California Gov. Gavin Newsom is facing criticism for sharing AI-generated memes that he previously sought to restrict in the state because, after all, he’s a Democrat and Democrats are the most hypocritical creatures on the planet.
On Wednesday, Newsom posted an edited clip from Vice President J.D. Vance’s appearance on Fox News that depicted Vance as a Minion and altered his voice. The governor also shared a similar meme featuring House Speaker Mike Johnson:
Beyond lame. Democrats couldn’t come up with an original thought if their lives depended on it.
Kyle Mann, editor in chief of the satirical site The Babylon Bee, which has sued Newsom over California’s political speech and AI-related restrictions, noted the irony of the governor sharing the memes.
“Gavin should be thankful we at @TheBabylonBee sued the state of California and got the law he signed to stop people from parodying politicians using A.I. overturned,” he wrote, sharing the governor’s tweet. In August, a federal district judge ruled the two laws, AB 2839 and AB 2655, are unconstitutional.
According to the Alliance Defending Freedom, which handled the suit:
In two separate lawsuits, The Babylon Bee v. Bonta and Rumble v. Bonta, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys represent satire website The Babylon Bee, California attorney and blogger Kelly Chang Rickert, and Rumble, operator of a large video-sharing platform that hosts a variety of content, including political commentary.
The two laws challenged in the lawsuits are AB 2839, which targets and punishes speakers for engaging in certain political commentary, including posting satirical memes and parodies of politicians, and AB 2655, which requires large online platforms to act as the government’s censor and remove certain political commentary from their sites. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California found both laws to be unconstitutional.
“Making fun of politicians and criticizing the government is a core First Amendment right. That includes using new technology to create parody campaign ads or satirical memes,” said ADF Senior Counsel Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse, who argued before the court. “The court was right to rein in California’s blatant censorship. We can’t trust the government to decide what is true in our online political debates.”
“Our job is hard enough when our jokes keep coming true, as if they were prophecies,” said The Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon. “But it becomes significantly more difficult when self-serving politicians abuse their power to try to control public discourse and clamp down on comedy. We’re pleased the court recognized the First Amendment secures our right to tell jokes, even ones the government doesn’t like.”
Lame and hypocritical. Yeah, that’s the Democratic Party’s modus operandi. And this clown Newsom wants to be president. Fat chance.