Check Out Gavin Newsom's Face as Interviewer Rattles Off Insult After Insult
This is glorious.
This article originally appeared on the Daily Caller News Foundation and was republished with permission.
Guest post by Nicole Silverio
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom appeared uncomfortable on Wednesday while Semafor’s Ben Smith read through several insults against him.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Smith read through several insults from President Donald Trump’s administration, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who referred to Newsom as “Patrick Bateman meets Sparkle Beach Ken.” Newsom called the constant online insults “very unbecoming,” but said that his office needed to call out Trump’s so-called “absurdity.”
“The Treasury Secretary described you as Patrick Bateman meets Sparkle Beach Ken,” Smith said. “The White House Communications Director called you Gavin Newscum and an official White House account, a federal government account, described you as a very online sexual slur that people here probably don’t want to hear at 8:30 in the morning … Is that kind of discourse from you, from them good for America?”
“No, it’s deeply unbecoming. Come on, of course it is. It’s not what we should be doing,” Newsom said. “But you’ve got to point out the absurdity, you’ve got to put a mirror up to this. This is madness.”
WATCH:
Bessent made the retort against Newsom on Wednesday after the California governor brought knee pads to the event so world leaders could bend the knee to Trump more easily. He accused Newsom of being economically illiterate and self-absorbed.
“Governor Newsom, who strikes me as Patrick Bateman meets Sparkle Beach Ken, may be the only Californian who knows less about economics than Kamala Harris,” Bessent said. “He’s here this week with his billionaire sugar daddy, Alex Soros, and Davos is a perfect place for a man who, when everyone else is on lockdown, when he was having people arrested for going to church.”
White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung compared Newsom to a “petulant child who can’t control his emotions.”
“Gavin Newscum sounds like a petulant child who can’t control his emotions. So he sits there wildly gesticulating like mommy didn’t give him enough attention. Maybe he needs to be sent to his room, but we all know that could be more trouble,” Cheung wrote on X.
Speculation has arisen that Newsom may be a top contender in the 2028 presidential primary, especially as he has ramped up his insults against Trump online. He told CBS News in October that he is seriously considering launching a presidential campaign.
Newsom has faced widespread criticism from his constituents over his handling of crime and homelessness. He came under even more intense scrutiny in the aftermath of the Los Angeles County wildfires, which resulted in thousands of homes being burned and directly killed 31 people.
Polls have found Newsom and Vice President J.D. Vance standing neck-and-neck in a hypothetical matchup in 2028. Results from an Emerson College poll in August found Vance and Newsom tied at 44%, while a Morning Consult survey from November found Vance in the lead by one point.
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