Overview
- At a Semafor event, Newsom brandished red “Trump signature” kneepads and urged corporate and academic leaders to stop “selling out” to the administration.
- The governor says his Fortune-hosted fireside chat at USA House was canceled under White House and State Department pressure; the White House insulted him but did not directly deny the claim.
- Trump later posted a lengthy Truth Social message calling Newsom a “lame duck” who should “GO HOME,” to which Newsom’s press team replied, “Rent free.”
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent escalated the feud, calling Newsom “economically illiterate,” mocking the kneepads, and suggesting he was “in over his hairdo.”
- Despite the public barbs, multiple reports say Trump and Newsom shared friendly backstage banter, with Trump telling him, “Gavin, we’re good.”