Vice President JD Vance lashed out at Gavin Newsom Wednesday, accusing the Democratic California governor of “encouraging crazy people” to attack law enforcement — hours after a morning shooting targeted an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Dallas.
Vance’s fiery rebuke also followed the Golden State governor’s appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” where the potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender argued the Trump administration is an “authoritarian government.”
“The very people who keep us safe ought to be honored and protected and praised by Democrats and Republicans alike,” the VP said during an event in Concord, NC.
“It is time to stop the rhetorical assaults on law enforcement — because here’s what happens when Democrats, like [California Gov.] Gavin Newsom, say that these people are part of an authoritarian government; when the left-wing media lies about what they’re doing; when they lie about who they’re arresting; when they lie about the actual job of law enforcement, what they’re doing is encouraging crazy people to go and commit violence.
“You don’t have to agree with my immigration policies, you don’t have to agree with Donald Trump’s immigration policies, but if your political rhetoric encourages violence against our law enforcement, you can go straight to hell and you have no place in the political conversation of the United States of America.”
Newsom responded to Vance’s remarks in a social media post, writing: “No thanks, JD. I will not be going ‘straight to hell’ today.”
“Though when I watch you speak I certainly feel like I’m already there,” the governor added.
Newsom argued that Americans are “losing confidence and trust in law enforcement” as a result of Trump’s surge in immigration enforcement operations, during his Tuesday appearance on Colbert’s late-night show.
Newsom alleged that federal immigration agents had recently “pulled out guns and handcuffed” a disabled teenager in Los Angeles, before raging about “masked men jumping out of unmarked cars. People disappearing. No due process. No oversight. Zero accountability. Happening in the United States of America today.”
“People ask, ‘Well, is authoritarianism you being hyperbolic?’ Bulls—t we’re being hyperbolic,” he continued. “If you’re a black or brown community, it’s here in this country.
“These are not just authoritarian tendencies; these are authoritarian actions by an authoritarian government.”
One person was shot dead and at least two others injured at the ICE facility shooting in Dallas early Wednesday morning, authorities say.
The victims were migrant detainees, officials said, confirming that no law enforcement officers were hurt. From the roof of a nearby building, crazed sniper Joshua Jahn shot at an unmarked van that was transporting the migrants to the short-term ICE facility, according to police.
Jahn turned the gun on himself as police closed in, they added. The message “ANTI-ICE” was scrawled on unspent shell casings found near his body, officials revealed
