California Governor Gavin Newsom slammed global leaders for cozying up to President Donald Trump, calling their behavior “pathetic.”
It comes as Trump openly brags about the possibility of a takeover of Greenland. European leaders are now scrambling to figure out how to respond after Trump threatened a 10 percent tariff on countries that have opposed the sale of Greenland to the U.S.
Meanwhile, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado ignited controversy this month when she gave Trump her 2025 Nobel Peace Prize medal as a symbolic gesture honoring his role in U.S. efforts following the kidnapping of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Trump accepted the framed medal, calling it a sign of “mutual respect.”
The Nobel Committee clarified the prize itself remains Machado’s, as Nobel honors cannot be transferred or shared.
Newsom was not impressed. “It’s time to buck up. It’s time to get serious and stop being complicit. It’s time to stand tall and firm, have a backbone. I can’t take this complicity of people rolling over,” Newsom told Sky News. “I should have brought a bunch of knee pads for all the world leaders. I mean, handing out crowns, the Nobel prizes that are being given away. It’s just pathetic.
“And I hope people understand how pathetic they look on the world stage.”
The California governor has gained attention for mailing knee pads to lawmakers he thinks are kowtowing to Trump—a stunt he also monetizes through his online store.
Newsom went on to say that Trump is “playing folks for fools,” calling the situation “embarrassing,” and mocked the idea that current engagement amounts to diplomacy.
Dealing with Trump, he said, is like facing “a T-Rex: you meet with him or he devours you.” He argued Europeans must “stand tall, stand firm, stand united,” adding that this reckoning should have happened a year ago—and that they are “now… paying the price.”
Newsom, who previously made frequent appearances in Davos, has reemerged at the World Economic Forum with the aim of turning up the heat on the president, according to Sally Susman, a former Democratic fundraiser.
“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,” she told Business Insider.
Trump is set to meet with key players on Greenland in Davos this week.
After Trump used Truth Social overnight to announce he had agreed to the meeting, he also posted what he said was a text from NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. In the message, Rutte praised Trump’s actions abroad, writing: “Mr. President, dear Donald—what you accomplished in Syria today is incredible. I will use my media engagements in Davos to highlight your work there, in Gaza, and in Ukraine. I am committed to finding a way forward on Greenland. Can’t wait to see you. Yours, Mark.”
The post came just days after Trump said he was no longer focused “purely” on peace, citing his failure to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
