After trolling President Donald Trump’s inability to stand for long periods of time, California Gov. Gavin Newsom may have found a solution for his struggling rival.
Newsom, 58, took aim at the MAGA leader’s appeasers while speaking at the California Economic Summit in Stockton on Oct. 22, teasing his new product that mocks the president and his loyal enablers in various fields.
“You will be seeing on my Patriot site, new knee pads that I’ll be sending out,” Newsom stated to the audience inside Stockton’s Adventist Health Arena.
He then directly called out corporate CEOs, universities, media companies, and law firms for “bending the knee” to Trump, 79, in the wake of his second presidential victory in the 2024 election.
“Wake up, everybody,” Newsom warned in the clip uploaded to the governor’s official X account. The former mayor of San Francisco also mocked Trump’s all-cap social media messaging.
His post included a caption that read, “YOUR KNEES LOOK VERY SORE FROM ALL YOUR GROVELING. THEY WILL EVEN BE SIGNED BY YOUR DEAR LEADER SINCE YOU LOVE HIM SO MUCH! YOU ARE WELCOME!!!!”
Other X users were quick to weigh in on Newsom’s latest effort at trolling Trump and his fellow Republicans. One person on the app simply replied, “Now this is perfect.” While another person added, “OMG I’m dying.”
“That’s some Olympic-level sarcasm right there. Might need to toss in a ‘limited edition MAGA-red’ version for authenticity,” a second poster suggested about the potential knee pads.
A third stated, “And don’t forget knee pads for Kristi and Karoline,” referring to Trump’s controversial Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
In contrast, a Trump fan fired back at Newsom by sharing a photo of Nancy Pelosi, dressed in red, and several others kneeling in the U.S. Capitol’s Emancipation Hall during an event on June 8, 2020. The gathering served as a moment of silence for George Floyd and others who lost their lives at the hands of police.
“Can you first please send your Democrat colleagues some signature knee pads?” they asked sarcastically.
He returned our later to inform followers of his sold-out line, blasting Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Senate Majority leader, John Thune.
“!!! SOLD OUT !!! WOW! Looks like @SpeakerJohnson bought all 219 of our knee pads for his delegation! Don’t worry, @LeaderJohnThune, we will restock soon!! We know many of you need them!”
In recent months, Newsom hasn’t just poked fun at Trump’s rhetoric or policies. He’s also shifted his focus to the president’s health, as concerns about appearance and speculation on how healthy he truly is remain a constant trending topic.
“Increasingly, this president appears unhinged, unmoored by reality and facts, seems listless,” he said about Trump on Oct. 16, before adding, “He seems, dare I say, in decline cognitively. And dare I say, forgive me, perhaps unfair, physically.”
Newsom made those remarks on the same day Trump complained during an Oval Office press conference about supposedly having to stand on his feet too long at a previous White House event.
“Yesterday, I did this and I stood for about an hour and a half as people spoke, and this time I’m sitting right here. And I’m going to watch you,” Trump told his administration officials in front of assembled reporters.
The governor has been using his tactic of trying to get under the skin of Trump and his MAGA followers by mimicking their leader’s brash communication style.
!!! SOLD OUT !!!
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) October 23, 2025
WOW! Looks like @SpeakerJohnson bought all 219 of our knee pads for his delegation!
Don’t worry, @LeaderJohnThune, we will restock soon!! We know many of you need them! pic.twitter.com/uyARZOtpPU
He first introduced his Trump-inspired merchandise in August, via his “Patriot Shop” online store that offers T-shirts, mugs, tank tops, and red hats that read “Newsom Was Right About Everything,” “The Chosen One,” and “Trump Is Not Hot.”
The shop reportedly sold $300,000 worth of merchandise in the first 24 hours of availability as right-wing pundits unintentionally promoted the website while criticizing Newsom.
“If Trump keeps handing us material, we’ll keep punching back with it,” Newsom spokesperson Hannah Milgrom told GQ in August. “The merch is flying, Dems are fired up, and we’re just getting started.” Trump is likely to provide more material for his rival to spoof.
