Elon Musk And Gavin Newsom Are Locked In A Bitter High School Feud
2025 will be remembered as the year California Governor Gavin Newsom learned to stir the pot just as effectively as President Donald Trump. Newsom has doled out nicknames that gave Trump a run for his money and brutally humbled JD Vance with scathing tweets as he changed his social media strategy to mimic that of the president's, leaving many MAGA supporters in a furor. Before the year was out, Newsom managed to direct a scathing post at someone else who used to be in Trump's inner circle — Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
In a social media spat that was reminiscent of a petty high school feud, Musk's PAC took to X (formerly Twitter) to post a clip of Newsom discussing transgender athletes in sports with The New York Times, quoting him, "California Governor Gavin Newsom: 'I want to see trans kids ... There's no governor that's done more pro-trans legislation than I have.'" Newsom was discussing the issue of fairness in sports where transgender athletes are concerned, noting, "You have to accommodate the reality of those whose rights are being taken away as we advance the rights of the trans community in terms of the fairness of athletic competition." Musk's post didn't include any context, and Newsom's press office retweeted it with the caption, "Correct. We're sorry your daughter hates you, Elon." The post was referring to Musk's transgender daughter, Vivian Wilson, who is estranged from her father and called him "cruel" and "uncaring and narcissistic" during a 2024 interview with NBC News.
Musk clapped back in the comments, referring to Vivian as "my son, Xavier, who has a tragic mental illness caused by the evil woke mind virus." He proceeded to name his other daughters, asserting that "they do indeed love me very much."
Musk and Newsom have had a tense relationship since 2020
His squabble with Gavin Newsom is fast becoming one of Elon Musk's messiest feuds, but their clash on X is hardly the first time the two men have butted heads. Back in 2020, as the pandemic raged on, Musk reopened his Tesla factory in California without Newsom's permission. The governor had made plans to authorize the reopening amid all the Covid-19 restrictions, but the tech billionaire wasn't in the mood to wait, and he wasn't shy about openly defying state laws either.
"Tesla is restarting production today against Alameda County rules. I will be on the line with everyone else," Musk posted on X in May 2020. This came after Newsom was very amicable towards the tech billionaire in a press conference and expressed his support for Musk's work. After taking matters into his own hands, Musk announced that he would be moving the factory out of the state of California to Texas.
Newsom seemed skeptical that the Tesla CEO would follow through, telling CNBC, "I've had a lot of conversations with him, and we're committed to the success and the innovation and the low-carbon, green growth economy that he's been promoting for decades and the state of California is accelerating in." However, it appears the two men weren't on the same page. Musk made good on his threats to move his factory out of the state, and by December 2020, he'd set up shop in Texas. When asked for comment about the move by The Wall Street Journal, Newsom's office failed to respond. Needless to say, the feud between the two men has been brewing for a while. They simply took it to the online sphere in 2025.