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DEEGAN ON LA - Tearing a page from Ronald Reagan’s playbook, Gavin Newsom is speaking out in a way that may modify his political identity to appeal to more centrist, less leftist voters around the country that may have a one-dimensional view of him.
It’s a political move for the governor to use his just launched podcast as one of the arrows in his quiver as he may be aiming for higher office in 2028.
Reagan wanted to be seen as a meaningful conservative with a big picture plan for America. He called that vision “It’s morning again in America” and it helped elect him.
He put his “great communicator” skills to work in a daily syndicated radio broadcast that ran from 1975-1980. The Reagan Presidential Library archives show that the aspiring president gave 1,027 of these sharp-edged daily commentaries to an audience of 20 to 30 million listeners each week.
Newsom is attempting to do his outreach with a podcast. The premiere edition of “This Is Gavin Newsom” launched a few days ago and it’s already controversial which may have helped launch-day publicly.
In it, he provoked the Democratic left with two statements: one that Kamala Harris was flatfooted in not responding to the allegation, in an opposition campaign attack ad, that “Kamala Harris is for they/them…President Trump is for you”. And, that he supports no trans men playing on female sports teams.
His first guest was the Turning Point’s thirty-one-year-old Charlie Kirk, the host of “The Charlie Kirk Show” that broadcasts daily. He’s one of the young conservative phenoms who, at 31 years old, has over a decade’s worth of messaging and advocating to his peers; the type of young MAGA males that helped their candidate win the White House in November 2024.
Founded by Kirk in 2012, Turning Point is the dominant force in campus conservatism, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
The governor’s next guest was a conversation with long-time conservative commentator Dr. Michael Savage to dissect his “Borders, Language, Culture” ideology. Then, Steve Bannon.
Paroxysms of angst from the Democrats followed his podcast launch. Newsom drew immediate fire from the left flank of the party over his statements about Harris and trans athletes.
Both California governors with higher office ambitions took to the airwaves in regularly schedule commentaries that helped define them and adjust their politics to more electable framings. Although Newsom has not declared it, the Oval Office may be the goal.
The primaries for the 2028 presidential election are three years away from right now; in politics 24 hours is a long time. But anything can happen in the next 36 months.
Newson may be unrecognizable to the hard-core left by the time he may be on the ballot, and more appealing to the national electorate.
(Tim Deegan is a civic activist whose Deegan on LA weekly column has been a feature of CityWatch for 11 years. Tim writes about city politics and communities. Tim can be reached at [email protected].)
