Gavin Newsom Brought "Trump Kneepads" to Davos, but What Is He Trying to Say?

Over the course of President Trump's first year in his second term, California Governor Gavin Newsom has emerged as one of the president's chief critics. During President Trump's recent appearance at Davos, Newsom was hot on his heels, and even brought some props with him to illustrate his points.

Newsom brought "Trump kneepads" to the conference, and said they were for leaders who were kissing up to the Trump administration. The metaphor was a little confusing to some, so here's what we know about what it meant.

Newsom brought the kneepads with him on stage and said that they were available to buy through a website he had set up.

“The last round of knee pads sold out, just as our law firms are selling out. Many American universities are selling out, and yes, many corporate leaders are selling out to this administration,” he said. He added that the kneepads were also available in bulk. The kneepads themselves are red and feature the president's signature.

Although he never stated it explicitly, it appears that Newsom thinks the kneepads might be necessary because so many economic and political leaders are "bending the knee" to Trump. In essence, they have decided not to stand up to him, and while they don't usually kneel in the president's presence, the kneepads are a tidy metaphor for the ways in which leaders refuse to stand up to Trump and his administration.

“I can’t take this complicity of people rolling over,” Newsom explained. “I should have brought a bunch of knee pads for all the world leaders."

Newsom also said that an official speaking event he had been slated to take part in had been canceled following Trump's speech at Davos.

“I was going to speak last night. It was a well-established event at the USA house, a simple conversation, discussion after Trump’s speech. They made sure that I didn’t. They made sure it was canceled," he said.

Although he hasn't stated this outright yet, Newsom is pretty clearly trying to position himself as the frontrunner for the 2028 Democratic nomination for president. His opposition to Trump will certainly help him with Democratic voters who want someone from their party to forcefully speak out against the president.

It's less clear whether the kneepad gambit in particular was an effective piece of rhetoric, but it's notably something that Trump himself might have tried. It's a way of suggesting that those who suck up to the president are small, even if it's not a direct dig at the president himself.

Whether the kneepads make sense to you or not, though, Newsom himself isn't going anywhere. Even as he governs the largest state in the country (by population), he's also trying to prove that he's more than ready to take on whoever the Republicans nominate for the presidency in 2028.