Elon Musk and California Governor Gavin Newsom are in a public dispute after the governor’s office made a personal jab about Musk’s estranged transgender daughter.
The exchange began after America PAC, a political action committee founded by Musk, posted a clip of Newsom speaking with New York Times columnist Ezra Klein.
Responding to a question about transgender athletes in women’s sports, Newsom said in the interview, “There’s no governor that’s signed more pro-trans legislation than I have.”
In response to America PAC’s post, Newsom’s press office wrote on X, “Correct. We’re sorry your daughter hates you, Elon.”
Why It Matters
The clash with Musk is the latest example of an increasingly aggressive online strategy by Newsom’s press team. In recent months, the Democratic governor’s office has adopted a confrontational tone on social media that mimics President Donald Trump’s style, using memes, all-caps posts and satire to boost engagement.
What To Know
In a direct reply to Newsom’s press office, Musk wrote: “I assume you’re referring to my son, Xavier, who has a tragic mental illness caused by the evil woke mind virus you push on vulnerable children. I love Xavier very much and hope he recovers.”
He added, “My daughters are Azure, Exa (she goes by Y) and Arcadia, and they do indeed love me very much.”
In 2022, Vivian Jenna Wilson, Musk’s transgender daughter, filed legal paperwork to change her gender and name, removing Musk’s surname.
In the petition, she wrote that she “no longer lives with” or “wishes to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form.”
Wilson, now a media personality and model, has publicly criticized her father, calling the billionaire “cartoonishly evil” and a “pathetic man-child” in social media posts. She has also said she struggled financially after cutting ties with him.
Musk has repeatedly misgendered Wilson and claimed her transition was the result of manipulation. “I lost my son, essentially,” he told interviewer Jordan Peterson in 2024. “The reason it’s called deadnaming is because your son is dead.”
He has said the experience led him to vow to “destroy the woke mind virus.”
Newsom and Musk previously feuded over a California law that bars schools from notifying parents without a student’s consent when the student identifies as a different gender. Newsom signed the law in July 2024, making California the first state to adopt such a policy.
Musk called the legislation “the final straw” and announced in the same month that he would move the headquarters of SpaceX and his social media platform X from California to Texas. Tesla, another company Musk leads, relocated its headquarters to Texas in 2021.
What People Are Saying
California Governor Gavin Newsom said during an interview with The New York Times: “I want to see trans kids. I have a trans godson. There’s no governor that’s signed more pro-trans legislation than I have. No one has been a stronger advocate for the LGBTQ community. But you have to accommodate the reality of those whose rights are being taken away as we advance the rights of the trans community, in terms of the fairness of athletic competition.”
Elon Musk said in a 2024 interview with the conservative podcaster Jordan Peterson: “I was essentially tricked into signing documents for one of my older boys, Xavier. This was really before I had any understanding of what was going on, and we had COVID going on, so there was a lot of confusion, and I was told Xavier might commit suicide.”
Vivian Jenna Wilson wrote on Threads in July 2024: “He doesn’t know what I was like as a child because he quite simply wasn’t there, and in the little time that he was I was relentlessly harassed for my femininity and queerness.”
What Happens Next
Newsom’s press office has signaled it will continue its Trump-style strategy on social media—rapid, aggressive and often meme-driven.
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