President Donald Trump was widely mocked after California Governor Gavin Newsom's reaction to his rambling speech at the World Economic Forum went viral.
Trump took an opportunity during his remarks to bash California and Newsom, describing the state as full of "career criminals" that are being expelled thanks to the Trump administration's nationwide immigration crackdown.
While Trump claimed to have gotten "along so great" with Newsom in the past, he nonetheless chastised him for not working with the administration to bring down crime he suggested is augmented by the existence of sanctuary cities.
He said:
"We're going to help the people in California. We want to have no crime. I know Gavin was here."
"I used to get along so great with Gavin when I was president ... we did help out a lot in Los Angeles during my term when they had some problems but we would do it. I will say this: if I were a Democrat governor, I would call up Trump and say, 'Come on in, make us look good.'"
"We're cutting crime down to nothing and we're taking people out, career criminals who are only going to do bad things and we're bringing them back to their countries. But when we've done it, it's been amazing and we have the capacity to do it at much greater levels."
"We're cutting illegal aliens off government benefits and I've directed that starting immediately there will be no more payments to sanctuary cities because they're really just sanctuaries for criminals. They're really protecting criminals and those are the ones we have to get out of the country." ...
"Despite that, we have the lowest crime numbers we've ever had in the history of the country."
You can hear what he said in the video below.
Newsom appeared very, very unimpressed.
C-SPAN
C-SPAN
He is all of us.
Newsom's reaction attracted attention as his official press office told reporters he was barred from a scheduled appearance at USA House, a privately run pavilion that operates alongside the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos.
While not part of the WEF’s official program, USA House has long been recognized by the U.S. government as its de facto headquarters during the forum, hosting American business, policy, and diplomatic events.
According to messages obtained by Politico, organizers told Newsom’s team that pressure from the Trump administration— specifically the U.S. Department of State—led to his removal. Newsom’s office told the Los Angeles Times that the decision was framed as a “venue decision” meant to avoid featuring “an elected U.S. official.”
Speaking to CNN's Kaitlan Collins after Trump's speech, Newsom dismissed Trump’s address as “remarkably boring” and “remarkably insignificant."
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