the governor appears to be testing a more aggressive, Trump-like posture for potential future runs. The imitation highlights a deeper issue: when your own governance record offers little to brag about, style over substance becomes the default.
That lack of substance drew even sharper fire from Joe Rogan, who dismantled Newsom’s entire persona on his podcast. Rogan zeroed in on what sets real leaders apart from polished political products, contrasting Newsom directly with President Trump.
“Nobody believes [Newsom] is a real person. Whether you like Trump or not, whether you think he’s corrupt, that’s a human being… With Newsom you’ve got like this construct, this cardboard cutout of a person,” Rogan said.
Joe Rogan: "Nobody believes [Newsom] is a real person. Whether you like Trump or not, whether you think he's corrupt, that's a human being… With Newsom you've got like this construct, this cardboard cutout of a person." pic.twitter.com/7uac1oNrvt
— Joe Rogan Podcast News (@joeroganhq) April 30, 2026
“Nobody wants President Newsom either. Nobody believes in that guy. The guy’s a f***ing con man,” Rogan continued, adding “I mean everything he did in California from trying to mandate vaccines for kids when it was totally unnecessary to being caught out in public without a mask and lying about the fact that he was outdoors. All of it. Nobody believes in that guy. He’s just a politician. Just a stone cold narrative driven politician…Nobody thinks he’s a real human.”
While Trump built a movement on unfiltered authenticity that delivered tangible wins for working Americans, Newsom’s California leadership delivered visible decline. Vaccine mandates that ignored emerging realities, public health rules applied selectively, and a state hemorrhaging residents paint a picture far removed from the competent executive image he projects.
Newsom is reaching for a fighter’s image without the foundation of results or genuine connection that defines effective leadership. In an America prioritizing secure borders, energy independence, and economic freedom, hollow constructs stand out in stark relief.
Voters have seen what top-down governance without accountability produces—failed cities, strained services, and eroded trust. Phony politicians who cycle through narratives while dodging their own wreckage offer nothing but more of the same.
Real progress comes from leaders who deliver for the people, not constructs designed to protect the machine. As the contrast grows clearer, the public continues rejecting the cardboard cutouts in favor of substance that actually works.
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