After it was announced that California Gov. Gavin Newsom would share his views on President Donald Trump at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, this week, MAGA influencer Katie Miller derided the Democrat for his presence at the event frequented by wealthy businessmen.
“Of course Gavin Newsom is going to Davos,” Miller, who is married to top White House adviser Stephen Miller, posted Monday on X. “Nothing quite says America First like commiserating to the crowd of the World’s Elites.”
But what’s transpired over the last couple of days hasn’t exactly driven home her point in the way she might have envisioned.
Newsom has spent his time urging the elites at Davos to stand up more strongly to Trump. And it’s Trump who’s been rubbing elbows with the wealthy and taking no shame in talking about his ties to rich people and his efforts to make them even richer.
Even as Americans struggle with what they overwhelmingly view as a stagnant economy, the president seemed to revel Wednesday in how good his policies have been for the wealthy.
He made a series of such comments during a reception with CEOs.
“So I think in terms of your investments, you’re in great shape,” Trump told the crowd. “I don’t even ask anybody how you’re doing now. It’s like everybody is making so much money.”
Trump said he often goes around giving congratulations to business leaders.
“They say, on what?” Trump said. “I said, ‘you’ve doubled your net worth since I’ve been president, right?’ He said, ‘Yeah, even more than that.’ They would say, ‘Even more. We’re doing even better than that.’ And we’ve given you platform where you can put your genius to work.”
At another point at the same event, Trump pointed to his big domestic agenda bill – which he often called the “Big Beautiful Bill” – that passed last year and a key tax deduction it gave business owners.
Trump then riffed about how, in his first term, one wealthy friend bought an airplane they didn’t even use because they wanted to use such a deduction.
“I always said, that’s what made my first term so successful,” Trump said. “Because, I mean, people were buying things that – I have a friend who bought an airplane, he never used it. He just bought it. He said, ‘I get a – I deducted it.’
“It’d be a great plane to buy, actually, because he’ll never use it,” Trump continued.
It’s one thing to boast about your ties to rich people and how they reduce their tax burden in good times, when a strong economy is lifting all boats. But one of the biggest problems with the current economy is how “K-shaped” it is – i.e. it’s great for the wealthy but not nearly so much for the rest of the country.
Indeed, Oxfam’s recent annual inequality report this month showed billionaires’ wealth grew three times faster last year than they had averaged over the previous five years.
And Miller’s post points to the political risks here.
Even as about 7 in 10 Americans viewed the economy as “poor” in last week’s new CNN poll, here was Trump at a gathering of elites talking about how good he’s been for the upper part of that K-shaped economy. That’s pretty tone-deaf.
And it’s hardly the only example of an unadvisable comment that might irk Americans concerned about their pocketbooks. Amid the economic problems, Trump and his Cabinet – which happens to be stocked with billionaires – have made a series of these kinds of remarks.
Trump’s comments came just a day after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent spoke about the administration’s idea to ban institutional investors from buying single-family homes.
Some Americans believe big, institutional investors have driven up housing costs. Bessent sought to assure this move wouldn’t hurt “mom and pop” investors. But his definition of “mom and pop” investors raised some eyebrows.
“Someone, maybe your parents for their retirement,” Bessent told Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo, “bought five, 10, 12 homes. So, we don’t want to push the mom and pops out. We just want to push everyone else out.”
Just your average retiree, owning anywhere from five to a dozen homes.
Newsom promoted the clip of Bessent, asking, “Could this smug man be more out of touch?” Bessent shot back Wednesday that the Democratic governor “may be the only Californian who knows less about economics than Kamala Harris.”
And over the course of the last year, the administration has made a series of awkward comments about how Americans could navigate economic difficulties. Trump talked about simply buying fewer dolls and pencils.
More recently, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Americans can afford a $3 meal of quality food that includes “a piece of broccoli.”
The 2026 election figures to focus extensively on the economy, and the Trump team is giving Democrats plenty to work with in painting them as out of touch.
