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Joe Rogan may not have single-handedly put President Donald Trump in the White House again, but there’s no question that the long-form podcast, as a new form of media, played a role in what’s happening in Washington right now. From Megyn Kelly’s elevation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on her show, to the appearance of Trump, J.D. Vance and, most recently, Elon Musk on the Rogan podcast, Republicans have made good use of the format to connect with everyday Americans.
A little late to the party is California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Newsom, whose name is rarely mentioned in the press without the antecedent “potential presidential candidate,” launched a podcast last week called “This is Gavin Newsom,” and he immediately made headlines for telling Charlie Kirk that he is troubled by the issue of fairness in the matter of transgender athletes competing on women’s sports teams.
As he likely knew he would.
Newsom has been in politics for more than two decades, having been elected mayor of San Francisco in 2003. He doesn’t stumble into soundbites, although he does sometimes trip over a glaringly obvious faux pas, such as his visit to the upscale restaurant The French Laundry during the first year of the pandemic.
“Should have gone to Applebee’s,” he told Kirk on the podcast, saying that he had resolved to “own it, move on and grow up.”
That is the sort of mantra that can benefit anyone, particularly the despondent of the Democratic Party right now, and yet Newsom’s admissions of guilt, for himself and for his party, haven’t played too well with Democrats this week. (Watch, for example, how the women of “The View” talk show received his comments about transgender athletes in women’s sports.)
Nor is it entirely clear what Newsom is up to by first featuring Kirk, and then conservative podcaster Michael Savage, who started his broadcasting career in California by describing himself as “to the right of Rush (Limbaugh) and to the left of God” and recently launched a cable television show on Newsmax. The latest episode features political strategist and podcaster Steve Bannon in what The New York Times described as a good-natured and fast-paced conversation.
Does Newsom’s base — if it exists outside of California (and that’s yet to be seen) — really want to listen to conservatives run roughshod over him, as Kirk did in the first episode? That seems unlikely. But if Newsom is instead trying to expand his support and present himself as a new breed of commonsensical Democrat who can appeal to moderate Republicans and independents, the first show was a fail on that account too.
That’s because in “This is Gavin Newsom,” the governor presented himself as no ally of American Christians, peppering his speech with many casual references to Jesus, and not in the reverential sense, so much that Kirk had to ask him several times not to take the name of his Lord in vain. Even after Kirk first asked Newsom to stop, the governor kept it up, making it clear that this is just how he talks. It’s bewildering that anyone on his staff thought this was a good look for anyone hoping to make it into national politics. Had I been an aide in the room, I would have been jumping up and down waving my arms, telling him to stop. But Newsom kept it up, to the very end of the podcast and vowed not to edit anything out.
Newsom has a long record of public service and a boyish, telegenic presence that plays well on TV. But his liabilities on the national stage aren’t limited to his ties to the wine industry at a time when Americans are drinking less. Trump, of course, has his own problem with profanity, which voters have chosen to overlook. But Newsom’s choice of words will be harder for Christians to brush aside and, for now at least, serve as additional evidence that what works in California won’t necessarily fly in “flyover country.”
The eagles have landed
Trump recently sent out a news release touting “50 wins in 50 days” of his presidency. Shockingly omitted was the recent birth of three baby bald eagles in California’s San Bernardino National Forest, which Trump could have cheekily claimed as a MAGA win.
After all, the parents of the chicks, who became famous via a live stream of their nest, have tried for a couple of years to reproduce without success. And suddenly, after having suffered eggs that were eaten by predators and others that just didn’t hatch, Jackie and Shadow have not one, but three healthy babies — all the more remarkable since only about half of bald eagle eggs hatch, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
You’d think that Trump would be all over this win, given how important the eagle is as a national symbol. Even JD Vance, in his first speech as vice president, said, “I want more babies in America.” And voila: Jackie and Shadow, despite living in a blue state, promptly delivered.
But maybe it’s too soon to celebrate. According to an article in Popular Science, 30% of chicks don’t survive their first year, and even though it’s March, winter weather still presents a challenge for the family. “Eaglets are born without their waterproof feathers and all of the down layers that keep warm air in and cold air out. The crucial waterproof feathers usually come in about six weeks after hatching and snowstorms are still forecast for the area,” Laura Baisas wrote for the magazine. Indeed, it’s snowing on the nest even as I write.
Predators would also like to make a meal of the eaglets, which can make watching the webcam unnerving for those of us who don’t like to see nature red in tooth and claw, in the words of Tennyson. But also, it’s kind of mesmerizing, especially when dad brings back a fish for his family.
Recall that Benjamin Franklin once grumbled that bald eagles are birds of “bad moral character” because they are “too lazy” to fish for themselves. But within a span of two days, Shadow delivered five fish and some sort of water fowl to his family, according to the Facebook page of Friends of Big Bear Valley, the nonprofit that runs a YouTube channel with the livestreams of the nest.
In other eagle news, the Philadelphia Eagles have accepted an invitation to visit the White House after weeks of reporting that they had spurned Trump’s invitation.
Headline of the week
In the Department of Headlines That Probably Didn’t Land the Way the Author Intended, I give you a Washington Post op-ed arguing for more federal spending on scientific research:
“Science needs more shrimp on treadmills”
Recommended reading
Princeton University’s Robert P. George is skeptical of Gavin Newsom’s “fairness,” writing that “Americans mustn’t be fooled by politicians who, for transparently self-interested reasons, attempt to revise their party’s history, hide their own previously publicly state beliefs, and rebrand themselves as supporters of common sense — and common decency.”
“Perspective: Americans should not be fooled by politicians who conveniently change their tunes”
Valerie Hudson goes at the issue from another angle: The Democrats who refused to budge despite being at odds with their constituents. “It is almost impossible to find any other subject on which almost 80% of Americans all agree in 2025; you just don’t see an 80/20 split on social issues today. Americans are strongly united on this issue.”
“Democrats will long pay the price for their position on women’s sports”
On the fifth anniversary of the COVID-19 lockdowns, Sarah Jane Weaver writes about the human connection we so desperately craved in 2020 and how we seem to have lost sight of its importance:
“People live alone in nearly 30% of U.S. households, according to 2022 census data. This is a record high, compared with 8% of solo households in the 1940 census and 18% in 1970. (Gene) Hackman’s death has prompted me to ask myself some hard questions: Do I know my neighbors? Do I check on my family members who live alone? Are there people in my realm who long for connection?”
“COVID-19 taught us valuable lessons about connection. How did we forget them?”
My latest
I talked to Franklin Graham, the CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Society, for an article on the rise in public profanity. Graham (no relation, although we both have southern accents) told me that he never once heard his father utter a curse word or even use slang. Here’s a quote from him that didn’t make it into the article: “If somebody was telling a untoward joke, my father would never laugh. Everybody in the room might laugh, but he wouldn’t laugh. It made everyone feel very uncomfortable. That’s how he did it. He just didn’t participate.” Silence can say a lot, that’s for sure.
“It’s not your imagination. Public profanity is worsening. How can we reverse the trend?”
Finally
The body positive movement is ruing that “thin is in again,” thanks to Ozempic and, well, apparently, Trump. The author Kate Manne wrote on Substack, “Thin is more in than ever now for another reason too: the rise of authoritarianism, and the way women can signal their deference to the powers-that-be by conforming to a certain ideal of conventional femininity.”
But do a Google search of “thin is in again” and you will find articles about this “new trend” in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Maybe maintaining a proportionate weight is just a good idea, no matter who is president? Just a radical closing thought from someone who has always struggled with her weight.
Send your weight-loss tips, amusing headlines and ideas to me at Jgraham@deseretnews.com. Thank you for being part of the Right to the Point community.