California Governor Gavin Newsom has accused Europeans of “collusion” in refusing to comply with President Donald Trump’s demands to allow the purchase or annexation of Greenland.
Newsom, a front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028, told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday that Europeans were “toyed with” Trump and that efforts to negotiate with him were “not diplomacy, but stupidity.”
“It’s time to stand up. It’s time to get serious and stop colluding,” he told reporters. “I cannot tolerate this collusion. People are rolling over. They should have brought knee pads for all the world leaders…This is pathetic.”
Newsom regularly suggests that U.S. politicians favoring President Trump be given knee pads to make it easier to kneel, and he sells them on his website. The ad for the kneepads says, “All our support for Trump is expressed in Republican red,” and is engraved with a copy of Trump’s signature. “For the low price of your soul.”
European leaders have been reluctant to risk a public severance of ties with the United States, a major trading partner and on which Europe relies for much of its security. Many European leaders have been jockeying for the role of Trump’s whisperer, trying to prevent him from withdrawing aid from Ukraine or withdrawing from NATO.
But President Trump’s demands to allow Denmark to take over the semi-autonomous territory of Greenland and his threat to impose tariffs on European governments until the territory is given to them have sparked confusion and anger, prompting retaliatory proposals to impose Europe’s own tariffs on the United States.
A number of European politicians have sent letters requesting talks with Trump before the World Economic Forum in Davos this week. In one article, NATO Secretary General and former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte continued to flatter Trump, saying, “What you’ve accomplished today in Syria is incredible.”
He referred to the conclusion of a ceasefire between Syrian government forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.
“I will use my media activities in Davos to highlight your work in Davos, Gaza and Ukraine,” Rutte continued. “I am fully committed to finding a way forward in Greenland and I look forward to meeting you.”