In one of the funnier moments to come out of the Trump Administration’s show of force at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, the same event during which Commerce Secretary Lutnick skewered the globalists and President Trump sounded off on mass migration while also reaching a deal on Greenland, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent skewered California Gov. Gavin Newsom with a vengeance.
Particularly, during the Wednesday, January 21 event, the Treasury Secretary skewered Newsom as being “economically illiterate”, accusing him of putting elite global gatherings like the one at Davos first, ignoring as he did so his state’s mounting fiscal, housing, and homelessness crises, all of which are becoming disasters for the state.
Kicking off his roast of Newsom, Secretary Bessent noted that Newsom failed to comment on any of his signature policies, as they have been such a disaster. He began, “I was told he was asked to give a speech on his signature policies, but he’s not speaking because what have his economic policies brought?”
Continuing, the Treasury Secretary gave some examples of what Newsom’s horrible policies have wrought, saying, “Outward migration from California, a gigantic budget deficit, the largest homeless population in America, and the poor folks in the Palisades who had their homes burned down.”
Adding to that, Bessent sounded off on Newsom for showing up in Switzerland to chat with global elites while his state turns into a trainwreck, saying, “He is here hobnobbing with the global elite while his California citizens are still homeless. Shame on him. He’s too smug, too self-absorbed, and too economically illiterate to know anything.”
Further, Bessent fired back at Newsom for having referred to him as a “smug man.” Doing so, he joked that Governor Newsom “strikes me as Patrick Bateman meets Sparkle Beach Ken,” referencing the famous main character of American Psycho and the flamboyant Barbie character.
In any case, he continued by further slamming Newsom, tossing red meat to the MAGA base by noting that Newsom is not only incompetent, but also very closely tied to the Soros family. Bessent said, “[He] may be the only Californian who knows less about economics than Kamala Harris. He’s here this week with his billionaire sugar daddy, Alex Soros.”
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Then, again slamming the governor for showing up in Davos when his state is a mess, Bessent said, “And Davos is the perfect place for a man who, when everyone else was on lockdown, when he was having people arrested for going to church, he was having $1,000 a night meals at the French Laundry. And I’m sure the California people won’t forget that.”
Watch Bessent here:
Newsom, for his part, demanded that the Europeans “grow a spine” and attack President Donald Trump. Doing so in a post on X, the woke California governor said, “America’s allies and business leaders need to understand this: There’s no diplomacy with Donald Trump. Get off your knees and grow a spine.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video