SAN FRANCISCO - AUGUST 25: San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom talks with reporters before test driving a plug-in version of the popular Toyota Prius that is one of four on loan to the city for evaluation August 25, 2010 in San Francisco, California. With sales of electric and plug-in hybrid cars expected to increase in the coming years, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District has set aside $5 million to increase the number of electric car charging stations to 5,000 around the Bay Area. There are currently 120 stations in the area. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Camp Pendleton, California – Governor Gavin Newsom on Saturday accused President Donald Trump of “putting his ego over responsibility” after a military showcase featuring live artillery fire forced officials to shut down a stretch of Interstate 5, one of California’s busiest freeways.
The event — held at Camp Pendleton to mark the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Marine Corps — included live-fire demonstrations that sent artillery shells over the freeway separating the coastal base from the Pacific. State officials closed the highway for several hours, citing safety concerns.
“The president is putting his ego over responsibility with this disregard for public safety,” Newsom said in a statement. “Firing live rounds over a busy highway isn’t just wrong – it’s dangerous. Using our military to intimidate people you disagree with isn’t strength – it’s reckless, it’s disrespectful, and it’s beneath the office he holds.”
Newsom had already criticized the event on X, calling it an “absurd show of force” and “totally uncalled for.”
Military officials rejected that characterization. The Marine Corps said artillery training at Camp Pendleton is routine and argued the exercise posed no risk to the public. The California Highway Patrol disagreed, saying it chose to shut the road because the event involved “live ammunition being discharged by the federal government over the freeway,” posing potential hazards and distractions to drivers.
The demonstration drew thousands of spectators, including service members, veterans, and their families. Vice President J.D. Vance, himself a former Marine who served in Iraq, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth both delivered remarks. The event featured coordinated air, land, and sea exercises highlighting Marine and Navy capabilities.
But the optics — heavy artillery firing over one of the most traveled highways in the country — reignited political tensions between the White House and Sacramento. Newsom has repeatedly clashed with Trump over immigration, environmental policy, and pandemic response. This time, the fight centered on whether the administration was using the military as a political prop.
Earlier this month, Trump marked the same Marine Corps anniversary aboard an aircraft carrier off the coast of Virginia, transforming the event into what many described as a campaign-style rally. Saturday’s California spectacle arrived amid “No Kings” protests across the country, demonstrations warning against creeping authoritarianism under the Trump administration.
Newsom urged participants to “ACT PEACEFULLY” and use the weekend’s marches as “a declaration of independence against the tyranny and lawlessness currently running this country.”
White House allies pushed back. “If Gavin Newsom wants to oppose the training exercises that ensure our armed forces are the deadliest and most lethal fighting force in the world, then he can go right ahead,” said William Martin, a spokesperson for Vice President Vance.
Meanwhile, the California Department of Transportation estimated that closing I-5 cost travelers hours of delay and disrupted both freight and passenger routes. The freeway carries roughly 80,000 drivers and nearly $94 million in goods every day.
