Overview
- Sen. Ted Cruz criticized California’s gas prices and blamed the state’s energy rules in a social post on May 26 that targeted Gov. Gavin Newsom.
- Newsom’s press office replied on May 27 with an AI-generated image showing Cruz as a dog labeled “Chevron” and captioned “Chevron Cruz is a good boy.”
- The image quickly spread across X and other platforms, drawing widespread social-media reaction and attention from national outlets.
- Coverage notes this follows a pattern of politicians and teams using AI-created visuals for viral messaging and says Newsom’s communications increasingly favor bold, meme-style tactics.
- There is no confirmed AI reply from Cruz yet and observers say the episode could change political campaigning by encouraging rapid, image-based escalation online.