California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, is promising to deliver a “historic” press conference that “could be the worst day” of President Trump’s life.

Mr. Newsom gave Mr. Trump a 24-hour window to respond to his call for Texas to stop its mid-decade redistricting effort, which could give Republicans five more House seats. As the deadline passed with no apparent response, the governor made it clear that California Democrats will take action to pass their own maps.

“HUGE ‘HISTORIC’ EVENT — THURSDAY 11:30AM PACIFIC IN LOS ANGELES!!!  A ‘BEAUTIFUL RALLY’ / PRESS CONFERENCE WITH GAVIN CHRISTOPHER NEWSOM & STRONG DEMS. DEMOCRATS WILL DESTROY GREG ABBOTT’S ‘TOTALLY RIGGED MAPS.’ TREMENDOUS WORK IS BEING DONE.  DONALD TRUMP (THE CRIMINAL PRESIDENT) GET READY FOR THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PAYBACK YOU’VE EVER SEEN!!! COULD BE THE WORST DAY OF YOUR LIFE AS YOUR PRESIDENCY ENDS (DEMS RETAKE CONGRESS!),’ Mr. Newsom posted on X.

“AMERICA WILL BE LIBERATED — ‘LIBERATION DAY’ MANY ARE CALLING IT!!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER! — GCN.”

Speaking to a Democratic operative, Beto O’Rourke, Mr. Newsom said that the legislature will pass the maps next week and hold a special election on November 4, when voters will have the opportunity to approve or reject the maps.

“We’re going to fight fire with fire. We’re gonna neutralize whatever” Governor Greg Abbott does, he said. 

Earlier in the week, the California governor’s press team launched a trolling campaign apparently aimed at getting Mr. Trump to pressure Texas to back down from its redistricting plans. The posts mimicked the president’s distinctive social media style, including using nicknames, writing in apps, putting quotation marks around words for no apparent reason, and lots of exclamation points. 

The account for Mr. Newsom’s press team wrote on Tuesday, “FINAL WARNING DONALD TRUMP — MAYBE THE MOST IMPORTANT WARNING IN HISTORY! STOP CHEATING OR CALIFORNIA WILL REDRAW THE MAPS. AND GUESS WHO WILL ANNOUNCE IT THIS WEEK? GAVIN NEWSOM (MANY SAY THE MOST LOVED & HANDSOME GOVERNOR) AND A VERY POWERFUL TEAM. DON’T MAKE US DO IT!!!”

In another post, the press office said, “DONALD ‘TACO’ TRUMP,  AS MANY CALL HIM, ‘MISSED’ THE DEADLINE!!! CALIFORNIA WILL NOW DRAW NEW, MORE ‘BEAUTIFUL MAPS,’ THEY WILL BE HISTORIC AS THEY WILL END THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY (DEMS TAKE BACK THE HOUSE!). BIG PRESS CONFERENCE THIS WEEK WITH POWERFUL DEMS AND GAVIN NEWSOM — YOUR FAVORITE GOVERNOR — THAT WILL BE DEVASTATING FOR ‘MAGA.’ THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER! — GN.”

On Wednesday, the trolling continued, as the account said, “WHEN SPEAKER ‘LITTLE MAN’ JOHNSON IS STANDING IN ‘THE UNEMPLOYMENT LINE,’ HE CAN THANK DONALD ‘TACO’ J. TRUMP. TRUMP MISSED A SIMPLE DEADLINE — SOMETHING HE HAS OFTEN DONE WITH HIS MANY FAILED BUSINESSES — NOW CALIFORNIA WILL ‘FIRE’ HIM WITH NEW, ‘MORE BEAUTIFUL MAPS.’ HIGHLY ANTICIPATED, HISTORIC’ PRESS CONFERENCE WITH YOUR FAVORITE GOVERNOR GAVIN CHRISTOPHER NEWSOM!!!! THANK YOU FOR YOU ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER. — GCN.”

The account also fired back at Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, for criticizing California’s threat to redraw its congressional maps, writing, “The Thirst Queen has emerged. We will not be lectured on democracy by someone who lost to a cartoon mouse with gloves.”

The latter part of the post seemed to be a reference to a settlement between Disney and a board that oversees the district where Walt Disney World is situated. While both sides claimed victory, legal observers said that Mr. DeSantis and Disney both got wins in the settlement, and it was not clear victory for either side. 

Texas’s decision to redraw its maps with the goal of giving Republicans the chance to pick up five House seats in the 2026 elections has kicked off a new political battle as blue states, such as New York and California, are threatening to drastically redraw congressional maps to counteract Republicans’ maneuvering. 

State Democratic lawmakers in California are scheduled to release their new maps on Friday, which are expected to be drawn in a way that will make it easier for Democrats to pick up five House seats. 

Florida officials have said they are considering redrawing the state’s maps as well. The Florida house speaker, Daniel Perez, said last week he will establish a special committee to explore the idea of redrawing the congressional maps. Mr. DeSantis has expressed support for the idea.

While the social media bluster from Mr. Newsom is getting a lot of attention online, the intended target has, as of Wednesday afternoon, not taken the bait and responded — at least publicly. 

On Truth Social, Mr. Trump has spent the past two days focused on other adversaries, such as a former FBI director, James Comey, Senator Adam Schiff, and New York’s attorney general, Letitia James. 

He also criticized the “very unfair media” for its coverage of his upcoming meeting with President Vladimir Putin, saying news outlets are “constantly quoting fired losers and really dumb people like John Bolton who just said that, even though the meeting is on American soil, ‘Putin has already won.’”

“We are winning on EVERYTHING. The Fake News is working overtime (No tax on overtime!). If I got Moscow and Leningrad free, as part of the deal with Russia, the Fake News would say that I made a bad deal! But now they’ve been caught,” he said.

Despite venting about the “fake” coverage, Mr. Trump said it “doesn’t matter because we are winning on everything!!!”