If there is one thing Donald Trump and his Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, cannot stand, it is being played for fools. Yet, following a brutal week of economic data and a Supreme Court smackdown, California Governor Gavin Newsom has given them a new nickname that seems to be sticking: Dumb and Dumber.
The insult, delivered during a fiery CNN interview, was classic Newsom—quick, cutting, and perfectly timed . But while the governor’s theatrical jabs are often dismissed as mere trolling, this particular epithet carries weight not just because it is funny, but because it is increasingly difficult to argue with.
The “Dumb”: An Economy in the Toilet
Newsom didn’t mince words. He accused Trump and Bessent of having “wrecked this economy,” pointing to stagnant GDP growth and rising inflation . The numbers he cited paint the picture of an administration that inherited a relatively stable ship and promptly steered it into an iceberg.
However, the “dumb” part of the equation isn’t just the economic mismanagement; it is the apparent surprise that policies have consequences. The administration’s “economic paradigm,” as Newsom described it—mass deportations coupled with chaotic tariff wars—was always going to spook the markets .
But the “dumber” title might be best reserved for Bessent himself, who seems to be living in an alternate reality. While Americans grapple with rising costs, Bessent was reportedly “gleeful” at the Davos World Economic Forum, dismissing the need for economic relief . This is, after all, the same Treasury Secretary who defended the administration by suggesting they were looking out for “mom and pop” retirees who happen to own “5, 10, 12 homes” .
When Newsom calls them out of touch, he isn’t just spinning. He is holding up a mirror to an administration that thinks owning a dozen homes is the baseline for the average American retiree. Bessent’s subsequent defense was to fire back that Newsom has a “brain the size of a walnut”—a retort so juvenile it inadvertently proved Newsom’s point about the intellectual heft of the administration .
The “Dumber”: The $10 Billion Shakedown
If the economic policy is the “dumb,” the corruption is the “dumber.” Newsom has been relentless in accusing the president of turning the Oval Office into a grifting operation .
Take, for instance, the President’s recent lawsuit against the… well, against himself. In a move that legal scholars are still struggling to categorize, Trump is suing the IRS and the Treasury Department—the very agencies he controls—for $10 billion. His claim? That his tax information was leaked years ago .
As Newsom might ask: what kind of logic is that? As Senator Ron Wyden pointed out, Trump is essentially trying to “pocket billions of taxpayer dollars” by suing his own government . The President was asked how he would manage being on both sides of the lawsuit—essentially negotiating a settlement with himself. His response? He’d make it a “substantial amount” so they could “do something for charity” .
The brazenness is staggering. It is the political equivalent of a man robbing his own house and then claiming the insurance money because the locks weren’t good enough. Democrats have already introduced the “Stop Presidential Embezzlement Act” to block it, but the fact that such a law is necessary shows the depths of this administration’s creative financing .
The “Dumb and Dumber” Connection: Tariffs for Me, But Not for Thee
Perhaps the most damning connection between the “Dumb” and the “Dumber” comes back to tariffs. The Supreme Court recently ruled that Trump’s global tariffs were illegal—a massive rebuke to the administration’s overreach .
Newsom seized on this, demanding that Trump “refund that money with interest” to the American people . But then he went for the jugular, accusing Trump of using tariffs for personal gain. Newsom pointed to Vietnam, alleging Trump used the threat of tariffs to fast-track a deal on his golf course .
This is the core of the “Dumb and Dumber” critique. On one hand, you have economic stupidity—policies that hurt the working class. On the other, you have outright corruption—using the power of the state to enrich yourself while pretending to be a “builder.”
Trump loves to call himself a builder. He is currently obsessed with razing parts of the White House to build a $400 million ballroom and a triumphal arch . But as Newsom quipped on his book tour, quoting Sam Rayburn: “Any jackass can tear down a barn, but it takes a skilled carpenter to build one” .
Conclusion
Gavin Newsom knows exactly what he is doing. By branding Trump and Bessent as “Dumb and Dumber,” he is framing the administration as a duo of incompetent fools who stumbled into power and are now trying to pocket the silverware before they are kicked out.
Bessent might fire back with insults about hairdos and walnut-sized brains, but he misses the point . The American public doesn’t need a genius in the White House. They just need someone who isn’t trying to sue them for $10 billion while simultaneously blowing up the economy.
Until then, the image of Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne sitting behind the Resolute Desk, trying to figure out how to steal the lamp, is going to be very hard to shake.