Gavin Newsom Tries to Salvage His Political Career on Leftist Podcast as L.A. Wildfires Continue to Burn

AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli

Wildfires continue to devastate the Los Angeles area, and furious residents are demanding answers from local and state officials as to why more wasn’t done to prepare for the hurricane-force Santa Ana winds that swept in nearly a week ago.

Among those catching heat is Golden State Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has been short on any meaningful insight into what went wrong. In an apparent effort to salvage what is left of his political career, Newsom joined the Pod Save America crew over the weekend and continued to pass the buck.

On Monday’s show, Megyn was joined by Stu Burguiere, host of BlazeTV’s Stu Does America, to discuss Newsom’s latest deflections and what is next for the embattled pol.

The Interview

In what was billed as a ‘breaking news’ episode released on Saturday, Newsom sat down with former Obama administration official Jon Favreau for a 30-minute interview about his administration’s response to the fires that have killed some two dozen people and destroyed thousands of structures in L.A. 

Rather than accept responsibility for the public policy failures that have contributed to the historic disaster, Newsom deflected blame. “I want to get the answers,” he told Favreau. “And I’ll be candid with you, I wasn’t getting straight answers… We had my team start talking with local leaders, saying, ‘What’s going on?’ I was getting different answers. When you start getting different answers, then I’m not getting the actual story.”

He also called out Donald Trump, who has been critical of him since the blazes broke out. In a post on Truth Social last week, Trump called the situation in L.A. “a true disaster” and suggested that Newsom’s refusal to sign a “water restoration declaration” is what caused the water supply issues that have hindered firefighting efforts.

Newsom denied the existence of such a declaration and branded the president-elect’s messaging “delusional” and part of a “consistent mantra from Trump going back years and years.” He said “it’s reinforced over and over within the right wing.” 

As if that wasn’t enough, Newsom also told a tale about getting swept up in a fire while surveying damage:

NEWSOM: …We went up to one of the canyons on the fire. Sitting there, feeling we’re a good quarter a mile away. I’m not making this up. Video to bear it out. All of a sudden, we see an ember. Hits the tree. Tree goes on fire. 100 seconds, God is my witness – may have been 90 seconds. The house is in flames. I have embers of flames, they are taking it off my hair, and we’re running back into the car. Winds are swirling around, garbage cans were in the air, and we were getting the hell out of there…

Burguiere, for one, wasn’t buying it. “All Gavin Newsom cares about is his image… That’s why he tells this harrowing story of the embers landing in his hair, which we know has to be false,” he said. “If an ember hit his hair with the amount of product he has in it, it would set the entire shoreline on fire. This can’t possibly be a true story.”

The Criticism

The interview sparked backlash from the time the first preview clip was posted late Friday, with many slamming Newsom for choosing to spend time – in the midst of an active disaster – on a highly political podcast, while not sharing any new or useful information. 

“Gavin Newsom spent the weekend trying to avoid responsibility… [and] clean up his own image,” Megyn noted. “He is just as vain and worried about his image in the middle of this emergency as David Muir with his little fake fireman’s jacket and clothespins in the back.”

Case in point: The anecdote about having embers in his hair. “Can you imagine Ron DeSantis, in the middle of a hurricane devastating his state, swinging over to talk with the guys at Ruthless about how it affected him? ‘I got super wet. The rain came down, got in my hair, and then my hair got blown,'” she wondered. “The press would be excoriating him.”

Burguiere agreed and said Newsom could learn something from the Florida governor. “A lot of people have this idea that [DeSantis] is always involved in culture war issues, and he does care about those things,” he explained. “But really the reason why he was so popular… [is] because he took as a priority the idea of competent governance and being able to defend against what is really the main concern of a lot of people in Florida, which is… are we going to be prepared for [a hurricane]?”

DeSantis’ proven ability to handle natural disasters is what Burguiere believes sustains his popularity. “The people of Florida… know he does that stuff well and are willing to put him back in office – whether they agree with him on wokeness or not – because he is doing the type of things that are baseline requirements of any competent person,” he noted. “He is making sure they are prepared… unlike what we are seeing in California.”

You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Burguiere by tuning in to episode 981 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.