A tiny Swiss ski town with a population of just over 10,000 will play host this week to a clash between two American politicians, President Donald Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and their radically different visions of the future of capitalism.
Newsom announced on Friday that he will travel more than 6,000 miles to make his return to Davos, Switzerland, to speak this week at the World Economic Forum.
Opponents criticized Newsom for being an out-of-touch “Davos Democrat” for attending the elite gathering of business and world leaders at least five times while he was mayor of San Francisco between 2004 and 2011.
Newsom’s return to the annual gathering of business and political elites is all about displaying a forceful rebuke to President Donald Trump on the world stage as Newsom potentially prepares a run for president, political experts told Business Insider.
“Newsom’s arrival at Davos confirms his desire to be seen as the Democratic Party leader and go-to guy for world leaders wanting an alternative to President Trump,” Sally Susman, a longtime democratic fundraiser, said.
In speeches and meetings, Newsom plans to argue that Trump’s economic agenda has been a failure that other leaders should not be part of, Izzy Gardon, a Newsom spokesperson, said.
“The Governor will be bringing an extra suitcase of kneepads for anyone lining up to bend the knee to Donald Trump,” Gardon said.
Newsom himself did not shy away from the main reason he is returning: to counterpunch Trump. The president will speak on Wednesday, a day before Newsom.
“Trump’s economic agenda betrays our nation: it is not ‘America First’ but ‘Trump First’ — rewarding the favored, punishing the dissenters, and burdening the rest,” Newsom said in a statement. “At the World Economic Forum, I will forcefully confront these abuses and resolutely defend the principles to which California owes its economic strength: disciplined governance, world-leading universities, boundless innovation, and an open embrace of global cultures.”
Newsom, who has yet to officially announce his candidacy, looks more presidential rubbing shoulders at a gathering of world leaders than he would staying in Sacramento, according to Ambassador Derek Shearer, the Chevalier Professor of Diplomacy at Occidental College.
“By coming to Davos, he can combine his role as the leading Democratic critic of Trump and as a serious contender to replace him as president,” Shearer said. “Of course, it’s a high-stakes game, but so far, he is playing it well.”
Newsom will be rubbing shoulders with some of the richest people in the world at a time when some billionaires are fleeing California ahead of a ballot proposal that would impose a one-time 5% tax on residents with a net worth of more than $1 billion.
Newsom has said he opposes the measure. It is yet to be seen if he will address the matter at Davos.
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