Gavin Newsom Warns 'Unhinged' Donald Trump Is 'Becoming More Dangerous' Amid Iran Conflict

Gavin Newsom claims Donald Trump isn't "the same guy" he once was.

During the Tuesday, March 24, episode of Politico’s "On the Road with Jonathan Martin" podcast, the California governor, 58, called the 79-year-old president "unmoored, unhinged and flailing."

"He's a punch-drunk boxer in so many ways, and he's becoming more dangerous," Newsom said, explaining that he first made the realization last summer when Trump announced he was federalizing the national guard.

"The National Guard sent 700 active duty Marines to the United States of America, not overseas, in L.A.," he continued. "That's when things shifted in a much darker way."

Per the BBC, Trump "took control of the California National Guard to respond to protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles" in June 2025, despite Newsom's objection, marking the first deployment of state troops without a governor's cooperation in 60 years.

Newsom's remarks come after the Trump administration, along with Israel, launched a war in Iran last month without informing U.S. allies. The move sparked intense backlash from both political parties.

Later on in their conversation, Martin brought up the adversaries' meeting backstage at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January.

"It was a fascinating conversation," Newsom divulged. "Where you know, he's just saying, 'We used to get along great! What the he-- happened? We’re gonna be great!'"

"He wants to win you over in person," Martin responded, to which Newsom replied, "He wants to win everyone over."

The governor went on to say, "I admire that on some level. I mean there’s a human quality to that. He needs to be needed. He needs be loved. But then you get into some clinical components of that as well."

Newsom — who's considered a top contender for president in 2028 — added that he doesn't "wake up every day to try to find, you know, a crowbar to put in the spokes of his wheel" but that he's "gonna stand [his] ground."

"We're going to have the backs of our diverse communities, and we're going to fight back," the father-of-four concluded.

Newsom has become a sworn enemy of Trump since he took office for the second time in January 2025, often reprimanding the POTUS on social media.

Earlier this year, he branded the POTUS a "deranged, habitual liar" after the president announced a fraud investigation would be launched in California.

"He spends his days posting whatever garbage his shriveled little brain can cough up — and Fox News dutifully treats it like the Lord’s scripture," Newsom said at the time.