Politics
Newsom Roasts Trump’s ‘185 IQ’ Claim
By Jake Beardslee · December 19, 2025
California Governor Gavin Newsom publicly mocked President Donald Trump after Trump claimed that modern lawnmowers have become so complicated due to environmental regulations that they require an exceptionally high IQ to operate.
The exchange followed Trump’s comments criticizing environmental rules he said have made farming equipment more expensive and impractical. During those remarks, Trump said, “Farming equipment has gotten too expensive. They put these environmental excesses on the equipment, which don’t do a damn thing except make it complicated, make it impractical, and frankly, you really have to be, in many cases, you need about 185 IQ to turn on a lawnmower.”
Newsom responded on social media by sharing an image of Trump shouting at a child mowing the White House lawn and adding his own jab, asking, “Do you have a 185 IQ?”
Trump continued his remarks by pointing to his personal experience with golf courses, stating, “I have a lot of golf courses all over the place. I know more about grass than any human being, I think, anywhere in the world.”
The confrontation reflects Newsom’s increasingly aggressive online posture, which has included directly echoing and challenging Trump’s rhetoric rather than responding through traditional political channels.
Trump, for his part, has accused media outlets of deliberately undermining him. In a separate online post, he wrote, “After all the work I have done with Medical Exams, Cognitive Exams, and everything else, I actually believe it’s seditious, perhaps even treasonous, for The New York Times, and others, to consistently do FAKE reports in order to libel and demean ‘THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES’.”
The clash comes amid broader scrutiny of California’s fiscal position. A recent report found that higher state spending combined with reduced federal funding has widened the state’s budget deficit. Although gains in the technology sector and stock market are expected to generate additional revenue, much of that money is slated for schools and reserve funds.
Under Newsom’s leadership, California’s budget has expanded significantly, growing from $208 billion in the 2019–20 fiscal year to more than $320 billion in 2024.