Bill Maher may be a supporter of Gov. Gavin Newsom, but that didn’t stop him from pressing the California Democrat on the culture war issues he believes the left is losing on.
Newsom came under fire from many in his own party earlier this year when he admitted to Charlie Kirk that there is a “fairness” problem when it comes to male athletes competing in women’s sports. While he may have been willing to say that on a podcast, the policies of the Golden State prove he governs otherwise – something that is apparently not lost on Maher.
On Monday’s show, Megyn was joined by Emily Jashinsky, host of Undercurrents on UnHerd, and Eliana Johnson, editor-in-chief of The Washington Free Beacon, to discuss Newsom’s attempted move to the middle and why it lacks sincerity.
Newsom on Maher
Newsom made headlines for his appearance on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday after he told Maher Republicans “are crushing” the left because the “Democratic brand is toxic right now.”
He said that while defending his podcast, This Is Gavin Newsom, which has gotten him in trouble with his own kind for ‘platforming’ MAGA voices like Kirk and Steve Bannon. Many believe Newsom is gearing up for a presidential run in 2028, but he told Maher it is about getting out of “echo chambers,” being less “judgmental,” and “need[ing] to own our mistakes” and “what’s wrong with our party.”
While those remarks dominated the news coverage of Newsom’s sit down with Maher, Megyn took particular interest in their conversation about radical trans ideology. “There is no bigger fan of Gavin Newsom than Bill Maher. He loves the guy,” she noted. “[But] to his credit, because Bill Maher is on the [correct] side on this issue… he did raise it with Gavin Newsom, who then wiggled and wormed… and did not accept any responsibility.”
In one exchange, Maher pointed out that leftists have called Newsom “a traitor” for speaking with conservatives like Kirk about the issue ‘trans’ athletes. Maher said it is an “80/20 issue” that the Democrat Party is on the wrong side of, but Newsom called out the GOP too.
“The other side weaponizes these issues. They dehumanize, they attack, they demean, and they’ve weaponized this issue extraordinarily well,” he chastised. “That said, on the fundamental question, is it fair? And I can give you example after example just in my home state, there was someone that won a triple jump by eight feet. It was fundamentally unfair. We haven’t been able to figure that out.”
And then came the back and forth on some of the radical California state laws that have passed under Newsom’s leadership.
MAHER: …But governor, you were the poster boy for a lot of this stuff… California had a rule that schools cannot be required to notify parents if their kids in school have changed their gender, their pronouns… That makes a lot of people go, ‘Well, you know what? That’s the party without common sense.’ Now, if that’s your state, how are you–
NEWSOM: I just disagree with that. I mean, the law was you would be fired, a teacher would be fired if a teacher did not report or snitch on a kid talking about their identity. I just think that was wrong. I think teachers should teach. I don’t think they should be required to turn in kids. And by the way–
MAHER: Turn in? You’re talking about their parents. How can you snitch? The idea of a snitch and a parent, to me, doesn’t compute.
NEWSOM: Well, but what is, what is the job of a teacher? It’s to teach. If Johnny’s talking about some identity issue or some issue about liking someone of the same sex, is that the teacher’s job to then report that. By the way, in this law, the teacher can still do that, but they can’t be fired if that’s what– they can’t be fired if that’s not what they do because that’s something I think, is I, I just think that was fair…
Megyn said Maher’s pushback was spot on. “I genuinely appreciate him with the retort of: How can you snitch to one’s parents when you’re talking about a minor and very serious mental problems,” she noted.
The Politics of Sincerity
In Jashinsky’s view, these are but the latest example of Newsom trying to separate himself from his far-left record. “This is why Gavin Newsom, I think, is having a hard time on his rehabilitation tour as he has launched his podcast,” she said. “It is because it is impossible for him to run from his actual record because he can’t fully disavow it. He can’t fully get away from it.”
Even so, Johnson believes Newsom is trying and, to some degree, succeeding in separating himself from his fellow Dems. “I hate to say I do think that this podcast he is doing is pretty smart if you want to run for president,” she explained. “What he is doing better than the vast majority of the Democratic Party is switching his position… and so the question really is: Are people going to hold it against him that he has switched all of his positions? I’m not sure that is really going to matter four years from now.”
Megyn thinks it could prove to be a problem for Newsom if people don’t believe it is actually a change of heart. “It is not sincere. If it were sincere, he would totally own it and say, ‘I am genuinely sorry about this,'” she said. “[Democrats are] trying to do this little sleight of hand… without any acknowledgement of what they have done.”
With respect to women’s sports, every Democratic senator made it clear exactly where they stand when they unanimously voted against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act earlier this month. “Not one Democrat said, ‘I will vote for that,’ nor did Gavin Newsom come out and say, ‘I would really like it if our California U.S. senators would vote for this because it’s unfair,” Megyn concluded. “No, he’s not leading on this because none of this is sincere. It is all electoral politics. It’s smart electoral politics, but it’s not sincere.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Jashinsky and Johnson by tuning in to episode 1,038 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.