Vice President JD Vance blasted California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom's attempts to 'mimic' President Trump as inauthentic on Wednesday and touted new data suggesting the federal crackdown on crime in Washington, DC, is working.
Vance's criticism of Newsom - a potential 2028 presidential candidate - comes as the Golden State governor's press office X account has been aping Trump's distinctive social media style and penchant for nicknaming political opponents.
The vice president was asked about his thoughts on Newsom's bizarre strategy, and whether it might be a good idea for Democrats to copy Trump's tone, in an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
"This idea that Gavin Newsom is somehow going to mimic Donald Trump's style - I think that ignores the fundamental genius of President Trump's political success, which is that he's authentic," Vance argued.
"He just is who he is," the vice president said of Trump, during his appearance on "The Ingraham Angle." "You've got to be yourself. You've got, actually, to talk to people honestly about the issues."
"Gavin Newsom can mimic Donald Trump all that he wants to, they're still going to lose unless they get better policies that actually serve the American people," he argued.
His advice to Democrats?
"I don't think it's that complicated - Don't be a crazy person. Be authentic," Vance said. "If the Democrats did that, they'd do a hell of a lot better."
However, Vance argued that "Democrats really can't help themselves" - citing the Democratic Party uproar over Trump's decision to federalize DC's police force, and deploy thousands of federal law enforcement officers and National Guard troops into the district to take on crime.
"If you look at the crime issue, they're calling Donald Trump a fascist for taking action," the vice president said.
"So part of sounding less crazy is being less crazy," the veep argued.
Vance had earlier revealed a "crazy statistic" about Trump's crime crackdown showing that "violent crime has dropped in DC, 35% in nine days" and "robberies in DC have dropped 55% in nine days."
Trump signed his executive order declaring a crime "emergency" in the nation's capital on Aug. 11.
The stats "highlight the fact that living with lawlessness and disorder" is "fundamentally a question of political will," Vance told Ingraham.
"If you've got the political will to enforce the law, you can make even cities like DC safe again, and that's what we're demonstrating," he continued.
"I hope the American people just recognize that you don't have to live with lawlessness," the vice president added."You don't have to live with third-world murder rates."
"If you just take control of these cities, you can make them safe places to live in."