VIDEO “The most destructive president” in history. In Munich, fierce critic told world leaders that Trump 'is temporary'

In Munich, the presumptive Democratic nominee for the US presidency continued to position California — and himself — as an alternative to “Trumpism,” writes Politico.

Gavin Newsom's message to the world leaders gathered in Germany was the following: It is time to start thinking about the next president, notes the quoted publication.

“I hope, if there's nothing else I can say today, that Donald Trump is temporary,” California's Democratic governor told a climate change panel discussion at the Munich Security Conference on Friday.

“He (Trump, no) will be gone in three years,” added the one who is considered the most likely to become the Democratic candidate in the next US presidential election and who until now has been a strong and consistent critic of Trump.

Newsom has long positioned California as a durable counterweight to “Trumpism,” particularly on climate policies that California has expanded as the White House abandoned them. The governor delivered a similar message at last year's international climate conference in Brazil, pitching California as America's main climate driver in Trump's absence.

While it's not unusual for California governors to use the state's economic clout to shape global climate policy, Newsom's lobbying for his state also serves as a promotion for himself, allowing him to practice his diplomatic skills, strengthen relationships with heads of state and hone his pitch for a post-Trump foreign policy, Politico writes.

He is one of six potential Democratic presidential candidates who contrast Vice President JD Vance's sharp criticism of the European continent at the Munich Security Conference last year.

World leaders on Friday suggested they too understand a change in leadership is coming, although it is unclear whether the next administration in Washington will be more receptive to climate change concerns.

Asked at the debate, which Newsom also attended, how to handle the Trump administration's withdrawal from climate policies, Vanuatu's climate adaptation minister noted that other nations are already used to presidential elections that change their relationship with the United States.

“We are waiting for the US to return to the negotiating table,” said Minister Ralph Regenvanu. “It happened once. I think it will happen again,” he added.

Trump is “the most destructive president” in history, Newsom says

In his intervention, the governor of California harshly criticized Donald Trump on the main stage of the security forum, saying, among other things, that the current US president “doubles down on his stupidity”, The Guardian also reported.

“Never in the history of the United States of America has there been a president more destructive than the current occupant of the White House in Washington, DC,” Gavin Newsom said.

He also said that Trump is “trying to recreate the 19th century.”

“We are demonstrating on a large scale that we can implement, we can compete and we can dominate, but Donald Trump is trying to turn back the clock,” the governor added.

According to Newsom, the climate crisis affects Americans directly because “people are burning, suffocating, warming; we have simultaneous droughts and floods, historic fires.”

“California is an important blue (Democrat, no) state, but it has more Republicans than most Republican states, and we're long past partisanship on this issue, because there's no Republican thermometer, there's no Democratic thermometer. There's just reality,” he concluded.