How Gavin Newsom Became the Democrats’ 2028 Frontrunner
About this episode
Klein's premise: after Democrats' 2024 defeat, Gavin Newsom became the party's 2028 front-runner by doing something unusual — launching a podcast interviewing right-wing figures (Charlie Kirk, Steve Bannon, the streamer Atrioc, Michael Savage) while becoming the 'leader of the resistance' by trolling Trump and answering Texas's midcycle redistricting with California's Proposition 50. Newsom reflects on what he learned: Kirk's sincerity and reach with young men; Atrioc's insight that housing exclusion ('no house') drives young male radicalism; Bannon's worker-centered industrial populism, which he found surprisingly rational. They debate California's affordability failures — 110,000 housing units built last year against a 2.5 million goal — and Newsom's 'program-passing vs. problem-solving' critique; wealth concentration ($23.3 trillion held by the top 0.1%); AI's political and economic disruption; immigration and 'oppositional mirroring'; and building a big-tent Democratic Party. Newsom defends a 'both/and' approach: cooperate with Trump where possible, fight fire with fire where necessary.