Gavin Newsom is having a moment. In the national struggle over U.S. House control, perhaps no politician has more at stake than the California governor, who has emerged as the leading Democratic adversary to President Donald Trump in what many see as a lightly masked trial run for his own future White House bid.

Taking on President Trump isn't new for Governor Newsom, but imitating the President on social media is. Newsom's trolling the last few weeks has been extra spicy, timed around the launch of the campaign for an issue that's the opposite of spicy, redistricting.

The California governor is adopting a combative social-media persona as well as partisan gerrymandering to counter the president.