Sacramento, California - California Governor Gavin Newsom trolled MAGA loyalists on Fox News over their obsession with the way he sat during an interview with the New York Times.

"Democracy requires flexibility," Newsom's Press Office wrote on X in response to attacks from MAGA, alongside an edited photo of the governor sitting in a bizarre position with his legs in the air.

Pundits on Fox News had attacked the California Democrat for sitting in a reclined position with his legs crossed during an interview with New York Times columnist Andrew Sorkin on Wednesday last week.

Conservative commentators had joked that Newsom was crushing his genitals by crossing his legs at the knee and leaning back.

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"That is such a pathetic pose. I do not see boss men, especially not President Trump, sit like that," said Republican strategist Katie Zachariah on Fox News last week.

Critics on the internet leaned into the comment, turning Newsom's pose into a meme that was shared far and wide.

"I have never seen a man crush his testicles harder than this dude," one user commented on X alongside a clip from the interview.

Newsom had appeared with the NYT for an interview in which he slammed President Donald Trump's administration and called for a more moderate approach to the US-Mexico border.

"We have to be more culturally normal," Newsom said in the interview. "We have to be a little less judgmental... We have to be a party that understands the importance and power of the border."