And, This is Governor Tim Walz

Summary

Podcast Summary: "And, This is Governor Tim Walz"

This summary captures the in-depth conversation between Gavin Newsom and Governor Tim Walz, exploring the current challenges and strategies of the Democratic Party in the United States. The discussion delves into party popularity, policy reception, communication strategies, voter engagement, and societal issues affecting the political landscape.

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1. Introduction and Current State of the Democratic Party

Timestamp [03:11]

Governor Tim Walz opens the conversation by addressing the Democratic Party's declining popularity. He cites recent polls from CNN and NBC indicating that the party's approval ratings have plummeted to historic lows—"the Democratic Party brand now down about 29%" ([04:35]). Both Walz and Newsom acknowledge the urgency to reassess and revitalize the party's approach to regain public trust and electoral success.

Notable Quote:

"It's time to answer the hard questions and be open to criticism, and debate without demeaning or dehumanizing one another."
— Gavin Newsom ([03:11])

2. Policy Popularity vs. Party Unpopularity

Timestamp [04:35]

Gavin Newsom highlights a critical disconnect: "our policies, like paid family medical leave, support for the environment, reproductive rights, they pull very high. We don't." Despite strong support for key Democratic policies, the party itself suffers from low approval ratings. This disparity underscores the need for improved communication and branding strategies.

Notable Quote:

"When we're losing elections, chaos reigns, which we're seeing right now."
— Gavin Newsom ([05:18])

3. Communication and Messaging Challenges

Timestamp [06:24]

Walz and Newsom delve into the issues surrounding the Democratic Party's messaging. They discuss how the party's efforts to promote popular policies have not translated into broader electoral support. Walz points out, “we don't think we're being seen as the party of the working people” ([06:24]), emphasizing the need to bridge the gap between policy support and public perception.

Notable Quote:

"We don't want to win elections just to say Democrats won elections. We want to win elections to improve people's lives."
— Gavin Newsom ([05:41])

4. Engaging with Red States and Diverse Audiences

Timestamp [25:18]

Governor Walz underscores the importance of a "50 states strategy," advocating for Democrats to engage with voters across all states, not just traditionally swing states. Walz states, “you can't tell Montana. They don't matter. Or Idaho or Mississippi.” ([25:24]), highlighting the necessity of a nationwide approach to build a more inclusive and representative party base.

Notable Quote:

"We need to respect the fact that we have to represent the American people. And that means all 50 states."
— Tim Walz ([25:24])

5. Voter Turnout and Engagement Strategies

Timestamp [08:18]

The conversation shifts to voter turnout, with Walz expressing concern over the 90 million voters who stayed home during recent elections. He emphasizes the importance of understanding why these individuals felt disconnected. Walz remarks, “Why did they think we were the same? Why did they think we weren't there?” ([07:09]), suggesting that the party needs to actively reach out and engage these non-voters to regain their trust and participation.

Notable Quote:

"We need to be willing to go into those spaces to be candid with you, it allows people to express their frustrations."
— Tim Walz ([07:09])

6. Addressing Masculinity and Men's Issues

Timestamp [45:06]

Walz and Newsom discuss the rising concern over masculinity and the identity crisis facing many men in America. Walz notes, “There's a crisis of men and masculinity in this country, and that's a hard thing for Democrats because we want to lift up women and other oppressed groups” ([46:21]). They agree that addressing these issues is crucial for the party to reconnect with a broader demographic.

Notable Quote:

"We have to be willing to have those conversations and not feel like we're playing into the right wing when we're having those conversations."
— Tim Walz ([48:20])

7. Unity, Community Building, and Shared Values

Timestamp [57:27]

The discussion culminates with an emphasis on building a "big tent" and fostering a sense of community and shared values within the Democratic Party. Walz states, “We all need to be connected. There's an unmooring that's going on in society.” ([58:31]) Both leaders advocate for policies and messaging that promote unity, responsibility, and shared experiences to mend the fractured political landscape.

Notable Quote:

"People want to be part of something bigger than themselves."
— Gavin Newsom ([57:27])

8. Concluding Thoughts and Future Strategies

Timestamp [61:02]

In their closing remarks, Newsom and Walz discuss the importance of continuing to "lean into labor unions" and "worker-centered industrial policy." They agree that focusing on community, responsibility, and service can help revitalize the Democratic Party's image and effectiveness. Walz concludes, “It's what brought us Medicaid and Medicare. That's what brought us the minimum wage as we know it today. It was a big tent.” ([61:46])

Notable Quote:

"We have to lean into labor unions. Lean into labor. Labor unions."
— Gavin Newsom ([62:04])

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Key Takeaways

• Disparity Between Policy and Perception: While Democratic policies enjoy substantial support, the party struggles with low approval ratings, necessitating better communication and branding strategies.

• Nationwide Engagement: Adopting a 50 states strategy is crucial for Democrats to engage with voters across all regions, ensuring a more inclusive and representative approach.

• Voter Turnout: Addressing the reasons behind the 90 million non-voters and actively engaging them is vital for future electoral success.

• Masculinity and Men's Issues: Recognizing and addressing the identity and societal challenges faced by men can help the party reconnect with a crucial demographic.

• Community and Unity: Building a sense of community, shared values, and a big tent can fortify the Democratic Party against fragmentation and enhance its appeal.

• Worker-Centered Policies: Emphasizing labor unions and policies that support workers can reinforce the party's commitment to the working class and drive economic growth.

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Conclusion

The conversation between Gavin Newsom and Governor Tim Walz provides a candid analysis of the Democratic Party's current challenges and potential pathways to resurgence. By focusing on inclusive engagement, addressing societal issues, and strengthening policy advocacy, the party can work towards rebuilding its brand and effectively serving the American populace.

Transcript

[Bob Pittman]

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Chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia. I'm excited to introduce a brand new season of my podcast, Math and Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing. I'm having conversations with some folks across a wide range of industries to hear how they reach the top of their fields and the lessons they learned along the way that everyone can use. I'll be joined by innovative leaders like Chairman and CEO of Elf Beauty Tarang Amin, legendary singer, songwriter and philanthropist Jewel.

[Gavin Newsom]

Being a rock star is very fun.

[Bob Pittman]

But helping people is way more fun.

And Dame Damien Maldonado, CEO of American Financing.

[Tim Walz]

I figured out the formula. I just have to work hard then that's magic.

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Join me as we uncover innovations in data and analytics, the math, and the ever important creative spark, the magic. Listen to math and magic on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Vanessa Marshall]

Welcome to Pod of Rebellion, our new Star Wars Rebels Rewatch podcast. I'm Vanessa Marshall, voice of Harris Syndulla, Specter 2. I'm Tia Sirkar, Sabine Wren, Spectre 5.

[Gavin Newsom]

I'm Taylor Gray, Ezra Bridger, Specter 6.

[Jon Lee Brody]

And I'm Jon Librody, the Ghost Crew Stowaway moderator.

[Vanessa Marshall]

Each week we're gonna rewatch and discuss an episode from the series and share some fun behind the scenes stories.

[Jon Lee Brody]

Sometimes we'll be visited by special guests like Steve bloom voices Zaborelio Spectre 4 or Dante Bosco voices Jaquell and many others.

[Vanessa Marshall]

So hang on because it's gonna be a fun ride.

[Gavin Newsom]

Cue the music.

[Jon Lee Brody]

Listen to Potter Rebellion on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Cheekies]

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[Tim Walz]

I'm Mark Seale.

[Nathan King]

And I'm Nathan King.

[Gavin Newsom]

This is Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli.

[Tim Walz]

The five families did not want us to shoot that picture.

[Nathan King]

This podcast is based on my co host Mark Seals. Best selling book of the same title. Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli features new and archival interviews with Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Evans, James Caan, Talia Shire and many others.

[Gavin Newsom]

Yes, that was a real horse's head.

[Nathan King]

Listen and subscribe to Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Tim Walz]

This is Gavin Newsom. And this is Governor Tim Walz. All right, Governor, it's great to have you on the podcast. Thanks so much for being with us.

[Gavin Newsom]

I am, thanks for having me. I, I'm kind of wondering where I fall on this list of guests, but I'm excited. You and I, friends for a while, but we, we, you and I talked about this for a while trying to, trying to understand during a Trump presidency how do we best serve our folks? How do we get back there and that the Democratic Party, I mean we all need to be very candid, is, is not all that popular right now.

[Tim Walz]

Well, that's how I wanted to start. Just right up top. I mean the timing of this couldn't be more opportunistic for both of us as Democratic governors. It's, look, we're, we're in the tank. I mean it's not just a rough spot. It's an historically low, at least in modern polling. Back to the 1990s, CNN had the Democratic Party brand now down about 29%. And it was even worse in an NBC poll that showed 27% of people supporting our party. You've been out on the road. You were just in a couple of red states. You've been doing town halls. We've talked about this in the past privately. It's not just about what you say and how you say. It's also about where you, you say it. So I love the fact you were out there. So give us a sense. I mean what you're over under is about where the hell our party is right now.

[Gavin Newsom]

Well, and I think that's what people are doing. Look, you're, this is something hadn't been done what you're doing and people are, you know, and they're so we're trying to enter spaces and look, I don't know if all of them are going to work. I don't. But. But the fact of the matter is we don't want to win elections just to say Democrats won elections. We want to win elections to improve people's lives. When we're losing elections, chaos reigns, which we're seeing right now. I'm out of town hall, and these folks are standing up. They're a VA nurse. They're, you know, they're concerned what's happening at the va. They're a farmer that's concerned. They're folks that are concerned about their personal reproductive rights and their life choices. And if we can't be a respected opposition or alternative, that really worries me. And I say this, Gavin, that, that I didn't. I didn't go to the Democrats. They came to me with Social Security, with GI Bill. You know, it was clear when, at least my age, growing up, Democrats stood with working people, Republicans stood with the wealthy. And there was nothing necessarily wrong with that. That, you know, it was. It was a. At least an argument. It feels much more polarized now. But people don't see us as that.

[Tim Walz]

It's a. They see exactly the opposite of that, that we're the party of the elites, that we don't represent. We represent, quote, unquote, others. We don't represent them. In this notion that the working class now has been or has embraced Donald Trump is extraordinary. And so, I mean, you were out on the camp, you were out on the campaign show. I mean, it's such an interesting conversation for me to have with you and for those listening, because no one has more sort of a contemporary ear to the ground than you do. Just coming off a few months ago, the campaign trail, meeting people all across this country. I mean, these. These new numbers that came out, CNN and NBC, I mean, even you had to be shocked by how far we've fallen as a brand.

[Gavin Newsom]

Yeah, look, and I felt excitement out there. And our policies are popular, by the way. When you, when you pull our policies, like paid family medical leave, support for the environment, reproductive rights, they pull very high. We don't. So what I have to tell you, what I take away from that, Gavin, is, is that I think we got to be very careful of drinking our own Kool Aid or believing we're in our bubble, because I truly did think we were gonna win. And I say that as someone who has run in traditionally red districts, won close races, and I felt like I had a feel. And I think this is where we're going to have to get out over our skis a bit, try new places. I know we've had this argument. It was out there. Governor, we didn't see you on a lot of things that weren't mainstream media. We didn't see you on podcasts. We didn't see you doing that. Are you willing to go into those. We need to be willing to go into those space. Now, between you and I, Gavin, I don't think we're going to win over those 77 million that voted for Donald Trump. I'm concerned with the 90 million who stayed home. Now. I'm concerned that our policies positively impact those 77 million because you and I represent a lot of independents, Republicans, Greens as well as Democrats, and we have responsibility. I don't know if we can necessarily win them over, but I think the thing that we should really soul search on is when the choice was Donald Trump, J.D. vance and Kamala Harris and myself and policies that we were clearly articulating, it got pretty close, 77 to 75 type of thing. But it's the 90 million that stayed home. Why did they think we were the same? Why did they think we weren't there? And I don't, I think by going into these spaces to be candid with you, it allows people to express their frustrations. It allows people to articulate what's happening in their lives. It better also be a place where we're hearing and learning because I'm guessing you're hearing some things that you don't normally hear when you're going on with some of these folks you're on with. They're telling others they don't hear. So.

[Tim Walz]

No. And that's, yeah. This notion of uncomfortable conversations, not just conversations, but let me, let me, let me step back. I love what you said because it's interesting, this notion of our policies are popular, but our party is not popular. And it begs the question some have asked me, and I want to pose it to you. Do you think one of the mistakes is we don't focus first on what we stand for and then make the case the policy that backs that up and reinforces it, that we are not fundamentally meeting people where they are. They want to know what we stand for?

[Gavin Newsom]

Yeah, I think that's good. Yeah. And look, I, and I appreciate, I think we're going to be in hard places and I think we're going to get punched from both sides doing some of this. But we're not in this to, like I said, we're not banking political capital to win another election. We're trying to improve people's lives. And let's all be very candid. Nobody's lives being improved right now except billionaires. And I don't see that changing. And so I think we're going to have to ask those questions. I think a lot of times a simple answer is it's the messenger. You know, which I'll acknowledge. Maybe the messenger is not good at this. I approach this always, Gavin, like a school teacher. I give a lesson and then I do an assessment of that lesson. And half the students didn't do very well on it. Well, I don't assume that those half are terrible kids. I assume that they have a different learning style or they weren't hearing the way I was teaching it. Maybe these folks were, you know, verbal learners. Maybe they're a kinesthetic learners. Whatever it might be, I think we have to approach the electorate like that, that we think we're telling them where we're at. But for whatever reason, you're right, and this pains me, I tried to make the case. Look, I'm a public school teacher, went to a public university, and according to the Wall Street Journal, I'm the poorest person who ever ran for vice president. That didn't matter to them. And so the idea here that we were trying to craft someone who, for whatever reason, there was a number of people that didn't register with. So I'm. I'm with everybody else. And again, when people ask me, I'm probably the last person you should ask for answers because I didn't get it done. But I do believe we were making inroads. And I will have to tell you, one of the most powerful ones for me, Gavin, it's not a great use of campaign time, but we were up in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Halloween before the election, and I sat down with five undecided voters, and we had a 45 minute give and take on that. I think I got three of them for sure, maybe. But, you know, that's how you view it. But the fact of the matter was, is it was really good for me, too, because it was coming back and forth. And this guy says, well, I didn't realize, you know, you understood farm policy like this, because I'm not hearing that from you guys. He was telling us he wasn't hearing that. And I said, but I do know this. I know the price of corn. I know how these things work. So I think as Democrats, we're going to have to push ourselves into uncomfortable spots and these town halls Look, I'll be the first to acknowledge of you, it's to highlight that their members of Congress on the Republican side are ashamed of Donald Trump's policies.

[Tim Walz]

Is that, I mean, was that fun? Foundationally. What the. Why was that the inspiration?

[Gavin Newsom]

Yes.

[Tim Walz]

To go out and do it? Yes.

[Gavin Newsom]

And I don't demonize these representatives. I honor their service. I went out there, but I lived through this. I went to the town halls during the ACA and I made a full throated defense of President Obama's health care bill and I got reelected. Now, it was a tough fight, but I got reelected. These folks are not going out there and I'll tell you, it's a huge mistake. Democrats did this in 2010. Oh, these are Republican operatives. They were not Republican operatives. They were my neighbors who were madder than hell. And we're getting misinformation, but I went out and filled that void. I think we as Democrats have, have left a void. And that Donald Trump is masterful. Say what you will about this, I don't give him credit. I don't think he's a genius. I don't think he knows how stuff works. But I do think he knows how media works. And I do think he knows that if we're assuming people hear our arguments, they're just so selfish. Just like that teacher and me. I taught the lesson, this should be easy. Well, that's not how all people learn. It's not all people's lives are at. And again, I don't. If someone who doesn't believe a woman should have the right to choose. If someone who doesn't believe the president should be restrained by the Constitution, I'm not going to win them. But I don't believe that's a very large percentage of the population. But why are they not trusting us? What's your take? I mean, what are you hearing when you hear this? Why are people not trusting the message we were delivering? Because I keep coming back to this. We needed to have immigration reform to control our borders and you can do that with humanity. Donald Trump just said they're invading our country and they're eating dogs and cats and he got more votes.

[Tim Walz]

Why is so. I mean, and I want to, and I've, I have strong opinions on that, but I want to sort of stress test yours again because I think it's interesting. Back to my notion. And you say you're the last person I'm going to completely dismiss. I think you're the best positioned to understand what's going on. But let me reflect on this notion of you being a teacher and reflecting on, on how your students did. Did you have an opportunity right after the election to sit down over the course? I mean, I hope you took time off with the family, decompressed, but you had to have had with your team those com. These conversations. Did you have them with the Harris team as well? Did you have them with the campaign team? Have you organized anything more formally, even internally? You got books coming out. They're going to shape those internal conversations. You got one book coming out in a few weeks called Fight that is already starting to frame what did or did not occur. Have you started that process or has that process been advanced?

[Gavin Newsom]

Yeah, no, you're right. And I've talked to my team about it. Look, as a high school teacher and a governor, whatever, I didn't think about writing a book, but being there, I have, you know, I think we got to tell our story, and I think there's lessons learned. To not go back and do a, you know, a deep dive or a hot wash of this is, Is irresponsible, in my opinion. I spoke to the, the vice president last week. We talked a little bit about this, of coming to it, but we haven't done like a formal debrief. And you know, when you're part of it, you've done this, that, when you're part of a team on this, you know, you, you work together. And I stand by that. I signed up and, and I say this, Gavin, you'd appreciate, not the cliches of coaching or whatever, but, but I'm, I feel like I'm the constant team player. If you are truly a team player, you have a responsibility to make your team better. And that means a responsibility to say, look, we're not making this block here. We need to do this or whatever it is, and we need to be honest that again, I keep coming back to that number of the folks who stayed home. How in God's name could you stay home during this election? It's pretty hard to blame that on Donald Trump. You know what I mean? That you've got a responsibility. They weren't going to vote for him. His people were. But you had a whole bunch of these folks that just said, what difference does it make? And how did we as a party get into that? How did we lose the narrative? How much are we ceding ground to the Fox News and the right wing talking heads? How much are we ceding to them, which we don't have a pushback on it, and that's fascinating to me. I see that with me, people who have a clearly defined vision who I am by what they listen to. And I'm like, well, that's not true. None of that is true. But they have it.

[Tim Walz]

They have it. And I mean, and it's so interesting, I think about you and you know, we've talked about this before, this notion of, you know, you were, there was an effort to swift boat you in terms of your military service. And it's interesting. And Tim, we've also talked about the fact you were part of Kerry's campaign as a veteran, promoting it, watching Kerry by these same folks get swept.

[Gavin Newsom]

And it did it. And I'm telling you, this is one of the most painful ones for me, Gavin. Not because I don't go down and throw this in people's faces, but my dad was Korean War era veteran. He took me, I did it. I don't go out there and say, you know, I'm better than you because I did 24 years. But how quickly these guys dismissed 24 years of honorable service. I rose and served as the highest ranking enlisted soldier where you can get. And they find a way to damage that. And my argument on that has always been it damages all veterans. But I bet if you went and polled, we see this, veterans voted for Donald Trump more than they voted for us. We as Democrats, how do you write this off? How do you do. Or, or this one. Republicans are more fiscally conservative. You know that's not true. Republican governors of California have not been fiscally conservative.

[Tim Walz]

No. And I'll remind everyone, $8.4 trillion added to the debt during the four years of the Trump administration. And if you want to dismiss that, say it was Covid, it was 3 trillion before the pandemic, Iran deficits every single year. So I, I stand by what you just said, Tim.

[Gavin Newsom]

I mean, what do you think happened? And look, you're taking a different approach. You're doing other things. And I said, I think we as Democrats have to give, whether it's Bernie Sanders, whether it's Jasmine Crockett, aoc, Gavin Newsom, JB Pritzker, all of the folks out there. Because look, what we have in common is we believe in working people, we believe in fairness, we believe in health care, we believe in the environment. We're on the same team as the American public. But how do you see it? I mean, did it feel like we were going to win?

[Tim Walz]

No. I mean, we had that conversation. I felt like that up until election day for whatever reason. And look, but you know, it's Interesting. I had the same false sense that I think we all fall prey to, and that is, I was on those campaign buses. I was out there campaigning for you guys. And it's make believe in many respects. When they say, you know, when you want to go right, they say, oh, no, sir, we got to go left, because that's where the crowds are. And we've been working hard to assemble them. And I wonder just in terms of that, and I want to get back to answering your question. I want to just applaud you for doing these Red State tours. But do you fear, and I'm curious of your experiences like this when you go into those crowds, which were huge. You were in Omaha, you were in Ohio and Iowa. Excuse me. As well. And you had huge crowds. But do you fear they're just. You were talking to our same folks. Do you feel like it was a bunch of Republicans that were there to listen to you?

[Gavin Newsom]

No, I don't fear it. But I think we need to be honest with ourselves. The folks who took a beautiful Friday afternoon in Des Moines to come listen to Tim Walsh speak probably have a pretty good opinion of me in the first place. But that's okay, because they're, they're screaming, what are you guys going to do about it? But I do tell you, there were some independents there. I doubt if there were a whole lot of Republicans. But I'll tell you what those Republicans were watching, and I think what I would say if I was them is, look, our, our representative can do better than walls. He should do it. He should get out there and do it. This is to put pressure on them to come forward, because then it really does become a debate about the, the critical issues. And like I said this, I, you know, they can just come and why did you cut the va? Just tell us, tell us why you think that's a good idea. Because I would argue Once again, 80% of Americans don't want to cut the VA and you have to give them statistics and facts. And I think my purpose of this is, is to force the hand of these folks. Because I got to be honest with you, I think if they try and defend this stuff, they're going to lose. I believe strongly in that. This isn't just us versus them. This is good policy versus bad policy. And so that's the purpose. But no, I want to be clear to folks who see that the folks showing up are excited. But here's my thing. Four months after losing this critical election, our base is still engaged. So I think that polling is Interesting, Gavin, that it doesn't mean that there's less Democrats. And the reason that number is so low is if you poll every single year, if you ask the Republican Party their opinion of the Democratic Party, it's very low. The reason our numbers are so low is those are Democrats.

[Tim Walz]

Yep. 63% feel. And I was, I was, I was grateful with 63% still.

[Gavin Newsom]

Well, here's what I say. I'm not a Democrat, I'm Democratic farmer labor. I'm the one person in the country, we're dfl and so. And I actually think, Gavin, this is an interesting point. While I won't try and tell you we've kept the farmers all with us or whatever, we have kept some of them like farmers union in Minnesota and, and these issues around water quality and different things and we labor and in Minnesota, we really do. This was a marriage between the Farmer Labor Party, which quite honestly was more progressive and leaning into the issues of the working class and Democrats. And so I think on a national level we're gonna have the conversation of who we are because like you said it, people don't believe we're with them. They think we're elitist.

[Bob Pittman]

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[Vanessa Marshall]

Welcome to Pod of Rebellion, our new Star Wars Rebels Rewatch podcast. I'm Vanessa Marshall. Hi, I'm Tia Sircar.

[Gavin Newsom]

I'm Taylor Gray.

[Jon Lee Brody]

And I'm John Lee Brody.

[Vanessa Marshall]

But you may also know us as Harrison Doula, Specter 2, Tabeen Wren, Specter.

[Gavin Newsom]

5, and Ezra Bridger, Spectre 6 from Star Wars Rebels.

[Jon Lee Brody]

Wait, I wasn't on Star Wars Rebels. Am I in the right place?

[Vanessa Marshall]

Absolutely. Each week we're going to rewatch and discuss an episode from the series and.

[Gavin Newsom]

Share some fun behind the scenes stories.

[Jon Lee Brody]

Sometimes we'll be visited by special guests like Steve bloom voices Zaborillio's Spectre 4, or Dante Bosco voices Jai Kel and many others.

[Vanessa Marshall]

Sometimes we'll even have a lively debate.

[Gavin Newsom]

And we'll have plenty of other fun surprises and trivia too.

[Jon Lee Brody]

Oh, and me. Well, I'm the lucky ghost crew Stowaway who gets to help moderate and guide the discussion each week. Kind of like how Kanan guided Ezra in the ways of the Force. You see what I did there?

[Vanessa Marshall]

Nicely done, John.

[Jon Lee Brody]

Thanks, Tia.

[Vanessa Marshall]

So hang on because it's going to be a fun ride.

[Gavin Newsom]

Cue the music.

[Jon Lee Brody]

Listen to Potter Rebellion on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Bob Pittman]

Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia. I'm excited to introduce a brand new season of my podcast, Math and Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing. I'm having conversations with some interesting folks across a wide range of industries to hear how they reach the top of their fields and the lessons they learned along the way that everyone can use. I'll be joined by innovative leaders like chairman and CEO of Health Beauty, Tarang Amin.

[Gavin Newsom]

The way I approach risk is constantly.

[Jon Lee Brody]

Try things and actually make it okay to fail.

[Bob Pittman]

I'm sitting down with legendary singer, songwriter and philanthropist Jewel.

I wanted a way to do something that I loved for the rest of my life.

We're also hearing how leaders brought their businesses out of unprecedented times, like Stephane Bonsell, CEO of Moderna. It becomes a human decision to decide.

[Gavin Newsom]

To throw by the window your business.

[Bob Pittman]

Strategy and to do what you think.

[Gavin Newsom]

Is the right thing for the world.

[Bob Pittman]

Join me as we uncover innovations in data and analytics, the math, and the ever important creative spark, the magic. Listen to math and magic stories from the frontiers of Marketing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[J]

What's up, y'all? I'm A.J. andrews, pro softball player, sports analyst, and the first woman to win a Rawlings Gold Glove. On my new podcast, Dropping Diamonds, we dive headfirst into the world of softball by sharing powerful stories, insights and conversations that inspire and empower. Softball is growing fast and I'm gonna help you. You keep up with the speed of the game and the athletes that play it so well. You may even be able to throw out the fastest slapper. If you are an old or new fan looking to learn more about your favorite players or coaches and hear about their journeys and processes to success, this podcast is an exciting and invaluable resource for anyone interested in the complexities of excellence on the softball diamond. Softball is a game of failure and pressure situations. But lucky for all the fabulous softball players and fans, pressure makes diamonds and it's time to drop some bombs and diamonds on and off the softball diamond. Dropping diamonds with A.J. andrews is an Athletes Unlimited Softball League production in partnership with iHeart Women's Sports and Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. Listen to dropping diamonds with AJ Andrews on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Bob Pittman]

Presented by Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports.

[Tim Walz]

What I love about what you did is you're you're meeting people where they are going into red states, but you're also not just meeting where they are. You're showing respect. You're not, you're not turning your back because you're looking at electoral map and recent experience. Say it's just seven swing states and that's all our need to focus on. And I think one of the things the Democratic Party absolutely needs to do is we need to respect the fact that we have to represent the American people. And that means all 50 states. And so keeping going back showing up matters.

[Gavin Newsom]

Howard Dean was right. 50 states strategy and just to be candid as one of the fringe, kind of washed in with the wave. In 2006 when there was the big Democratic wave, it was because of Howard Dean and a few folks that were out there that were saying expand the map. Rahm Emanuel, of all people was one of them too, said we need to expand the map everywhere. They went into a district that had one Democrat since 1892 and put a little money into it. And I won. And so I think if you want to govern this country, you can't tell Montana. They don't matter. Or Idaho or Mississippi. And look, you and I both know this. You also can't tell the Central Valley and things we're not. Everybody thinks oh, California is solid.

[Tim Walz]

Quite the contrary. Two thirds of the map is deeply red. I mean, it's just America, only more so in California. More hunters, more ranchers, more farmers than other states and still the largest manufacturing state in America. People forget that as well. So this notion of industrial policy, that's worker centered.

[Gavin Newsom]

So I have to say I appreciate. And you're going on talking to, you know, and I get frustrated with some of these folks. You know, I get frustrated with the talking heads and the folks who I think are bad actors. I don't get frustrated with my neighbors who are voting that way. I don't understand it as well, but I'm trying to get them, you know, we have to figure out a way that we're not. The Republicans have done a good job of this. We're the enemy now. Now we're in this situation where they see Russians as being more trustworthy than us. You know, that's, that's a sad state to be in.

[Tim Walz]

Unbelievable state. Yes.

[Gavin Newsom]

And I don't know, again, I don't, I don't know if I've got the ability to bring back those 77 million. I do believe we've got the ability to get the disenfranchised folks who are seeing the damage here. And I think that's really important because this is truly, this isn't about winning elections. This is about what's best for the country. And you'll never convince me siding with Putin and North Korea is good for the country or fighting a trade war with Canada and Mexico is good for the country. I don't buy it.

[Tim Walz]

Yeah. Friends. And, and, and what more evidence do we need to underscore this notion of, of, of these principles? And what's happened today with the alien Enemies Act 1700s and the deportation and just the beginning. I mean, it's been this. To me, of all the things that has happened during the Trump administration, the notion that you can completely disregard the federal court and literally challenged the court, and for me, just blatantly in contempt of court. I mean, that's the cornerstone of this constitutional democracy.

[Gavin Newsom]

And here's what fascinates me is that came up. I watched the Sunday talk shows yesterday. It was all about what's wrong with the Democratic Party.

[Tim Walz]

Yeah.

[Gavin Newsom]

Why do we buy their arguments? Why are we fighting fringe red herring issues that get Democrats at Democrats, that get Democratic activists screaming at other Democrats. How do we. And I did it, Gavin. I admitted it. I took the dogs and cats argument and ran right with it. And he sucked me in. We have been in these issues, where we may not all agree on all the issue, but we buy their frame. And then you have Democrats fighting against Democrats, and they sail above it.

[Tim Walz]

They sail above it. I mean, so then you don't want me to ask the Schumer question in the shutdown, because it falls right into that frame, doesn't it?

[Gavin Newsom]

Yes, yes. And having served in Congress, you're an executive, you know what make the hard. I put out a budget, and everybody's angry with me, all my friends, you know, including teachers, who. I'm. I'm looking out for them. But you have to do these things. But I think it's in the moment with this, and, and I look. And this is where Democrats, we actually care about the institutions and we care about people like, you know, my opinion on this is I, I believe Chuck 100% believes that he made a decision that that reduced the pain and the risk to Americans. I see it now that we're in a point where I think we're in a new world, that pain is coming anyway. And I'm with you. I'm with you. Yeah. And they think we gave up our leverage. And to make it clear who owns this, because now to the American public, who doesn't do this for a living and is out doing their job, they said, well, they passed this budget and they agreed with Donald Trump, and now we all own that. I think you should have made Donald Trump justify why things were getting so bad. And we as governors would do our best to protect the most vulnerable. That seemed to me to be the fight we should have had. But I think the public saying is, you guys weren't even coordinated on that. You know, you weren't. We weren't.

[Tim Walz]

And let me, I mean, just let me ask you, as a party leader, are you. I mean, there's this notion, people say, well, what's the party doing? Who is the party? And I'm asking you, I'm serious, Is the party of the dnc? Is the party you and Harris? Is the party? Is it party? Is it. Is it Chuck and Hakeem?

[Gavin Newsom]

No.

[Tim Walz]

Is it who is the party? Is it a dga? No.

[Gavin Newsom]

I go back to it again, Gavin. It's not a flippant Vermont. It's the. It's the people. And then in a democracy, they send people forward to be able to do this. The party is not leadership. The party is there to enable. And I know for me, I wouldn't have got elected as a high school teacher with no connections, no political experience, if I wouldn't have been able to go to Worthington, Minnesota and meet a woman named Deb Hokanson who already knew how to organize a little get together and put me in front of 40 people and let me give my little speech. That's what the party was supposed to do. My job was to hear and reflect from them and then take our values and vote for them. And I think we've gotten ourselves in this bind where we think there's going to be one person. Now, I want to be very clear about this. It doesn't excuse any of us for not being organized, coordinated, thoughtful, delivering a unified message.

[Tim Walz]

And by the way, Tim, we're not doing that. And you know we're not doing that. I don't get calls. I mean, we don't coordinate. There's not, there's no deep coordinate. Heck, even in our DGA meetings, let's have that conversation. That's. We're not even focused on policy. It's nice to see each other. We have those side conversations. We'll have panels and we will discuss, in some respects, some policy. But at the gubernatorial level, when we're all together, we tend to be having tactical conversations about elections.

[Gavin Newsom]

We're probably more unified than anybody, too.

[Tim Walz]

And we are, ironically more unified.

[Gavin Newsom]

Yeah, we're not a caucus, but. And again, our, the folks who are out there, whether on social media or the folks at the local coffee shop or whatever, they want us to have a unified message. And here's where I really think They've missed in D.C. on this. It does feel to me that despite those numbers, the Democratic Party is unified. They're unified in being pissed off at the Democratic Party, and they are unified in that Donald Trump's policies are going to hurt people. So I would argue, Gavin, that there's an argument in here. And then I like him a lot, and I think he's right. I think Ezra Klein is giving us a bit of a roadmap kick in the butt. Yep. We blindly say all of our democratic institutions and our government institutions are unquestionably working as well as they should. We open it up. We should be striving to do things better. We should acknowledge, I'm trying to do it here in Minnesota. I'm not going to cut, you know, safeguards around permitting. But I will be the first to acknowledge it takes us too long to permit projects.

[Tim Walz]

There you go.

[Gavin Newsom]

And it bogs down systems. And I started, you know, we have to bring people in who, look, you're going to, you're going to cater to corporate interests or whatever. No, I'm trying to make it easier to build a solar field and be able to get that out there. I'm trying to make it easier for somebody to bring in a new business but not sacrifice workers safety, environmental safety and that. And we don't acknowledge that enough, I don't think.

[Tim Walz]

There you go.

[Gavin Newsom]

And then you know how Republicans are. I'll cut your taxes and you know, we'll, we'll cut government spending. But now you have all these stories, people saying, well, I voted for Trump and I wanted them to cut government spending, but I didn't mean me, I didn't mean my stuff. We as Democrats have to connect that government does deliver positives, does deliver things, but we also are, we're fallible and in some cases we get in the way. So say it.

[Tim Walz]

Yeah, I loved it. I mean, we're have. By the way, we're gonna have Ezra Klein on the podcast next week talking specifically about this.

[Gavin Newsom]

Thanks for me because I agree with him on this. I think he's trying to figure out a better way that this isn't an all or nothing and this is an advantage for us because Republicans are telling people that all government stinks. You're going to regret this. And I was down in Iowa when the tornadoes are hitting. It's really good to have weather forecasting, really. And it makes no sense. So tell that story.

[Tim Walz]

That's important. And look, I mean, for things to change, we have to change and I think we have to own what, you know, we can control the controllables and that's how we govern and be more effective. And in so many ways, the world we invented is competing against us as it relates to the paralysis of analysis and process. Years and years, as you say, to, to not just you get a permit, but even to zone a solar project. So this is not just about large factories spewing pollution. This is also about the transition to low carbon green growth economy. So I couldn't agree with your sentiment and I appreciate Ezra and others bringing that up. Let me ask you though, just broadly on the issue of the asymmetry, because we keep dancing around this and there is an asymmetry in terms of the communication. You talked about how you're perceived after this election, despite unprecedented amounts of money that you guys spent Harris Walt on campaign, trying to define our brand, but how successful they were defining us as opposed to Democrats defining them. It's important to underscore. I don't think people appreciate this. You look at podcasts, nine out of the 10 most influential podcasts skew to the right. Nine out of 10. Thank you to the, you know, the pod. Save folks for, for saving us, at least allowing us to fight. You've got 14 of the top rated TV shows. 14 of the 15 are on Fox. You've got Sinclair Broadcasting that's filling that void with local newspapers with 185 plus stations flooding the zone, coordinated attacks. They're staying on message. They're not allowing distractions to get them distracted. And they're reinforcing a message that's it seems to me that should be a wake up call to the Democratic Party to, to figure that out.

[Gavin Newsom]

Yeah, no, and I, and look it adjacent to this, Voice of America went silent today, which I tell you, having listened to Voice America, living in Asia in 89, I found out that the Berlin Wall fell through Voice of America. And there's a reason that they didn't want you to hear that when you're living in China, because that's pretty threatening to their way of doing things. So I think we haven't conveyed the power of that communication and as the landscape has changed so greatly, because, look, I know you're taking a risk doing a podcast, doing something to try and fill a void that's out there and hopefully trying to use it as a platform to articulate our values to a different or broader audience. But we've not figured this out yet. And I don't. Do I think we'd have won this election if we'd have gone on one of those podcasts? No, no, probably not. But I don't think we'd have got beat by more. What I mean, I don't think, I think it would have been a chance, but I think any place we can go to talk about our values, the value of these town halls too, Gavin, is that they, they slow things down and you can talk things through. And I think at the end of the day, you start finding out, you know, there are people out there saying, well, I didn't really realize that. I didn't see it that way, but we're as guilty of this too. I want to go on to places where I get, you know, confirmation bias, which I already believe it. And then people turn to, we've got to broaden it. We've got to get to more people. We've got to recognize the disconnect between our policies and how people view them. And I think we always, this is just me, I'm going to say it, that I think somebody's got to be big and strategic and macro. I just look at every one of these issues through the individual lens, how it's impacting them. And I try and stay in that space. And I'll be the first to admit to you, I view most issues through the eyes of a teacher. It's just who I am. Like a thing. When those kids come in the classroom, that means I view homelessness, food, insecurity, you know, inclusion. I view all of those things through the eye of a teacher, what it means to be in that, because I believe that that's the. In America, that's the great hope, the great equalizer, the great experiment. And so something in there we're missing in a pretty big way. Obviously.

[Bob Pittman]

For some of us, personal finances aren't just personal. They include a lot more people than ourselves, loved ones, neighbors, the communities we call home, and the causes we hold in our hearts. At Thrivent, we help plan your financial picture with the bigger picture in mind. Because even though our business is helping guide your finances, our ambition is to make it mean so much more. Thrivent, where money means more. Connect with [e-mail] welcome to Pod of.

[Vanessa Marshall]

Rebellion, our new Star Wars Rebels Rewatch podcast. I'm Vanessa Marshall. Hi, I'm Tia Surkar.

[Gavin Newsom]

I'm Taylor Gray.

[Jon Lee Brody]

And I'm Jo Brody.

[Vanessa Marshall]

But you may also know us as Harrison Doula, Specter 2, Sabine Wren, Specter.

[Gavin Newsom]

5, and Ezra Bridger Specter 6 from Star Wars Rebels.

[Jon Lee Brody]

Wait, I wasn't on Star Wars Rebels. Am I in the right place?

[Vanessa Marshall]

Absolutely. Each week we're going to rewatch and discuss an episode from the series and.

[Gavin Newsom]

Share some fun behind the scenes stories.

[Jon Lee Brody]

Sometimes we'll be visited by special guests like Steve bloom voices Zaborelio's Spectre 4, or Dante Bosco voicing Jai Kell and many others.

[Vanessa Marshall]

Sometimes we'll even have a lively debate.

[Gavin Newsom]

And we'll have plenty of other fun surprises and trivia too.

[Jon Lee Brody]

Oh, and me, well, I'm the lucky ghost crew Stowaway who gets to help moderate and guide the discussion each week. Kind of like how Kanan guided Ezra in the ways of the Force. You see what I did there?

[Vanessa Marshall]

Nicely done, John.

[Tim Walz]

Thanks, Tia.

[Vanessa Marshall]

So hang on. Cause it's gonna be a fun ride.

[Gavin Newsom]

Cue the music.

[Jon Lee Brody]

Listen to Potter Rebellion on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Bob Pittman]

Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia. I'm excited to introduce a brand new season of my podcast Math and Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing. I'm having conversations with some interesting folks across a wide range of industries to hear how they reach the top of their fields and the lessons they learned along the way that everyone can use. I'll be joined by innovative leaders like Chairman and CEO of Health Beauty Tarang Ami.

[Gavin Newsom]

The way I approach risk is constantly.

[Jon Lee Brody]

Try things and actually make it okay to fail.

[Bob Pittman]

I'm sitting down with legendary singer, songwriter and philanthropist Jewel.

I wanted a way to do something that I loved for the rest of my life.

We're also hearing how leaders brought their businesses out of unprecedented times, like Stephane Bonsell, CEO of Moderna. It becomes a human decision to decide.

[Gavin Newsom]

To throw by the window you business.

[Bob Pittman]

Strategy and to do what you think.

[Gavin Newsom]

Is the right thing for the world.

[Bob Pittman]

Join me as we uncover innovations in data and analytics, the math and the ever important creative spark, the magic. Listen to math and stories from the frontiers of Marketing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.

[Gavin Newsom]

September 1979 Virginia's top prison band, Edge of Daybreak, is about to record their debut album Behind Bars in just five hours.

[Tim Walz]

Okay, we're rolling.

[Gavin Newsom]

One, two, three, four. I'm Jamie Petras, music and culture writer. For the past five years, I've been talking to the band's three surviving members. They're out of prison now and in their 70s, their past behind them. But they also have some other unfinished business. The everyday rake Eyes of Love was supposed to have been followed up by another album. It's a story about the liberating power of music, the American justice system, and ultimately, second chances. Listen to Soul incarcerated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[J]

What's up y'all? I'm AJ Andrews, pro softball player, sports analyst, and the first woman to win a Rawlings Gold Glove. On my new podcast, Dropping Diamonds. We dive headfirst into the world of softball by sharing powerful stories, insights and conversations that inspire and empower. Softball is growing fast and I'm gonna help you keep up with the speed of the game and the athletes that play it so well. You may even be able to throw out the fastest slapper if you are an older, old or new fan looking to learn more about your favorite players or coaches and hear about their journeys and processes to success. This podcast is an exciting and invaluable resource for anyone interested in the complexities of excellence on the softball diamond. Softball is a game of failure and pressure situations. But lucky for all the fabulous softball players and fans, pressure makes diamonds and it's time to drop some bombs and diamonds on and off the softball diamond. Dropping diamond diamonds with A.J. andrews is an Athletes Unlimited Softball League production in partnership with iHeart Women's Sports and Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. Listen to dropping diamonds with AJ Andrews on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast, presented by.

[Bob Pittman]

Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports.

[Tim Walz]

I think the biggest and the most alarming part of these polls and is that people feel we're out of touch. And despite what I thought was an incredibly effective campaign in terms of highlighting the needs of the American people, I thought just the importance of having you on the ticket to articulate exactly what you just articulated really reinforced and underscored the benefits of someone that is able to, through your lived experience and through your eyes, be able to express what I think the vast majority of people embrace. But again, and they're still not embracing what we think.

[Gavin Newsom]

It's this idea, Gavin, you think it's because we appear weak?

[Tim Walz]

Yeah. Bill Clinton said it better than anyone years and years ago after slacking. Given the choice, I'm paraphrasing. The American people always support strong and wrong versus weak and right because I.

[Gavin Newsom]

Saw it for me, and not that I spend much time thinking about this, and it just baffled me how much time they spent trying to attack me that I wasn't, like, masculine enough in their vision. Like, I would have never believed this. I saw Fox News did, like a couple days because I used a straw, and I'm like, hell, man, what am I? How else do you drink a milkshake Type of thing? But they. They focused on it obsessively, which I think, again, is their obsession, their weirdness. We buy their frame on these issues of sexuality, you know, and. But their whole thing was, is that they. They spent all their time. These guys on Fox News that. That Walls is gay. He's not masculine. You know, he doesn't coach football the way he should or doesn't. What do you. What do you think about this? I mean, because misogyny in here, that's happening.

[Tim Walz]

Yeah. Well, but this notion of masculinity is. Is deeply part of it. That's one of the. I mean, I think it goes, you know, and you can look at the reasons why. We've had this sort of dialectic over the MeToo movement. We've had this dialectic even prior to the Me Too movement. This notion. Fight it. Well, this. This.

[Gavin Newsom]

I think I could kick most of their ass. I do think. I know I can run them, but I don't know if we're going to fall into that place where we want to, okay, we challenge you to a do a WWE fight here type of thing.

[Tim Walz]

But it is. It's a natural reaction. I think it's one of the reasons we're losing so many men. And again, it's multiethnic. It's not just white men. We're losing them. We're losing them to these guys online. We're losing them. People that I'm bringing on this podcast as well.

[Gavin Newsom]

These are bad guys, though. These are bad guys.

[Tim Walz]

But they exist. And we could deny they exist. They exist. Not only they exist, they persist. And they're actually influencing young kids every single day.

[Gavin Newsom]

How do we push some of those guys back under a rock?

[Tim Walz]

I think we have to first understand what their motivations are. I think we have to understand what they're actually doing.

[Gavin Newsom]

You don't think that's racism and misogyny?

[Tim Walz]

I think there's a lot of that, but I don't think it's exclusively that. When you talk to a guy like Steve Bannon, you know, he reminded me a little bit of my grandfather when he talks about working folks and he talks about how we hollowed out the industrial core of this country. I understand that, but. So we can dismiss the notion of election denialism. We could completely dismiss what he did on January 6th, but I don't think you can dismiss what he's saying. Reminds me a lot of what Bernie Sanders was saying. Reminds me a lot of what Democrats said 20, 30 years ago. I mean, he's arguing against. Right.

[Gavin Newsom]

He hates.

[Tim Walz]

He hates Musk. He hates the oligarchy. He totally agrees with you on the concentration of monopolistic powers. He completely dismisses the notion that we should extend the tax cuts for corporations and the very wealthy. He thinks we should lower taxes for the middle class and wants to see increased taxes.

[Gavin Newsom]

Now, when people say we should message, I can't message to misogynists. I can't message that women shouldn't have.

[Tim Walz]

But I think if we say people are misogynist, then we're falling prey. We're in that frame. Not everybody that disagrees with us is a misogynist. But I think this notion of toxicity and masculinity needs to be separated. And I think it's been conflated. And I think we. We. We. We're going to have to work on that a little bit.

[Gavin Newsom]

I think some of us scare them. I think I scare them a little bit. Why they spend so much time on. No, I'm serious. Because I can Fix a truck. They know I'm not bullshitting on this. I'm not putting this in people's grill. I don't know if my identity is not hunting, my identity is not football coaching. My identity is not, you know, a beard in a truck. I like all those things. But how did we get to this? Where have they figured it out that the identity piece of this is more important than the actual substance behind it?

[Tim Walz]

Well, they've been doing it for decades. I mean, we've. We've saw the welfare queens, they've seen the Southern Strategy. We've seen it over and over. It's an old playbook. And we're as dumb as we want to be that we allow them to do this with CRT and ESG and DE I in every three letter word.

[Gavin Newsom]

And then they demonize people.

[Tim Walz]

Yeah, demonize. And they weaponize grievance. They other people, they talk down to people, past people. They humiliate people. They weaponize difficult issues. But the bottom line is, and I think it goes back to what we began with is, and I applaud you for this, is we cannot continue to be on the defense reacting to this. We got to go on the offense. We got to meet people where they are. But I also think this, and this is where, you know, this is part of the conversation I'm trying to have is you. You got to respect people you disagree with, even. And you can't just dismiss people. We can't just turn our back on people.

[Gavin Newsom]

What'd you learn from those guys?

[Tim Walz]

That not only they have a huge following, there's a rationale, there's a ration look for Steve Bannon. I'm not here to defend Steve Bannon. I couldn't agree with you more as it relates to what he did on, on election denialism. And, you know, look, that guy that he is, there's. We could spend hours and hours going down the rabbit hole of Steve Bannon, but what he's talking about in terms of populism, what he's talking about in terms of working folks, what he's talking about from a global construct, about what's happened to middle America and rural Americans and why they've lost trust with our party, what he's talking about with what's happening with men in this country and how they've lost their way and how they have significantly higher suicide rates, lives, more despair and isolation, I think those are real issues that our party needs to come to grips with.

[Gavin Newsom]

How did their populism win out over ours? Because I'm actually a prairie populist, but.

[Tim Walz]

I think we stopped talking about those, those things. We're not talking about what's going on with men in this guy. My, my wife did a documentary called the mask you live in 15 years ago was talking about these things. Somehow I don't know what happened. The party never picked up on these core things. There's trend line. I mean, Scott Galloway gets it. He's, you know, he's, he's a good, good guy across the board. There's a crisis of men and masculinity in this country, and that's a hard thing for Democrats because we want to lift up women. We want to lift up stuff. The oppressed.

[Gavin Newsom]

You think some of that comes from the threat as we lift up. I always use this analogy that there's a whole bunch of people, Gavin, that see rights like a pie. If somebody gets some, they lose part of their pie.

[Tim Walz]

Yeah. Ridiculous. Not that way.

[Gavin Newsom]

Expanding rights. That there's no one. I, I keep coming back to that idea and this idea of, of freedom that, well, that can be everybody. I don't know why they're in these small, little, narrow, divisive issues other than I think some of these people are masterful at it. So they can get to their true goal, which is to cut taxes for the wealthy and shift, shift wealth in their direction. Yeah.

[Tim Walz]

And by the way, and concurrently increased taxes for the middle class and the poor. And people forget that some of the highest tax. I mean, I live in a state like your state. I mean, look, exactly. By the way, what Bannon is arguing for, which is interesting and ironic considering some of the punditry country. But let me just, you know, make this point because it needs to be made. In Florida and Texas, they tax their poorest more than we tack our richest 100. How the hell are we losing this tax debate?

[Gavin Newsom]

Yes.

[Tim Walz]

Who are you?

[Gavin Newsom]

For 100, you'll pay more high tax states, apparently.

[Tim Walz]

Yeah. And they have higher infant mortality, higher maternal mortality, lower wages. They have lower insured lower life expectancy every year. And by the way, 71. I'm going to keep going. 71% of the economy in this country are in metro blue, blue metros. So point being, we, we. It's not that we're not right, but I think we're wrong not to understand more deeply and fully that people think we are deeply full of ourselves. And we're talking down to people and past people. People want to be protected, they want to be respected, and they want to be connected. And I think this notion of respect is something that keeps coming back to me. People that, that just feel like we don't respect them. Them. How do we do that, though, Gavin.

[Gavin Newsom]

And, and, and, and lay down a clear marker that, that you're, you're not going to demonize LGBTQ people. We're not going to happen. How do we lay that marker down? Because. Because I'm not going to get into their. Their space with them of that. That's what a man looks like. You know, demonizing these. That. How do we stay firm, show that we're. We're committed and, and not compromise on those values that we care about?

[Tim Walz]

I mean, we continue to do what we, you and I have done. We've led the nation in terms of. Of laws, anti discrimination laws. We have the back of our div. Just rhetorically say that we've done it through laws and regulations. We stand firm at the same time, you know, with respect. And this is where obviously I, you know, I've, I've kind of. It's not like even a break. I just think there's. There are areas where we may overreach, and I think we have to acknowledge that as well. And if you don't acknowledge that, then I think you're going to lose people on everything else. I mean, I look at the issue of gay marriage and remember I was in 2004 when our party was dismissing me me, because I sat and I said it was wrong to deny people the right to get married or that weren't in the same sex. And my party vehemently opposed that. And they were very vocal about it. The major leaders in our party.

[Gavin Newsom]

I remember this. I ran on it in 2006 in a conservative district.

[Tim Walz]

God bless you. And stood on principle.

[Gavin Newsom]

Are we not doing that enough right now?

[Tim Walz]

No, we are doing that. We continue to do that. I think we're firm in our foundation in terms of supporting our diverse communities. It's not that I think there's a broader message and, and there's a whole world out there that's not just about protecting those rights. It's about also acknowledging the pain that other people are feeling that often are not part of our rhetoric and our agenda. And that's what I think we need to explore.

[Gavin Newsom]

I think you're hitting on. I'm curious to listen. I want to listen to Ezra next week because I think that's the other thing that I think we talk a lot and we have to deliver more. You've delivered. I think we've delivered in Minnesota and I've seen this, when you deliver on things that improve people's lives, it's amazing how good the politics is behind this, that if you have good policies and get things done. And part of that is, I think where Ezra's getting that is do your best work, but acknowledge, you know, really this agency is not doing that much for people. Like I'm doing this thing, just, just simple things to make them getting their driver's license easier. You and I both deal with this, the dmv, like I'm trying to fight. Why do we make them go every year? Maybe we should go every two years. You know, just something that people want to see. We did this thing where you can now get your license tab tabs through a vending machine at Cub Foods. So you just go up there, takes you two minutes, you put in your stuff and it spits out your tabs. And you put your tabs on that one. To me, as conservatives are like, good. I didn't have to deal with government. It was efficient, it was easy, but that was government. But it was good, functioning government.

[Tim Walz]

That's it. And that's, that's we. So you were DOGE before Doge without the pejorative sense of JoJ, which is not about that, it's about, that's about recklessness, that's just about not destroying the administrative state. But what you're talking about is government efficiency, focusing on outcomes, not just inputs, meaning customers where they are, which I love. And that's got to be part of our core messaging. And I think that's our challenge with doge, is we're reacting to Doge by saying it's all terrible, which it, it has been to date. But this notion of government efficiency, it.

[Gavin Newsom]

Works so well for him because people believe that. And look, it's been 40 years since, you know, your predecessor Reagan told them, you know, you don't want to see government coming. Government can be a great force of good, whether it's protecting your personal rights, whether it's innovation look good for SpaceX, I hope they succeed. But let's be clear, SpaceX stands on the shoulders of NASA giants, and that's our taxpayer dollars that did that. There are great things, but I've always been a firm believer we can do the research, send it into the private sector, let them improve, you know, monetize it and help people as long as there's guardrails. I think we find ourselves now pushing back anything that's business oriented. We're kind of negative too. I feel I'm hearing it from the Business community look like they're, they don't like Trump right now. They're not being courageous enough, in my opinion, to speak out. But they don't like this. But they also say, well, I don't hear a lot from you guys saying that, you know, your, these businesses added to the cultural, you know, tapestry of Minneapolis by far.

[Tim Walz]

I, I thought, I, I thought it was a master class. It offended all of us. It offended me. But also I thought it was a master class to have all those folks up there on st Stage. I mean, Trump was able to communicate without saying a word his support for free enterprise. The same, same time it was, I thought, you know, it was kind of humiliating for those folks that felt they had to go up there.

[Gavin Newsom]

You think it was fear that they.

[Tim Walz]

Were up there for though? Yeah, of course. I mean, they had to fall in line. I mean this guy doesn't play by any rules and that's why he has more options.

[Gavin Newsom]

Democrats can't govern by fear. But I've said this, Gavin, I taught fourth grade. Fear is a incredible short term motivator. Change behaviors though, for the long run. What are we going to have to do? You know, you feel this excitement, you have these rallies, but what's that translating into, you know, what's that turning into?

[Tim Walz]

Well, I think, I mean, look back to, I think this forensic, that's not just tactical, it's not just about, you know, how we can sort of just stretch and get another 20, 30,000 votes in these swing states. I mean, I think it's an opportunity for us to address some of the issues we just discussed. I love that you said this. You can't be pro job and anti business. I mean, you made a case for entrepreneurialism and innovation and research and development. I love that. I want the Democrats to talk more about that. I want us to talk more about not begrudging people's success, but celebrating success used to be the aspirational party. I want to talk about patriotism and pride. Not just, and sorry gub, but just back to Clinton. I love what Bill Clinton said when he talked about community, opportunity and responsibility. I think we don't talk enough about responsibility and I appreciated the opportunity agenda. I appreciate our focus on community and building community. But what about responsibility? What about service? What about civics? What about these notions of things that bind us together, all our interesting differences? We're good at focusing on interesting differences, but what about the things that unite us together? I think that's what people want to hear from our party.

[Gavin Newsom]

People want to Be part of something. That's why they're on with Trump. They're part of something. They're part of a team. I've always said this. In high school, I did everything. I coached all the sports, I worked on the play, the musical, I sponsored the student trips, I built the prom. I did all of that because what I understood was, is kids will gravitate to groups, and it's better to be in the musical than in a gang. It's better to be with this group of kids in school. So we know this. If a kid is part of something, they do that. And I'm telling you, this disenfranchised with men, this not being there, whatever they might have played on football teams, I think Trump gives them that feeling that, I'm on the team, I wear the same colors. I do all this. I don't. Look, you can laugh all you want about red hats. People like those damn things, don't they? And maybe some of it's sticking it in our grill, but I think it's being part of something bigger than themselves. And right now, the Democratic Party doesn't feel like something bigger than themselves have come. And that's our whole goal. Community.

[Tim Walz]

I love it. No, look, and that's why I'm such a believer in service, such a believer in shared experiences.

[Gavin Newsom]

And I'm trying to copy what you did on the service stuff. I said, Stanley McChrystal, you. There's a few folks out there talking about this, you know, use service learning and these types of things. Stuff I've been interested in, too, from the teacher perspective, if you do that, you are so engaged in your community. Now, we celebrate, and we rightfully should, those who join and serve in the military. But there's numerous ways to serve your country. It's not in uniform. And, And I'm thinking as we become more fragmented, our media becomes more fragmented, our TV becomes more fragmented. People want to be part of something. I think Trump knew that before us, and he brought them into that. And I, you know, that's why you in the catchphrases and stuff, it may seem cheesy, but we're missing it. We're missing where people are not wanting to become part of something.

[Tim Walz]

Something I said, the universality of this notion of being protected and respected. But back to your point, 100% agree. Connected. We all need to be connected. There's an unmooring that's going on in society. There's, there's. I mean, people just feel lost. They feel more isolated, they feel more Alone. And again, particularly for young men. And so I just think we have to acknowledge that we have to address that. We have to be sensitive to that and we have to be willing to have those conversations and not feel like we're playing into the right wing when we're having those conversations.

[Gavin Newsom]

And the politics will follow that.

[Tim Walz]

Yeah, and it's, it's in it, the politics go back to what you said, which I love, man. It's just the principle, like what I love about you and, you know, and we're out of time, so I'm just going to end with just, just mad respect is you're a man of principle, you're a man of values, you're a decent and honorable person. Forget the politician. What I love about the politician, Governor Waltz, is that you're. All of those things I just said before the word politician.

[Gavin Newsom]

I appreciate it.

[Tim Walz]

No, and, and we'll, we'll find the political way back. But, but I think we have to have some humility in terms of where we are. And, and I think we, we can't be. I just think we have to be careful about being too dismissive of where they are and the progress they've made. And I know, I know you, you broadly agree with that. And I, I think the vast majority of people do, but I think we're, this is an existential moment moment and our unity against Trump is not increasing our trust. It's not helping the Democratic brand. The more we attack Trump, which is great. I mean, we've got to do it. We got to hold them to account. And people, you hear it. What did you say? The primal screams.

[Gavin Newsom]

Yeah. We got to offer them something.

[Tim Walz]

We got off, but we have to. Exactly. And that's what we need to. I think that's the soul searching that we need.

[Gavin Newsom]

We have to be the Vikings to their packers, is what I would say, Gavin. We got to get people in. And I think I would say to your listeners and everybody out there that, that we're going to have to ruffle feathers. We as Democrats aren't going to agree on everything, but our values are still there and we have to figure out.

[Tim Walz]

How to have that.

[Gavin Newsom]

And I would ask, you know, a frustrated and scared, to be honest with you, scared electorate to stay engaged. They are. That's what they're showing up those town halls. And then I would encourage our folks to listen and rise to the moment and do the things that, that we need to do to get back, not to win elections, but to influence policy in a positive way. So I'm grateful. I know you got a big job. You, you govern a country.

[Tim Walz]

And you and I both have day jobs which we can't forget. But look, this notion of a big tent, A big tent, that's what, that's what built the middle class in the 50s, 60s and 70s. What's brought us Medicaid and Medicare. That's what brought us the minimum wage as we know it today. It was a big tent.

[Gavin Newsom]

Lean into labor unions. Lean into labor. Labor unions.

[Tim Walz]

Let's and bring and labor. It's got to be worker centered. Industrial policy. That's worker centered. That's Tim Walsh, my guest today here on the G. This is Gavin Newsom show. Thank you, Governor. It's great to have you.

[Gavin Newsom]

Thanks so much.

[Bob Pittman]

For some of us, personal finances aren't just personal. They include a lot more people than ourselves. Loved ones, neighbors, the communities we call home, and the causes we hold in our hearts. At Thrivent, we help plan your financial picture with the bigger picture in mind. Because even though our business is helping guide your finances, our ambition is to make it mean so much more. Thrivent, where money means more. Connect with [e-mail] hi, I'm Bob Pittman.

Chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia. I'm excited to introduce a brand new season of my podcast, Math and Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing. I'm having conversations with some folks across a wide range of industries to hear how they reach the top of their fields and the lessons they learned along the way that everyone can use. I'll be joined by innovative leaders like chairman and CEO of Elf Beauty, Tarang Amin, legendary singer, songwriter and philanthropist Jewel.

Being a rock star is very fun, but helping people is way more fun.

And Damian Maldonado, CEO of American Financing.

[Tim Walz]

I figured out the formula. I just have to work hard then that's magic.

[Bob Pittman]

Join me as we uncover innovations in data and analytics, the math and the ever important creative spark, the magic. Listen to math and Magic on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.

[Tim Walz]

I'm Mark Seale.

[Nathan King]

And I'm Nathan King.

[Gavin Newsom]

This is Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli.

[Tim Walz]

The five families did not want us to shoot that picture.

[Nathan King]

This podcast is based on my co host, Mark Seals best selling book of the same title. Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli features new and archival interviews with Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Evans, James Caan, Talia Shire and many others.

[Gavin Newsom]

Yes, that was a real horse's head.

[Nathan King]

Listen and subscribe to Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Cheekies]

Hey y'all, it's your girl, Cheekies. And I'm back with a brand new season of your favorite podcast, Cheekies and Chills. I'll be sharing even more personal stories with you guys and as always, you'll get my exclusive take on topics like love, personal growth, health, family ties, and more. And don't forget, I'll also be dishing out my best advice to you on episodes of Dear Cheekies. It's going to be an exciting year and I hope that you can join me, Listen to Cheekies and Chill Season 4 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Vanessa Marshall]

Welcome to Pot of Rebellion, our new Star Wars Rebels Rewatch podcast. I'm Vanessa Marshall, Voice of Harrison Dul Specter 2. I'm Tia Sir Car Sabine Wren, Spectre 5.

[Gavin Newsom]

I'm Taylor Gray, Ezra Bridger, Spectre 6.

[Jon Lee Brody]

And I'm Jon Lee Brody, the Ghost Crew Stowaway Moderator.

[Vanessa Marshall]

Each week we're gonna re watch and discuss an episode from the series and share some fun behind the scenes stories.

[Jon Lee Brody]

Sometimes we'll be visited by special guests like Steve blum voices Zabarelio's Spectre 4 or Dante Bosco voices Jaquel and many others.

[Vanessa Marshall]

So hang on because it's gonna be a fun ride.

[Gavin Newsom]

Cue the music.

[Jon Lee Brody]

Listen to Potter Rebellion on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.