Scott Bessent torches Newsom at Davos, calls Alex Soros his ‘billionaire sugar daddy’

WASHINGTON, DC: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent sharply criticized California Gov Gavin Newsom at the World Economic Forum.

Speaking Tuesday on a panel in Davos, Switzerland, Bessent made remarks about wealth and retirement, suggesting that some parents may be buying “five, 10, 12 homes” to set themselves up later in life. Newsom took offense, reposting a clip of the comments on X and asking, “Could this smug man be more out of touch?”

That didn’t sit well with the Treasury secretary.

Scott Bessent brutally roasts Gavin Newsom

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent compared California Gov Gavin Newsom to fictional characters during remarks at the World Economic Forum.

“Governor Newsom, who strikes me as Patrick Bateman meets Sparkle Beach Ken, may be the only Californian who knows less about economics than Kamala Harris,” Bessent said during the forum.

For context, Bateman is the lead character of 'American Psycho,' the Bret Easton Ellis novel later adapted into a film starring Christian Bale as a yuppie psychopath. Sparkle Beach Ken, meanwhile, is a male version of the popular Barbie doll.

“He’s here this week with his billionaire sugar daddy, Alex Soros, and Davos is a perfect place for a man who, when everyone else is on lockdown, when he was having people arrested for going to church, he was having $1,000 a night meals at the French Laundry. And I’m sure the California people won’t forget that,” Bessent continued.

The remark referenced Newsom’s widely criticized pandemic-era dinner at the upscale Napa Valley restaurant The French Laundry, which occurred while California residents were under strict Covid restrictions.

Bessent also suggested that the Trump administration is now considering plans to crack down on waste, fraud, and abuse in California, following tensions last year between Donald Trump and Newsom over wildfire relief funding.

Scott Bessent tears into Gavin Newsom's record

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent took aim at California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is widely viewed as a potential Democratic contender for the White House in 2028, delivering pointed criticism of the governor’s economic record.

“I was told he was asked to give a speech on his signature policies, but he’s not speaking. Because what have his economic policies brought? Outward migration from California, a gigantic budget deficit,” Bessent quipped.

He continued by ticking through a list of problems facing the Golden State. “The largest homeless population in America, and the poor folks in the Palisades who had their homes burned down,” the Treasury chief said. “He is here hobnobbing with the global elite while his California citizens are still homeless.”

“Shame on him. He is too smug, too self-absorbed, and too economically illiterate to know anything,” Bessent added. Newsom reportedly sat in a last-minute open seat next to Bessent’s staff during the Treasury secretary’s remarks.

Trump strikes softer tone on Newsom at Davos amid Greenland remarks clash

During his own address at the forum on Wednesday, President Donald Trump revisited his complicated relationship with California Gov Gavin Newsom.

“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. Gavin is a good guy,” Trump said.

Just a day earlier, however, Newsom had been anything but conciliatory. He urged European leaders not to cave to what he described as “T-Rex” Trump.

“It’s time to stand tall and firm and have a backbone. I can’t take this complicity, people rolling over,” Newsom told a reporter when asked how Europe should respond to Trump’s threats to take over Greenland. “I should have brought a bunch of knee pads for all the world leaders," he added.