Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent continued his attacks on California Gov. Gavin Newsom, using the Democrat’s jabs about world leaders needing “kneepads” to appease President Trump against him.
The war of the words erupted at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this week, when Newsom called Bessent “smug” and “out of touch.”
The governor added in remarks to a reporter that he “should have brought a bunch of kneepads for all the world leaders” bowing to Trump.
Bessent snapped right back, ripping the governor as “self-absorbed and too economically illiterate.”
In an interview Friday in Davos, Bessent glommed onto the Newsom’s “kneepads” digs with a comment aimed at American investor and Democrat Alex Soros.
🚨 Scott Bessent: “I think Gavin Newsom may be cracking up with some of these things he’s saying. I think he may be in over his hairdo … If he brought the knee pads, maybe that was for his meeting with Alex Soros.”pic.twitter.com/jb3HneyXqe
— Derrick Evans (@DerrickEvans4WV) January 23, 2026
“If you brought the kneepads, maybe that was for his meeting with Alex Soros,” Scott Bessent said in an interview with Politico.
“Being on the national stage is very different than being governor of California, if you know, with no signature achievements,” Bessent added about Newsom’s visit to the Swiss town.
“I think he may be in over his hairdo.”
The Republican referred to Soros as Newsom’s “Ken doll” and “billionaire sugar daddy.”
“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 was on lockdown, was having people arrested for going to church,” Bessent said.
