California's gas prices are near $5 a gallon, a record number of people sleep on the state's streets, and two major refineries are shutting down – but Gavin Newsom just spent the week schmoozing foreign ministers in Europe.
While wildfire victims in Los Angeles are still waiting for their lives to be rebuilt, Newsom was shaking hands with British bureaucrats and telling international audiences that the man Americans elected president is "temporary."
Then Donald Trump stepped to a microphone and said exactly four words – and Newsom's shadow presidency tour collapsed right there on the world stage.
Trump Calls Newsom UK Climate Deal "Inappropriate" – And Worse
Trump didn't mince words when Politico asked him about Newsom's freshly-signed climate deal with the United Kingdom.
"Gavin is a loser," the president said flatly. "Everything he's touched turns to garbage. His state has gone to hell, and his environmental work is a disaster."
He said it was "inappropriate" for Newsom to be cutting deals with foreign governments at all – and then he warned the British directly: "The worst thing that the UK can do is get involved in Gavin."
White House Deputy Press Secretary Kush Desai piled on, calling Newsom's green energy push a "clean energy scam" with a "proven track record of failure" – pointing to a 30% rise in energy costs under Biden and California gas prices sitting near $5 per gallon.
The White House's message was simple: Newsom should go home and fix his own state.
Gavin Newsom 2028 Campaign Hits a Wall Called California Gas Prices
Here's what Newsom was doing while Trump was dressing him down.
At the Munich Security Conference, Newsom told a room full of European leaders that Donald Trump is "temporary" and will be "gone in three years."
He signed a memorandum with the UK committing California to net-zero climate goals that the United States – under the president Americans elected – has already withdrawn from.
He signed deals with Ukraine. With Nigeria. With Brazil. With Germany.
He told the international press corps that California is "a stable and reliable partner" – positioning himself as America's real voice on the world stage.
And he flew home to a state with 187,000 homeless people living on the streets, gas prices already near the highest in the nation, and two major refineries shutting down that analysts say could push prices to $8 a gallon.
California has spent $37 billion on homelessness since 2019 – and the state's homeless population has grown by 37,000 people over that same stretch, now topping 187,000 on any given night.
What the Munich Security Conference Democrats Don't Want You to Notice
Newsom has made this exact trip three times now – Davos, Munich, and before that Brazil – each time telling foreign audiences that Trump doesn't represent America and California's "vision for the future" does.
Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt put it bluntly after watching the Munich parade of Democrats: "I think they hurt themselves badly."
And it's not just Newsom. Eight Democratic politicians hoping to run for president in 2028 all showed up in Munich at the same time – AOC, Gretchen Whitmer, Mark Kelly, Chris Murphy, and more.
The Munich Security Conference turned into a Democratic Party primary debate held on foreign soil.
Trump knows exactly what Newsom is doing, and that's why the White House accused him of using the Europe trip to "audition for president."
They're right.
The UK climate deal isn't foreign policy – it's a campaign photo op with an accent.
The California UK Deal That Could Violate Federal Law
Here's what the media isn't telling you.
The Constitution's Compact Clause requires congressional approval before states enter agreements that expand their political power relative to the federal government.
Newsom's team is calling these deals "memorandums of understanding" – not treaties – precisely to sidestep that requirement.
But when a state governor is flying to Munich, signing deals with four foreign governments, telling European leaders to wait out the elected American president, and positioning himself as the alternative voice of the United States abroad – that's not a "memorandum."
That's a governor trying to run foreign policy from Sacramento.
Trump saw it immediately and called it "inappropriate" – which is the most diplomatic word he used.
California already imports 64% of its oil from foreign countries because Newsom's regulations have driven the state's refining industry into the ground – from roughly 40 operating refineries in 1982 down to just 13 today, with two more closing this year.
The man lecturing Europe on energy independence can't keep his own state's gas pumps filled.
Sources:
- Max Bacall, "White House Questions Newsom's UK Climate Pact, Blasts 'Green Energy Scam,'" Fox News, February 17, 2026.
- Staff, "Trump Blasts Newsom's UK Pact, Warns Foreign Leaders as 2028 Buzz Builds," Fox News, February 16, 2026.
- Ben Smith, "Trump Slams Newsom's UK Clean Energy Deal as 'Inappropriate,'" RedState, February 16, 2026.
- Staff, "2028 Democrats Criticized at Munich Security Conference as Marco Rubio Praised," Fox News, February 17, 2026.
- Staff, "Newsom Jets Off to Munich as California Reels from Wildfires, Homelessness, and Billionaire Exodus," Patriot News Alerts, February 14, 2026.
- Staff, "California Gas Prices Could Skyrocket 75%, Newsom Is Warned," Newsweek, May 7, 2025.
- Staff, "Top 50 Disasters Gov. Gavin Newsom Has Ushered into California: 2025 Edition," California Globe, 2025.
