Bill Maher reminded California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has was the “poster boy” for many of the Democratic Party policies he now identifies as “toxic.”
Newsom joined Maher on Friday’s Real Time where the governor praised Maher for agreeing to meet President Donald Trump at the White House, arguing that level of dialogue is what he’s trying to create with his This Is Gavin Newsom podcast where he’s talked with right-wing figures like Steve Bannon and Charlie Kirk.
Newsom said:
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 the NBC poll down 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 dialog with people I disagree with, it’s an opportunity to try to find common ground and not take cheap shots.
Maher praised Newsom and at one point pushed him to run for the White House, but he also argued many see him as the “poster boy” for bad Democratic policies, citing red tape in California and his past positions on trans youths.
“What do you say to people who say, well, this sounds all very good, but governor, you were the poster boy for a lot of this stuff?” Maher asked.
Newsom has faced similar backlash before like when he recently announced he had never used the term “LatinX,” only for critics to pull up past video of him using that very term.
Maher cited a law in California that would prevent teachers from being fired if they do not report a child “talking about gender identity.” Newsom defended the law, saying he only supported teachers not being fired, but argued teachers can still legally inform parents if their child has expressed gender identity issues.
Democrats, Newsom said, “need to mature” and move beyond “cancel culture” and echo chambers, citing low favorability polling for the party.
“Democrats tend to be a little more judgmental than we should be. This notion of cancel culture, you’ve been living it, you’ve on the receiving end of it. For years and years and years, that’s real. And Democrats need to own up to that. They’ve got to mature,” he said.
Check out the exchange below:
GAVIN NEWSOM: This idea that we can’t even have a conversation with the other side —
BILL MAHER: You have to. They won!
NEWSOM: Thank you. That’s it. Bottom line. And by the way, or the notion we just have to continue to talk to ourselves, or 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 the NBC poll down 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 dialog 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 of their, or at least a crowbar in the spokes of their wheel to trip them up to your point. And I thinks it’s important. Democrats tend to be a little more judgmental than we should be. This notion of cancel culture, you’ve been living it, you’ve on the receiving end of it. For years and years and years, that’s real. And Democrats need to own up to that. They’ve got to mature.
MAHER: So, what do you say to people who say, well, this sounds all very good, but governor, you were the poster boy for a lot of this stuff. I see today the Trump administration is, they talked about, I don’t know if this is true, but they talked 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, that makes a lot people go, well, you know what, that’s the party without common sense. Now, if that’s your state, how are you, are you —
NEWSOM: 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 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, they —
MAHER: We’re talking about their parents, how can you snitch? The idea of a snitch and a parent to me doesn’t compare.
NEWSOM: I just, I don’t, but 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 it 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, can’t fired if not what they do. And that’s something I think is, I just think that was fair.
Watch above via HBO.
The post Bill Maher Slaps Back at Gavin Newsom for Calling Left Wing Democrats ‘Toxic’: ‘You Were the Poster Boy for This Stuff!’ first appeared on Mediaite.
