“Don’t let the President of the United States bully you”: Gavin Newsom fires back after Trump targets his dyslexia

Gavin Newsom is turning one of Donald Trump’s ugliest attacks into a message for kids who deal with learning disabilities themselves. In a post Monday night, the California governor wrote, “To every kid with a learning disability: don’t let anyone — not even the President of the United States — bully you. Dyslexia isn’t a weakness. It’s your strength.” The post landed after Trump again went after Newsom’s dyslexia in public, dragging a learning disability into a political fight and setting off a fresh backlash.

The context here is what made the post hit so hard. Earlier Monday, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that Newsom had “learning disabilities” and said, “I think a president should not have learning disabilities.” He kept going, adding, “Presidents can’t have a learning disability,” and called the governor “dumb.” Reuters reported it was at least the third time in recent days Trump had targeted Newsom over dyslexia, which the governor has discussed publicly in interviews and in his new book.

This did not start Monday, either. CNN’s transcript of Trump’s remarks from earlier in the week shows him framing Newsom’s dyslexia as a “cognitive deficiency” and mocking the fact that Newsom has said he does not read speeches as governor because of it. That is a big part of why Newsom’s response felt bigger than a normal clapback. He was not just defending himself. He was answering a line of attack that many people heard as a swipe at millions of Americans with dyslexia or other learning differences.

Newsom has been open about dyslexia for years, and Reuters noted he recently talked about his lower SAT score and his experience with reading and spelling as part of that conversation. Dyslexia is a learning disability that affects word reading and spelling accuracy and speed, but it does not mean somebody lacks intelligence or leadership ability. That is why Trump’s comments lit up such a nerve. It was not just a shot at a rival. It touched a subject that families, students and disability advocates take personally.

The political angle is obvious too. Newsom is widely seen as a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender, and Trump has been escalating his rhetoric against him while the two keep trading shots. Reuters reported that Newsom’s team responded to Trump’s Monday comments with a tongue-in-cheek video clipping Trump’s words to make it sound like he had called Newsom “the president of the United States.” Newsom himself had already blasted Trump last week after another dyslexia-related jab.

But the reason this particular exchange is getting so much traction is that Newsom found a way to widen the frame. Instead of only making it about him, he turned it toward kids who have sat in classrooms feeling embarrassed, underestimated or singled out. That is what gave the post its punch. In one line, he made Trump look like the schoolyard bully and cast dyslexia not as some disqualifying flaw, but as something people can carry with pride.