President Donald Trump had our nation’s homeless citizens on his mind on Christmas Day when he issued an unmistakeable challenge to Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Take effective measures to stem the rising tide of homelessness in your state, Trump essentially said — or the federal government will step in and do it for you.

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It was not his first message to the liberal governor on this issue.

Trump tweeted the warning.

“Governor Gavin N. has done a really bad job on taking care of the homeless population in California. If he can’t fix the problem, the federal gov’t will get involved!” the president wrote.

See his tweet below.

The president also retweeted a comment on the subject from conservative pundit Tomi Lahren.

See her tweet below.

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The California combination of socialist economics, a PC theology — yes, theology — and one-party rule has brought upon the Golden State the same fate reserved for other leftist-run areas.

There is an upper crust of the very wealthy, a shrinking middle class, and an expanding lower echelon that pushes families into homelessness.

However, leftist politicians rarely care as long as the burgeoning poor vote their way — or don’t vote at all.

They just want to be seen as caring.

Related: Supreme Court Allows Homeless Rights to Stand

Having run a homeless shelter for U.S. military veterans for four years in Philadelphia, this writer learned that lesson the hard way.

Perhaps the most glaring example of it was when then-first lady Michelle Obama visited Philadelphia in 2012 — and stated that the city had ended veteran homelessness.

That was news to my staff and me.

We had many homeless vets staying in our shelter and we dealt with dozens more every week — people who lived on the cold and mean streets of the city.

What the feds did was change the definition of homelessness to suit their political needs.

From that point onward, you had to be sleeping on the street 365 days a year to be considered a homeless vet in Philadelphia.

As many vets found a place to sleep at our facility or at other shelters for parts of the year, or even for one night of the year, they were not then considered “homeless.”

This was the kind of thing the feds cooked up back then in collusion with a one party-ruled polity, just as in the state of California.

It was an action by cynical leftist politicians to make it appear they were dealing with the issue when nothing of the sort was being done.

And as usual with Democrats, the most vulnerable in our society were being hurt by it.

But the Trump administration will not let Newsom and his legislative toadies get away with ignoring the problem this time — and will bring pressure on them to give the homeless plight more-than-typical Democrat lip service.

On Christmas Day, or any other day of the year, this was the right thing for the president to do.