Newsom’s Humor and Tension with Trump at Davos
California Governor Gavin Newsom’s tensions with the White House were front and center during his appearance at Davos on Thursday. He made a tongue-in-cheek remark about Trump’s “kneepads,” which elicited laughter from the audience, before shifting to a more serious note about the inappropriate nature of personal attacks escalating between the two parties.
During a session at the World Economic Forum, moderated by Semaphore co-founder Ben Smith, Newsom explained that his lighthearted jab was intended to “hold up a mirror” to President Trump and his supporters, while also acknowledging that we really shouldn’t be engaging in such absurdity.
“It’s not the way to go, but we must highlight the ridiculousness of it,” he stated.
He pointed to comments made by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that likened him to “Patrick Bateman meets Sparkle Beach Ken” as a sign that those within the Trump administration are leaning more toward personal insults than serious discourse.
Reflecting on this dynamic, Newsom remarked, “I think we’re clearly in their heads. It seems like for the Trump administration, the affordability agenda is about living rent-free in their minds.” However, he also recognized Trump’s “great strength” lies in his knack for identifying weaknesses in others.
Newsom continued, “That’s his skill, but he responds with aggression. He counters fire with fire. It’s a different kind of relationship, you know? I’m not naive about it; they’re not just trying to undermine me, but my state too.”
On another note, Newsom’s office relayed that he was denied entry to an event by the U.S. House of Representatives in Davos, attributed to pressure from the White House and State Department, following an invitation from Fortune, the conference’s official media partner.
White House press secretary Anna Kelly later responded to these developments, asserting that “no one in Davos knows who third-rate Governor Newscam is, or why he is roaming around Switzerland while not addressing the issues he’s caused in California.”
This back-and-forth is part of a broader exchange on social media between Newsom’s office and associates within the Trump administration, including official accounts that mocked the governor during Trump’s own speech at Davos.
