What on Earth Is Gavin Newsom Doing?

I was open to the idea behind Gavin Newsom’s new podcast, in which the California governor has been breaking out of his political bubble to talk at length with right-wing media stars such as Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon. Democrats need to get better at speaking to people who don’t share their assumptions and at long-form conversations requiring improvisation and spontaneity. They need to be willing to take risks and to use conflict to generate attention.

Newsom himself did just that in 2023 when he debated Ron DeSantis on Fox News, drawing almost five million live viewers, plus 700,000 more for the replay. Trying to leverage Kirk and Bannon’s notoriety to reach new audiences could have been an interesting experiment.