| The governor of California has recently become a podcast host as well, but his choice of guests has drawn criticism from his party. Today, Joshua Green writes about just what Gavin Newsom might be thinking with his right-wing interviews. Plus: Robinhood’s CEO sees a lot of melding in markets, and why “no tax on tips” is popular among the public but not with tax experts. If this email was forwarded to you, click here to sign up. As a party, Democrats are a pretty dispirited bunch: paralyzed by indecision, saddled with geriatric leaders and uncertain of how—or even whether—to oppose President Donald Trump. During his recent address to Congress, members drew widespread ridicule for holding up little round protest signs, which made them look like overdressed bidders at a cattle auction. Love him or hate him, California Governor Gavin Newsom has broken from the Democratic pack. Newsom has always had a fondness for the camera. But after Kamala Harris’ presidential loss and his party’s collapse, he’s also started a podcast, unsubtly titled This Is Gavin Newsom, onto which he’s invited a series of edgy, right-wing guests of the sort you won’t find on Pod Save America or other liberal fare. This week, Newsom hosted former Trump chief strategist and right-wing podcast impresario Steve Bannon. Many Democrats view Bannon as a fascist, an authoritarian or worse. So the friendly interview between supposed political rivals inevitably generated some controversy. Former Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger, a prominent Never Trumper, blasted Newsom’s “stupidity” for hosting Bannon on his show. But drawing attacks from #Resistance heroes like Kinzinger and shouty liberals seems to me like the whole point of Newsom’s enterprise. He’s trying to stand apart from a Democratic Party that many Americans believe is arrogant, judgy and hostile to those who don’t embrace its increasingly left-wing orthodoxy. For a guy like Newsom, long believed to be eyeing a White House bid, putting some distance between yourself and the party America just rejected isn’t a bad strategy.  Newsom. Photographer: Sarah Reingewirtz/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Dail/Getty Images Anthony York, a spokesman for Newsom, wouldn’t go quite that far when I asked him to explain Bannon’s appearance on his boss’s podcast. “The whole idea was to have people on, including people he has deep disagreements with, to try to understand what we as Democrats don’t—and to create a space to have conversations that aren’t cable news shout-fests,” York told me. “He knew he was going to take criticism from people for ‘platforming’ someone like Bannon.” Another appeal of an edgy podcast, as York noted, is that it theoretically puts Newsom in a space where Democrats don’t get much traction. Almost all the top podcasts and cable news shows are right-leaning or outright conservative. “These are forms of communication where Democrats are behind,” York says. “This is the governor trying to find ways to catch up, and for Democrats to communicate not just with ourselves but people we’ve clearly lost ground with.” Although it’s doubtful many of the voters Trump flipped in South Florida or the Rio Grande Valley are tuning into the latest episode of This Is Gavin Newsom, the donors, consultants and political chattering class who are already thinking about the 2028 presidential race are paying plenty of attention to Newsom’s gambit. Bannon is one of them—and happy to offer his own analysis. “He’s tacking to the center, trying to dump all his wokeness,” he says of Newsom. “And he wants to get as far away from the California model as he possibly can, because it’s toxic for Democratic candidates.” | 
