As Gavin Newsom prepared to launch his new podcast, the governor reached out to Kimberly Guilfoyle, his ex-wife and President Trump’s pick to be ambassador to Greece, asking to be connected with two conservatives reviled by Democrats: Charlie Kirk, a 31-year-old conservative activist, and Steve Bannon, 71, a longtime Trump adviser.
Last week, with Kirk on his podcast, Newsom broke with many in his party on the issue of transgender women in sports and played down the notion that Democrats had overly focused on how people use pronouns. Then in a podcast that aired Wednesday, the governor sat down with Bannon, who made false statements—such as claiming that Trump won the 2020 election—that Newsom let go unchecked.
The governor also hosted conservative commentator Michael Savage for an episode. And amid his foray into podcasting, he angered environmentalists when he ordered state regulators to start over on their negotiations to phase out single-use plastics, a law he had signed.
Newsom rose to prominence fighting Republicans from his perch leading one of the nation’s Democratic meccas. But after Trump’s win in November, the governor—widely seen in the party as a potential 2028 candidate for president—isn’t just arguing with conservatives, he is occasionally agreeing with them.