California Governor Gavin Newsom told a panel at the Munich Security Conference Saturday that he traveled there to reassure European allies that “Trump is temporary.”
“He’ll be measured in years, not decades,” Newsom said, predicting Trump would suffer heavy losses in the midterm elections and face legal setbacks, including limits on his tariff authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
President Donald Trump’s brand of politics does not represent enduring American values, Newsom added. The governor instead urged leaders to maintain stable subnational partnerships with US states like California during what he called a period of “instability” for America, and argued that Europe has grown more unified in response to Trump-era uncertainty.
“Maybe that is the one contribution of Donald Trump,” he said.
Framing his remarks as a defense of democratic norms, the Democratic governor, who is widely believed to be considering a 2028 presidential run, contrasted what he called “the rule of law” with “the rule of Don,” warning against an “imperial presidency.”
Newsom alluded to Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s speech at the conference earlier Saturday. Rubio offered a double-edged message in his speech, saying that Europe’s fate is intertwined with the US, while also faulting the continent for what he said was a drift away from shared Western values.
“The alliance has to change,” Rubio told Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait, expanding on his earlier speech. “When we come off as urgent or even critical about decisions that Europe has failed to make or made, it is because we care.”
If Rubio was “referencing popular sovereignty and the rule of law, I align with his remarks,” Newsom said. “If it’s about an imperialism and an imperial presidency, I don’t necessarily.”
