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We are less than two months into President Donald Trump‘s second term and Democrats are already jockeying to lead the party in hopes of becoming the nominee for 2028. Some lawmakers are leading protests and giving rousing speeches while others….launched a podcast and had a right-wing freak as their first guest?
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), a rodent-like mammal who’s assumed human form, used the inaugural episode of his new podcast, This is Gavin Newsom, to interview Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk and to take what we have to assume was a planned swipe at transgender people. If a Democrat has Kirk on their podcast, they know he’s going to ask about trans people.
Kirk challenged Newsom for his stance on a transgender high school track athlete, and the Governor responded, “I think it’s an issue of fairness, I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness—it’s deeply unfair.” He then noted that conservatives made a campaign issue out of transgender athletes in youth and college sports. “The last couple years, boy did I [see] how you guys were able to weaponize that issue at another level.” Newsom then agreed with Kirk that the GOP was successfully painting Democrats as out of step on sports rules. “I agree with you,” he said. “We’re getting crushed on it.” (Some Democratic strategists believe former Vice President Kamala Harris lost the election in part because of tepid support for trans people, but the reality is that Joe Biden doomed the party by running for re-election and then dropping out so late there was no time for a primary.)
Newsom then said he recognized there’s more going on than just concerns over competitive advantage, but it felt hollow in the context of the whole spectacle. “There’s also a humility and a grace that these poor people are more likely to commit suicide, have anxiety and depression, and the way that people talk down to vulnerable communities is an issue that I have a hard time with, as well,” he said. After the interview, Kirk retweeted multiple posts claiming he’d owned Newsom and had started a Democratic civil war.
Parker Molloy, a media critic who is herself trans, noted that Newsom having Kirk on as his first-ever guest felt like part of a plan to create a media moment for himself.
I don't know that it'd be "better" if this was just something he said off the cuff, but it's certainly a lot more disgusting to know he probably planned it to help draw attention to his new podcast.
— Parker Molloy (@parkermolloy.com) 2025-03-06T19:00:15.611Z
Like clockwork, Politico published the following headline Thursday afternoon: “Newsom’s move on trans athletes jolts 2028 campaign.” The only jolt this should provide to Democrats is one of clarity: to internalize that the existence of trans people who want to play sports is not a widespread issue for Americans. Former Massachusetts governor and current NCAA head Charlie Baker (R) said in a December Senate hearing that, out of more than 500,000 collegiate athletes, there were “less than 10” who are trans.
It’s what political scientists refer to as a “wedge issue” because it divides the members of a party. Republicans want people talking about trans athletes instead of the GOP stripping the government for parts to make billionaires even richer. And, not for nothing, conservatives aren’t going to stop at sports bans—they want to ban gender-affirming medical care for minors (care that their parents have consented to), and eventually ban the same care for adults.
Progressives immediately criticized Newsom for seemingly putting his political goals ahead of vulnerable people. Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), vice chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, said “What’s unfair is the targeting of transgender kids and politicians abandoning them for political expediency.” Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said the organization’s message to the governor and other lawmakers was that “the path to 2028 isn’t paved with the betrayal of vulnerable communities—it’s built on the courage to stand up for what’s right and do the hard work to actually help the American people.”
At The Intercept, Natasha Lennard said Newsom’s interview was not only a cynical tactic but a losing one. “The performance was emblematic of the current wave of rightward pandering that establishment Democrats have decided to embrace with vigor after the very same strategy helped them lose the 2024 election,” she said, encouraging the party to focus on economic issues instead.
One extra sick part is that Newsom doesn’t have to do this. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D), a one-time potential Harris VP pick, has modeled a way to talk about attacks on LGBTQ people. As my colleague Kylie Cheung wrote in July, Beshear had “impressively defeated attacks on trans kids in Kentucky by making the simple, powerful case that Republicans who bully trans kids are the extremists, rather than the other way around.” The governor wrote in a New York Times op-ed after the election: “I vetoed anti-LGBTQ legislation last year because I believe all children are children of God. And whether people agree with my decision, they know why I’m making it. They know where I am coming from.”
A Democrat with a spine, wow!!!! Hope we can find some more of those.
Trump-related barf:
- As Trump coerces Ukraine into a ceasefire with a Russian dictator, three top administration officials suggest that he should receive the Nobel Peace Prize. [NBC News]
- Trump is milking his power for all it’s worth: Business leaders are paying up to $5 million for a one-on-one dinner meeting at Mar-a-Lago, while a seat at a group dinner runs $1 million. [Wired]
- Congressional Republicans, whose job it is to set budgets, reportedly asked billionaire shadow president Elon Musk, to put his proposed federal spending cuts to votes before enacting them. [CNN]
- Relatedly, former Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley warned that DOGE’s meddling at the agency could lead to “system collapse and an interruption of benefits” in the next 30 to 90 days. He urged recipients to start saving money now to prepare for the possibility. [CNBC]
- U.S. health and security officials say the Trump administration’s freeze on foreign aid is weakening efforts to contain an Ebola outbreak in Uganda. [New York Times]
- Republicans are considering an accounting change that would essentially cook the federal books to hide the impact of extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts for billionaires. [NBC News]
- The new Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson has posted antisemitic conspiracy theories and has touted the white supremacist Great Replacement theory. [Mother Jones/Politico]
- Vice President JD Vance seemingly referred to France and the UK as “some random country” after they pledged to send troops to a peacekeeping force in Ukraine. [USA Today]
- Musk suggested privatizing both the US Postal Service and Amtrak and if he touches my cheap train tickets I will riot. [CNN]
Non-Trump barf:
- The Florida lawmaker who sponsored the state’s six-week abortion ban is now trying to make it even harder to repeal that ban via constitutional amendment. [Florida Phoenix]
- Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and Musk celebrated the firing of a Texas state employee who was fired for refusing to remove pronouns from their email signature. [The Guardian]
- Hayden Haynes, the chief of staff to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), was arrested Tuesday on DUI charges after his car struck a Capitol vehicle following Trump’s joint address. [NBC News]
- Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa.), who serves on the Senate’s Armed Services Committee that helps set the Pentagon’s budget, allegedly had romantic relationships with two military officials since 2019. [ProPublica]
- Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), who led the charge to oust Al Franken from Congress over sexual harassment allegations, seemed practically ambivalent about sex pest Andrew Cuomo running for New York City mayor. Gillibrand said, “This is a country that believes in second chances, so it’s up to New York voters to decide if he should get a second chance to serve.” [Bluesky]
This has been your weekly Barf Bag, thanks for reading!
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