California Gov. Gavin Newsom Tuesday called world leaders weak and “pathetic” for failing to stand up to President Trump and urged them to stand up to the man he called a bully on the global stage.
Newsom, a frequent antagonist to the U.S. president, questioned why leaders of powerful nations have shied away from confronting Trump even when he comes up with outlandish ideas like seizing Greenland.
“It’s time to stand tall and firm and have a backbone. I can’t take this complicity of people rolling over. I should have brought a bunch of knee pads for all the world leaders,” Newsom told reporters.
“I hope people understand how pathetic they look on the world stage,” Newsom added.
Newsom spoke on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where Trump is expected to jet in to give a speech Wednesday.
He called Trump a unique threat to world peace and security.
“Trump is a T-Rex. You mate with him or he devours you, one or the other,” he said. “You need to stand up to it.”
The top Democrat said the efforts of European leaders to play nice with Trump have only emboldened him to take more aggressive stances on trade and geopolitical issues. He advised the allies to take firm stands and stick to them, even if they draw blowback from Trump.
“What he responds to is strength, not weakness. Period. Strength,” Newsom said.
The WEF has drawn nearly 3,000 government leaders, corporate CEOs and policy professionals who were supposed to grapple with the impact of rising inequality, artificial intelligence and Trump’s global trade war.
But Trump has thrown the event into turmoil with his renewed demands for a U.S. takeover of Greenland, the vast Arctic island that is a semi-autonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark. He even wants to slap new tariffs on European nations that oppose the seizure, sparking a serious debate among European leaders about how to respond.
Trump lobbed another grenade into the mix when he trashed European leaders and bared their private text messages to him.
Newsom has trolled Trump for months with social media barbs, delighting some Democratic loyalists who have pushed party leaders and potential 2028 candidates to take a harder line.
Most political insiders say it’s too early to predict whether Newsom’s outspoken approach will pay dividends in what is shaping up as a crowded Democratic presidential primary field.
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