Having swallowed the pill Democratic consultants are selling about abandoning the progressive left, term-limited California Governor Gavin Newsom is suddenly chummy with noted anti-semites and conspiracy theorists.
Gov. Newsom has a new podcast. He has already interviewed Great Replacement Theory spreading TurningPoint USA founder Charlie Kirk and had a rousing discussion equivocating Steve Bannon's "economic populism" with that of Democratic Senators like John Fetterman and Bernie Sanders. Newsom is suddenly sharing surprising views on positions like trans athletes don't belong in sports. Still, he is a bad enough interviewer to let practiced right-wing con people walk him into endorsing book bans, and fails to make strong arguments against clearly false strawmen.
Steve Bannon is not someone the sitting Governor of California should be having conversations with. The conspiracy theorist might be currently feuding with Elon Musk, but these Newsom podcasts call out many old adages, including the one about a broken clock still being right twice a day. Then there is the unattributed German one: "If nine people sit down at a table with one Nazi without protest, there are ten Nazis at the table."
You can see the gears turning in Newsom's head as he speaks with these guys. His position changing on transpeople in sports over how well the Republicans "weaponized the issue," is cringeworthy. I want more AOC, Jasmine Crockett, and Bernie Sanders. I don't need Democrats to tell me there is a lot of common ground with people who spread The Great Replacement Theory.
Previously:
• California governor Newsom vetoes AI safety law
• California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoes free condoms for high school teens, allows retailers to refuse to sell them
• CA's Gov Newsom trolls Desantis
