‘We Get the Joke!’ Dana Perino Defends Her Criticism of Newsom Mocking Trump

Fox News host Dana Perino defended herself on Tuesday after California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) accused her of not understanding why his office is mocking President Donald Trump’s social media style. Newsom’s office in recent weeks has put out posts intended to satirize Trump by using wild self-aggrandizing rhetoric and petty insults to attack opponents, some of which he read to progressive podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen.

Perino discussed Newsom on Tuesday’s episode of The Five, saying, “He was reading tweets that were written for him by people that he is heavily investing in to try to help him look more like Trump, I guess.”

“I mean, I thought they hated Trump, but they’re trying to be more like him and they have to pay people to do it. The thing is, what I was saying yesterday is that I believe that everybody needs to find their own way. You don’t see Governor Andy Beshear doing things like this,” Perino continued, adding”

He’s running his state. Governor Josh Shapiro, running his state. Governor Gretchen Whitmer, running her state. And they’ve… All of them got big problems. They all have things that they want to accomplish. They all might want to run in 2028. And they are actually involved in being able to show what they show their work, right? They’ll be able to say, these are the things that we did.

California’s got a huge amount of problems. And if you think about Mamdani, his authenticity is what rocketed him to the top. And now you have Cuomo trying to copy him, and it’s just cringe. And that was my point. Is that if you’re doing this and it’s not authentic and you’re trying to do somebody else who you say is Hitler and you think that we don’t get the joke, oh no, we get the joke, it’s just not funny.

On Monday, Perino offered Newsom some unsolicited advice, saying, “I don’t know where his wife is. If I were his wife, I would say, ‘You are making a fool of yourself, stop it!’ Do not let your staff tweet, and if you are doing it yourself, put the phone away and start over.”

She concluded, “He’s got a big job as governor of California, but if he wants an even bigger job, he has to be a little bit more serious.”

Shortly after Perino made her remarks, Newsom’s office shared the clip and added, “ALMOST A WEEK IN AND THEY STILL DON’T GET IT.” The Newsom account followed that up with a jab at Perino, calling her a “DING DONG.”

Izzy Gardon, Newsom’s communications director, shared on X a post offering a take on what the governor is trying to accomplish, which read, “Gavin Newsom & his team are holding up a mirror for MAGA so they can see how we see them. Turns out they aren’t fans.”

Watch the clip above via Fox News.