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California Gov. Gavin Newsom pulled no punches at the COP30 climate talks in Brazil on Tuesday, calling President Donald Trump an "invasive species" and a "wrecking ball" during discussions about the US absence from global climate action.
Newsom, a Democrat widely viewed as a likely presidential candidate in 2028, is the most high-profile US political figure attending the talks in the Amazon city of Belém. The Trump administration made the unprecedented decision not to send a high-level delegation to the annual talks — the latest move in its sharp pull away from global climate action.
Trump has spent the past year tearing up climate policies, seeking to strangle clean energy projects, pushing other countries to buy US oil and gas and withdrawing the US from the Paris climate agreement. In a speech at the United Nations in September, Trump called climate change a "con job."
Newsom, who has a history of sparring with Trump, appears to be using COP30 as an opportunity to set out a different vision for US climate action. "I do not want the United States of America to be a footnote on climate policy," he said at an event Tuesday.
He took sharp, personal aim at Trump for abandoning efforts to tackle the climate crisis. "He's an invasive species. He is. He's a wrecking ball president. And he's trying to roll back progress of the last century … he's doubling down on stupid," Newsom said.
Read more at the link in @cnnpolitics’ bio.
📷: Adriano Machado/Reuters
