‘Oh Snap!’: Newsom Just Made Trump Pay for the White House’s Ruthless Power Move — and Viewers Say This One Explosive Clip Pushed Trump Into a Corner He Can’t Escape
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s contentious relationship with President Donald Trump and his administration seemed to have come to a head.
Newsom claimed he was barred at the last minute from giving a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday afternoon, and his office claims Trump administration officials are behind the cancellation.
“Under pressure from the White House and State Department, USA House (a church acting as the official US pavilion) is now denying entry to Governor Newsom after Fortune — the official media partner — invited him to speak,” the governor’s office said in a post on his official X account.
The Democratic governor was invited last week by Fortune to speak during a fireside chat on Wednesday at the USA House that would have been available to the media, but the livestream never started, according to SF Gate.
After the press corps asked why, the governor’s office told reporters that a USA House official had said the governor’s speech was cancelled because a speech by an elected official did not “align with their afternoon programming.”
While Newsom didn’t get his fireside chat, by Thursday, he did get an audience at the forum with news outlet Semafor, and he didn’t hold back.
“Is it surprising the Trump administration didn’t like my commentary and wanted to make sure that I was not allowed to speak?” Newsom said. “No, it’s consistent with this administration and their authoritarian tendencies.”
Newsom doubled down on why his approach locks horns with Trump, “We drew a line in the sand. He susses out weakness, that’s his great strength. But you punch back, you fight fire with fire, you display conviction with strength, it’s a different relationship.”
The governor made it clear he’s not naive to Trump’s bully tactics, “These guys are going to try to take me down, not just my state. I’m not naive about the fact that he threatened to prosecute the fed chief … who’s literally going after his enemies with the FBI and the DOJ … How the hell are we putting up with this? We have to call this out.”
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Newsom’s comments were met with repeated applause. Viewers alike praised his commentary.
One user wrote on Threads, “We all saw Newsom shine like a strong, world leader. He rallied our allies and they stood with Newsom in staring down Trump. And, of course, Trump caved. Folded. TACO’d. Whimpered home. “Adding, “Davos was Newsom’s time to shine, and he didn’t disappoint.”
Media strategist Vince Monroy shared one of the clips with the caption, “This is one of the reasons why the White House didn’t want Gov. Gavin Newsom to speak at Davos.” Another viewer, Lisa, added to the mockery, “Oh snap they clapped for Gavin. Dementia Donnie is going to be upset.”
Newsom’s team said the governor was planning to use Wednesday’s address to respond to Trump’s speech made earlier in the morning, during which Trump criticized several European countries and said he “won’t use force” to take possession of Greenland, backing off a threat that has in recent days upset world leaders and roiled international economic markets.
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Leading up to Trump’s speech on Wednesday morning, Newsom was very vocal with barbed critiques of his policies, telling Politico Europe that he expected the president to back down on seizing Greenland from Denmark because of market shockwaves.
“The only thing that I think that can move Trump, and hopefully he doesn’t double down on stupid today, are the markets,” Newsom said, noting that the financial portfolios of Trump and his advisers who traveled to Davos, including Howard Lutnick and Steve Witkoff, are also impacted by market fluctuations. “That’s what matters for him.”
Newsom, who is a likely 2028 presidential contender, also spared no criticism of forum attendees, telling reporters on Tuesday that some European leaders are “complicit” in not countering Trump’s imperialistic rhetoric.
Newsom was also critical of the president’s diplomatic skills.
“Diplomacy with Donald Trump? He’s a T. rex. You mate with him, or he devours you.”
By the next day, Trump had his own pointed words for Newsom. Trump took aim at him during his hour and 12-minute speech at Davos, while Newsom was in the crowd.
“We’re going to help the people in California,” Trump said at one point. “We want to have no crime. I know Gavin was here. I used to get along so great with Gavin when I was president. Gavin is a good guy.”
A camera found Newsom in the room, smiling and appearing to chuckle.
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Trump added, “I would say this, if I were a Democrat governor, or whatever, I would call up Trump, I’d say, ‘Come on in. Make us look good.’”
Speaking to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins afterward, Newsom said Trump’s address was “remarkably boring” and “remarkably insignificant.”
“There wasn’t anything new about that speech for the American audience,” the governor added. Trump, he said, “was never going to invade Greenland. So he said we should negotiate. Everyone here has been willing to negotiate for a year. So he had fire and fury signifying absolutely nothing.”
After Newsom was denied entry in USA House and told his speech there was cancelled, his staff said that the disinvitation “came after multiple Trump Administration officials spoke at USA House throughout the day — including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who attacked the governor earlier this morning, calling him ‘economically illiterate.’”
Asked for comment, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly wrote in an email that “no one in Davos knows” who Newsom is, calling him a “third-rate governor” who was “frolicking around Switzerland instead of fixing the many problems he created in California,” reported CalMatters.
Reactions from people online to Newsom’s banishment in Davos broke along ideological lines.
Many pro-Trump conservatives seemed pleased, expressing that Newsom had earned an “FAFO” moment by crudely criticizing the president and his supporters abroad.
“Good. Your teetering on treason Newscum,” wrote Jenny Lee in response to the Governor Newsom Press Office X post. “You don’t get to trash our President on the global stage. Doesn’t matter the party. The right never did this to Obama nor Biden so you don’t get to do this to the USA.”
Others found the 11th-hour stifling of the governor’s speech an indication that Trump and his administration are afraid of his political rival’s growing influence on the world stage.
“Jesus. He’s terrified of you,” wrote Jo, a self-described mom and “Dem” from New Jersey, on X. “MAGA is sweaty nervous,” replied CjMTheIrish, a “blue collar liberal.”
“You called him boring. He is very fragile,” noted KeepCalmandVote.