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      Trump faces key legal test in effort to exert control over Federal Reserve

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      Donald Trump’s battle to exert control over the Federal Reserve faces a key legal test today, with a governor of the central bank seeking a temporary block on his extraordinary attempt to fire her.Lisa Cook sued the US president on Thursday, with her lawyers describing his attempt to dismiss her as “unprecedented and illegal”, and based on “pretextual” allegations.The case is widely expected to be ultimately decided by the supreme court. While it makes it way through the courts, Cook is seeking a temporary restraining order against Trump’s attempt to “immediately” dismiss her from the Fed’s board.A hearing on the motion is set for 10am in Washington on Friday. The case has been assigned to US district judge Jia Cobb, an appointee of Joe Biden.Trump wrote to Cook on Monday, telling her that he was removing her from her position “effective immediately”, based on the allegation from one of his allies that she had obtained a mortgage on a second home she incorrectly described as her primary residence.The president has spent months attacking the Fed, where most policymakers – including Cook – have so far defied his calls for interest rate cuts. He has spoken of rapidly building “a majority” on the central bank’s board, calling into question the future of its longstanding independence from political oversight.Firing Cook, whose term is not due to expire until 2038, would enable Trump to nominate a replacement. But she has argued the president has “no authority” to remove her.“An unsubstantiated allegation about private mortgage applications submitted by Governor Cook prior to her Senate confirmation is not [cause],” her lawyers argued in the complaint. “President Trump’s letter purporting to fire Governor Cook did not cite appropriate cause for removing her from the board of governors.”The White House claimed on Thursday that Cook had been “credibly accused of lying” by the administration. But the accusations are unconfirmed, and her lawyers said Trump and his officials had not explicitly alleged that any error on her mortgage paperwork was intentional.It comes as the Fed gears up to resume rate cuts as soon as next month, albeit not at the scale or pace Trump has repeatedly demanded – and its chair, Jerome Powell, has cautioned that the president’s tariffs and immigration crackdown have disrupted the global economy and knocked the US labor force. More

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      RFK Jr ally reportedly chosen to lead CDC as departing officials hit out at vaccine messaging – live

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      The White House has picked an aide to health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and PreventionNews of the temporary appointment was first reported by the Washington Post.The aide is Jim O’Neill, currently the deputy health secretary. A former speechwriter for the health department in the George W. Bush administration, O’Neill then worked for Silicon Valley investor, and JD Vance backer, Peter Thiel for a decade.In 2020, O’Neill’s frequent tweets on the Covid pandemic included this comment about China’s wildlife trade: “It’s almost like the communists want to spread disease.”He also called Facebook Orwellian for announcing that it would direct users who spread misinformation about the virus to the World Health Organisation.As Donald Trump threatens to expand federal control over cities and states run by elected Democratic officials, by deploying the National Guard, 19 of the 23 Democratic governors issued a joint statement on Thursday condemning his actions.“The President’s threats and efforts to deploy a state’s National Guard without the request and consent of that state’s governor is an alarming abuse of power, ineffective, and undermines the mission of our service members”, the governors said.The statement comes as Trump hints that his next targets for federal intervention may include two heavily Democratic cities: Chicago and Baltimore.“This chaotic federal interference in our states’ National Guard must come to an end”, the governors added.The signatories included several potential candidates for the 2028 presidential nomination, including: Wes Moore of Maryland, Gavin Newsom of California, JB Pritzker of Illinois, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan. The four Democratic governors who did not join the statement include the party’s 2024 nominee for vice-president, Tim Walz of Minnesota, as well as Katie Hobbs of Arizona, Ned Lamont of Connecticut and Josh Green of Hawaii.The White House has picked an aide to health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and PreventionNews of the temporary appointment was first reported by the Washington Post.The aide is Jim O’Neill, currently the deputy health secretary. A former speechwriter for the health department in the George W. Bush administration, O’Neill then worked for Silicon Valley investor, and JD Vance backer, Peter Thiel for a decade.In 2020, O’Neill’s frequent tweets on the Covid pandemic included this comment about China’s wildlife trade: “It’s almost like the communists want to spread disease.”He also called Facebook Orwellian for announcing that it would direct users who spread misinformation about the virus to the World Health Organisation.Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician who chairs the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, just called for a vaccine advisory panel to indefinitely postpone its scheduled September meeting.The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which was reshaped by the health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, in June, when he fired all 17 of its members and replaced them with a smaller number of experts, including several Covid vaccine critics, was expected to meet 18 September to decide on whether or not to approve updated Covid vaccines.In a statement on Thursday, attributed by his office to “Dr Cassidy”, the Republican senator and longtime vaccine advocate who reluctantly voted to confirm Kennedy as health secretary, said:“Serious allegations have been made about the meeting agenda, membership, and lack of scientific process being followed for the now announced September ACIP meeting. These decisions directly impact children’s health and the meeting should not occur until significant oversight has been conducted. If the meeting proceeds, any recommendations made should be rejected as lacking legitimacy given the seriousness of the allegations and the current turmoil in CDC leadership”.The new vaccine advisory panel members chosen by Kennedy, an anti-vaccination advocate, include Retsef Levi, a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, who has baselessly claimed that Covid vaccines are killing young people and should be stopped and Robert Malone, who did early on mRNA technology but beame a hero to anti-vaxxers during the pandemic by claiming, without evidence, that mRNA Covid vaccines might cause cancer.Senator Bernie Sanders, ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee, has called for a bipartisan congressional investigation into Susan Monarez’s firing as director of the CDC.In a letter to his Republican counterpart, senator Bill Cassidy, Sanders called the termination “reckless” and “dangerous”. He urged Cassidy to open a bipartisan investigation, and require secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr to testify at a hearing in front of the HELP committee.“It is absolutely imperative that trust in vaccine science not be undermined. The well being of millions of people are at stake,” Sanders wrote.Yesterday, Cassidy posted on X that the CDC “departures” would require “oversight”.Debra Houry, who served as chief medical officer and deputy director for program and science at the CDC, said that she, Daskalakis and Jernigan agreed to leave together because of their work on vaccine science and outbreaks.“We have reached the tipping point and we knew it was a powerful statement for the three of us to do this together,” Houry said.She encouraged reporters to “report on the harms that are being done by losing our staff,” and called out secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s vaccine messaging. “Look at measles, we have the highest number of cases in the US in 30 years because we had unvaccinated populations, and a secretary that’s promoted vitamins over vaccines,” she said.Some of the senior CDC officials who recently resigned just spoke at the demonstration opposite the agency’s Atlanta headquarters.“Let’s get the politics out of public health,” said Daniel Jernigan, who worked at the CDC for 30 years and played a key role in influenza and pandemic preparedness. “Let the science lead us, because that’s how we get to the best decisions for public health.”Demetre Daskalakis, known for his leadership in HIV prevention and vaccination programs, as well as the Biden administration’s response to the Mpox outbreak, addressed the staffers who walked-out today. “You are the people that protect America, and America needs to see that you are the people that protect America, and we are going to be your loudest advocates,” he said.Hundreds of staffers have gathered across the street from the CDC headquarters to support vaccine research, and public health leaders who resigned or fired by the Trump Administration in recent days.Demonstrators held up signs that read “you are heroes” and “CDC saves lives”.The senior leaders that resigned yesterday, Debra Houry, Demetre Daskalakis, Daniel Jernigan and Jennifer Layden, were escorted off campus this morning, denied a dignified exit by agency leaders.The agency is reeling from the firing of CDC chief Susan Monarez by the White House, and is still recovering from the attack of a gunman – who fired more than 500 rounds into the Atlanta offices before killing DeKalb police officer David Rose.

      The dispute over the firing of Susan Monarez, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), continued today. Earlier, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that a new nominee for CDC director would be announced “very soon”, but Monarez’s lawyers have said that she won’t leave her post unless the president himself terminates her. A Trump spokesperson said today that secretary Kennedy’s firing stands, and Monarez wasn’t “aligned” with the administration’s Maha agenda.

      Following Monarez’s firing, four senior CDC leaders abruptly resigned, expressing frustration with Kennedy’s approach to vaccines and his management style. Read more from my colleague, Marina Dunbar here.

      In response to the tumult at Health and Human Services, there have been several calls from public health experts for secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr to resign, and Senator Bernie Sanders, ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee, has also called for a bipartisan investigation into Monarez’s firing.

      Meanwhile, Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook has filed a lawsuit claiming Donald Trump has no authority to fire her. A notable feature of Cook’s lawsuit against the president is that Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, and the rest of the board, are also listed as defendants. Cook’s lawyers argue that she only “found out about the attempt to remove her through President Trump’s Truth Social post,” which they say afforded her “neither a notice nor a hearing” guaranteed by the Federal Reserve Act. A judge has set a hearing in the case for Friday 29 August at 10am ET.

      The president extolled the “great success” of the GOP on Truth Social today, and said he’s floating the idea of a national convention for the Republican Party, “just prior to the Midterms.” An event which traditionally takes place every four years to select the party’s presidential nominee.

      At the White House earlier, Border czar Tom Homan said that there will be a “ramp up” of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) operations in Chicago, and other Democratic-led cities, after Labor Day. He added that these cities “refuse to work with ICE” and release “public safety threats” into the country.
      Attorney general Pam Bondi and FBI director Kash Patel are set to testify in front of the House judiciary committee, and face questions about the justice department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case, according to a report from Politico.Per the two sources granted anonymity to speak with Politico, Patel is set to give testimony 17 September, and Bondi will face the committee on 9 October.A federal judge in DC has scheduled a hearing in the lawsuit filed by Lisa Cook, the Federal Reserve governor that Donald Trump has moved to fire.Judge Jia Cobb – a Biden appointee – has been assigned the case. The hearing is set for 29 August at 10am ET.The press secretary was also misleading when asked whether the president believes Covid vaccinations should be covered by health insurance, regardless of age and pre-existing conditions.“The FDA decision does not affect the availability of Covid vaccines for Americans who want them,” Leavitt said. But the agency has authorized the updated vaccines for people 65 and older, who are known to be more at risk from serious illnesses from Covid infections.As my colleague, Oliver Milman, reported yesterday, younger people will only be eligible if they have an underlying medical condition that makes them particularly vulnerable.This means that the upcoming fall and winter seasons will be the first where the US government hasn’t recommended widespread Covid vaccinations.Karoline Leavitt avoids a reporter’s question asking why Donald Trump has yet to acknowledge the shooting at the CDC headquarters in Atlanta earlier this month. Instead, she recounts the response from health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.
      We absolutely were very much aware of that shooting, the secretary of health and human services put out a statement immediately. He was in touch with the CDC, and he actually traveled to Georgia to assess the situation, and to mourn with the people who work in that building there.
      Leavitt also said that she wasn’t aware of any kind of taskforce going through high level appointees who aren’t “aligned” with the administration’s agenda.When asked if agency officials should be afraid of repercussions for speaking out publicly or privately, Leavitt’s answer was opaque:
      If you’re doing your job well, and if you are executing on the vision and the promises that the president made to the public who elected him back to this office, then you should have no fear about your job. Just do your job. That’s what this president wants to see.
      When asked about the firing dispute of Susan Monarez, Karoline Leavitt confirmed that the director was “not aligned with the president’s mission to make America healthy again.”Leavitt said when Monarez refused to resign, at secretary Kennedy’s behest, the president fired her. “Which he has every right to do,” she added.“This woman [Monarez] has never received a vote in her life, and the president has the authority to fire those who are not aligned with his mission. A new replacement will be announced by either the president or the secretary very soon,” Leavitt said.Karoline Leavitt said today that Chicago has seen the “most murders of any US city” for 13 consecutive years.While Chicago saw 573 homicides last year, according to FBI data, the city didn’t experience the highest murder rate in the US. St Louis, Missouri, actually saw the highest rate of homicides in both 2023 and 2024. More

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      White House reportedly picks Kennedy deputy to replace fired CDC chief

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      The White House has reportedly chosen a deputy of Robert F Kennedy Jr to serve as the acting head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a decision that comes as the standoff over the firing of director Susan Monarez, has deepened, with Monarez’s lawyers claiming she will not depart unless Donald Trump himself removes her.The Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing two people familiar with the decision, that the White House has selected Jim O’Neill, currently the deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. The decision would give Kennedy a CDC chief who will be on board with his efforts to overhaul federal vaccine policy, the Post reported.Monarez, an infectious disease specialist who was confirmed as CDC chief just a month ago, was fired on Wednesday, according to a statement from the HHS, which gave no reason for the departure.However, the apparently ousted director has refused to be removed. Her lawyers claim that while the White House has said that she is “not aligned with the president’s agenda”, only the president himself can dismiss her.“As a presidential appointee, senate confirmed officer, only the president himself can fire her,” Monarez’s lawyer Mark Zaid posted on Bluesky.“For this reason, we reject notification Dr Monarez has received as legally deficient and she remains as CDC Director. We have notified the White House Counsel of our position.”A spokesperson for Trump, Kush Desai, said: “As her attorney’s statement makes abundantly clear, Susan Monarez is not aligned with the President’s agenda of Making America Healthy Again. Since Susan Monarez refused to resign despite informing HHS leadership of her intent to do so, the White House has terminated Monarez from her position with the CDC.”Meanwhile, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at her press briefing that a replacement for Monarez would be announced “very soon”.The decision to remove Monarez has sparked further turmoil within the CDC, with four of its other senior leaders resigning over what they condemned as political interference in their work, budget cuts and the spread of misinformation under the Trump administration.The CDC is ultimately overseen by Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary who is known for founding an anti-vaccine group and in his current role has cut funding for medical research, removed scientific advisers and on Wednesday restricted the use of Covid vaccines for Americans.“First it was independent advisory committees and career experts. Then it was the dismissal of seasoned scientists. Now, Secretary Kennedy and HHS have set their sights on weaponizing public health for political gain and putting millions of American lives at risk,” Monarez’s lawyers said in a statement.“When CDC Director Susan Monarez refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts, she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda. For that, she has been targeted.”Monarez and Kennedy clashed over vaccine policy, while CDC leaders were angry and upset over how the administration handled a deadly situation earlier this month when a gunman fired upon the agency’s headquarters in Atlanta, killing a police officer, according to the New York Times.The four senior officials to resign from the CDC are Debra Houry, the chief medical officer; Daniel Jernigan, the vaccine safety chief; Jennifer Layden, head of the office for public health data; and Demetre Daskalakis, who ran the office that issues vaccine recommendations.On social media, Bernie Sanders, an independent US senator who serves as the ranking member on the health, education, labor and pensions committee, said that the attempt to fire Monarez was “outrageous” and demanded a hearing.“Vaccines save lives. Period,” Sanders said on X. More

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      RFK Jr faces calls to quit as CDC chief fired and senior staff resign: ‘an embarrassment’

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      It’s been a tumultuous week for US health agencies, with the departure of several top officials, uncertainty around new Covid vaccine restrictions, and even more experts calling for the removal of top health official Robert F Kennedy Jr.The director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Susan Monarez, was fired by the Trump White House after some controversy, and four other top officials also resigned.“[The] CDC basically imploded yesterday and now it’s truly in shambles,” said Katelyn Jetelina, an epidemiologist and former senior adviser for the CDC. “This is a national security risk to Americans. Without steady-headed, evidence-informed leadership, everything from outbreaks to data to chronic diseases to injury is in jeopardy.”Kennedy also released controversial and confusing restrictions on Covid vaccines on Wednesday.“I’m worried that these confusing changes will cause chaos in the vaccine distribution system that will make it harder for people–even those at high risk of severe illness–to get the Covid vaccines they may want,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, a professor of epidemiology and director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University school of public health.The chaos on Wednesday intensified scrutiny of Kennedy after controversial moves on vaccines and the shooting at the CDC reportedly motivated by anti-vaccine briefs.Kennedy “has to go”, said Colin Carlson, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Yale University’s school of public health, who has joined other health professionals to call for his resignation or termination.Monarez, who was confirmed as the CDC head only weeks ago on July 31, was released from her post on Wednesday evening per a post on X by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).But lawyers representing Monarez, Mark S. Zaid and Abbe Lowell, responded in a statement posted to Bluesky that she had neither resigned nor been fired.“She will not resign,” Zaid wrote.Monarez had refused to “rubber-stamp reckless, unscientific directives,” the statement said. An hour and a half later, the White House doubled down and said Monarez had officially been fired.Four other top officials at the CDC also resigned on Wednesday including Debra Houry, the CDC’s chief medical officer; Demetre Daskalakis, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; Daniel Jernigan, the director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; and Jennifer Layden, director of the office of public health data, surveillance and technology.Daskalakis wrote in his resignation letter that he had “never experienced such radical non-transparency, nor have I seen such unskilled manipulation of data to achieve a political end”.Daskalakis, a key figure in the Covid, mpox, and bird flu responses, added that “no CDC subject matter expert from my Center has ever briefed the Secretary” – during the worst measles outbreak in the US in decades that left two children and one adult dead.Earlier on Wednesday, Kennedy announced on X that updated mRNA Covid boosters were being approved for people “at higher risk”. There was no press release from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).The Pfizer vaccine is approved for anyone who is 5 years old or older with health conditions. The emergency use authorization for Pfizer’s pediatric vaccine was rescinded, as the Guardian previously reported might happen – which means it is no longer available to children under 5.The Moderna vaccine is approved for anyone over the age of 6 months with health conditions. That appears to mean there are no Covid vaccines available for children or adults without health conditions, as the summer Covid wave intensifies.Yet Kennedy also appeared to contradict himself in the post, writing: “These vaccines are available for all patients who choose them after consulting with their doctors.”Kennedy “very much contradicted himself yesterday, making a confusing situation even more confusing”, Jetelina said.FDA head Marty Makary said on X that any adult may choose to get the Covid vaccine. The officials seem to be referring to a practice known as off-label use, where a physician prescribes a medication for a use other than what it was approved for, Nuzzo said.“It’s possible for people who are not eligible to get them off label. But whether they will practically be able to do that is another question,” she said.In some states, pharmacists and other vaccinators are unable to administer vaccines to people who are not explicitly eligible.“It’s also dubious whether doctors will be willing to vaccinate off label, possibly worrying about legal risks. We’re already hearing about pregnant women being unable to get Covid vaccines after the secretary tweeted,” Nuzzo said.It’s not yet clear which higher-risk conditions may qualify. The CDC has a list for previous vaccines, but in May top FDA officials proposed a more stringent list of conditions. The proposed list included pregnancy, the recommendation for which Kennedy removed in May.There is confusion about whether patients may self-attest to a condition or if they need to provide proof – which may make it difficult for pharmacists and other vaccinators to interpret and implement the new rules. These restrictions may also make it harder for people to access the vaccines even when they’re eligible.“This is another way to reduce access to vaccines: Mass confusion,” Jetelina said.Usually the CDC’s independent advisory committee on immunization practices (ACIP) meets to issue recommendations for the updated shots. Right now, the ACIP website lists the August/September meeting as “TBD”. These recommendations affect insurance coverage of the vaccines.This week’s moves are only part of the bedlam currently within US health agencies.On Tuesday, Kennedy said in a cabinet meeting that a fast-paced research project on autism was to identify “certain interventions” that are “almost certainly causing autism”. He said these results would be announced in September.This project, which included the creation of a national research registry of autistic people, has been panned by researchers and advocates as an unscientific attempt to link vaccines to autism.Last week, the CDC appointed Retsef Levi, a professor of operations management at the MIT Sloan school of management, to lead an ACIP task force on Covid vaccines. Levi has said mRNA vaccines “cause serious harm including death, especially among young people”, adding: “We have to stop giving them immediately!”Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington, called on Wednesday for Kennedy to be fired, writing: “we cannot let RFK Jr. burn what’s left of CDC.”Kennedy is “an embarrassment to both sides of the aisle”, said Carlson. “Seeing Patty Murray and the American Public Health Association (APHA) come to the same conclusion – that RFK has to go – gives me a lot of hope. Let’s fight. I think we can win.” More

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      CDC in crisis: who are the top officials resigning or being forced out?

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      A dispute over the dismissal of Susan Monarez, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has intensified, with her attorneys asserting she will not leave unless the president himself takes action.Monarez was officially removed late on Wednesday following a heated exchange in which the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, attempted to oust her, according to the White House. Her lawyer has countered that Monarez has no intention of resigning.As she was confirmed by the Senate, unlike previous CDC directors, Monarez technically serves at the will of the president, so Kennedy alone may not have had the authority to terminate her.Monarez, an infectious disease expert, was sworn in just a month ago by Kennedy but soon found herself at odds with him over vaccine policy, according to individuals familiar with the matter. In the wake of her removal, four senior CDC leaders abruptly resigned, apparently out of frustration with Kennedy’s approach to vaccines and his management style.Here’s a breakdown of the CDC leaders involved.Susan Monarez Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention View image in fullscreenMonarez is a microbiologist with bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Wisconsin. She joined the CDC as principal deputy director in January 2025, briefly served as acting director, and was confirmed by the Senate as the agency’s 21st director on 31 July. She became the first director without a medical degree and the first confirmed under a 2023 law.On 27 August, she was dismissed over conflicts about vaccine policy, a move her legal team has argued was improper because only the president has the authority to remove her.Debra HouryFormer chief medical officer and deputy director for program and science at the CDCView image in fullscreenHoury, a physician with degrees from Emory University and Tulane University, previously worked as an emergency doctor and at various facilities in Atlanta, as well as serving in academic leadership roles. At the CDC, she served as chief medical officer and deputy director for program and science.She resigned in late August 2025 following Monarez’s removal, citing the spread of vaccine misinformation, looming budget reductions and political meddling that she said undermined the agency’s mission.Demetre DaskalakisFormer director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDCView image in fullscreenDaskalakis, a public health physician known for his leadership in HIV prevention and vaccination programs, led the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. He received his medical degree from the NYU School of Medicine and completed postgraduate medical training at Harvard Medical School in 2003, before joining the CDC in 2020 as director of the division of HIV/Aids Prevention.He resigned from the CDC on 28 August, publishing a letter that denounced political interference, data manipulation and what he called a decline in scientific integrity.Daniel JerniganFormer director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases at the CDCView image in fullscreenJernigan, a longtime CDC official, directed the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases and played a key role in influenza and pandemic preparedness. Jernigan first joined the CDC’s epidemic intelligence service in 1994 and worked in the respiratory diseases branch on the prevention and control of bacterial respiratory pathogens.He left his position in August 2025 after Monarez’s ouster, joining other top officials in objecting to what they saw as the politicization of science and diminished trust in the agency’s leadership.Jennifer LaydenFormer director of office of public health data, science, technology at the CDCView image in fullscreenLayden, who led the office of public health data, surveillance, and technology at the CDC, focused on modernizing outbreak tracking and response systems. Layden received both her doctor of medicine and her doctorate in epidemiology from the University of Illinois at Chicago.Formerly Illinois’ chief medical officer, she also resigned after Monarez’s removal in August 2025, warning about the damaging effects of political influence on science-based decision-making. More

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      Unhinged tweets and absurd self-promotion? Two can play at that game | Margaret Sullivan

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      Just when you thought Donald Trump was parody-proof, Gavin Newsom comes along to prove you wrong.Unhinged all-caps tweets with nonsensical punctuation? Insulting nicknames for political enemies? Self-promotional merchandise for sale?This will all sound familiar unless you have been living in a bubble for the past decade. But if the description conjures an orange-toned Republican in a golf cart – a wannabe dictator in a red tie down to his hefty thighs – your system needs an update.Because it turns out that Trump is not the only one who can play that game.The California governor has spent the last few weeks mercilessly trolling Trump and his Maga followers by flipping the script. His press office is blasting out long, illogical social media posts, depicting Newsom as a muscular Adonis ready to save the world and suggesting his image should be carved in stone on Mount Rushmore or grace the cover of Time magazine wearing a crown and a grin.It’s been a master class in flipping the script – and maybe in political gamesmanship, too. With his social media profile soaring and political coffers filling up, these moves could even help Newsom gain access to the very White House that Trump has tackily transformed into a miniature Mar-a-Lago.Newsom’s counterpunching has earned the approval of everyone from the former president Barack Obama to Steve Bannon, the disreputable architect of some of Trump’s worst moves.“He’s no Trump but … he’s at least getting up there,” Bannon told Politico. “He looks like the only person in the Democratic party who is organizing a fight that they feel they can win.”Obama endorsed the more serious side of what Newsom is up to – praising as “smart, measured, responsible” the governor’s plan to counter the recent Republican gerrymandering of Texas congressional districts with a redistricting measure in California to benefit Democrats.But Newsom’s newfound prominence isn’t pleasing everyone. The pro-Trump commenters on Fox News are disapproving, as if they haven’t spent a decade cheering the same techniques. Sean Hannity, the network’s chief Trump whisperer, trashed the trolling as a “performative confrontational style” that only works with “the loony radical base”.If that sounds familiar, so did the all-caps response from Newsom’s press office: “FOX HATES THAT I AM AMERICA’S FAVORITE GOVERNOR (‘RATINGS KING’) SAVING AMERICA – WHILE TRUMP CAN’T EVEN CONQUER THE ‘BIG’ STAIRS ON AIR FORCE ONE ANY MORE!!! … FOX IS LOSING IT BECAUSE WHEN I TYPE, AMERICA NOW WINS!!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.”And Trump himself is clearly triggered. Weeks ago, he suggested Newsom should be arrested. More recently he dusted off an old nickname: “Newscum”.But here, too, Newsom’s team punched back, posting a simple diss – three snowflake emojis.The script-switching is clever, and often downright funny; the humor is effective partly because Newsom’s real-life persona stands in stark contrast to Trump’s.Newsom is the California pretty boy – he looks like he eats only kale and quinoa, with an occasional helping of asparagus. His politics are progressive, if not sharply defined, and he is married to a woman of career accomplishment, Jennifer Siebel Newsom. She’s a documentary film-maker and actor, who (cover your ears, woke-fearing Magaworld!) has updated the role of first lady with a more gender neutral title: “First Partner.”The Democrats’ old aspiration, expressed by Michelle Obama, was “when they go low, we go high”. Too often that has translated into passivity and ineptitude. But since the low-high approach has failed – the Democrats are powerless on the national level – Newsom’s moves are energizing.It’s too bad, of course, that insults and absurd memes have become the American way. But at least Newsom, and his social media team, are awfully good at it.As for where it all leads, maybe the answer is nowhere. Newsom’s counterpunch may be just another distraction as the nation falls into authoritarianism right before our eyes.The historian and author Garrett Graff wrote this week in his Doomsday Scenario newsletter that we’re already there: “The United States, just months before its 250th birthday as the world’s leading democracy, has tipped over the edge into authoritarianism and fascism … faster than I imagined possible.”Can strong leadership and a decisive, blue-wave vote in 2026’s midterms and 2028’s presidential election yank America back up?If so, radical change is necessary. Newsom’s approach – if combined with a strong, clear message of economic populism – could be a part of that.It could end up being not just funny but crucially important.Given where things stand, it’s worth a try.

      Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture More

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      Trump serious about pursuing a third term, Gavin Newsom warns

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      Donald Trump is gravely serious about running for a third term in violation of the US constitution, California governor Gavin Newsom said on Wednesday, warning Americans to “wake up” to what he described as the president’s flagrant disregard for democratic norms.“I don’t think Donald Trump wants another election,” Newsom, a Democrat, said during a live interview at a summit hosted by Politico in Sacramento. “This guy doesn’t believe in free, fair elections.”Newsom, who has gained national attention in recent weeks for his merciless trolling of Trump online and who is widely considered a presidential contender, said he had a stack of two dozen “Trump 2028” hats sent to him by the president’s supporters.“You think he’s joking about 2028?” Newsom asked the audience. Noting Trump’s ambitious – and controversial – plans to build a 90,000-square-foot state ballroom off the East Wing of the White House, replete with gold trim that echoes the one he built at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Newsom remarked: “Who spends $200m on a ballroom at their home and then leaves the house?”“The rule of law is being replaced by the rule of Don,” Newsom declared.The governor has previously warned that Trump would attempt to cling to power beyond his term, as he did in 2020, when he sought to overturn Joe Biden’s victory with baseless claims of election fraud – a campaign that culminated in the January 6 attack on the Capitol by his supporters attempting to halt the certification of the results.But on Wednesday, he added a new data point to his case, revealing that Trump had raised the subject during a 90-minute Oval Office meeting in February, when the governor had traveled to Washington to push for federal disaster aid that the newly inaugurated president had threatened to withhold after deadly wildfires in Los Angeles. According to Newsom, Trump pointed to a portrait of Franklin D Roosevelt, the only US president who served more than two terms in office.“I said, ‘I know exactly what you mean,’” Newsom said. “And then he went on and on about the third term.”It is unusual for a political leader, especially a sitting governor, to divulge details of an Oval Office exchange with the president. But Newsom appeared unfazed by the breach of protocol. “Apparently there are no rules any more,” he said.Pressed on what else was discussed, he said the conversation also touched on what he described as the president’s “crypto grift” drawing the observation from Trump that a “meme coin” was “not even a coin”.Though Trump has said he would be an “eight-year president” – and is barred by the constitution from serving a third-term – he has repeatedly entertained the possibility in public. Citing Roosevelt’s four election wins as a precedent, Trump has suggested that there may be ways to circumvent the 22nd amendment – adopted after Roosevelt’s election to a fourth term – that states: “No person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice.”Asked earlier this month whether he would run again, Trump said “no, probably not.” But then he added: “I’d like to run. I have the best poll numbers I’ve ever had.”During the interview, Newsom implored Democrats to stand up and “fight fire with fire” as he was doing in California with a redistricting proposal that would offset a Trump-sought gerrymander to secure five more Republican seats in Texas. Californians will vote in November on whether to temporarily override the state’s independent redistricting commission and adopt new congressional maps that would give Democrats more of an advantage in five Republican-held US House districts.Newsom’s more combative posture – especially his online mockery of Trump and his Republican allies – has seemed to strike a nerve. This week, Trump fired back, calling the California governor a “nice guy” who “looks good” but who was also “incompetent”.Newsom on Wednesday implored Americans to take Trump’s threats seriously.“Wake up,” he said. “We’re losing this country in real time. This is not bloviation, this is not exaggeration.” More