Gavin Newsom Takes ‘Lightweight’ Swipe at JD Vance After Recent Political Setbacks
Gavin Newsom Slams JD Vance as a ‘Lightweight’ Following Iran Negotiation Failure and Hungary Election Blow
California Governor Gavin Newsom took aim at Vice President JD Vance following criticism over two setbacks over the weekend. According to The Daily Beast, Vance did not secure an agreement with Iran despite negotiations in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Saturday. On the other hand, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was defeated days after Vance campaigned for him.
The report notes that President Donald Trump deployed Vance to negotiate with Iran on behalf of the U.S. The meeting in Islamabad, Pakistan, was attended by Steve Witkoff, the special envoy to the Middle East and Jared Kushner, the President’s son-in-law. Despite intensifying talks, Vance said the meeting failed to reach an agreement on Sunday, blaming Iran’s refusal to give up its nuclear program, while Iran claimed that the American side, led by Vance, failed to “gain the trust of the Iranian delegation.”
Vance failed to strike a peace deal with Iran.
While this wasn’t enough, Vance faced another setback after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s close ally, Orbán, lost the elections for which the vice president had even traveled to campaign. Meanwhile, the opposition party Tisza, led by Péter Magyar, ended Orbán’s 16-year rule with a decisive win, with many claiming Vance’s presence on the ground may have pushed voters away from him. In any case, the subsequent blow gave Gavin Newsom a chance to take a jab at Vance.
JD Vance during a campaign rally in Hungary for Viktor Orbán.
On Sunday, Newsom posted on X criticizing Vance, writing, “JD Vance proves he’s a lightweight twice in 48 hours.” He further congratulated the general public of Hungary, stating, “Congratulations to the people of Hungary -- democracy, free press and human rights win today. There is hope.”
Prior to this, it was last week that Newsom took shots at Vance while he was traveling abroad for campaigning. He had written, “The Vice President is abroad campaigning for a dictator. The President is threatening to wipe out an entire civilization. Congress is on recess. This is a total collapse of American moral leadership — at a historic scale.”
Gavin Newsom calls Vance "lightweight."
Gavin Newsom took shots at Vance last week.
In addition, Minority Leader of the US Senate Chuck Schumer also shared a post claiming Vance returned to Washington after dealing a major blow to Orbán and failing to secure an agreement with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) over Trump’s war. The post went on to assert that it was a “disastrous trip” for Vance’s political standing. Schumer wrote, “Republicans - please put this guy on the campaign trail.”
Chuck Schumer slams JD Vance
Meanwhile, Trump struck a measured tone even after the negotiations with Iran failed. Taking to his Truth Social account, he went on to threaten to “blockade” the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow shipping lane that has been a bottleneck for global oil supplies since the war began on February 28, 2026.
In an extensive post, the 79-year-old wrote, “At some point, we will reach an “ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO IN, ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO OUT” basis, but Iran has not allowed that to happen by merely saying, “There may be a mine out there somewhere,” that nobody knows about but them. THIS IS WORLD EXTORTION, and Leaders of Countries, especially the United States of America, will never be extorted.”