Newsom’s Presidential Ambitions Died in Davos

California now accounts for roughly one quarter of the nation’s homeless, more than any other state by far. Since Gavin Newsom became governor in 2019, $37 billion has been spent on homelessness programs—yet the homeless population has grown by roughly 20,000 people, not declined.

At the same time, according to U.S. Census data, California has suffered net domestic population losses every year since 2020—the first sustained population decline in state history. Between 2020 and 2023, more than 430,000 residents left the state, with over 250,000 leaving in 2024 alone, fleeing high taxes, housing costs, crime, and collapsing public services.

California now ranks last in the nation for affordability and opportunity, according to multiple national surveys. Using the federal government’s own Supplemental Poverty Measure, California posts the highest poverty rate in the United States, once cost of living is accounted for. Millions work full-time and still cannot afford rent, food, or utilities.

Even as gas prices fall across the country, Californians pay the highest prices in America—a self-inflicted wound driven by Sacramento’s taxes and regulatory excess.

Electricity costs rank near the top nationally.

Homeownership is out of reach for most young families. California’s median home price is roughly 2.5× the national average. With a median home price near $850,000, Californians now need well over $200,000 a year just to buy a modest home—in a state where the median household income is barely $90,000.

Public schools decline despite lavish spending. Newsom proudly touts California as the world’s fifth-largest economy—yet it ranks 37th out of 50 in K–12 education. And how much longer can Gavin Newsom expect California to remain the fifth largest economy?

As Sacramento flirts with a one-time billionaire wealth tax, high-profile residents and businesses have begun fleeing: Elon Musk moved Tesla and SpaceX operations to Texas, Larry Ellison relocated Oracle to Tennessee, Charles Schwab shifted headquarters to Texas, and investment capital continues to drain east.

Governor Newsom apparently could care less. In the final stretch of his governorship, he boarded a plane, paused his busy podcasting schedule, and traveled to the Swiss Alps to reprise a familiar routine—attacking President Trump on foreign soil at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

While California’s problems deepen at home, Newsom chose an international stage to audition for higher office. But that tone-deaf performance may have cost him his future presidential bid. His Presidential ambitions likely died in Davos.

In Davos, California Governor Gavin Newsom claimed that President Trump has done all he can to destroy 80+ years of alliances and partnerships. “That destruction,” Newsom said “is not strength.”

Prior to Trump, most NATO allies failed to meet even the 2% defense spending benchmark. Trump demanded they meet their obligations, and defense spending surged by hundreds of billions of dollars. Allies have since agreed to spending levels approaching 5% of GDP. How does Gavin Newsom arrive at the conclusion that strengthening NATO is “destruction”?

Trump didn’t weaken the alliance—he restored its credibility by ending decades of European freeloading and demanding shared responsibility.

While Gavin Newsom lectures the world about Trump’s destruction of alliances abroad, the California governor has presided over the annihilation of what was once the crown jewel of American prosperity—the Golden State.

Democrats have long denied that illegal aliens are awarded tax payer funded medicaid benefits. In Davos, Governor Newsom said he was “proud” to be “one of sixteen states to provide care to people regardless of their immigration status.”

Newsom, who asserted that “we’re losing our republic” under President Trump, proudly harbors millions of illegals and equated ICE agents with the Nazi SS.

Meanwhile, back home, California authorities have demonstrated no such restraint when dealing with their own citizens. During the COVID lockdowns, police in Santa Monica arrested solitary paddleboarders for violating emergency health orders—an image that captured the state’s governing philosophy perfectly: compassion without borders for illegal immigrants, and coercion without mercy for law-abiding Californians.

And who can forget Gavin Newsom’s infamous indoor dining spectacle at the French Laundry—one of the most expensive restaurants in the world—where the governor dined maskless with political insiders while his own constituents were barred from eating indoors, lost their livelihoods, and were threatened with fines and arrest for doing exactly what he was doing.

Newsom has repeatedly vowed to “Trump-proof” California even as the President’s policies have proven an objective success for the rest of America.

Axios just reported the lowest murder rate since 1900, down 20% since 2024. The U.S. economy just outperformed forecasts, showing 4.4% growth. More than a decade ago, in 2010, then-President Obama told Americans that the new normal was 2% growth.

Trump-proofing a state is synonymous with sabotaging a state. It means insulating California from falling crime, rising wages, energy abundance, border enforcement, and economic growth—while preserving the very policies that produced homelessness, flight, and decline.

It’s no wonder Gavin Newsom chose to attack President Trump on the world stage. When his own results are this bad at home, distraction becomes strategy. Davos offers applause without accountability, foreign approval without voter judgment, and ideology without consequences—precisely what California’s governor needs as the wreckage of his record becomes impossible to deny.

Davos was a disaster for Gavin Newsom and there his presidential ambitions likely died.