When stress tested about Democrats staggeringly losing support, Governor Newsom responded “I don’t mind losing, sometimes you lose on principle. Not everything is political.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom recently launched a new podcast, called “This is Gavin Newsom,” where he hosted the first episode with Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, a conservative student advocacy group.
“The majority of people are saying we’re “out of touch”, that we don’t represent you, that we are weak,” Governor Newsom raised for discussion during his brief introductory episode for his newest social media endeavor.
Newsom’s recent attempt at an overture across the political aisle in the face of division and dwindling confidence among Democrat voters comes consequently after the 2024 Republican presidential win, and more recent Eaton and Palisades wildfires in Southern California.
Regarding his role as governor of the Golden State, Newsom has since requested from President Donald Trump $40 billion in fire relief funds.
On his own audio program, “The Charlie Kirk Show,” Kirk had anticipated even before going on set with Newsom that the governor would likely “run to the middle and position himself more as a moderate” to potentially save face for the Democrats and his career.
Turning Point’s founder has consistently blasted the state government in California on its placating to DEI and identity politics in embedding items including abortions, gender reassignment surgery, sanctuary cities, and Critical Race Theory into policy.
Kirk has pointed out how as Sacramento doubles down on the standard liberal agenda aims of the Democrats, Californians continue to suffer economically from exorbitant inflation and taxes, which has furthered a persistent population decline in the state.
Leading up to the taping, he openly expressed cynicism about the scheduled debate over Newsom’s trademark “smooth and slick” presentation, expecting this would make an otherwise valuable opportunity to challenge Gavin Newsom in an unfiltered way come across as disingenuous.
Kicking off the first installment of the podcast, Newsom opened first with dissecting Kirk’s role in the massive conservative organizing that has taken form on college campuses nationwide.
Governor Newsom commended Kirk’s successful ballot chasing efforts with Turning Point that contributed to moving the youth vote 10 points to the right over the course of the past ten years. The 31-year old conservative voice explained the success in doing so was largely attributed to the hostile intellectual atmosphere present in universities in the United States, asserting that young men especially had been fed up with liberal Democrats “looking down on the muscular class,” and such elitism is not justifiable when there are 11 million jobs, more than two-thirds, that do not require a college degree.
Newsom then pivoted back onto Kirk’s own political metamorphosis, to which he credits the Trump 2016 campaign as the “catalyst for a cultural moment” that inspired Kirk to shift distinctly conservative in his beliefs after having learned primarily libertarian up until then.
He went on to underscore how Trump, in serving as a platform for the silent majority, opened up the floor for Turning Point to triumph in ballot chasing to the level that they did in 2024. He continued that his organization’s dedicated work heavily factored into the results in Republicans performing outstanding swing states such as Michigan, where Trump won “a majority of the under-30 vote.”
The conversation moved onto where the Democratic Party has ended up since the 2024 election. Newsom touched briefly on the February 25th New York Times piece from Democratic strategist James Carville, who has suggested that his party should just “roll over and play dead” until “the American people miss us.”
However, Newsom conveyed his personal dissatisfaction with giving Americans the silent treatment until Trump and the Republicans make some hypothetical ruinous move down the road, as he felt the idea of sitting around for three years “waiting for the moment to strike” would not be a very constructive strategy if the Democrats intend to win back Americans’ trust. Instead, Newsom seemed open to reflecting more critically on positions that have been costly to his party, particularly on the debate surrounding transgender athletes in women’s sports.
In a shocking turn of events, Newsom conceded to Kirk that he felt the reality of trans women competing in NCAA women’s leagues is a clear “issue of fairness,” a clear departure from the Democratic Party’s unbending support of LGBTQ initiatives without question.
While he made it a point to stress the data from the NCAA that says there are “less than 10 transgender athletes” that the organization is aware of, Newsom still held the sentiment that even close friends and colleagues of his have asked him in confidence, “the hell is going on? Why aren’t you calling this out?”
Although, Newsom resisted taking direct responsibility for the issue of fairness he acknowledged, with the case that the legal precedent of allowing trans athletes in women’s sports in California was set before Newsom’s time as governor, back in 2014 during Jerry Brown’s tenure.
The focus of the show inevitably landed on Trump once again, with Newsom paying his respects to the election-defining campaign ad The Trump team ran last November, which headlined as “Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for You.” He found it to have been the last lick to Kamala Harris’ presidential run, and a fire that she only added more fuel when pressed about it by Fox News’ Bret Baier, with only to say back, “Frankly, that ad from the Trump campaign is a little bit of like throwing stones when you’re living in a glass house.”
Her refusal to back down from virtue signaling and at least try to make her message sound less performative, was what ruined the Harris-Walz campaign in Newsom’s mind, who then made it a point to ask himself and Kirk: how did the Democrats get this lost in the woods?
Newsom tied up the episode by asking Kirk where the Democratic Party go from here, even if a Democrat rebound is not among Turning Point’s deepest desires.
Kirk did decide to give Newsom some things to consider, namely the need for Democrats to do some serious introspection on some of their most sacred agenda points, illegal immigration, trans ideology, and more specific to California, the quality and cost of life.
Kirk put Newsom on the stand about his willingness to cooperate with ICE, and responded, “California coordinates and cooperates with all CDCR releases” regarding handing over illegal immigrants only from within the California prison system, to which Kirk shot back, “if you break into the country illegally in 8 U.S. Code § 1325, that is breaking [the law].”
Still and all, Newsom continued to level with him on LGBTQ matters that “we have to be more sensitized to the youth,” and on the subject of affordable housing in the Golden State, “It’s the original sin in the state of California, affordability period.” He strongly agreed with Kirk’s criticism of investment firms like BlackRock for exacerbating the housing crisis.
“This was fun,” Newsom signed off with, thanking and appreciating Kirk for his time and civility.
