Newsom, on world stage, accuses Trump of trying to suppress dissent
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday morning that he wasn’t surprised when the Trump administration blocked him from attending the World Economic Forum in Switzerland a day earlier, calling it another example of the president trying to stifle dissent.
Newsom, who is weighing in on the 2028 presidential race, said, “Is it any surprise that the Trump administration didn’t like my comments and wanted to make sure I wasn’t allowed to speak? No.” “This is consistent with this administration and their authoritarian tendencies.”
The Democratic governor spoke in Davos on Thursday morning, less than a day after his scheduled meeting with Fortune at the U.S. House of Representatives was canceled. Newsom said the event was positioned as a discussion following Trump’s speech at the global forum. But Newsom said the Trump administration is “confident that this is rescinded.”
“That’s what’s happening in the United States,” Newsom said Thursday, speaking to Semaphore’s Ben Smith at a different location. “Freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of expression; the exact opposite of America. They are censoring historical facts. They are rewriting history.”
USA House is a privately operated and corporate-sponsored venue that serves as the official United States headquarters of the Global Economic Forum. The venue featured several Trump administration speakers this week.
Newsom’s office said they were told a “venue-level decision” was made at the last minute “not to include an elected U.S. official.” A spokeswoman for Fortune, which hosted Newsom’s fireside chat, said the USA House “determined that it could not afford the governor’s attendance and communicated that decision to Fortune.”
White House officials declined Wednesday to directly address whether the administration played a role in preventing Newsom from coming to the hearing; instead, he issued a statement personally attacking the governor.
“No one in Davos knows who third-rate governor Newscum is or why he’s wandering around Switzerland instead of solving the many problems he’s created in California,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement. he said.
Before Newsom accused corporate America of falling in line with Trump’s rhetoric and policies rather than challenging him, he noted that he looked at the list of people who attended his hearing on Thursday and said that list included major companies like Microsoft. At one point, Newsom held up a pair of red knee pads with Trump’s signature on them, a prop he used to show extreme respect for Trump.
“Many American universities are selling, and yes, many corporate leaders are selling to this administration as well,” Newsom said. “We’re selling our values, we’re selling our future, we’re selling what makes America great and [it] It breaks my heart. People need to stand up.”
