← This is Gavin Newsom
This is Gavin Newsom
BONUS: And, This Is A Lighting Round With The Prof G Pod & Scott Galloway
00:19:22
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- [00:00]
Scott
This is an Iheart podcast.
- [00:02]
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- [00:37]
Podcast Host or Guest
Wasn't that delicious?
- [00:39]
Scott
So good.
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Gavin Newsom
Your bill ladies.
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Diff Eyewear Advertiser
I got it.
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Interviewer (Scott)
I got it.
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Scott
No, I got it. Seriously. I assist. I assisted first. Don't be silly. You don't be silly.
- [00:49]
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- [00:55]
Interviewer (Scott)
Okay.
- [00:56]
Scott
Rock, paper scissors for it. Rock, paper, scissors. Shoot.
- [00:59]
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- [01:07]
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- [02:09]
Interviewer (Scott)
So I could do this for three hours, but unfortunately we only have you for about another 18 minutes. So I'm gonna do a bit of a lightning round. I'd love to just get your top line thoughts on some stuff, just general reactions. If again should in fact you at some point have influence over federal policy or national policy? Mandatory national service?
- [02:28]
Gavin Newsom
I mean, are you kidding? You're talking to the Guy who's built the largest service corps in the United States of America, significantly larger than the peace Cor. Someone that has without going out of my way, been critical of what we tried to do on student debt in the last administration without asking for anything in return. I'll give you an example Scott. Cause I know you care about higher education UC system which by the way we've invested since I've been governor. 46% increase in investments in the UC. 40,000 more California residents have gotten into the UC system. A 55% increase in dual enrollment and 65% of people coming out of the UC and CSU still graduate debt free. I don't know. There's many systems as large and we still have work to do. I'm not naive about some of your critiques, but one of the things I'm proud of is we provide $10,000 grants for service in return for 450 hours of service contribution. And it's just been extraordinary. Absolutely. We need to make it mandatory how we do that and scale it. There's some nuance, but I think it would be one of the most significant and consequential things to knit this country back together.
- [03:46]
Interviewer (Scott)
$25 an hour minimum wage federal.
- [03:48]
Gavin Newsom
Well I've done it. Not talking about it. Only governor country that can lay claim to that. $20 for fast food workers criticized hourly in the Wall Street Journal ed board and $25 for healthcare workers. $16.90 adjusted for inflation for everybody else but nationwide It's a disgrace. 20 states have $7.25 minimum wage and you and I are subsidizing those corporations with our tax dollars with so many of their workers that are ending up on the public welfare walls. And so it is outrageous. It needs to be indexed to productivity and that gets you closer to $25.
- [04:24]
Interviewer (Scott)
Perhaps 40% of American households have some sort of medical or dental debt. What about lowering Medicare eligibility by a couple years every year or single pay or socializing healthcare in this country?
- [04:35]
Gavin Newsom
I think it's inevitable. Look, I say this, I don't want to come across as braggadocious but you're also talking someone who's done more on advancing universal health care than any other governor in the country regardless of pre existing condition ability to pay. And yes, I've been criticized and I'll take the criticism regardless of your immigration status. We move forward to lowering costs, not just subsidizing costs on pharmaceuticals created something called Calrx in the spirit of single payer financing for drug purchases. $11 insulin is an example of that. And we've done the same. Low cost naloxone and we're subsidizing diapers for newborns in California. I think single payer is inevitable in the United States of America. I think the math doesn't add up for the private and public sector. I think the issue of debt and entitlement will be a dominant theme in the next five to 10 years. Both parties have neglected it. Issues of energy and climate change and how we could democratize our economy to save our democracy being the third leg of that stool. But I do believe it's inevitable that we move forward. The how is the difficulty. How the hell do you do it without impacting your private health insurance? My private health insurance and disrupting. But the math just doesn't add up. And so absolutely we've got to lean into that debate as I've tried to do here at a state level with ERISA issues. 11, 15, 13, 32, waiver issues. Forgive all that. If you're listening, you're already bored. But there are challenges at the state level of getting it done. We push the boundaries in California, but nationwide I think it's inevitable and needs to happen.
- [06:10]
Interviewer (Scott)
So if you live in California and a high income earner, what I refer to as a workhorse, Mom's a baller, partner at a law firm, dad owns some chiropractic clinics, write certification, work their asses off, make 2 or 3 million bucks a year in New York or in California, they're paying 52, 54%. So people regurgitate on the notion that the rich aren't paying their taxes. It feels like it's the owners who qualify or the 0.1% people who own assets. A, do you agree with that? And B, what would you do to elevate or create a truly progressive tax system where the owners start paying as much as the super earners, if you will.
- [06:45]
Gavin Newsom
Well, no, look, if you're a high paid doctor or lawyer, accountants, and you're getting taxed on income, I get why you're over this, saying what's fair and you blow back. But to your point, the super wealthy aren't paying on income, they're playing on that capital. So we have to address that issue. Question is, how the hell do you do it? And we talked a little bit earlier about stepped up basis. We talked about the issue of borrowing, you know, these lifestyle loans, which, you know, we can overstate but they exist and persist. So we could talk about issues around corporate taxation, which is more broad than the issue of Individual taxes. We can talk about the issue of transfer of wealth and how we have to address some of the state taxes, these dynasty taxes, these generation skipping taxes, and how we reform those trusts in this country and how we get to income tax brackets that we once had for the ultra wealthy and the super rich. There's some constitutional questions. It's not me balking on the issue of a wealth tax, but a billionaire tax. Absolutely. And we've got to be much more robust in this respect. Now, Biden put out a lot of policies. 25% minimum tax for billionaires. It's not an AMT. It's not the Buffett rule, but, you know, it's in the same genre. So what's the Buffett rule? That you get to unrealized capital gains. That gets a little more challenging. How do you mark to market easier with equities? We have no choice. The social contract, it's over. It's going to be, and I think it'll be detonated by AI. The imbalance between the rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics. That's Plutarch warning the Athenians 2,000 years ago, 10% of people owning two thirds of the wealth. Those same 10% owning 93% of the value of the stock market. This thing, the first trillionaires coming later this year, maybe next month. I mean, this thing's not working. The pitchforks are already coming out. Molotov cocktails, you know, assassinations on the streets of CEOs, you feeling it? And we have to get ahead of this. And it's not me begrudging other people's success. Businesses can't thrive in a world that's failing.
- [08:54]
Interviewer (Scott)
What does that look like? Is it raising? Like, what would you think of an alternative minimum tax of 40% every time? If you borrow against your assets, that triggers a capital gain. But at a minimum, corporations paying an AMT of, say, 40%, wealthy people, loopholes, you know, be damned if you're not paying at least 40% above a certain amount. You pay 40%.
- [09:15]
Gavin Newsom
I mean, it's exactly where we need to go, the amt. So, I mean, I just, I was looking back at the old AMT the other day. We were at some tax experts in looking back at. I'd forgotten about the 2017 tax cuts, all the damn loopholes in that. What a mess that is on the amt. But absolutely moving back to along what you just described, I'm not landing prescriptively, but I'm landing absolutely generationally back to and I'll say it. I don't want to come across as another throwaway line, but I really believe that the issue of democracy, which I've been very aggressive about, Prop 50 redistricting, calling out Trump and Trumpism, is directly connected with the issue of populism and the economy. And again, unless we democratize the economy, we will lose this republic. And so these are the same fights. It's the same fight. And you know, you're hearing, you know, white collar workers sounding a lot like blue collar workers. There's a new working coalition here. And so, you know, there's aspects of Bernie and Elizabeth and aoc, but you know, I in that populism. But we, I think those that have overseen capitalism as we've known it and the decline, we owe it to people to own up to these trend lines. And we've got to be much more aggressive and assertive and so amt along the lines you suggest exercising some real stepped up basis strategies that protect farmers, that protect small businesses and particularly business, family owned businesses. This is just table stakes right now and needs to be aggressively adopted and pursued.
- [10:57]
Interviewer (Scott)
I want to target just in our remaining few minutes here stuff, it's a little bit more personal. When you look back as your tenure as governor comes to an end, when you, you know, 10, 20 years, 30 years down the road, when you look back, what do you think you'll be? What is the one thing you'll think you'll be most proud of and what is the one decision or action you think, you know, I missed it there.
- [11:16]
Gavin Newsom
It's a weird thing because I don't want to. It's almost too easy and lazy, this service commitment. I'm telling you, I'm a Sarge Shriver Democrat. I don't know what it is about the vernacular 60s and solving for ignorance, poverty and disease. I love the Bobby Kennedy sort of the hard headed pragmatism. He didn't begrudge other people's success. There was their pragmatism and a muscularity. I think the biggest problem with the Democratic Party is we're perceived rightfully as too slow, weak and ineffective. We gotta be more aggressive, stronger and more assertive, more clear, more conviction. But this notion of service, you know the old adage, no one stands taller than when he or she bends down on one knee to help lift other people up. I've seen it in the eyes. We do swearing in, Scott. We do it virtually and we swear in all the service members. And I'd sit there, I start crying and you know, first generation Republicans, no one cares. It's just a spirit of community. And these kids, their experience is off the charts. They come out, they say, this changed my life. And so I'm telling you because it was interesting. My staff was not a huge supporter of this legislature. I always have to fight to get the money in this. I'll look back at that as one of the most significant. Also creating these 5.5 million in accounts, I put $1.9 billion, we had a big surplus one year. Creating these child savings accounts, create a brand new grade pre K for all. Every child getting into kindergarten gets their own savings and career account. Those are things I'm proud of. I can go to all the policies and talk about doubling their income tax credit, creating a new foster care and child tax credit. We can talk about that pre K for all, talk about after school for all, summer school for all. We can talk about everything done on community schools. We can talk about the healthcare expansions, the work we've done on the environment, the work we've done on our jobs plans, this amazing regional plan strategy. I can go on and on, but service, people, mentorship, leadership, addressing this crisis of men and boys, which you've been just next level on, is something I'm proud of, perhaps as much more than others backing up. Forgive the long windedness on we're all geniuses in hindsight. And I think about those early days in Covid when Ron DeSantis was shutting down the beaches, not just Gavin Newsom in California, those. We lost a lot of trust, you know, during COVID and we haven't gotten that back. And I think we've under indexed how so much has changed since COVID And I was a little slow at understanding how much had changed. And so it's not a specific action per se, but it's I think just broader tonal appreciation that everything had changed, but I hadn't changed to the degree that I should as a leader of the fourth largest economy in the world. I have begun to address that in much more robust ways. But I think that would be a, you know, that would be something I would reflect on as a point of critique and consideration.
- [14:18]
Interviewer (Scott)
So a lot of young men listening to the podcast, you're a father and a husband, four kids, is that right, governor?
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Gavin Newsom
Yeah, four. Two boys, two girls.
- [14:26]
Interviewer (Scott)
What advice or what learnings? What do you think you got right and wrong and what are your learnings and advice you would give to a young man who's thinking about trying to be a good partner and a good Father just.
- [14:38]
Gavin Newsom
I'm so influenced. I don't want to brag all over you, man, but I'm so influenced by what you've written, what you talk about in this place. You talk about kindness. Oh, come on. Superpower, empathy, care, compassion. It's not about power, dominance, and aggression. That said, I do think the notion of be a man is important. I'm not trying to feminize the frame, but this notion of empathy. I talk to my kids all the time about it, man. When your friends laugh because someone's accent or how they're talking. Every time my kid does something like that, I literally looked. I grabbed them and look them in the face. You don't talk like that, man. Don't talk like that. It's not who you are. And I create an indelible thing. It's not who you are. And talk in those terms. That's not who I'd think you are. No, it's not who you are. And you want to be a man. You have the back of that kid that's being bullied. You have the back of the kid that's being chastised. That's what masculinity looks like. That's what leader does. And so to me, that's the superpower I want them to have. And that's, to me, the most important character test. Where I failed is I struggle with this. You ask about Iran, you talk about Israel, you talk about two years from now. I've just not been as present as I need to be. And this is, you know, I'm not making an excuse, but this is the price of these positions. And I really think about that going forward. My son, he's not all into this stuff, and he's at that critical age, and I don't want to be in that rocking chair, then I woulda, coulda, shoulda. And so I just think I need to be. I need to be more present. And as you know, it's not what we say, it's what we do. It's how we, you know, he's watching how I treat my wife. He's watching not what I say, but what I do. And if I'm there for her and I'm around, and so I think about that as a shortcoming.
- [16:38]
Interviewer (Scott)
You're under constant attack, as are other political leaders and as is your wife, the first partner. Does that inject stress into your relationship? And if so, how do you deal with it?
- [16:50]
Gavin Newsom
Yeah, it's brutal. I mean, no holds barred. I mean, I'm a. You become a Caricature. You become a, you know, come on, turn on Fox. I've, you know, I'm getting the full Hillary Clinton treatment or Pelosi treatment, and you become dehumanized. I worry about that from a safety perspective and, and, and, you know, no holds barred. Now they going after your kids. You know, I had to pull my daughter out of her school, and we had a. I'll never forget talk about regrets. Her eighth grade graduation was in our living room. And I was so proud of her, Scott. And forgive me, I now, I don't know why I'm getting emotional. I was so proud of her just, you know, in terms of being, you know, a dad. I talked about my sons, about being men, but I was so proud when she gave a speech and I just said, look over my head, because then it'll look like. And she looked up and she said, dad, did you see? I never looked down when I gave my graduation speech. It was in front of seven of us. It was the front of the family or brothers and sisters. And I was just so proud of her, but I was also so upset with myself that she didn't have the experience of being there with her classmates because of some of the stuff related to her dad. And that was the middle of my recall at the time. And so, yeah, I remember reaching out to Ted Cruz when someone went after his daughter. And Ted and I, trust me, don't agree on much, but, man, we agree on that. That's not right. And people's wise, I guess some cases when, you know, fair game, in other cases, it's just hard. So forgive the long one. No one gets. No one cares. You know, hearing me say this. But as human beings, I just, you know, I know we love to hate politicians, but at the end of the day, it's still parents and they still are husbands, wives, human beings. And, you know, that's why I don't, that's why I have Republicans on my podcast. That's why, man, I, you know, divorce is not an option in life. And, and that's why service is so important, and we're just gonna have to figure all this shit out.
- [18:48]
Interviewer (Scott)
And last thing, Governor, in your book, you were very quite raw and pretty authentic about your failings as a son towards the end of your mother's life. Can you talk a little bit about that and advice you would have for sons, as with aging parents?
- [19:04]
Gavin Newsom
Well, I just young. I called the book Young man in a Hurry. You know, it was all about me, and I was just dealing with my own insecurities my own anxieties put a mask on and, you know, tried to be what I thought I needed to be. But my face was starting to grow into it. I was becoming someone I wasn't and I wasn't present. I wasn't there for my mom, I wasn't there for my sister and the people that mattered most. And it took a phone call from my mom, which you're referring to in a book where she left a voice message that says everything. Talk about a young man. Hurry was never around. She had to leave a voice message saying that her last day in life was a few days later on a Thursday where she was going to do assisted suicide. She was in so much pain because of advanced cancer. And she just left the message saying, well, if you want to see me before then, it will be my last day. And it was such a wake up call and you don't get it over. There are no do overs here, man. You know, don't dream of back to dream of regret. I don't want to dream regretting. And you know, I sat there with her last breath and you know, it was a tough moment being there with her, holding her hands until she took her last breath. And you know, I still didn't have the courage to say what I said to her after she passed away. And I stood there 30 minutes sitting there with my hand, my head on her stomach, just saying all the things that I wish I could have said and had the courage and guts to say before she passed. And you know, I don't wish that on anybody. And so you want to be a man, you want to be a son, you want to be a leader, then, you know, man up, be a partner, be a caregiver, be other people oriented. It's not just about you. And you know, it came for me a little bit later than it should have, but I hope and pray for others it doesn't for them.
- [20:55]
Interviewer (Scott)
Gavin Newsom is an American politician and businessman who serves as the 40th Governor of California. Governor, very much appreciated your service.
- [21:03]
Gavin Newsom
Thank you, Scott. Wonderful to be with you.
- [21:10]
Interviewer (Scott)
This episode was produced by Jennifer Sanchez and Laura Geny Reek is our social producer. Bianca Rosario Ramirez is our video editor and Drew Burrows is our technical director. Thank you for listening to the Prop G pod from Prop G Media.
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- [23:01]
Scott
So good.
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Gavin Newsom
Your bill, ladies.
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Mint Mobile / Taco Bell Advertiser
I got it.
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Scott
No, I got it. Seriously, I insist. I insisted first.
- [23:08]
Mint Mobile / Taco Bell Advertiser
Don't be silly.
- [23:09]
Scott
You don't be silly.
- [23:10]
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- [23:17]
Scott
Okay. Rock, paper, scissors, scissors for it. Rock, paper, scissors, shoot.
- [23:21]
Podcast Host or Guest
No.
- [23:22]
Wells Fargo Advertiser
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- [23:29]
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- [23:59]
Scott
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.