California Governor Gavin Newsom used a string of posts on X over the weekend to ridicule former President Donald Trump’s one-word “Bela” message and to brand Trump “the most corrupt president in American history.” In the same online exchanges, Newsom warned that Trump is angling for “a third term in 2028,” telling followers to “wake up” and vowing that Democrats will “fight like hell.” Speaking at UCLA, Newsom added that the university would not “sell its soul like Harvard, Brown, Penn or Columbia,” and said he would “never work for Donald Trump,” underscoring a broader repudiation of the former president. His account also shared images and quips mimicking Trump’s typing style, amplifying criticism of the Republican’s social-media habits. The barrage drew swift pushback from conservative commentators, who accused the governor of boosting extremist or antisemitic accounts and of relying on AI-generated content. The episode nonetheless stoked chatter about Newsom’s national ambitions: prediction platform Polymarket reported that betting odds on a Newsom 2028 presidential bid rose two percentage points amid the online skirmish.