What to Know
In case you missed it, California Governor Gavin Newsom recently sparked controversy with comments he made about living with dyslexia. At an event in Atlanta, he told the crowd that he’s “a 960 SAT guy” who “cannot read a speech” due to struggling with dyslexia. Several prominent conservatives accused Newsom of racism. However, when Fox News host Jesse Watters reacted to Newsom’s comments, he seemed more focused on the governor’s low SAT score.
“I don’t want a president who scores poorly,” Watters said on The Five. “I don’t want a president who struggles to read. I want a really smart president.” In response, many people argued that intelligence is a rather interesting thing to care about when you support President Donald Trump.
Critics on social media said they, too, would like a smart president.
But knowing that Watters supports the Trump administration, they were baffled by his assertion, because, uh, is the “really smart president” in the room with us? Reacting to Watters’ claim that he doesn’t “want a president who struggles to read,” one person on X said, “Too bad. He’s got one.” And someone else asked Watters what many were thinking: “Then why are you supporting Trump?”
A few people joked that Newsom must’ve been critiquing Trump rather than Newsom. “Wow I didn’t know Jesse Waters wanted to impeach Trump,” someone joked. Another person wrote, “That wasn’t a very nice thing of Watters to say about Trump.” And someone else added, “This is the first time I’ve heard Watters say anything negative about Trump…”
Watters: I don’t want a president who struggles to read. pic.twitter.com/57CqBxIwcj
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 23, 2026
But all jokes aside, Watters’ comment is obviously offensive.
Watters’ comment sparked tons of jokes about how Trump struggles to read and doesn’t make sense when he speaks. Beyond that, though, it’s extremely insulting (and inaccurate) to suggest that someone who lives with dyslexia is not smart. There is no link between dyslexia and intelligence. Instead, dyslexia affects the brain’s processing of written language. Watters’ comment about Newsom’s struggles with dyslexia prompted someone to call him “a piece of garbage.” They wrote, “Millions of people deal with dyslexia. Many very successful people are dyslexic.”
It’s estimated that about 20 percent of Americans have dyslexia, so it’s definitely not rare. On social media, critics have mocked Newsom and accused him of not actually having dyslexia, but he has been open about his dyslexia diagnosis for years now.
After a recent event, Nicki Minaj accused him of being racist.
At the event, Newsom said, “I’m not trying to impress you. I’m just trying to impress upon you: I’m like you. I’m no better than you. You know, I’m a 960 SAT guy. And I’m not trying to offend anyone, you know, trying to act all there if you got 940. Literally, a 960 SAT guy. I cannot — you’ve never seen me read a speech, because I cannot read a speech. Maybe the wrong business to be in. My dyslexia, I haven’t overcome dyslexia. I’m living with it.”
But Minaj, who is a vocal critic of Newsom and a Trump supporter, accused Newsom of trying to relate to Black people by saying he can’t read. “His way of bonding with black ppl is to tell them how stupid he is & that he can’t read,” she wrote on X. “This means my first read on him was correct. He’s been handed so many things & put in high positions he never earned or deserved.”
