California Governor Gavin Newsom was the Friday guest on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" to promote his podcast. California is still reeling in debt and horribly mismanaged thanks to Newsom's persistent focus on his presidential ambitions instead of actually governing the state he was elected to run. The fact that Newsom has time to promote a podcast, gaslight, and spout nonsense to his buddy Maher reflects how little he cares about the state of his state.
Newsom waxed ineloquent, with full hand gestures, about the reason why he started this podcast, beginning with this newfound revelation (for him) that Democrats are now "toxic," and how it is critically importance that "we" talk to the other side. Newsom told Maher:
NEWSOM: I mean, this idea that you cannot even have a conversation with the other side?
MAHER: You have to, they won!
NEWSOM: Thank you. That's it, the bottom line. Or, by the way... or the notion that we just have to continue to talk to ourselves, we're in the same damn echo chamber. These guys are crushing us. The Democratic brand is toxic right now. We had a high water mark two weeks ago, and that was a CNN poll at 29 percent favorability. It's dropped in an NBC poll to 27 percent. It's one thing to make noise, but you also have to make sense. And I think with this podcast and having the opportunity to dialogue with people I disagree with, it's an opportunity to try to find common ground, and not take cheap shots. I'm not looking to put a spoke in the wheel, or at least a crowbar in the spokes of their wheel to trip them up, to your point. And I think it's important. Democrats, we tend to be a little more judgmental than we should be.
This notion of cancel culture: you've been living it, you've been on the receiving end of it for years, and years, and years. That's real. And Democrats need to own up to that. They gotta mature about this.
This "notion" of cancel culture? In 2022, this same governor backed and then signed into law AB298, which empowered the Medical Board of California to revoke a doctor’s license to practice medicine in the state if the medical doctor expressed an opinion which was “contradicted by contemporary scientific consensus contrary to the standard of care.” It was centered around COVID and stifled what a doctor could or could not tell their patient about the vaccine or other treatments. It was so toxic that even our current NIH Director, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya condemned it. After multiple lawsuits, from the ACLU no less, the California legislature rescinded the law in 2023. As per usual, Newsom excused his signing the bill into law. So, I think some maturity needs to start in his own house.
Maher shifted gears and dug into what he thought he heard from the Trump administration about a certain California transgender law. Maybe Maher doesn't live in the state anymore, but it would behoove him to actually have his multitudinous interns research so that he can adequately question the governor on the exact policies that he championed and allowed to be put in place:
MAHER: So what do you say to people who say, Well, this all sounds very good, but governor, you were the poster boy for all this stuff? I see today the Trump administration, they talked about—I don't know if this is true—but they talked about the fact that California had a rule that schools cannot be required to notify parents if their kids in school have changed their gender, their pronouns. That's the kind of thing—even though it doesn't affect a lot of people—it makes a lot of people go, well, you know what? that's the party without common sense.
Now, if that's your state, how do you, are you for...
Now, listen to this nuclear-grade gaslit response from Gov. Hair Gel.
WATCH:
Gavin Newsom's 180 degree turn on trans competing in sports is truly 'hard to believe':
— Eric Abbenante (@EricAbbenante) March 29, 2025
Maher: "This all sounds good, but Governor, you were the poster boy for all of this stuff.
California schools cannot be required to notify parents if their kids in school have changed their… pic.twitter.com/wZGrwPD6z8
NEWSOM: I disagree with that. 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 gender 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: But we're talking about their parents! How can you snitch? The idea of a snitch and a parent doesn't comport.
NEWSOM: But what is the job of the teacher? It's to teach. If Johnny is talking about some identity issue or some issue about liking someone of the same sex is it the teacher's job to somehow 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, and that's something... I just think that was fair.
This same governor pontificating about fairness sued the Chino Valley Unified School District for creating a parental notification policy if their child talked to teachers or administrators about gender transition. Because Maher was clueless (and he's a partisan himself) he offered no pushback on Newsom's lies. However, plenty of Californians, particularly the Republican lawmakers, have the receipts. Republican Assembly leader James Gallagher, who, along with Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA), sued Newsom for his COVID lockdown overreach and won, called him out:
The Governor continues to tell bald-faced lies about parental notification. Here are the facts.
— James Gallagher (@J_GallagherAD3) March 29, 2025
There IS a CA policy that prohibits school officials from telling parents if their child is beginning to transition (wear different clothes, ask to go by different pronouns, or use… https://t.co/1mrDsrH4sb
The Governor continues to tell bald-faced lies about parental notification.
Here are the facts.
There IS a CA policy that prohibits school officials from telling parents if their child is beginning to transition (wear different clothes, ask to go by different pronouns, or use the opposite sex bathrooom) at school.
It directs that they must keep that secret from parents.
Gavin Newsom enshrined that policy into law!!
He prohibited schools from having any parental notification policy.
There was NEVER “a law that fired teachers” for not informing parents about their child’s gender transition.
In fact, the only CA teacher ever fired was one who refused to go along with their secrecy policy.
As Newsom continues this latest "makeover," a Recall Gavin Newsom campaign has been approved by the California Secretary of State.
JUST IN: California's Secretary of State has cleared the way for proponents of a new recall against Gov. Gavin Newsom to begin collecting signatures.
— Rob Pyers (@rpyers) March 29, 2025
Proponents have until September 4th to collect 1,311,963 signatures. pic.twitter.com/Fsru9b6CO5
All of this is theater, of course. Newsom has less than two years left on this final term as California governor, and the last attempt to recall him failed miserably. Newsom is banking on this rebrand so that people will pay more attention to his pearly whites, slick hair, and newfound moderation rather than his horrendous record of leadership.
America must not fall for it, and those of us intimate with this gaslighting governor are going to make sure we trot out his horrendous record, and all the video sound bites, at every opportunity. The internet is forever, and so is the anger of pissed off parents, business owners, and everyone who was practically run out of the state because of this man's leadership.
Gavin Newsom's 'rebrand' isn't fooling anyone...at least no one who has been paying attention pic.twitter.com/RIGqA6VKAY
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) March 29, 2025
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