Gavin Newsom Is Now More Hated By The Internet Than His Ex Kimberly Guilfoyle

Sheila Fitzgerald/Shutterstock

When Gavin Newsom and Kimberly Guilfoyle split, he walked away with much more goodwill than his increasingly right-leaning ex-wife, but the tides have shifted in her favor. The governor of California is being hit from all sides as criticism about his handling of the unprecedented California wildfires, which have decimated communities in Pacific Palisades, Malibu, and more. Since January 7, 2025, the fires have claimed the lives of over two dozen people, displaced over 150,000 evacuees — including a long list of celebrities who've lost their homes in the flames. The fires have caused what experts are estimating to be upwards of $150 billion worth of damage, according to AccuWeather (via Fortune).

The main complaint attached to Newsom is his reported decision to dramatically decrease the Los Angeles Fire Department's budget in 2024. Over the past few days, there have been reports claiming that Newsom slashed $100 million of the state's wildfire prevention budget, which folks feel inhibited the firefighters' ability to battle the flames. While speaking with Fox News, Newsom's team swiftly denied this narrative. "The governor has doubled the size of our firefighting army, built the world's largest aerial firefighting fleet and the state has increased the forest management ten-fold since he took office," said Izzy Gardon, the governor's director of communications in a statement. "Facts matter."

However, this is far from the only fault that social media has found in Newsom amid the terrifying California wildfires.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Despite his past popularity, there have always been plenty of celebs and fellow politicians who couldn't stand Gavin Newsom — but now it seems that number has multiplied tenfold. Another huge critique about Newsom centers on the way he has responded to President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk, who've launched several public attacks against him in the wake of the Los Angeles Fires. Trump, for his part, blamed the fires on Newsom and urged him to resign from his post on his Truth Social platform, while Musk took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to throw digs of his own toward the governor.

In one post, Musk retweeted a video of Newsom speaking out against looters taking advantage of the fires, with a caption that claimed he'd previously "decriminalized looting." Newsom hit back by on his X account by claiming Musk was spreading misinformation, and that looting had always been illegal in California. In a different post, Newsom posted a video of Musk being "exposed by firefighters for his lies." However, some felt it wasn't the best use of his time and energy. "Gov — you have better fires to deal with...and they are real...not social media outrage of the moment," tweeted journalist Chris Cuomo.

Meanwhile, actor James Woods claimed that Newsom's response to the fires would derail any plans he had to make a run for the White House in the future. "The Palisades Fire will prove to be an 'extinction level event' for Gavin Newsom's presidential aspirations" he wrote. "The photos of him with his slick smirk, greasy hair, and hands in his pocket like he's posing for a Marlboro Man ad are career enders. And good riddance."