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- [00:01]
Advertiser
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- [00:30]
Host
I'm joined by California Governor Gavin Newsom. Governor, the markets are crashing right now. The last I checked, and I don't like to check. The s and P 500 down 4.4%. The Nasdaq down 5.6%. The Dow is down 3.6%. And we also received news this morning that the U.S. announced job cuts totaled 275,000 in March, a record high for the month of March. Now, Governor, we're going to talk a little bit about the podcast. I've got some questions there. But we got to talk about this breaking news and your response to it.
- [01:10]
Gavin Newsom
Look, I mean, I represent a state the size of 21 state populations combined, the fifth largest economy in the world. And we have a break the glass moment. We have to update all our economic forecasts, our inflationary forecasts, our unemployment forecasts, our budget forecast, because I represent the largest manufacturing state in America. I represent a state that's more impacted because of direct trade from China and Mexico and Canada than any other state. And as a consequence, the impacts are extraordinary. But it's not about California per se. It's about all of us. It's about the global order. It's about our alliances, it's about our reputation, truth, trust. It's about stability. It's about the world we've come to know and some of us revere and love the country. All of that now at risk because of the recklessness, and there's no other way to describe it, of one individual, the President of the United States.
- [02:08]
Host
You know what makes this worse, if it could get worse, is that it's a self inflicted recession. I mean, we all knew what happened with Smoot hawley in the 1930s. We know that if you impose these types of tariffs, it's going to have the consequences that we are seeing now. So with all of the info out there, with all of the data that's out there, how could it be that this has happened? How do Americans process this moment? Governor?
- [02:38]
Gavin Newsom
Well, it's about ideological, you know, it's an ideological endeavor. This, you know, Donald Trump, it's interesting. It's the one thing he's been consistent about. This is a former Democrat who was a pro choice Democrat who contributed to Kamala Harris's campaign for attorney General in California. And Donald Trump, though, has been consistent for decades and decades on the issue of tariffs and the fact that he believes that other countries have ripped us off. So in every respect, this is shocking, yes, because of the outsized consequences, but not surprising as it relates to the deeper issue at hand is, you know, how do we unwind this and how do we do it in a way that doesn't unmoor the very foundations of our democracy, the best of Roman Republic, Greek democracy, system of checks and balances, all of that also under assault and under attack at the same time. And how do we do it with a Democratic Party party, the minority, but a Democratic Party that I think at this moment will be in its ascendancy as we start to assert ourselves much more aggressively, because we all now need to be unified across our differences, our interesting differences within the party in opposition of what this president is doing and the impacts will have in terms of our kids and our grandkids lives.
- [03:56]
Host
Let's talk about that, the how we do it. What's your message as the governor of the largest state, the fifth largest economy in the world? What's your message right now about what the Democrats should be doing in messaging, what's happening with the economy and just generally in this moment, right now of chaos? What's going to happen tomorrow? What's he going to post? How is that going to impact people's lives?
- [04:21]
Gavin Newsom
Well, you know, we do it from two, two positions. I think the answer to that is we use our formal authority to the extent we have it. Those in privileged positions of public service, in positions of elected office. I happen to be governor. So we use our moral authority, we push back, we assert ourselves. I mean, obviously I called for a special session right after Donald Trump's election. I signed that special session bill that allowed us to finance and litigate against the Trump administration. We've already advanced nine formal lawsuits in just a little over nine and a half, ten weeks. But we also have something that's even more powerful and that's our moral authority. And I think that goes to the larger question of everybody. All of us have to step up, all of us have to step in. It can't just be reserved for those extraordinary leaders that were able to galvanize people to large town halls or large rallies like AOC and Bernie Sanders, I think all of us now need to assert ourselves, to share a voice and to unify around the foundation of our democracy, our republic. The founding father didn't live or die to see this moment. You mentioned Smoot Hawley. I mean, that was the precursor to the Great Depression, maybe exacerbated it by any objective standard. And that was a little over 20% or roughly 20% tariffs. Trump just did 22.7%, 23%. And it was, it was done on the basis of some cockamamie formula that literally no one understands. And by definition, the markets have reacted to the recklessness to which he's moving into this. At the same time, they're trying to deconstruct the administrative state. At the same time, you reflect that 275,000 figure as it relates to jobs. A disproportionate number of that came from jobs that were lost to government. Same government that's here to protect us from the excesses of the kind of actions that are occurring in the Oval Office. So again, we'll flex in terms of our formal authority. We'll then express ourselves with the deeper power that resides in every single one of us. And that's our moral authority, sharing our voice in an authentic way, participating and being held to a higher level of accountability. And that includes me as well as governor of California, you know, as part.
- [06:49]
Host
Of that cockamamie tariff formula, we're also seeing that tariffs were imposed on an Antarctica island where just there's no human inhabitants.
- [07:01]
Gavin Newsom
Those pesky penguins, you know, they, they've been manufacturing a lot of, well, fill in the blank. I'm not sure they're exporting a lot of what they manufacture.
- [07:11]
Host
And then another island where the only population is an American military base. So we're tariffing our own military base. No offense to clowns. This is clownish stuff. It's dangerous stuff. And when you're speaking to world leaders, and I've seen you've been meeting with a lot of world leaders recently in California because they're looking for stability and answers. What are you hearing from them, Governor?
- [07:37]
Gavin Newsom
Boy, I appreciate and thank you for your observation, because I was about to say, because I'm quite literally meeting with those world leaders that have disproportionate, I cannot impress upon you more the number of high profile folks that, you know their names that have directly reached out to the governor of California because of the uncertainty they're feeling about the United States of America and the world they're living in. And these are people in privileged and powerful positions that want to know that California is not going to turn their back. And my point to them is the point I want to make to everybody. We're not going to turn our back. We're going to be a stable partner that we believe in our alliances, we believe in our allies, we support our friends. We want to. We want to build more friends, more allegiance, more bridges, and more opportunity. And, and, and we're not gonna, we're not gonna sit back and as we haven't. But we're gonna be even more forceful and formidable moving forward as we push back against this agenda. And let me remind you why, when I say the fifth largest economy in the world, this is important to understand. We're 14. We're the tent pole of the U.S. economy. 14% of the GDP in the United States of America emanates from the state of California. We're the largest manufacturing state, $421 billion. The next largest state is Texas, and we're 41% bigger than Texas. We have more jobs, 150% more than the second state, jobs in forestry, in agriculture and fishing. This state represents, in so many ways, it's a microcosm in the United States of America. And so we feel these impacts in a profound and consequential way. The trade war that Donald Trump has just launched, because there'll be a reaction. There already has been a reaction, is going to be felt in pretty profound ways to real people, average people, including those that voted for Donald Trump, those that were betrayed by this very administration. And I think we have to shape that narrative. And Democrats, it is about narrative. We've got to shape the narrative, and we've got to flood the zone. And as you do in this extraordinary platform that you've created. Thank God for you. But we have got to flood the zone and develop a narrative that can counter Donald Trump and not just get caught up in dangling verbs and getting caught up, up in. In sort of sentences and responding to every single tweet or true social, but to develop and flood the zone on a narrative that binds us together, that celebrates again all our interesting differences in the vernacular of Bill Clinton, but binds us together as a nation in an aspirational and patriotic way. Democrats need to own that space again, and we need to be a big tent party again, which is foundational if we're going to make the kind of progress that this moment demands.
- [10:43]
Host
Governor, I think about some of the people who voted for Donald Trump in our state of California. The farmers in Kern county, in Fresno, they're getting hurt right now, maybe even the most or as bad as anybody. Also, you know, we learned about how Donald Trump emptied those reservoirs because he wanted to say he opened up a valve and released the water into Southern California. This reservoir was nowhere near where the fires were at the time the reservoir was drained. There was already full containment or mostly full containment of the fire. This was nowhere near where the fires were. But now the releasing of this water is going to harm farmers during a dry summer. This can be devastating. Releasing $2.2 billion just so he can do a freaking social media post. What's your reaction to that? What's the status of that right now?
- [11:39]
Gavin Newsom
Well, I mean, it's back to, it's, I guess it's par for the course, isn't it? It's reckless, just as these tariffs, it's arbitrary. Yeah, it's, I mean, it's fill in the blank, but it's really consequential. And I preach, boy, well done, you. You framed it perfectly. He basically took water that was set aside for this summer's farming from one part of Central Valley and then dumped into other part of Central Valley without giving them heads up on water they didn't need to know even how to store. And they turn off the pump because it was starting to impact the levees. None of it went to Southern California. But what Donald Trump did, he flooded the zone with dis and misinformation, celebrating that somehow he solved for the problems in Southern California somehow equating and connecting it to fire hoses and issues related to fire to, to fire suppression and, you know, facts, again, get in the way. Narrative matters. Illusion rules so often. And the challenge we have, and you know this, and again, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm not going to say anything nice again about you because I appear to be patronizing. But they dominate right now in terms of flooding the zone and weaponizing this miss and disinformation. And they are able to do it with an asymmetry in terms of their communication capacity that we have to address and you are addressing, addressing and we have to own up to, and we've got to rebuild that architecture or build that architecture so that we can compete in this space. Because what you just said is not commonly known by the overwhelming majority of people that voted for Donald Trump that actually believe that that water was sent to Southern California, even though demonstrably, we know that was not the case.
- [13:34]
Host
Governor, you are a fighter. You are known for being a top debater as well. And I'll just give you the example. You went on Fox News and you had Sean Hannity conduct a debate with you and Ron DeSantis, knowing that Hannity would, you knew they were going to do the stunts. You did that in front of millions of people on Fox. Look, the stakes don't really get higher than that. So when people think about you, they think fighter, debater. So I have questions about the podcast. I'm sure you've heard these questions before, and I think it's only fair that I ask him on this show because what people were wondering when you had someone like a Charlie Kirk and a Bannon, they know that Newsom's a fighter. That's what they think. So when they, when you have them on the show, this is what the argument is. And then, and then let me know. They said, look, Kirk said some bad and not Kirk says a lot of bad things. MLK is a bad guy. The Civil Rights act of 1964 was a mistake. If you vote Democrats as a Christian, I think you can no longer call yourself a Christian. Black pilots, I'm sorry, if I see a black pilot, I'm going to be like a boy. I'm going to be asking if he's qualified or not. Bannon pled guilty to a felony contempt of Congress. So people are saying you have them on. Does it feel like you're normalizing them for not challenging them and hitting them for those ideas? Because you're a fighter and that's what you're known for. So what do you say to those people?
- [15:06]
Gavin Newsom
No, I appreciate that. I say what I, what I said when I launched the podcast. That's not what this podcast is about. And, and if you're tuning in to watch a debate, you know, turn on cable news, there's plenty of debates going on. Just, you know, go down and maybe go to Thanksgiving dinner and debate with your uncle. I'm not here to debate. I'm here to illuminate. I'm here to understand. Because, look, we lost the election. We lost the popular vote. We don't have the House or the Senate. There's certain reality here we're losing young men. And this perhaps to me is one of the biggest issues that define some of the challenges of the Democratic Party. Multi ethnic young men in this country. These are trend lines that are growing to become headlines. And I want to understand how these guys work. I want to know what their motivations are, I want to know how they operate and I want to find areas where I want to find a capacity to understand and Engage without demeaning. I do that plenty. I mean, you know, we're, we're, we're, you know, I'm going at it, we're doing, we're litigating, we're doing lawsuits. I'm out there debating. But I wanted to create a platform for a different kind of engagement, a two way conversation. And I, so I deeply respect how people want to see the other side. But, but for the purposes of this podcast, I just want to invite people in because I want to understand what world I'm living in. I want to understand what the trend lines are that define it. I want to know how we can take advantage of it. Charlie Kirk has created a platform for engagement where he's on college campuses in ways Democrats are not. He's open debates, he's arguing with folks and he's increasingly winning young men and they're converting and they're moving over. He's built a big platform, he's built a big voice ban and I mean big part of what we just talked about in the top of this, about what's going on with tariffs, that's, that's Bannon. This has been Bannon's vision for decades and decades. It's manifesting and you know, for me it's, I'm not, you know, normal realizing. You said I appreciate, but I'm not platforming. These guys have millions and millions and millions of followers. When I started the podcast, I had zero. Like I literally started with zero in that first podcast with a guy who has tens of millions of followers. So who's platforming whom? And so I look and I'll end on this. I'm exhausted and maybe others are not. I just, I really long for a world where we can live together across our differences. I really long for a world where I can show up and disagree with someone politically, but still respect and appreciate that they love their kids like I love my kids. They love their community. They want to be connected to something bigger than themselves. They may desire to do that through sort of a religious organization. Others may desire to do that through a non profit and a charity. But there's certain things that are universal in life and I'm just, I'm. I don't know, I just want to. This has been hard. The stacking of stress and all the anxiety and the finger pointing, the demeaning and demoralization that people feel attacking people and bullying people. And so that's what the, that's kind of what I'm trying to do is something a little bit different. But man, mad respect for those that disagree with me and, and want to see a more combative sort of FOX News, Newsmax version of me. But you know, I'll keep doing that on Fox and Newsmax so you can tune in there.
- [18:21]
Host
You will go on there. You are going to fight on those platforms. Governor, any final words you want to give to the American people who are feeling uncertain right now, who are just, who are just worried right now, what's your message to the American well, my.
- [18:31]
Gavin Newsom
Message is if you're listening, you haven't, you know, thank you. You're the antidote to your own fear and anxiety. You're the antidote to your own sinus. You're not cynical, you haven't given up, you haven't given in. So by definition, you know, mad respect, you're winning here. You are winning because you're showing up and that's pretty powerful. And if you can show up and not get into that cynicism after all the stacking of stress and everything you've been through, like everybody listening, watching everything you've been through with COVID and Pandemic and social unrest and economic uncertainty. And I'm not talking about today. I'm talking about what you went through during COVID and supply change and shocks to the system to Trump 2.0 and you're getting through 1.0. The fact that you're still tuning in to this platform means you're on the other side of this. If you maintain your, your, your comp, you're just confidence in yourself. And so I just, I want to, I just want to acknowledge everything you've been through but also just, you know, ask you for a little bit more on behalf of all of us and know that I really believe this in my core. We're in the majority, good people that want to do the right thing, that don't want to talk down to people or past people that, that really believe in the values, progress that we hold dear, that we're all better off, we're all better off. That everybody has the capacity to flow with the forces of life, to be fully expressive. And it's our job to encourage that and enliven people into a sense of well being and opportunity and, and, and so I, I just, I just want people to keep the faith, I guess is a long winded point, you know, and I just want to compliment, you know, the Cory Booker's the world, my old buddy, my old friend, former mayor, mayoral colleague, you know, if he can last 25 hours on his feet, we can handle the next 25 to 36 months, as long as we step up and we're on our feet and. And we're out there and we're making our voices heard.
- [20:28]
Host
California Governor Gavin Newsom, first time on the Midas Touch Network. We appreciate you so much.
- [20:34]
Gavin Newsom
Great to be with you, everybody.
- [20:36]
Host
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