President Donald Trump appears to be looking back on his relationship with Gavin Newsom through rose-colored glasses. The California governor, however, doesn’t seem to share the sentiment.
Trump, 79, grew nostalgic during a rambling speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, recalling what he described as a once “great” relationship with Newsom, 58. The governor’s reaction—captured on camera as he stood against a wall in the packed conference room—told a different story.
Newsom later dismissed Trump’s remarks as “boring, and at times boorish.”
“It was insignificant in its insignificance. He said what we all knew- that he’s not going to invade Greenland,” the 2028 presidential hopeful told the Guardian.
Still, Newsom appeared to struggle to suppress a smirk as Trump repeatedly invoked him during the speech.
“We’re going to help the people in California. We want to have no crime—I know Gavin was here,” Trump said from the stage in Switzerland.
“We used to get along so great with Gavin when I was president,” Trump added, seemingly referring to his first term. “Gavin’s a good guy.”
At that point, cameras panned to the California governor—one of Trump’s harshest critics—who grimaced as the president spoke.
Newsom could barely contain his smile as Trump continued. “We’re going to [help him] if he needs it,” Trump said. “I would do it in a heartbeat. I’d love to….we did help them a lot in Los Angeles, a lot with the early in my term, [they] had some problems, but we would love to do it.”
The governor finally broke into a chuckle when Trump went on: “I will say this, if I were a Democratic governor or whatever, I would call up Trump, I’d say, Come on in, make us look good, because we’re cutting crime down to nothing.”
As Trump pivoted to criticizing sanctuary cities for housing nothing but “criminals,” Newsom dropped his gaze to the floor, shook his head, and let out what appeared to be a deep, exasperated sigh. California is home to several sanctuary cities, including Los Angeles and San Francisco.
This isn’t the first time Trump has publicly mourned his relationship with Newsom. During a separate, hours-long speech at the White House earlier this week, Trump again lamented the breakdown of their relationship.
“I had a very good relationship with Gavin Newsom … and somewhere, we just went astray,” Trump said. “He and I had a very good relationship. Really close to the word exceptional, but now, we seem not to.”
But Trump has clashed with California leaders plenty. State leaders sued the Trump administration at least 120 times during his first term, the Washington Post reported.
Trump also publicly threatened to withhold federal disaster aid as some of the largest wildfires in California history tore through the state—despite the federal government owning roughly half of California’s forestlands, compared to the state’s 3 percent.
Newsom, meanwhile, has emerged as the self-anointed troller-in-chief of Trump and his administration officials. The reported presidential hopeful is using the global conference to present an alternative American message.
He is scheduled to speak on Thursday, one day after the president.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
When reached for comment Tuesday evening, the White House directed the Daily Beast to a post by communications director Steven Cheung that read: “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.”
Newsom’s press office responded to that post by saying: “Poor piggy is spiraling on Twitter because Daddy Newsom is the one everyone’s watching at Davos. Thoughts and prayers!”
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