Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s new podcast didn’t exactly win over New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg, who sounded off in an opinion piece published Friday where she wondered aloud: “What on earth is Gavin Newsom doing?”
Newsom launched a podcast last week in which he speaks with far-right ideologues about issues they agree on, including MAGA influencers Steve Bannon and Charlie Kirk. The idea sounds like “an interesting experiment,” Goldberg told readers on Friday – one that went awry.
“What could have been a show of intellectual confidence on Newsom’s part has turned out to be a demeaning display of submission,” Goldberg wrote. “Instead, it’s a protracted exercise in self-harm for both Newsom and any liberal who decides to listen to him. That’s because the governor frequently seems less interested in arguing than in finding common ground, assuming the good faith of people who have next to none.”
The Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist took issue with Newsom leaving “wild right-wing claims unchallenged” as he “repeatedly concedes Republican premises.”
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The first three episodes of Newsom’s podcast, “This is Gavin Newsom,” led Goldberg to believe that the California governor “had learned exactly the wrong lesson from Donald Trump’s 2024 election.”
"Part of the reason Trump won, it’s true, is that he was able to appeal to increasingly alienated, right-wing young men through podcasts and new media,” she conceded. But, Goldberg added, of Kirk and Bannon: “there is nothing to be gained by flattering them or seeking mutual understanding."
She closed her opinion piece on Friday by revealing what she believes the true lesson from 2024 is for Democrats.
“Their donors should be making long-term investments in their own influencers, and Democratic politicians should be helping them grow their audiences by appearing on their platforms,” Goldberg wrote. “Somehow, this is something Democrats never quite learn.”
