{"id":18087,"date":"2026-01-23T05:02:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T05:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/brain-the-size-of-a-walnut-bessent-goes-off-on-newsom\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T05:02:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T05:02:06","slug":"brain-the-size-of-a-walnut-bessent-goes-off-on-newsom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/brain-the-size-of-a-walnut-bessent-goes-off-on-newsom\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Brain the size of a walnut\u2019: Bessent goes off on Newsom"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been one of the most vocal critics of President Donald Trump since his return to office last year. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent argues it\u2019s a sign of Newsom\u2019s weakness.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Gavin Newsom may be cracking up, some of these things he\u2019s saying. I think he may be in over his hairdo,\u201d Bessent said in an interview Thursday with Blue Light News\u2019s Dasha Burns for \u201cThe Conversation.”<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s top economic adviser said that Newsom, a potential 2028 presidential candidate and longstanding Trump foe, has a \u201cbrain the size of a walnut\u201d and that he knows \u201cless about economics than\u201d former Vice President Kamala Harris, which he clarified is \u201ca terrible place to be in.\u201d<\/p>\n

The attacks are the latest in a simmering feud between Trump and Newsom, which escalated over the course of the week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Newsom was scheduled to speak at USA House on Wednesday as part of the conference, but his appearance was cancelled at the last minute. Newsom blamed the Trump administration<\/a>, but an organizer said they decided to focus on programming with business leaders.<\/p>\n

At Davos, Newsom met with world leaders, as did Bessent and Trump.<\/p>\n

Upon arriving, Newsom urged European leaders not to cave to Trump\u2019s demands over a wide-range of foreign policy issues. In a panel at the conference, the California governor brandished a pair of kneepads bearing Trump\u2019s signature to mock world leaders he feels have been overly accommodating of the president.<\/p>\n

Bessent dismissed the \u201cstrange things\u201d Newsom has said to attack Trump, including the knee pad stunt and a comment in which Newsom analogized Trump to a dinosaur<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo say strange things like President Trump is a tyrannosaurus rex, what the hell does that mean? I can say Gavin Newsom is a brontosaurus with a brain the size of a walnut,\u201d Bessent said. \u201cAnd, if you brought the knee pads, maybe that was for his meeting with Alex Soros.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bessent also defended the Trump administration from criticisms that they\u2019re out of touch with the economic concerns of Americans. During a panel in Davos, Bessent said the administration wants to protect the investments of \u201cmom and pop\u201d retirees who may have purchased \u201c5, 10, 12 homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his defense, Bessent took another opportunity to swipe at Newsom, who he labeled \u201cPatrick Bateman meets Sparkle Beach Ken\u201d during a speech earlier at the conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was a Dem governor, Newsom, who made the comment of being out of touch. What does he know? Like, his father worked for the Getty family,\u201d Bessent said. \u201cI actually think he knows less about economics than Kamala Harris, which is a terrible place to be in.\u201d<\/p>\n

The full interview with Bessent will air on “The Conversation.”<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been one of the most vocal critics of President Donald Trump since his return to office last year. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent argues it\u2019s a sign of Newsom\u2019s weakness. \u201cI think Gavin Newsom may be cracking up, some of these things he\u2019s saying. I think he may be in over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18087\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}