Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent lashed out at California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday, calling him “economically illiterate” and accusing him of prioritizing elite global gatherings over the state’s mounting fiscal, housing, and homelessness crises.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Bessent used the high-profile meeting to deliver a blistering critique of Newsom’s economic record and leadership.
“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? 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,” the Treasury secretary said.
“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.”
Bessent also responded to Newsom’s characterization of him as a “smug man,” saying the governor “strikes me as Patrick Bateman meets Sparkle Beach Ken,” referring to the fictional serial killer from “American Psycho” and the flamboyant doll character from “Barbie.”
“[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, 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,” he added. “And I’m sure the California people won’t forget that.”
The Cabinet official said the administration would also move to address what he called “waste, fraud and abuse” in the state.
Newsom, who is in Switzerland attending the Davos summit, struck back at the White House on Tuesday by directing his criticism at President Donald Trump and his remarks about acquiring Greenland.
“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,” he wrote on X.
He told reporters on the sidelines of the annual meeting later that Trump is a “T. rex.” “You mate with him or he devours you. One or the other,” Newsom said.
“It’s time to stand tall and firm. Have a backbone. I can’t take this complicity — people rolling over,” he added. “From an American perspective, it’s embarrassing.”
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