California needs Newsom to be a leader, not another mediocre white man with a podcast | Opinion
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s latest public blunder — inviting right wing troll Charlie Kirk to be the first guest on his new podcast — is merely the latest pairing of two mediocre white men who think their conversations are interesting enough to be recorded.
It’s either Newsom attempts to make a greasy pole more palatable to the masses in the 2028 presidential election, which is not happening, or it’s simply Newsom trying to find a lane for himself among all the other white men with podcasts.
Who, exactly, was the audience for this conversation, anyway? Because it sure wasn’t the people of California.
I’d rather listen to Chico State frat boys debate their favorite IPA than spend a single moment listening to Newsom and Kirk. I already know plenty of boring men who want to mansplain politics to me, thanks.
Now, I’m no fortune teller, but even I can see that Newsom’s little podcast project will soon crumble under the crushing weight of lackluster listenership — like so many other puffed-up would-be podcasters who have gone before him.
I’m putting the over-under at 10 episodes. Any takers?
This podcast of Newsom’s is platforming people who make their living off of temper tantrums and mass-produced hatred.
Our governor could be using this moment to role model a way for Democrats to oppose the convicted felon in the White House. You know, the guy who is trying to destroy government programs that thousands of Californians rely on? Or how about working to house the 187,084 homeless people? Or flattening California’s 121% spike in opioid-related deaths since 2019?
None of this is achieved by cozying up to a demagogue like Kirk. I’m ashamed that my governor managed to find common ground with a bigot by throwing trans athletes under the bus.
So many options Gavie, so little time left in your administration.
And yet you chose to waste an hour and 27 minutes with a guy like Kirk. How does it feel knowing you handed a microphone to a guy who once said that “only straight married couples should be allowed to have children” and that all single women over 30 are “depressed, suicidal, anxious and lonely” who “lash out on the rest of society by voting democrat”?
Unless Newsom is recording these podcasts during the 90-mile drive it takes to get to Sacramento from his new, $9.1 million mansion in the tony Bay Area enclave of Kentfield, I just don’t know how he found the time to be Kirk’s lapdog and the leader California deserves.
Who will Newsom’s next podcast guest be? Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony? The ghost of Adolf Hitler? (Hey, maybe the ghost of Mussolini can show him how to keep the High Speed Rail running on time. At least we’d learn something from that episode.)
The fumbling, bumbling, disjointed Democratic party in America right now is on full display for all the world to see — and apparently listen to— in one foolish package called Gavin Newsom.
This story was originally published March 6, 2025 at 12:00 PM.
