MS Gov. Tate Reeves Schools Gavin Newsom on California Reading Scores vs. Mississippi – RedState
California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) stopped in Atlanta for his 2028 presidential candidacy book tour and said something typically Hair Gel that got him called racist. This couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
As my colleague Nick Arama wrote:
Newsom is now accused of racism for his statements during his book tour in Atlanta. More than 20 million people have now viewed a clip of him talking with Atlanta’s black mayor, Andre Dickens, in which he says, “I’m just like you,” then adds that he has an SAT 960 and can’t read a speech.
It’s fitting that Newsom thinks he’s approachable, rather than insulting and racist. This proves that being politically savvy doesn’t mean being the brightest bulb in the box. Since 2018, Newsom has claimed that he suffers from dyslexia. He even dictated a 2021 children’s book to a ghostwriter, who concocted it for him and put his name on it. So, depending on the audience, Newsom has used dyslexia as an excuse, as a point of contact, or as evidence of how difficult life is for him. It’s nothing more than a chameleon.
Dive Deeper: Gavin Newsom weighs in again as his GA remarks go viral and he’s accused of racism
Newsom’s epic crash as he panics and implodes in reaction to GA remarks
But since that odd, he was roasted by all the right people. Newsom’s knee-jerk response is to cry ableism, claiming he is being shamed for having a disability.
Of course, January.
Local and national journalists are asking legitimate questions. Damn, he’s the one who won’t stop talking about it. Newsom’s dipsy-doodle (and crude) communications team is feeling the pressure, as Real Clear Politics national correspondent Susan Crabtree noted.
WARNING: Language.
🚨🚨EXCLUSIVE and BREAKING: And this @GavinNewsom Dyslexia diagnosis – can the government. provide documents related to their diagnosis of dyslexia at any time in their life?
Newsom’s communications team just told me to “fuck off.”
Think @GavinNewsomIs the communications team losing its mind today? pic.twitter.com/oT3GoK5Cxi
– Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) February 23, 2026
It’s days like these when I wish I could still eat popcorn.
Fox News host Sean Hannity reposted the now embarrassing video on X and commented: “Gavin Newsom thinks a 960 SAT makes him “like” black Americans. Let that sink in. “
Hannity knows which buttons to push to add to Newsom’s embarrassment. After all, it was Hannity who moderated a 2023 debate between Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, where Hannity let DeSantis go at it, and DeSantis started mopping the floor with Newsom, using a crap card, no less. The situation became so serious that senior associate Jennifer Siebel Newsom intervened and interrupted the debate. Too bad she’s not on that Atlanta stage to stop Newsom from chewing his toes.
Learn more: DeSavage: DeSantis threw caution to the wind while destroying Newsom, including using the poop map
Delicious post-debate crying from Newsom’s seat as report suggests moment his team knew he was done
Newsom is both thin and vindictive, so he responded to Hannity’s post like a three-year-old throwing a tantrum. As RedState reported, Newsom sprinkled his response with foul language, making it clear where his communications team is getting permission from.
The above linguistic warning is valid.
You don’t give a damn if the President of the United States of America posts a monkey video of President Obama or calls African nations assholes – but you’re going to call me a racist for speaking out about my lifelong struggle with dyslexia?
Spare me your fake fucking indignation,… https://t.co/ABNZJQJLcj
– Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) February 23, 2026
As we also noted, Hannity responded to Newsom with the following observations (linguistic warning again):
Gavin Newsom, you don’t give a damn about being Joe Biden’s public spokesperson, knowing that Joe Biden teamed up with former Klansman Robert Byrd as they tried to stop the integration of public schools. So spare me your fake feigned indignation.
How about getting building permits for homeowners in the Pacific Palisades instead of making a fool of yourself every day? Just a thought…..
Besides not knowing how to read, not knowing how to get his birth certificate, and his horrible eight-year record on governance, the reasons why Newsom is a terrible choice for president only add up. As if it couldn’t get any worse for Newsom, MS Governor Tate Reeves (R) responded to Newsom’s post. Reeves manages to level Newsom, and he didn’t use a single swear word to do it.
This seems like a good time to remind you that a black student in Mississippi is 2.5 times more likely to read well in 4th grade than if they lived in California. We would be happy to send one of our reading coaches to help you, @GavinNewsom. Learning lasts a lifetime… https://t.co/3FqgFQZDEy
– Governor Tate Reeves (@tatereeves) February 23, 2026
This seems like a good time to remind you that a black student in Mississippi is 2.5 times more likely to read well in 4th grade than if they lived in California. We would be happy to send one of our reading coaches to help you, @GavinNewsom. Learning is a lifelong journey, and you may gain some of what our Black fourth graders have learned.
By the way, one of the nice things about increased literacy is that you don’t have to resort to vulgarity to appear passionate. Let me know!
It will leave a mark. Reeves’ facts are legitimate. Mississippi budgeted $2.97 billion for education in 2025-26, but those dollars are paying off in improving reading and math scores. They call it the “Mississippi Miracle,” because over a period of nearly 10 years, Mississippi students’ reading skills rose from 46th in 2017 to 7th in 2024. That’s pretty impressive.
In 2024, the reading scores of Mississippi fourth graders on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) have astonished almost everyone who follows American education. The state, long mired at the bottom of national rankings, rose to 7th place in the percentage of fourth graders scoring “basic” or above in reading, an increase of more than 40 spots since the early 2000s. This was not a fringe move or statistical noise. It was a clear-cut trajectory, visible in national data: Mississippi ranked 46th in 2017, 29th in 2019, 17th in 2022, and finally 7th in 2024 on this indicator alone (Florida Department of Education, 2024). The state outperformed nearly all of its peers, including those with far greater resources, reputation and political clout.
Which brings us to the sad and cautionary tale of Gavin Newsom’s California, which for 2025-2026 has budgeted $137 billion for education.
One of California’s most glaring — and significant — disappointments is the consistent failure to help elementary and secondary school students perform better on national tests in basic educational skills, such as reading and math.
Simply put, California’s education system not only lags behind most other states, it even lags behind those that Newsom and other Californians consider culturally backward. Additionally, California schools have yet to recover from the educational losses suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Not only should Newsom take up Reeves’ offer to add a reading coach to his staff, but he might also want to replace his communications team with people who can communicate without the F-bombs.
I’m just saying.
Editor’s note: The article was updated after publication to include Hannity’s second response.
Editor’s Note: With President Trump returning to the White House, the state of our Union is strong again.
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