California Gov. Gavin Newsom posted a housing affordability chart on X and blamed President Trump, but critics quickly pointed out the data's sharpest spike happened squarely under the Biden administration.
Newsom shared a graph Tuesday showing the income needed to qualify for a median-priced home in the United States from 2005 to 2026. Alongside the chart, he tagged the president directly: "Great work, @realDonaldTrump!" The post framed Trump as the culprit behind record-high housing costs. But within hours, the chart became a liability, because the data on it told a story Newsom apparently did not intend to broadcast.
The graph's steepest climb, the period when housing affordability deteriorated most dramatically, ran from 2021 through 2024, the full span of Joe Biden's presidency. The chart did reach its highest point during Trump's second term, but the trajectory that got it there began years before Trump returned to office. Users on X wasted no time making the distinction.
The popular account Libs of TikTok responded directly: "Hey @GavinNewsom, who was president during the biggest uptick in home unaffordability?" Meteorologist Chris Martz was blunter, writing on X that Newsom "doesn't know how to read graphs" and that "housing prices skyrocketed under Joe Biden's presidency."
Actor Doug Davidson piled on: "Gavin, I guess you can't read a graph. The biggest spike was before DJT took office." Author Jens Heycke called the post disqualifying, writing that the governor "demonstrates that he is unable to read a simple graph" and that "this level of numeric and economic illiteracy is disqualifying."
OutKick writer Ian Miller shifted the lens to Newsom's own record:
"California is the most unaffordable state in the country to buy a house, and it's only gotten worse since Gavin Newsom took over. And no one in the media will call him out for saying this."
California Post opinion editor Joel Pollak offered a pointed observation of his own: "You would be ashamed if they broke it down by state." Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom's office for comment and did not receive a response.
The episode is not a good look for a governor widely described as a potential 2028 presidential candidate, though his path to a White House bid has grown considerably rockier in recent months.
The White House did not let the post pass without a response. Spokesperson Davis Ingle told Fox News Digital that Trump "has been laser-focused on making housing more affordable," contrasting the president's record with Newsom's. Ingle cited an executive order prohibiting large Wall Street firms from purchasing single-family homes, a directive for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase $200 billion in mortgage bonds, which the White House said helped push rates to four-year lows, and efforts to cut regulatory barriers to speed construction and lower costs.
Ingle added that Trump "will not stop fighting until the American dream of homeownership is within reach for every American, which is why he continues to sign bold new executive orders and calls on Congress to pass further legislation."
Newsom, for his part, has taken some steps on housing in California. In 2025, he signed a housing package exempting certain projects from the California Environmental Quality Act, the state's notoriously burdensome environmental review law, and streamlining permitting for qualifying housing and infrastructure development. In July, he signed additional reforms aimed at simplifying affordable-housing financing and project reviews.
Those moves drew notice from Heritage Foundation economist Peter St. Onge, who argued that Newsom's housing shift suggested Democrats were "coming around to reality" on policies long championed by free-market economists. But St. Onge also questioned whether California could overcome its deep regulatory barriers, a fair concern given the state's decades-long track record of strangling its own housing supply with red tape.
Newsom's self-defeating chart is not an isolated incident. The official Democratic Party account on X previously posted a graph claiming "U.S. Grocery Prices Reached Record Highs in 2025," with prices described as "higher today than they were on July 2024" across dairy, produce, and meat. Users quickly noted the same problem: the graph showed grocery prices surging in 2021 under Biden and only leveling off near the end of 2024. The party deleted the post.
The pattern is difficult to ignore. Democratic officials keep sharing data visualizations that, on closer inspection, indict their own party's record on cost of living. Whether the subject is housing or groceries, the steepest price increases trace back to the same four years, 2021 through 2024.
Newsom already faces growing scrutiny on multiple fronts. Federal subpoenas have targeted a nonprofit tied to his travel and personal spending as part of a widening Department of Justice probe. A former top aide, Dana Williamson, entered a guilty plea in a case that has raised uncomfortable questions about the governor's inner circle and political future.
And while Newsom has pledged to step aside for Kamala Harris in a potential 2028 presidential primary, his national brand depends on the perception that he can govern competently. Posting a chart that undercuts your own argument does not help that case.
When you share data to make a political point, it helps to read the data first.
