Gov. Gavin Newsom Announces New Podcast Where He Interviews MAGA Leaders

In an announcement on Wednesday, Governor Gavin Newsom confirmed that he will be hosting a second podcast, “This is Gavin Newsom”, where he will interview MAGA leaders, others on the right, and people whom he “admires”.

In terms of hosting, Newsom first hosted a Current TV talk show, “The Gavin Newsom Show” while serving as Lt. Governor. Currently, Newsom already hosts another podcast, “Politickin'”, with former NFL star Marshawn Lynch, and his agent Doug Hendrickson as hosts. While Politickin’ is said to be sports and culture based, Newsom has often talked about politics during the podcast, despite saying that he wouldn’t. However, with many lawmakers now heading to podcasts to get their message out, Newsom opted to follow their lead and also boost his presence in the leadup to the 2028 presidential election, in which he is expected to run. This led to the formation of “This is Gavin Newsom.”

Hoping to make this podcast different, and wanting to further directly challenge Republicans, Newsom announced on Wednesday that his new podcast would go against the podcast norm. While allies and “people he admires” will be on the show, so will MAGA leaders and Republicans.

“We need to change the conversation. And that’s why I’m launching a new podcast,” Newsom said on X Wednesday. “And this is going to be anything but the ordinary ‘politician’ podcast. I’m going to be talking with people I directly disagree with, as well as people I look up to. But more important than anything else, I’ll be talking with you, the listener.

“Real conversations. What’s going on with the price of eggs? What are the real impacts to you around tariffs? What power does an executive order really have? And what’s really going on inside of DOGE? Look, there’s an onslaught of information we take in. So let’s take it to the sources without the typical political mumbo jumbo. In the first few weeks we’ll be sitting down with some of the biggest leaders and architects of the MAGA movement. This is Gavin Newsom.”

In subsequent statements, he expanded upon what his podcast was and was going to do.

“We already know what our disagreements are with the MAGA movement. I want to understand what the motivations are, the legitimacy of those motivations, and just really understand where people are coming from,” added Newsom. “They are influential — they are. They explain more things in more ways on more days about what’s going on and if we’re not trying to understand their motivations, we will be victims of their motivations.

“At the same time, I want Democrats to come on and sort of challenge where we are on a lot of these issues. And so I’m asking the same questions you’re asking of me: Where the hell is the Democratic Party? What are we doing? Who are we? Where are we going? What’s the path back? I’m having the exact same conversations, and I just thought it’d be a hell of a lot more interesting to do it publicly and to do it as honestly as I can.

“I’m here to stress test positions, including my own, in a more transparent manner. It’s not a place everyone comes for therapy. I’m not looking to just give the orthodoxy — progressive and liberal talking points. There are so many outstanding people doing that, like our gifted professionals. I add no value in that space. I’m a redundant voice. But what I think I can offer is as a practitioner — not an ideologue, not a pundit: I’m in it as much or more than most elected officials in this country, because I’m in the largest state. I’m in a state that’s deeply on the mind of the administration. I’m in a state that is profoundly critical to the fate and future as it relates to some of the most critical industries like artificial intelligence, and obviously in this remarkable moment as it relates to geopolitical re-calibration.”

Newsom further said that “Real Time with Bill Maher” served as inspiration for his podcast. Like Politickin’, “This is Gavin Newsom” will be aired on the iHeart podcasts network.

With his podcast becoming more political, it will help Newsom check many boxes in the coming years. It will show him as willing to reach out to the right and talk with those he has been at odds with. It will allow him to challenge current Democratic discourse, something of which then-President Joe Biden and then Vice President Kamala Harris widely halted last year in favor of party unity. It will help further distance himself from many issues he currently faces as Governor, including being blamed for the growth of the Southern California wildfires last month, and the subsequent recall movement against him. It will give him yet another voice in the growing podcast market. It will help keep him in the news following the end of his Governorship in January 2027. And, perhaps most critically for Newsom, it will help keep him relevant and known to people before the 2028 Presidential election.

In short, he’s trying to save his political career by reaching out to the right in a very deliberate, unorthodox, and public way.

“With Politickin’, Newsom seemingly had one foot out the door already,” explained media analyst Lydia Hart to the Globe on Wednesday. “This is Gavin Newsom confirms it. His eyes are on the presidency. No other sitting Governor, let alone one in a state with so many big issues that need his attention, is trying to start a podcast career. Where is he finding the time for this? He needs to address this, why he is starting another podcast when he still needs to be Governor.”

The answer, on many levels, is something his podcast name already answered. This is Gavin Newsom.