California Governor Gavin Newsom just turned one of Fox News’ favorite talking points back on the network — accusing it of launching its own “war on Christmas.”
On Sunday, the Democratic governor reposted a Fox Business clip to his press office’s X account with the caption: “Why is Fox News starting a war on Christmas?” The post was a sharp jab at the Rupert Murdoch–owned network’s long-running claim that liberals are waging a cultural crusade against Christmas.
Why is Fox News starting a war on Christmas? https://t.co/yOkxNXyfuf
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) December 14, 2025
The viral exchange came after Fox Business host Dagen McDowell, 56, mocked a Maryland family-owned Christmas tree farm that’s fighting a proposed power line project for Trump’s new AI expansion plan.
“You know what? Buy a fake tree,” McDowell said on The Big Money Show, prompting visible discomfort from her co-hosts. “It’s a tree farm! Not growing food.”
When co-host Brian Brenberg responded, “A dagger right in my heart,” McDowell doubled down, saying she couldn’t afford a real tree anyway.
The broadcast centered on Gaver Farm in Mount Airy, Maryland, where a proposed transmission line could cut through the property to deliver power to massive new AI data centers in Virginia — the largest concentration of such facilities in the world.
McDowell argued that the project was “necessary for the growth and stability of business,” insisting that Americans needed to “get on board” with industrial expansion.
Fox contributor Liz Peek, 76, added that resistance to the power lines was “part of the narrative hitting back against AI,” which she called “the best economic power we have right now.”
But Newsom and other Democrats saw something deeper — a culture clash over energy priorities, the environment, and corporate influence under President Donald Trump’s new economic agenda.
Newsom’s shot at Fox plays into a growing national role he’s carving out ahead of the 2028 presidential race. The governor has used climate policy and culture-war debates to contrast his leadership style with Trump’s — portraying himself as both pragmatic and unapologetically progressive.
At a recent climate summit in Brazil, Newsom told reporters that America’s energy policy “shouldn’t come at the expense of family farms, local traditions, or the planet.” His team later echoed that sentiment online, linking Fox’s defense of data center development to “corporate greed dressed up as patriotism.”
Meanwhile, President Trump’s latest executive order, signed Thursday, gives the federal government sweeping control over state regulation of artificial intelligence infrastructure — effectively sidelining governors like Newsom who’ve sought to limit data center expansion on environmental grounds.
Trump hailed the move as proof the U.S. is “beating China on AI,” calling it a “historic win for American innovation.”
Critics, however, say the plan prioritizes private profit over sustainability. “The administration is using AI as an excuse to bulldoze communities,” said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). “If this is the future, it’s a future that cuts down family trees — literally and figuratively.”
For Newsom, Fox’s “buy a fake tree” moment may be a gift. The governor’s retort turned a conservative slogan into a viral meme — one that reframes the “war on Christmas” as a war on tradition itself, waged not by liberals, but by the very network that invented the phrase.
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Why don’t you go to Russia or China any where and leave America!!!!!!!!!!!