Newsom Slams Trump Moving Space Command To State With Murder Rate 190% Higher Than California
California Governor Gavin Newsom continues his social media assault on the communications style and substance of President Donald Trump, echoing back nearly any Trump move with blustery all-caps responses that read like a funhouse mirror reflection of the President’s own Truth Social posts.
Taking aim at Trump’s decision — announced yesterday — to move U.S. Space Command to Alabama from Colorado, a long post emanating from Newsom’s press office account criticized Trump’s choice of location and asserted that California — San Francisco specifically — was the more logical choice.
(Trump selected Huntsville — AKA “Rocket City” — to replace Space Command’s current headquarters in Colorado Springs, home of the U.S. Air Force Academy.)
Newsom, though in satire mode, makes a factual case for The Golden State as a Space Command HQ consideration, claiming in the post that California is “#1 FOR AEROSPACE, #1 FOR TECHNOLOGY, #1 FOR AI (ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, VERY SMART PEOPLE, MUCH SMARTER THAN JD “JUST DANCE” VANCE, WHO HAS LOW IQ). SAN FRANCISCO IS THE BEST IN THE WORLD FOR ENGINEERING AND INNOVATION… ROCKETS, SOFTWARE…”
By contrast, Newsom calls Alabama “A TOTAL DISASTER OF A STATE” and mocks its Governor, Kay Ivey, for having done “nothing for her people” and having “A MURDER RATE 190% HIGHER THAN CALIFORNIA’S.”
(Statistics differ according to the source, but consensus data show Alabama’s murder rate is significantly higher than California’s, as the post claims.)
In fact, Newsom has been successful in a similar pitch before, announcing in 2021 — in his normal, non-satirical voice — the establishment of the “Space Systems Command as a field command of the U.S. Space Force, to be headquartered at Los Angeles Air Force Base.”
Newsom said at the time: “My Administration made it a priority to push for more federal investment in the defense aerospace industry, and this new Space Systems Command – which will have nationwide authority over launches and procurement – is a big win for the innovation economy that has made California the nation’s engine of transformative growth, technology and ideas.”
BIG MISTAKE BY DOZY DON!!!!! SPACE COMMAND BELONGS IN SAN FRANCISCO, NOT ALABAMA (A TOTAL DISASTER OF A STATE). EVERYONE KNOWS SAN FRANCISCO IS THE FUTURE HOME OF “STAR FLEET ACADEMY” (“LIVE LONG AND PROSPER”). THAT’S BECAUSE CALIFORNIA IS #1 FOR AEROSPACE, #1 FOR TECHNOLOGY, #1…
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) September 2, 2025
[NOTE: In recent reporting about the Trump administration’s assertion that it will send National Guard troops into Chicago, Judd Legum at ‘Popular Information‘ addresses a common misperception about crime vis-a-vis Republican versus Democratic leadership.
Despite President Trump’s declarations — Trump called Chicago “the worst and most dangerous city in the world” — Legum writes that “in reality, Chicago has a lower violent crime rate than dozens of major American cities. In 2024, according to FBI data, Chicago had 540 violent crime incidents per 100,000 people. This rate ranked Chicago 55th among American cities with a population of 250,000 or more. Major cities in red states had significantly higher rates of violent crime per 100,000 people, including Memphis (2,501), Kansas City (1,547), Tulsa (942), and Louisville (707). Trump never mentions these cities when railing against urban crime.”]
Newsom joins the entire congressional delegation from Colorado — Republicans and Democrats — in criticizing Trump’s choice of Alabama for Space Command, aligning the satirical California Governor with such MAGA adherents as Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) whose objections are expressed more soberly.
Entire Colorado Delegation Statement on Space Command Relocation pic.twitter.com/Xhnu9qnP8t
— Senator John Hickenlooper (@SenatorHick) September 2, 2025
Warning in 2023 that moving Space Command meant “1,600 jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars were at risk,” Boebert committed the rare act of praising the Biden administration at the time for its decision to keep U.S. Space Command in Colorado.