'Grow up': Newsom slams Trump after DOJ rules it can strip Biden-era protections from CA lands
California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom appeared to take a personal affront to the Trump administration considering the rescission of national monument status from two natural areas in the Golden State enshrined into protection by former President Joe Biden.
"This is just getting petty. Grow up," Newsom said in response to news that Trump might abolish the Chuckwalla and Sattitla Highlands National Monuments, the former of which is close to the extant Joshua Tree National Monument.
"If it’s a day ending in Y, it’s another day of Trump’s war on California," Newsom’s office said in a separate X post.
The Trump Justice Department issued a memo ruling that the president’s power is reversible by future administrations and offered examples of similar actions.
DOJ ARGUES TRUMP MAY CANCEL BIDEN-ERA NATIONAL MONUMENTS
That decision nullified former Attorney General Homer Cummings’ 1938 assertion that presidents could not abolish such areas of protection.
The administration expressed concern that enshrining such large areas of land under federal control would prevent them from being able to be developed for economically beneficial purposes in the future – a claim conversely derided by environmentalists.
The Justice Department opined that "revocation of prior monument designations" can be found to either never have been or no longer deserving of protection under the Antiquities Act of 1906, according to the Washington Post.
Previously, Chief Justice John Roberts gave his blessing to cases challenging the usage of the Antiquities Act in prohibiting economic activities on federal lands and seabeds, the Post reported.
On Monday, Newsom further mocked the Trumps, presenting a faux advertisement tagline for podcaster Benny Arthur Johnson’s interview with Donald Trump Jr. on the idea that border czar Tom Homan could arrest the governor for "working against ICE and [its] deportations."
"Promo code ARREST for 15% off your Trump Phone," Newsom quipped on X.
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The governor also claimed a social media post by Trump expressed the notion of seeking to incite violence in Democrat-run states and use it as a proxy to "militarize our cities."
He also slammed House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., for telling him to focus on "lawlessness and crime" in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
The governor retorted that the Show-Me State purportedly has a 117% higher homicide rate than California.
"California’s Green New Scam energy policies are a disaster for the state. Their energy shortages, outrageous energy prices, and continued assault on American energy have hurt Californians and enriched the Democrats’ donors while selling out the citizens of the Golden State," White House spokesman Harrison Fields said of Newsom’s barbs.
"Freeing up federal lands in an effort to secure American energy dominance is not petty. We wouldn’t expect Gavin to understand adult decisions that help his state, considering his legacy of failure."