Steve Hilton Slams Newsom's $20M Diaper Program as Three Times Retail Cost

California gubernatorial candidate and former Fox News host Steve Hilton took aim at Gov. Gavin Newsom over a $20 million state-funded diaper program. He argued the initiative pays far more per diaper than parents would at retail stores.

"Gavin Newsom is taking $20 million of your money to send 100,000 babies 400 diapers," Hilton said in a social media video. "That works out at $0.50 per diaper. We just came into Target to check out what you could buy it for in the store. $15.62 for the box. That works out at $0.16 per diaper."

Hilton shot the video inside a Target store, comparing retail prices to the program's projected costs. Newsom's administration announced the Golden State Start program to supply diapers to low-income families via nonprofit organizations and community partners.

"Gavin Newsom’s diapers are three times more expensive," Hilton said. "This isn’t even Costco. Why is it three times more expensive for Gavin Newsom to send diapers to 100,000 babies than just leaving the money in the bank accounts of the parents in the first place?"

Hilton accused the Newsom administration of funneling funds through politically connected nonprofits. "Because he is going to some total nonsense nonprofit, which the cronies of his are going to make money," he said.

Businessman Marcus Lemonis joined the criticism on X. "Math always wins," he wrote.

Fox News contributor Joey Jones faulted the program on television, pointing to California's affordability challenges. "If Democrats REALLY cared about this issue, make it easier to raise a family in California," Jones said. "Don’t charge them $2 extra a gallon for gas because that needs to be special California gas, and there’s this crazy, weird surcharge that you don’t even know where it comes from."

Jones also hit other spending choices. "Don’t do things like spend a hundred million dollars on a land bridge so the California cougars can get from one side of the interstate to the other," he said. "What do you do? You put a Band-Aid on a tourniquet problem and run for president."

Republican congressional candidate Melissa Bailey called the program inefficient on X. "There’s no such thing as a free diaper," she wrote. "CA has a shiny new free diaper program but taxpayers are footing the bill."

"Democrats do this EVERY SINGLE TIME," Bailey added. "Gavin Newsom is stealing taxpayer money, laundering it to a nonprofit run by his wife’s friend, to buy diapers at $.50 a pop. Diapers cost less than half that at major retailers. Connected insiders win. Taxpayers lose."

Fox News Digital contacted Gov. Newsom's office for comment but received no immediate response.