In an epic social media takedown, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent demolished Gavin Newsom, the woke Governor of California, for threatening to withhold tax payments to Trump’s administration. Bessent was having none of Newsom’s nonsense and blasted the governor for “Criminal tax evasion.”
For context, Los Angeles has been rocked with massive riots since June 7, 2025, targeting ICE for enforcing immigration law. Instead of taking responsibility, Gavin Newsom has shifted responsibility to President Trump in a series of unhinged public statements.
In an unhinged post to X, formerly Twitter, on June 6, 2025, to threaten halting federal tax payments. The woke Democrat said, “Californians pay the bills for the federal government. We pay over $80 BILLION more in taxes than we get back. Maybe it’s time to cut that off, @realDonaldTrump.”
Starting his thread reacting to Newsom’s remarks, the Treasury Secretary skewered the woke California Democrat, saying, “Governor @GavinNewsom is threatening to commit criminal tax evasion. His plan: defraud the American taxpayer and leave California residents on the hook for unpaid federal taxes. (1/3).”
Building his case, he said, “I am certain most California businesses know that failing to pay taxes owed to the Treasury constitutes tax evasion and have no intention of following the dangerous path Governor @GavinNewsom is threatening.”
Continuing, he offered a chilling warning to cynical Democrats who want to follow in Newsom’s footsteps. Bessent said, “I would warn state officials, including payroll managers, that federal law attaches personal liability to an “attempt to evade or defeat tax.” (2/3)”
Concluding the thread, Treasury Secretary Bessent declared, “@GavinNewsom’s comments are extremely reckless. Instead of committing criminal tax evasion, Governor Newsom should consider a tax plan for California that follows the Trump Tax Cuts model and reduces the onerous state tax burden to allow families to keep more of their hard-earned money. (3/3)”
"*" indicates required fields
Annoyed by Newsom’s blatant hypocrisy, conservatives took to the comments to express their feelings. One such comment read, “13 states paid more in taxes than they received so Gavin needs to quit using this excuse and Donald just said he should he hasn’t done it so the big crybaby needs to do what the people of California elected him for and do his job as to which he has been failing to do so.”
Connecting these remarks to the recent explosion of violence in California, one user noted, “@GavinNewsom is raising state taxes July 1st. @CA_Dem intends to take more of our money to fund the NGOs who organized the LA riots on 6/7/2025. Would be great if @FBI @DOJCrimDiv would finally charge these NGOs in court and take their tax exempt status away. The professional “protest” signs have their names all over them. Enough is enough.”
Similarly annoyed, another user wrote, “He raised the small business payroll tax and told us small business owners we were responsible for paying the federal government loan California defaulted on. It was the final straw for me closing my union production company and moving my business to Florida and NYC.” Building on this point, one comment noted, “Can I have this option as well? Taxation is theft; if Newsom can withhold Taxes from the Feds, I should be able to withhold taxes from the Fed and the State. Let’s make it happen.”