Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining us now is the governor of California, Governor Gavin Newsom. Welcome to The Story Is.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
The Story Is. The story is your first show. I'm honored to be here. This is fun.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
First guest, first show, new digs.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Let's not screw it up. By the way, this is next-level impressive. Eat your heart out East Coast, I'm just saying.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Yeah. What is the value of a West coast-based show?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I mean, come on. That we exist and not just persist. I mean, I don't want want to get in trouble here, but there tends to be a little bit of bias at times.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
A lot of bias.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
All right, thank you. And so, it's nice to try to rebalance that, particularly in a state where the future is happening first. And I say that with the point of pride, it's pretty obvious in AI and quantum and fusion and so many different areas. But no, I think it's fabulous and congratulations.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Thank you very much. So, let's start with what I'm sure is going to be your favorite question. So, the other day I was talking with former transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg. I asked him this question this way.
Video (00:58):
You're thinking about running for president, right? I mean, is that fair to say? You're thinking about it?
(01:02)
I mean, I'm a long way from any kind of decision, but obviously, it's not like it hasn't come up.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Okay, so question to you. You're thinking about running for president, right?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
No, I mean, it's come up. I don't want to-
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Quite a lot.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
No, no. I mean, people talk about it and you'd be lying if you haven't thought about or processed it. But that said, quite literally, I'm making the case, that's why I have this initiative of Prop 50, there may not be a 2028 election that's free and fair. So, my focus is central to getting over the hump in November 4th of this year and then working on 2026 in the midterm re-election. But look, when people, particularly people that have run before, et cetera, everybody knows the politician, the response, the kabuki, "Well, I'm just focusing on my day job and we'll see where things go." So, I tried to be a little more honest about it and people ran with it.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
But to that point, for many years you've said to me and several other people that you had sub-zero interest in running and, "How many ways can I say no?" So, has something changed?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Yeah, everything's changed. Everything changed here in LA. You were part of it. You saw it with the federalization of the National Guard. I just think we were on the other side of something radically different, not marginally different. Everything has changed in terms of my mindset, my focus, my energy, my perspective on the world. We're living in Trump and Trumpism, what he represents and how serious and precious this moment is. So, no, from that perspective, legitimately I've changed, this country's changing and I'm calling it out. And I just feel like we have responsibility to be a little bit more clear and concise and precise in terms of our efforts.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
So, what is the thought process in terms of thinking about the presidential run and why would you potentially not run?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Because truly, now I'm getting into the frame where sincerely I haven't thought about it, beyond just a few people bringing things up and talking about the future of this country. Look, my focus is on the essential nature of calling out what Trump is doing in real time. The shock and awe, and how it's become more and more normalized and socialized. Things that are complete deviancies from normalcy. They have to be called out with some firmness and much more aggressiveness. And so, look, that's my contribution to the moment. To the extent that contribution adds value to that conversation, that's for another time. But right now, my focus is on the time I have between now and November 4th and winning Proposition 15.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
So, past the midterms before you even figured out about the other stuff?
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Yeah. No, I mean even the whole idea that is so absurd to me in so many different respects, because it was never on my bingo card. I didn't grow up saying, "One day I'll be this person' that's got a photo on the wall of me meeting someone."
Speaker 1 (03:38):
There are people that think that you were that way back in the day.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
I know that. Well, that's a whole deeper conversation of perception versus reality, and I have a lot of work to do on that. And I'm going to be doing a little more of that with this book. And now it sounds like, oh, here, he's got a book. Of course he's running. But truly, I've got a book that I'm putting out early next year that I've been working on for four or five years because I can't take the perception of me versus the reality of what I experienced growing up and my own childhood and my own experiences. So, I'm trying to shape-shift that from my perspective, not everyone else's.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
What's the biggest misconception about you?
Speaker 2 (04:14):
I just think this notion… I know where it comes from, but I think this notion of the silver spoon. I was born into great wealth and privilege, and it's quite the contrary. And it's not a racial algebra story. I'm not trying to over-romanticize a contra narrative, but it's remarkable how that perception has dominated so much of the conversation that even my friends have about me, they don't know much about me. And so, just for the record, setting it straight for my kids and grandkids, I'm going to be pushing back in that respect.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
I mean, you spent most of your childhood with a single mother who struggled economically, had foster family, a different experience than the way a lot of people think about you.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Completely. And my mom was 19, 20 when she was pregnant with me. A few years later, she was separated with two kids. And she just hustled to make ends meet. She had two, three jobs all her life, and it was just hard work and grit and I was proud of that. My dad struggling for those early years. He was broken, he said, and broke. He attempted to run for elected office. It was one of the reasons my mom never wanted to see me sitting here with you as governor of California, or even as former mayor of San Francisco. She never wanted that path that my father went on to be my path because it had broken him in many respects.
(05:32)
So, I'm sober about all of this in the context of the humility and grace that I'm sitting here, that we're here, the contributions she made, the sacrifices she made for me. I lost her almost 20 plus years ago to breast cancer. I lost my father as well, and I'm proud of them both. But again, that story isn't necessarily present. It may not be a story anyone gives a about, but it's important to me. And as I said, I got four kids, I hope it's important to them.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Let's talk about what's happening now. This is the first TV interview you've done since the Department of Justice announced that they're going to be sending election monitors into California to monitor what's happening with the Prop 50 election. It's a statewide election, not a federal election. Why do you think they're doing that?
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Well, I mean, it's a pattern in practice. They're doing it as part of an intimidation strategy. They're trying to suppress the vote. They're trying to chill the freedom of speech. We've seen that with this private police force, these increasing encroachment in terms of our civil liberties. No due process. People with masks jumping out of unmarked cars. We're seeing that in terms of the federalization, the militarization of American cities with troops. It is part of practice from this administration.
(06:39)
They have no business being here. They have no basis being here for exactly the reasons you framed. It's a statewide election for a statewide constitutional amendment. And so, there's no pattern of practice in the past of violations of the Voting Rights Act. And all of a sudden now, they seem to be champions of the Voting Rights Act, quite curiously in some of the most diverse districts in this state, at a particular curious and important time in American history, not just California history.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Obviously, 2024 was a federal election, but the Biden administration said DOJ monitors to 87 different jurisdictions in that election. The California GOP put up this onto X, saying, "Governor, if there's nothing to hide or nothing wrong, why the concern in having the DOJ observe? What's wrong with transparency?"
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Well, it's transparency. Let's have the transparency of what went into their request, allegedly, of the Department of Justice, the state GOP, and why they picked these particular five counties. And what allegations or what assertions and on what basis of fact are they asserting that there's been violations in the past? Why these counties? Why now? Why a statewide election very different than other federal elections or elections with candidates on the ballot? This is again, a proposition. Good people can disagree. They'll be accommodated as everyone should be accommodated. They'll have determinations at the county level with the registrars to. The extent they want to cooperate, that's up to them.
(08:04)
I'm just arguing for people to keep their eyes wide open what's going on in the United States of America. I said this months and months ago, what's happening in LA, what's happened in California is a preview of things to come. Watch this space with the DOJ. This is all teeing up 2026. Donald Trump does not believe in fair and free elections. He's trying to rig the 2026 election in plain and open sight, and that is obvious to anyone that's paying attention, and he's just winding up.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
So, let's talk about Prop 50, because that is a lot of what you're thinking about here. So, background for Prop 50 that people haven't been paying that close attention to this. President Trump says to the governor of Texas that he would like to have five Republican seats in Texas. They redraw the congressional map there. California Democrats say, "If going to do that, we should redraw our map to have five Democratic seats here." There's now a proposition to get rid of independent redistricting commission until 2031 in order to create a new map that will probably help the Democrats. There are some people that say two wrongs don't make a right. Why are they wrong?
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Well, look, let's go back. What you said was perfectly accurate, but you missed one key distinction. Donald Trump said he, quote, unquote, was entitled, that's should send a chill, everyone watching, Democrats, Republicans, he said he was entitled to five seats. That's exactly what Greg Abbott and the legislature did in Texas. They didn't stop there. They're in Missouri. They're now moving in Indiana with a special session. They just redistricted in North Carolina. And obviously, Ron DeSantis is going to get into this. These guys are not screwing around. They're ruthless.
(09:44)
They're trying to rig the election before one vote is cast. What they expected us to do was cast aspersions, maybe write an op ed, maybe have a candlelight vigil, walk the streets, talk about the way the world should be, maybe try to win the argument as they're consolidating power. They did not expect us to come up with a strategy to counterbalance things, so that we can rebalance and have a chance, have this country have a chance of holding our republic and democracy, so we can actually celebrate the 250th anniversary as opposed to tearing down these enduring values of our founding fathers.
(10:20)
So, our approach is, yeah, fight fire with fire. It's not one hand tied behind our back. It's not about winning an argument. It's about recognizing the other side is not screwing around. No norms. They're in open, plain sight doing everything they can to wreck this republic and our democracy. It started with January 6th. He tried to light democracy on fire. He tried to wreck this country. He dialed for 11,000, 12,000 seats with the secretary of state in Georgia. And now, he's doing something unprecedented in American history, calling governors to rig the midterm maps. Wake up.