California Gov. Gavin Newsom has repeatedly used two words to describe Donald Trump’s presidency: Political theater.

The latest act, Newsom said Monday night on CNN, is Trump’s $8.6 billion request to fund a wall along the country’s border with Mexico, a “Make America Great Again” campaign promise that triggered the longest government shutdown in American history earlier this year.

The latest salvo in a feud between two of the country’s most influential politicians – Trump is leader of the free world; Newsom the top elected official in a state he calls “the world’s most diverse democracy” – Newsom again slammed Trump’s divisive politics and promised that California would do the job of the federal government to ensure migrants are legally able to seek asylum.

His appearance on “AC360” came two days after Trump criticized Newsom for dedicating taxpayer money for a new migrant shelter in San Diego County near San Ysidro, the country’s busiest border crossing.

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“These are human beings. They’re parents. These are children,” Newsom said Monday night. “They came through here legally. Legal asylum-seekers. Not here illegally. Legally.”

He added, “And the federal government turns its back to them, turns a blind eye to them. California will not. If they won’t do their job, we’ll do their job.”

Rather than work toward a bipartisan solution on immigration, an approach he said would require “real conversation,” Newsom accused Trump of spinning people “down the vortex” of his own “political theater."

Trump’s request for additional border wall funding Monday as part of his 2020 budget proposal is the latest example, Newsom said.

“It’s pure political theater. It’s a perpetuation of a conversation like you and I are having, that we’re gonna have every single day. It’s exactly what the president wants,” Newsom told Anderson Cooper. “He wants this conversation because he can’t have the real conversation about solving some of the deep and structural challenges in this country, because he’s not interested enough in creating political conditions where he can engage the other party and actually produce real results.

“So, he creates these sideshows. This political theater. This political grandstanding,” Newsom continued. “Of course, it’s absurd. Five-point-seven billion dollars led to a shutdown and now he asks for $8.6 (billion)? Doubling down on it. He knows exactly what he’s doing and he knows how we’re going to react … how it’ll consume the nightly news and, meanwhile, he’ll be less impacted by the consequences of his complete failure to address all these other issues.”

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Though Newsom acknowledged that border walls work in “urban settings,” he blasted Trump’s greater vision: “A 2,000-mile wall is a monument to stupidity. Not just vanity, to stupidity. It doesn’t solve the problem.”

Trump was equally critical of Newsom last weekend on Twitter, labeling him as “grandstanding” and calling for lower taxes for California residents.

As part of his 2019-20 budget, Newsom proposed $20 million to provide aid to migrants through “qualified” humanitarian and non-profit organizations.

“I hope the grandstanding Governor of California is able to spend his very highly taxed citizens money on asylum holds more efficiently than money has been spent on the so-called Fast Train, which is $Billions over budget & in total disarray. Time to reduce taxes in California!” Trump tweeted.

Despite their political differences, Trump called Newsom a “nice guy” earlier this month during one of his longest addresses as president at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland. He also alleged that Newsom had recently called to praise his leadership and intelligence.

“He called me up the other day, let’s say four weeks ago or so,” Trump said at CPAC. “[He said] ‘I just want to tell you, you’re a great president and you’re one of the smartest people I’ve ever met.’ That’s what he said.”

Trump added, “Will he admit it? No, I doubt it.”

Is that how it happened, Cooper asked Monday night.

“You can’t make this up, Anderson,” Newsom said with a laugh. He said he called Trump to extend his appreciation for visiting an area of California especially devastated by wildfire last year.

“The people in those communities were grateful to him; I was grateful to him,” Newsom said, adding that he hopes to “rise above his politics” and work with Trump on emergency preparedness and planning efforts.

On Trump’s recollection of the conversation, Newsom said, “I think we hear what we want to hear. I can’t ‘admit’ to what I said to the president privately because that’s not what I said.”

The back-and-forth between Newsom and Trump has been ongoing for months.

In February, Trump demanded California repay billions to the federal government after Newsom announced plans to downsize the state’s grand plans for the nation’s first high-speed rail train. Newsom’s response: It’s our money and we’re keeping it.

A few days earlier, in his first State of the State address, Newsom defied Trump’s administration by ordering hundreds of National Guard troops off the state’s border with Mexico, accusing Trump of creating a “manufactured crisis” and stressing that California would not “be part of this political theater.”

Those comments came a month after Newsom spoke out against “corruption and incompetence in the White House” during his swearing-in ceremony in Sacramento.

A few days later, Trump threatened via Twitter to “send no more money” to California unless the state gets its “act together” and begins “proper Forest Management.”

While campaigning ahead of last November’s midterm elections, Trump labeled Newsom as “a clown” who wants “open borders.”