BELEM, Brazil (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday he was stunned by eight senators' decision to break with Democrats and end the government shutdown and warned they were not alarmed enough about President Donald Trump's flouting of political norms.
“I'm not going to punch anyone in the face, but I'm not happy that in the face of this invasive species that is Donald Trump, who has completely changed the rules of the game, we are still playing by the old rules of the game,” Newsom told The Associated Press in an interview at the U.N. COP30 climate conference in Brazil. “And deep down I’m stunned.”
Newsom was asked what he would say to the group of seven Democrats and one independent who joined Senate Republicans late Monday to pass legislation to reopen the government, bringing the longest shutdown in history closer to an end. Along with ratification of the agreement came sharp criticism of moderates from other Democrats frustrated by what they said amounted to a concession to the GOP without making sustained progress on extending health care subsidies that are set to expire Jan. 1.
As news of a potential compromise approached a procedural Sunday night vote to advance the overall funding bill, Newsom's press office wrote on X: “Pathetic. This is not a deal. This is a capitulation. Don't bend your knees!” After the same eight senators—seven Democrats and independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, who sits in the Democratic caucus—joined Republicans in that procedural vote, he called their reconciliation “a capitulation and a betrayal of working Americans.”
Asked by the AP about his own efforts to counter Trump, from a bombastic social media presence to last week's successful passage of a U.S. House map for California aimed at countering Trump-backed efforts to do the same for Republicans in other states, Newsom reiterated what he called his commitment to go further than others in his party.
“I'm actually more alarmed than I think I am: Eight members of my party are in the U.S. Senate,” Newsom said. “I’m much more concerned about the future of our country and the world we’re trying to build than they are.”
The Trump administration did not send an official COP30 delegation to Brazil this week. Newsom, whose state represents the world's fourth-largest economy, is expected to meet with officials from some of the 195 world governments present.
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Meg Kinnard reported from Columbia, South Carolina and can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP.
