President Donald Trump forgot he is still president during a rambling, low-energy address to the World Economic Forum in which he retracted his threat to use force to seize Greenland.
Trump, 79, said in the past tense that he “had” a great relationship with Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom when he “was” president during the Palisades Fire recovery in January 2025.
“We’re going to help the people in California. We want to have no crime,” Trump said. “I know Gavin was here. I used to get along so great with Gavin when I was president.”
He continued, “Gavin’s a good guy, and we’re going to. If he needed it, I would do it in a heartbeat. I’d love to see—we did help them a lot in Los Angeles, a lot with the early, early in my term, when they had some problems, but we would love to do it.”
The president’s gaffe came with Newsom in attendance.
A CNN broadcast of the speech cut to Newsom’s reaction—a grin, then later a full smile as he stood next to aides—as Trump spoke of their supposedly one-time friendly relationship.
Newsom, 58, said after the speech that he was not impressed by Trump’s remarks—not just because he disagrees with the president on policy, but because it lacked energy.
He said Trump’s rambling was “boring and at times boorish.”
“It was insignificant in its insignificance,” he continued, adding, “Honestly, I was a little disappointed.”
Trump made a series of gaffes during the speech, repeatedly referring to Greenland as Iceland—a completely different island in the northern Atlantic Ocean.
“I know we’d be there for them. I don’t know that they’d be there for us with all of the money we expend, with all of the blood, sweat, and tears,” Trump said. “They’re not there for us on Iceland, I can tell you.”
He continued, “Their stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland.”
The final mix-up: “Iceland, they love me,” Trump said, referring to Greenland. “They called me ‘Daddy’ last time. A very smart man said, ‘He’s our daddy. He’s running it.’”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended Trump’s mislabeling of the territory he’s been obsessed with possessing. “His written remarks referred to Greenland as a ‘piece of ice’ because that’s what it is,” Leavitt wrote on X.
The White House and California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office did not immediately return the Daily Beast’s request for comment.
The Daily Beast has led the way in reporting on Trump’s deteriorating health and signs of cognitive decline since returning to office.
That has included documenting his perennially bruised hands, his severely swollen ankles, and, most concerning, his inability to keep his eyes open during public engagements, like during a cabinet meeting last month and a news conference about capturing Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro.
Most recently, Trump struggled to walk in a straight line after landing in Switzerland on Wednesday morning. A video of him sauntering across the tarmac also showed him breathing heavily in the below-freezing air.
