Newsom goes FULL OFFENSE against Trump

20:07Gavin Newsom:Well, there's no good government when government is totally eliminated. It's no longer the rule of law back to this notion of rule of dawn. I mean, the League of Women Voters thinks that by aligning with Donald Trump, that's all they're doing. It's a binary. It's not complicated. By aligning with Donald Trump, the League of Women Voters thinks that's good government. When he doesn't believe in independent redistricting, he's going to eliminate independent redistricting. He doesn't believe in advise and consent. He doesn't believe in the power of co-equal branches of government and oversight when he's trying to rig the election, when he's trying to change the rules by playing against with a brand new set of rules in the mid-decade on the redistricting, give me a break.

20:45Gavin Newsom:With all due respect to them, they are dead wrong on this issue.

20:50Brian Tyler Cohen:I have to ask, because this has gotten quite a bit of attention online, but I have a tweet here. Which one's this? What I would love is to have you read this in your voice. If you'd like to just take a shot at it.

21:08Gavin Newsom:Well, I mean, wow. Tomorrow, history will be made. Now, I'm not going to be as effectively as the person that you may recognize is on true social. But in this case, we pushed this out on Twitter. Caroline Levitt will have no answers. Hold on, hold on.

21:24Brian Tyler Cohen:I don't want you to breeze right through the brilliant. Go on. It's not just Caroline Levitt.

21:31Gavin Newsom:Caroline.

21:32Brian Tyler Cohen:Caroline Levitt.

21:34Gavin Newsom:I have no answers for the supposed fake media about California's beautiful, big, beautiful maps. People are saying, people are saying that we're the greatest maps. They're just saying this. They are, Brian. People are saying the greatest maps. Many people have heard that. Ever created. Even better than Christopher Columbus's. Donald, the failure of Trump, be warned that tomorrow may be the worst day of your life, all because you missed the deadline. He misses a lot of deadlines. Liberation Day for America, GCN. I should have said thank you for your attention to this matter.

22:13Brian Tyler Cohen:So what gave you the idea to, I mean, on this idea of fighting fire with fire, to literally adopt his rhetorical genius?

22:21Gavin Newsom:Gloves off, man. Just gloves off. It's all in the line. It's it. Like, enough. You know, you're wearing a tie. I took my tie off. Took the tie off. That's right. Like it's it. Don't dream of regretting. I said that there's no do-over. This is it. Wake up to what's going on in this country. And I'll iterate. I'll try anything. That's what that represents. I'm just trying to break through, man. I'm just trying to be accountable. To be able to look at my kids. You know what? I would have, could have, should have. No. That I did everything I could. And you know what? See what fate brings. But we're going to put everything on the damn line.

22:59Gavin Newsom:And that's why I'm proud of the folks. from Texas. And that's why I'm proud of folks showing up at the No Kings rally. People haven't given up yet. I'm telling you, we can win. We're going to do this. We can win this November. We can win next November. And then we can get this country back on track. And I tell you, I took it for granted. I did. Even during Trump one point, I took so much for granted. And people ask all the time, well, do you think, you know, authoritarianism? Well, Well, not yet for me, but sure as hell for the people walking on the streets that look different from me. And now I even wonder if you've got these big corporate titans that are selling their soul.

23:40Gavin Newsom:Yeah. Maybe it's come for them as well.

23:43Brian Tyler Cohen:Nationalizing, taking 15 % of their profits. There was an announcement today about Intel, about the United States government possibly taking a stake in Intel. And it's ironic that it's happening at the hands of people who vilify Democrats as communists, where you have the government now taking states and private states.

23:57Gavin Newsom:worried about Mendoni, really, seriously? And you're sitting there condoning this kind of behavior? Crony capitalism? Writing big checks, maybe buying crypto? I mean, the greatest grift in American history? Billions and billions of dollars? I mean, this is sick. This is sick. This is sick. This cannot continue. And if institutions like Harvard are going to sell their soul, then we need to do more. And we have to call this out. This is, I don't want to overstate it, but I can't understate how important November 4th is. And that's why I call it Liberation Day here in California. This is it, man.

24:35Gavin Newsom:If we roll over, we fail, fourth largest economy in the world, size of 21 state populations combined. If we can't, in the most un-Trumped state, push back. I don't know what's going to happen in three years.

24:47Brian Tyler Cohen:This guy will run again. To that point, this is going to be a heavy lift, and we'll finish off with this. This is going to be a heavy lift as we head toward November 4th. And certainly there's going to be opposition. The RNC is going to oppose this and they're going to put all of their eggs in this basket to fight this in California because it's going to be easier for them to fight it in one state like California and an easy scapegoat for them than it is going to be to fight this thing nationwide. And so what can folks who are watching and listening right now do to help? Because I know this is going to be an expensive lift.

25:18Gavin Newsom:This initiative is about giving you power, the power to stop Donald Trump the power to push back against rigged elections the power to have a national election that's fair it's the power to push back and that power is about showing up it's about making a contribution if you can do$3,$5,$10 the cost there are a lot of folks I'm just level set with you and I hate to even acknowledge this that are scared to write a big check because they know that Donald Trump may threaten them That it's we're counting on you. We're counting on you. We the people We exist by the consent of the people. This is it.

25:56Gavin Newsom:This is it So we need people to the extent you can to contribute let folks know what's at stake This is not about California's five seats. This is about representation across this country And things that you see on your TV that are happening here in LA again I cannot impress upon you more our previews of things to come in your backyard unless we stand up and pushback.

26:19Brian Tyler Cohen:Well, look, this is the entire ballgame right here. And these next few months are going to be absolutely pivotal. So for everybody watching and listening, if you can contribute, help get the word out, that's going to be crucial here. So I'm going to put the link right here on the screen. I'm going to put it in the post description of this video. If you're listening on the podcast, it'll be in the show notes. If you have anything to contribute, it'll help get the word out to as many people as possible, because to the governor's point, this is the whole ballgame here. And these next couple of months are going to be crucial in terms of what happens, not just in California over the next year, but also in terms of this country in the next few years.

26:49Brian Tyler Cohen:So with that said, Gov, thanks so much for the time. I appreciate it. Great to be with you. Thank you, man. I'm joined now by Congressman Jamie Raskin. Congressman, thanks for joining me. It's great to be with you, Brian. So you've stepped into the fray along with some other colleagues on the House Oversight Committee, Jasmine Crockett, Greg Kassar, Robert Garcia, to push back against what these Texas Republicans are doing by virtue of trying to get the FBI involved in retrieving these Democrats who fled to Illinois and California to break quorum. Can you give a little bit of insight into what you're looking to find out from Kash Patel and Pam Bondi here?

27:24Well, this is not the first time that Republicans have actually tried to get the FBI and other federal agents involved in hounding and harassing Democrats from the Texas state legislature who are trying to break quorum in order to prevent a complete demolition of people's voting rights. And here, of course, in the wake of their throwing 17 million people off of Medicaid, Donald Trump's solution was to say, we're going to basically squeeze five more U.S. House seats out of Texas. And the way they're going to do that is to have a mid-decade redistricting. So with the mid-decade redistricting, they could destroy a whole bunch of House seats of our colleagues like Julie Johnson and Lloyd Doggett, Greg Kassar, Al Green, Henry Cuellar.

28:15And so they're targeting Democrats. And so the state legislative Democrats have said, no way, we're not going to participate in that. We're not showing up for an extraordinary mid-decade demolition of people's voting rights. And they left the state. So now they're saying, the Republicans are saying, well, we're going to declare their seats vacant. And in the meantime, we're going to get the FBI to hunt them down. One problem with that is that they're not violating or even accused of violating any federal statute. There's no federal law against leaving your state. On the contrary, the Constitution gives you the right to leave your state.

28:54So there's no federal offense they're being accused of. And President Trump wants to use the FBI like his own personal national security private police force to do whatever he wants for political reasons.

29:08Brian Tyler Cohen:So is there any steps that that Congress would be able to take to prevent the abuse of the FBI? You know, look, Trump is going to Trump doesn't care. And he's going to be able to he's going to want to send them in because he views them again as his personal police force. And so is there anything that you can do to prevent that abuse from happening before he actually does it? So with, you know, Congressman Garcia, who's now the ranking member of the Oversight Committee, which was my old position. I'm now on the Judiciary Committee. We together have said that this is totally out of bounds and off limits to the FBI.

29:46And we demanded from Pam Bondi and from Kash Patel a complete accounting of what's going on there, because you've got Republican senators who are simply stating as a fact that the FBI is involved in this. We don't know whether they're not telling the truth or whether they're telling the truth, but they're not coming clean on it. But in any event, we want to know and we want to use our oversight power over the Department of Justice to find out what's happening.

30:11Brian Tyler Cohen:You know, can you speak about the fact that they are trying to present this and you and you alluded to this before? They are trying to present this as some crime being committed by the Texas Democrats. But in fact, quorum breaking is is a tool that's been upheld by the Texas Supreme Court. And it's a tool that's been used throughout American history as early as the 1800s. I mean, Abraham Lincoln jumped out of a window in the Illinois State House to break quorum because he didn't agree with something they were trying to pass. And so this is this is in our in our over 200 year history. This has been used several times as a political tool to achieve a political end.

30:46Well, it's obviously a legitimate parliamentary procedure. It's also plainly not a federal offense. There is no federal crime of crossing state lines for the purposes of evading a quorum. We're denying a quorum. On the contrary, as you say, it's a time-hallowed political maneuver. In any event, you know, if it were to be a federal crime, Congress would have to adopt it, would have to be signed into law by the president. And there is no federal offense. Therefore, the FBI should get back to work on child sex trafficking, for example, or anti-terrorism efforts. It should not be working on chasing down Democrats just because the president wants them to.

31:30Brian Tyler Cohen:So I want to switch gears here now to Trump's ending home rule in Washington, D.C. Can you talk a little bit about the procedure of what he's able to do? There's a 48 hour rule that he's in the midst of right now, and that that could be extended only if Congress votes to extend it. So what are the rules here in terms of Congress being able to extend Trump's Trump's suspension of home rule in D.C.? Well, in 1973, Congress gave modified home rule to the District of Columbia, meaning there's a mayor, there's a city council, there's a school board, there's self-government there. Congress always has residual authority to step in the way a state would have the authority to step in for a particular city or a county under it.

32:16But basically, there's a home rule government. There's a provision in that home rule charter, which says that in the event of a federal emergency, the president can take over the D.C. police force. And so without specifying what the emergency is, Donald Trump has declared that there is an emergency and has said he's taking over the D.C. police force. The mayor didn't ask for it. The D.C. council didn't ask for it. Crime is at a 30 year low in the District of Columbia. Congress did not ask for it. It looks like a transparent distraction from the president's problems with respect to the Epstein file, which, as you know, Brian, he had promised to release.

33:03But now suddenly he's gone very quiet on it and just is trying to hide the Epstein file under his bed somewhere. So this is another effort to change the subject and to attack a Democrat city. He's talking about graffiti and too many homeless people and so on. And if anybody wanted Donald Trump to be the mayor of their city, they would have elected him mayor of the city. But he's invoking this provision. After 48 hours, Congress has the power to declare that there's not an emergency. And I am going to be introducing a joint resolution, a motion to declare that there is no emergency in D.C. Hopefully we get some Republicans to join us.

33:47If not, it will last only for the one month period, at which point it expires unless Congress decides to reauthorize emergency powers in the District of Columbia. But, you know, I've been thinking ever since this started, Brian, we know what an emergency looks like in D.C. because we had one four and a half years ago on January 6th, 2021, when Trump unleashed terrible mob violence against the police force of the District of Columbia, the Capitol Police, the Congress, the vice president of the United States and refused to do what he's doing right now, which is to activate the National Guard. So he did not activate the National Guard when we needed it.

34:33Now he's activating the National Guard when nobody's asking for it.

34:37Brian Tyler Cohen:If Congress wants to authorize this thing, does it take a simple majority or will it take 60 senators like when you're passing any actual law? It would take an actual majority just to pass a statutory emergency for D.C. and to invoke emergency powers. But with the procedures of the Senate, it would effectively take 60 senators in order to determine that. So in theory, they're likely not going to get 60 senators unless there's a bunch of defections by Democrats. And so does that suggest that we won't even see a first 30-day extension? well i guess the ambiguous question is whether he can just keep um declaring 30-day emergencies uh we would say of course no that defeats the whole idea of it just being for 30 days and then turning it over to congress to decide um but as with everything else you know donald trump's attention span is like three minutes and so he'll be off to greenland or canama or canada or tariffs or something in that time.

35:47In any event, I mean, nobody believes that he's really committed to public safety in D.C. If he were, he would not have pardoned 1600 insurrectionists and violent cop beaters without talking to the police in D.C. or the mayor or the D.C. Council. He would not have sacked dozens of the most experienced criminal prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney's Office in D.C. simply because they had participated in the January 6th prosecutions, and they would not have impounded essentially a billion dollars of locally raised revenue that the people of D.C. want to be able to spend on criminal justice and law enforcement and public education and so on.

36:28So nobody takes that seriously. This is just, you know, more theatrics and fireworks from them.

36:33Brian Tyler Cohen:Can you can you speak about the danger, though, of kind of normalizing Americans to this idea that the American military is going to be walking the streets of their cities in anticipation of what he may try to do as we head toward 2026. Because we've already seen from Trump himself, so this isn't even just theoretical, we have seen Trump try to seize voting machines in an election. And of course, there were folks like Bill Barr who were in place, not exactly some raging Democrat, but Bill Barr in place, saying that his claims of a stolen election were bullshit. Bill Barr is now replaced with Pam Bondi, who's perfectly content to toe the line whatever Donald Trump puts forward.

37:10Brian Tyler Cohen:And so, you know, this idea that now there's no opposition to him from the DOJ, and if he has boots on the ground in the form of these troops, these National Guardsmen, what can that mean as we head toward 2026? Well, you're totally right that this is a destruction of a lot of traditional boundaries and constitutional boundaries. One is the boundary between the actual obligations and the duties of the military and regular police law enforcement. The Posse Comitatus Act has banned, for most of American history, the military being used for law enforcement purposes. And Donald Trump is talking about how the graffiti in the District of Columbia is out of control and the homeless people are out of control.

38:01And that's why he wants to put 800 National Guardsmen on the streets of Washington, D.C. Well, that's obviously a destruction of a basic concept that we've had that you don't use the military for purposes of law enforcement. Just like it's not up to the president to be suspending habeas corpus. That would be the role of Congress to do that. And yet Donald Trump is now trying to condition the country to get ready for what's happening in D.C. to happen all over the country. He's mentioned Baltimore. He's mentioned Chicago and Detroit and Los Angeles, I think. So he has had different pretexts in different places.

38:41We know about the immigration pretext for violating basic constitutional principles like due process. Now we have a law and order pretext in the District of Columbia, despite the fact that crime is at a 30-year low. And one of the greatest spikes, if not the greatest spike in crime in this century has been when Donald Trump incited a violent insurrection against Congress in the District of Columbia. But in any event, he wants the country to be conditioned to him simply declaring that Democrat run cities are fair game for him to militarize law enforcement and take over the governance of the city.

39:26And it's an outrage and it's totally outside the bounds of the Constitution.

39:31Brian Tyler Cohen:And finally, let's finish off with this. Can you speak on the fact that it was Trump who just deployed the National Guard into Washington, D.C., despite the last few years of him claiming that the only person who has the authority to deploy the National Guard into Washington, D.C., or conversely, to prevent the deployment of the National Guard into Washington, D.C., was Nancy Pelosi or the Speaker of the House. And so, you know, even if we grant him that, OK, Pelosi is not the Speaker of the House, was it Mike Johnson then who deployed the National Guard to Washington, D.C.? And if not, how do you square the fact that he had said it could only be the speaker for the last several years while trying to defend himself?

40:09Right. And that was obviously fraudulent when he first started saying it. But now what we get is this at least indirect confession that he was lying all the time. Of course, the president controls the National Guard for D.C. The president is always in control of the National Guard for D.C. And so by sitting on his hands during the riot he had unleashed, he knew exactly what he was doing. And when he tweeted out, you know, that Vice President Pence did not have the courage to do what needed to be done, he knew that he was further emboldening the mob and not doing anything to stop the mob and to protect his vice president or protect the Congress.

40:50And that's why Mike Pence didn't run with him again. It permanently burned bridges there. But this indeed is a very frank acknowledgement that, yeah, he's got power over the National Guard when it comes to Washington, D.C.

41:04Brian Tyler Cohen:We'll leave it there. Congressman, thank you so much for the time. Great brewing with you, Brian. Thanks so much for having me. I'm joined now by the co-host of POTS of America and the former communications director for Barack Obama, Dan Pfeiffer. Dan, thanks for joining me. Brian, how you doing, buddy? I'm doing okay. So we're in a rare position now where Democrats have actually gone on offense. This thing is moving forward. We have the California map redraw is going to be on the ballot on November 4th. So we're down to the wire here. We've got 10 weeks to make the case to voters. And so first and foremost, from a messaging perspective, knowing that Republicans are going to go all in against this thing, how are you thinking about messaging this?

41:45I think this is all about base turnout. It's about getting our voters out. This is going to be a very low turnout election. There are some municipal elections, but this is the only thing on the statewide ballot. So it's all like this is not about persuading a bunch of swing voters who are already turning out and they're voting on the mayor, the comptroller and a bunch of other initiatives. This is just pure. If you if you care about this, turn out and vote. And so it's really I think the big thing is it's not about what we say. It's to make sure that people hear and know it's on the ballot. So this is all about grabbing attention over the next 10 weeks.

42:16Brian Tyler Cohen:How much of a concern do you think that that the the quote unquote good government folks, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the League of Women Voters are going to pose kind of I mean, like when I think about what they're doing in terms of opposing this this move, it's kind of like looking at redistricting and gerrymandering in a vacuum. but we can't look at it in a vacuum because we have to look at it in response to what's happening in Texas, Missouri, Indiana, and Florida. But still, that doesn't seem enough to move these people who are only kind of looking at it with blinders on and recognizing what's happening in California.

42:53Brian Tyler Cohen:And so how much of an issue do you think that's going to pose? I'm not sure it's going to be a gigantic issue because I just, I find it hard to imagine that those people are going to be able to get people to turn out and vote explicitly just to vote against this. Now, there might be Republicans in the state who are going to turn out and vote for the same reason the Democrats will turn out and vote, which is you care about the outcome and the impact on the national House races. But I'm skeptical that people are going to be like, well, I don't like Trump. I don't like something in Texas, but I'm so upset about the norm breaking that I'm going to turn out and vote in this election for only this purpose.

43:27So I think this, John Favreau, and I'm talking about this in Potsdam America last week, I think this actually models, not like a typical ballot initiative in California, but like the abortion constitutional amendment in Ohio and Kentucky and elsewhere that we looked at, where it's the only thing on the ballot. It's the only reason people turn out. And like my belief is, if we can inform enough people about it, that our side will be much more fired up to do this.

43:49Brian Tyler Cohen:How are you thinking about money here? And I asked for two reasons. One, the Republicans are going to look at this and say, all we have to do is defeat this thing in California. We don't have to spend money across the entire country. We just have to beat it in California and they lose their most potent tool to be able to fight back against this gerrymandering effort. So all of the nation's money on the Republican side can go in to the California race. But then on the Democratic side, we also know that Trump has been super willing to use the government to retaliate against people whose political ideology doesn't comport with his.

44:21Brian Tyler Cohen:And so I presume that these big money donors that usually fuel Democratic politics are going to be much more reticent to be able to get involved in this race, knowing that on the other side of this thing is the guy who wields the full muscle of the federal government and has been shown to be perfectly content to fight back against those people. The Democratic Party, the grassroots Democratic Party has been pretty fired up in 2025. The donor community has been very reticent to invest their money. Some of that is fear about getting on the wrong side of Trump and facing some sort of extraordinary legal scrutiny or, you know, all of a sudden the IRS is in your business, whatever.

45:00But some of it also is frustration at the party after what happened in 2024. So a lot of progressive organizations that depend on, you know, the sort of over the too small community of really, really rich Democratic donors have been suffering in 2025 because they have not had that support. The people who were really funded the resistance over the first, first eight years of Trump have backed away. And you can see that happening here. The good news is for the same reason that Republicans are going to have to have all the national money is that we can make a case that grassroots Democratic donors, that your best investment right now for keeping the House is to help Gavin Newsom and California Democrats pass this initiative, redraw the seats, pick up five seats potentially, and protect four other seats.

45:44And the picking and the protecting the four toss-up seats is so critical because that will save the party 80 to 100 million dollars in money that can now be spent to go target Republicans in other states.

45:57Brian Tyler Cohen:Right. That's a great point. And I'll use this opportunity right now in the middle of this video to promote exactly that. I'm going to put the link right here on the screen and also in the post description of this video. Very important to contribute to this effort right now for all of the reasons that we're talking about. So keep an eye on that link. If you have any interest in donating, this is a great time to do so. Dan, how are you thinking about this in terms of the other governors now? Newsom, in my interview with him, when I spoke to him on Thursday, stressed the importance of not just kind of feeling complacent with the fact that California is fighting back, but also kind of trying to give a kick in the ass to these other governors who are saying the right things, but who thus far haven't really moved forward with any concrete steps in the same way that California has.

46:40Look, if we're being totally honest here, we do not have the weapons the Republicans have in this fight. They have more states where they can draw the maps more aggressively to pick up more seats like that. They have Missouri. Florida can be incredibly aggressive if they choose to be. But we do, we have to, everyone has to get involved, right? That means Illinois, right? There's a chance to pick up seats in Illinois. New York is, I think, quite challenging. There are legal and logistical reasons that make it hard. However, I will say, everyone said that about California and Gavin Newsom figured it out.

47:09So I don't know whether So there could be some creative thinking about ways to get this done in New York. Maryland, I certainly hope they will move forward. They really only have about one seat that they could possibly do, but we'll take that seat, right? The House has come down to five seats in multiple elections. So every single one is going to help. So what I really hope is that people, Gavin Newsom has sent a message that the water is warm. Come on in. You can do this. And I think the real sort of national acclaim and gratitude he's gotten from Democrats around the country after this announcement, as we'll hopefully encourage some of these folks to do the same.

47:42Brian Tyler Cohen:Do you think that it offers something of a permission structure for these other governors who look democratic politicians are not generally like risk takers anyway? I mean, like you and I, I think, can both agree that our party has a long history of sending out strongly worded letters and feeling like we've done something. Do you think that this is enough of a kick in the ass for these other governors, other state legislators to see that the reaction that Newsom is getting, the reaction that these California Democrats are getting and want to join in. Yeah. And I think also a lot of the names that I mentioned as governors are people thinking of running for president.

48:16Gavin Newsom is someone who was also likely to run for president. And so they're hopefully there's a little competition, whatever it takes, right? Whether it's he creates a permission structure, whether they have some they want to get the same level of sort of attention he's getting, or they don't want to fall behind in the invisible primary for 2020. It doesn't need to be virtuous.

48:36Brian Tyler Cohen:whatever the reason is if it gets him to do it yeah right we will let's let's do it how are you thinking about the texas democrats here because there is some reporting that that the texas democrats may be preparing to go back and that they will look at at at their quorum break as not not a movement to deprive these texas republicans of being able to pass their maps but rather a way to get this into into you know the the zeitgeist in a way that refusing to do a quorum break wouldn't have. And so, and so, you know, are you looking at this in terms of a success? Do you hope that, do you wish that they would have stayed longer?

49:11Brian Tyler Cohen:How are you thinking about the Texas Democrats? I think there's no question that they raised attention for this, right? Like certainly them being in Illinois and being in New York puts pressure on and gives encouragement to and comfort to the governors there who we want to move. They've raised attention on this is a point Newsom made to me when I talked to him for Potsdamerica earlier this week. It was probably always unrealistic to think they would stay out of the state indefinitely right there is uh like they're stopping all legislative business in the state including flood relief for the hill country um and so like ideally they would do it it'd like stay till the end of the year and making it possible for abbott to do it and that's probably too much to ask um for them but when if they if they go back i think it is fair to say that they help advance they made it easier for newsom to do this and they've encouraged the other governors to do it.

50:01And they've raised awareness of it. So this was not a failed effort.

50:05Brian Tyler Cohen:What was the most striking part of your interview with Newsom? That he very clearly thinks that democracy is 100 % on the line here. If there is a divide in our party between people who think this is an absolute existential hair on fire moment and others who think that it's bad, maybe very bad, but if we can survive the next three and a half years, we'll be okay. Within the context of politics as usual. Yes. Yeah. Like, I think that so many Democratic politicians will tell you that this is an extraordinary moment, but their solution to the problem is ordinary politics. And Newsom understands and I really think believes to his core that this is a hinge moment in American history and every option has to be on the table.

50:52and that came across very clearly. And it was highlighted by the fact that the ICE agents showed up outside of his press conference to make the, just to try to intimidate people going out. Oh, and I would say one other thing that was incredibly shocking. A point he made that is quite alarming is that he believes that in the 2026 elections, or maybe even this election coming up, that the Trump administration will deploy these agents to be outside of polling places. Yeah. Right, to intimidate voters.

51:17Brian Tyler Cohen:Yeah, which he has a track record of trying to do. But just on that last point, why don't other Democrats get it? Like, like the people who are super clued into politics, who are paying attention every day, who see the very obvious dissent into autocracy like we see. All of these other people have have insight into this stuff, just like Gavin Newsom does. And so why can't they meet this moment with the urgency that it deserves in the same way that he is? That's what I'm not understanding because, look, the governor of New York, all of these other governors see the same info that he's seeing. They're all political junkies as well.

51:53Brian Tyler Cohen:And so if Newsom can see it, why aren't they meeting that same kind of threshold as he is? I think it's a different answer for different people. I think if we're being as generous as we possibly can, there's the reality of, particularly when you get to Democrats in Congress, there's limits to what they can do. Like, what is what is an extraordinary measure from House Democrats look like? It's Hakeem Jeffries speaking for seven hours to delay the bill, but ultimately the bill is going to pass. Yeah. Right. So I think that part of it is that we do have very and I'm guilty of this, even though I should know better because I've worked in all I worked in the I worked in the Senate.

52:35I've been Senate leadership. I've been in that White House. I should know all this. We have expectations that are sometimes outsized for what Democrats can actually accomplish. But I think there's also a poverty of imagination where it's just like, what? They've never, no one's ever been here before. They've never done this before. We don't know exactly what to do. Like the idea that a mass strike or trying to put together the largest protest in American history or shutting down the government, which is something Democrats never do, should be on the table. It's just like wrapping. I think people have struggled to wrap their mind around, even if they intellectually know this is really bad, they just don't have the mental capacity or the toolkit to fathom what the right response is.

53:20Because we've never been at this point in American history.

53:22Brian Tyler Cohen:Yeah, but to that point, I mean, it's time to get creative. It's time to think about whatever we can do in the same way that Republicans have been doing it for the last 10 years to make whatever they want to have happen, happen. Like, they will change the rules as they go. It doesn't matter. they'll see through it to the end. So I think that it would behoove Democrats to start to get creative here. Highly recommend for everybody who's watching right now, if you are not yet subscribed to Pod Save America's YouTube channel, it's completely free to subscribe. I'm going to put the link right here on the screen and also in the post description of this video.

53:53Brian Tyler Cohen:Please help us elevate these voices, progressive voices in this progressive media ecosystem. Again, link is right here on the screen and also in the post description of this video. Dan, appreciate your time. Awesome. Thank you, Brian. Great to talk to you. I'm joined now by the anchor at Fox LA, Alex Michelson. Alex, thanks for joining me. Thank you, Brian. On my last day as the anchor at Fox LA. So it's the last time I'm going to be introduced as that. That's right. Got you in just under the wire here. Well, I wanted to talk to you in particular because we have a big day for California. And as everybody who listens to this show, watches this show knows, Alex is the guy when it comes to California politics.

54:30Brian Tyler Cohen:So we have new maps that have just been revealed that show Democrats shoring up about four endangered Democratic seats, lean Democratic seats, but also flipping about five Republican seats. So this may be a nine seat gain in total. So first and foremost, what's the sense on the Republican side of the aisle in light of what we're seeing right now? Well, Republicans are furious, right? I mean, this is a situation where all these long term members of Congress are essentially going to most likely lose their jobs. So the members that are most at risk of losing their jobs are Ken Calvert, Kevin Kiley, Daryl Issa, David Valadeo, most likely to be out of a gig because of this.

55:17And so they are angry. Kevin Kiley, who is one of Governor Newsom's strongest opponents every single day. seems to tweet about him every single day, ran against him in the recall. He has put forward a motion in the house to try to say, let's have nobody redistrict. Texas don't do this. California don't do this. Stop. This is a bad idea. You know, as a way to potentially save his own job, but it doesn't seem like Speaker Mike Johnson or the Republicans in the house are interested in doing that. Why? Because Donald Trump's not interested in doing that. He's made a very clear directive that he thinks that he deserves or his words entitled to five Republican seats in Texas.

56:05And so Governor Newsom is saying, OK, well, if you're going to do that, we're going to take five Republican seats out of California to, in Governor Newsom's words, neuter what's happening in Texas.

56:15Brian Tyler Cohen:But isn't this just dripping in bad faith that suddenly when only when these California representatives, these Republicans from California face face their own districts being being redrawn, Are they are they protesting what's happening? I mean, really, this wouldn't happen if it wasn't for Donald Trump and Greg Abbott listening to Donald Trump. So, again, isn't it in really bad faith that suddenly they're mad at California for redrawing these maps when this was all launched just a few weeks earlier by people from their own party? Well, I was at this press conference yesterday with Governor Newsom and with several different members of the Democratic Congressional Caucus, and I asked them about that.

56:55And then member after member stepped up to make that very point. Sidney Kamlager Dove, the Democrat from Culver City, said, stop crying crocodile tears, Kevin Kiley. Where have you been on this issue all the long? Where were you when the John Lewis Voting Rights Act was up? Why didn't you vote for that? Basically saying that they don't buy that he's all of a sudden interested in this issue because it hurts him publicly. Maxine Waters, a Democratic congresswoman, stepped up and said, look, we're going to take Texas's playbook and throw it right back at them. We're going to fight on this. Adam Schiff telling me, you know, don't poke the bear, Texas.

57:35Don't mess with California. So it is interesting. And you were out there as well. I was out there yesterday and we've seen a real unified Democratic apparatus in California. And the governor seems to have brought together every sort of special interest group in California that matters in California politics. So who are the most powerful players in California politics? The teachers union, the SEIU union, the, you know, the IBEW, all of these these forces that help fund campaigns. All of them were part of Governor Newsom's launch. All of them speaking at Governor Newsom's launch. You had local members.

58:19You had in terms of you had the congressional members. You had the senators. You had members of the assembly, members of the state Senate, all of them behind it. And California has a two third super majority in both the assembly and the Senate. I talk to talk to the leaders of both of those chambers. They say they have the votes. This thing's going to happen. And and it has to happen by next Friday.

58:42Brian Tyler Cohen:Alex, are our Republicans right now, not just in California, but but nationwide, given this development, are they on their heels by virtue of what's happening in California? Well, maybe, maybe not. And this is something that I talked about with Governor Newsom. I'm sure it's something that you talked about with him as well. Because look, there are more Republican states that you could gerrymander than Democratic states. And so even if Texas goes forward with this and California goes forward with their plan to, in the governor's words, neuter them, what happens if Florida gerrymanders more? What happens if Missouri?

59:21What happens if some of these other states jump on this train and then Democrats would be potentially on the defensive? Yeah. So, you know, this thing escalating may not be good for the Democratic Party.

59:35Brian Tyler Cohen:Do you sense that there's a sea change happening right now in terms of Democrats taking Newsom's lead and actually fighting fire with fire? And I ask that as as a longtime Democrat who has watched this party fail to meet the moment with the urgency that it deserves on numerous occasions. Like we watch Republicans screw over Democrats over and over and over and over and over and over and over. And nothing ever seems to change. We just continue to be the party of strongly worded letters until this very moment where we actually have some some forward leaning action against the Republicans. So do you think that there is some sense of a sea change among what's needed for Democrats to succeed in this new environment?

1:00:13Well, I will say one thing. We got to give Susan Collins credit for strongly worded letters. That's right. She's very good at that. She was doing it before it was even cool.

1:00:22Brian Tyler Cohen:Susan Collins was expressing concern. So there's some bipartisanship on the strongly worded letter thing. Look, Governor Newsom has clearly made a calculation that the party has been too weak for too long and that Democrats, especially a lot of the people that watch your show, are desperate for a fighter. It's a calculation he made before. He made it back in 2022 after the Roe v. Wade was overturned and he came out doing interviews with people like me saying, where the hell is the Democratic Party? I don't know where the party is. The party's not fighting. And then he sort of backed off that some as he supported Biden and Harris and all the rest.

1:01:00But now that there is no clear leader of the Democratic Party, Gavin Newsom is making a strong play to be that leader. And he believes that people in the party are sick and tired of people sitting on the sidelines. What he said to me in my interview with him was, look, Trump, I think, is surprised by this because he's used to our party not doing anything. Our party spending a lot of time focused on candlelight vigils and saying the right things, but not actually punching back. And he wants to do this. And if you see based off of his social media numbers going way up, his fundraising going way up, his poll numbers going up with the Democratic base, it seems to be working.

1:01:43And you think about it. And obviously, I've got a little bit of a skewed view because I'm here in California and I cover this a lot and I interact with him a lot. But you don't see very many Democratic leaders doing something similar. I think J.B. Pritzker in Illinois has been outspoken on this front. But many of the other governors have been much more in the background. And even some of the top presidential candidates, You think about Wes Moore, you think about Josh Shapiro there. They have not been as as frankly clear in terms of action in their states. Now, they don't have as big a majorities to work with.

1:02:20And there's nuance to all of that. But Newsom has clearly dominating the scene. He was his his speech yesterday, not only streamed live by you and and our friends at Midas Touch and all over the Internet, but was carried live by CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel all at the same time. Yeah, it was the lead story on all of the cable networks, you know, and so he has emerged as the the leader of the party on this issue, the biggest state in the union, the biggest state with an ability to redistrict. And and I think it's it's very helpful for him politically.

1:02:56Brian Tyler Cohen:Well, you know, he's also been able to do something that you really can't fake, and that's to garner media attention. I mean, there are a lot of Democrats who try to get themselves out there and they just can't get it. I mean, they just don't have it right like the the X factor, the same way that Donald Trump can can open his mouth and people turn and listen. Gavin Newsom is very much able to do the same thing right now. And it's going to be a really it's going to make for an interesting dynamic as we head toward obviously 2026. But then later in 2028, because being able to dominate in this media environment and in these news cycles is really going to be the whole ballgame because we don't live in a world where you can just kind of do what Joe Biden did, which is run on this idea that we want politics to be boring again.

1:03:37Brian Tyler Cohen:We don't want to think about the president. As much as Democrats want to yearn for that world, that world is behind us. And so now you either have to adapt or die. Basically, a Newsom is showing that he can adapt. And look at look at what he did, you know, just this week. So he makes that announcement. He sits down with with me. He sits down with you. He sits down with with Midas Touch and Pod Save America and Heather Cox Richardson. his speech is broadcast live on all the cable networks. It was the lead story on almost all of the local networks that I saw here. So amplify those numbers. I mean, even just from your stuff, I mean, it's hundreds of thousands, but you keep amplifying and adding and adding and adding and adding that's millions and millions of impressions for his message at a time when very few people are breaking through in terms of messaging.

1:04:27I mean, Newsom is doing something interesting and the news as a reporter, in the news who covers politics, tends to follow something interesting. The reason Trump got so much quote unquote free media attention in 2016 is he put on a great show, you know, because I remember covering that as a reporter at the time and you would cover a, a Marco Rubio or Jeb Bush stump speech. And they would say the same exact thing every single day over and over again. And it wasn't that interesting the first time. And it certainly wasn't interesting the sixth time What Donald Trump was doing at the time when Bill O 'Reilly was the number one show in cable, he was essentially doing his own version of the O 'Reilly factor, which what do you do to get in the news?

1:05:07You comment on the news. You get involved in the news cycle. You put yourself in it. And Newsom has learned that that from Trump to to be a part of all of the biggest stories and get yourself included in the conversation, which is what he's doing. Now, it runs the risk of potential overexposure. And it also runs a risk with he's doing this. Like if the Democrats lose this race in California for this redistricting thing, like that's a huge egg on his face. Yeah. So he's got to win this thing. It's not 100 percent clear that he's going to. And and when you become the face of something and it fails, it can be really problematic.

1:05:44So we'll see. There's going to be hundreds of millions of dollars spent on this campaign in the coming months. And I think the whole country is going to be focused on what happens in California.

1:05:54Brian Tyler Cohen:Well, to that point, you know, and this is coming from me, not from you. But for folks who are looking to donate to this effort, I'm going to put the link on the screen and also in the post description. If you're listening on the podcast, I'll put it in the show notes. It's going to take a lot of money to counteract what Republicans are doing in this broader effort to push forward this redistricting. So if you're looking to contribute and help a worthy cause and there is no cause more worthy than this, please contribute what you can. And to that point, one of the things that I was most struck with and that I learned from my interview with Governor Newsom this week, I asked him because because I am ending at Fox 11.

1:06:27I've interviewed him more than anybody in the state. It was our final interview for my show. The issue is after seven and a half years of literally dozens and dozens of interviews, I said, how have you changed over the years? And he said that the recall attempt in 2021 changed him and he's a completely different person now. And what he learned in that moment is that all politics isn't local, like he thought. At this moment, in his words, all politics is national. And he sees that there's these national forces that are getting involved in funding these battles, even at the local level, and trying to get their way.

1:07:03And so this redistricting thing, even though it's in California, is very much a national fight with the national interest and a whole lot of national money is going to be coming in, especially on the Republican side. And I'm not making a pitch one way or another because I'm not allowed to. But if you're particularly interested one way or another, it may be worth sending some money.

1:07:26Brian Tyler Cohen:Yeah. I mean, look, I'm making the pitch. I'm allowed to highly recommend. And I mean, if your issue is climate change, health care, reproductive rights, gun violence, whatever it may be, all of that depends on having a government where Democrats are allowed to participate, where we're allowed to function, where the maps are not scientifically engineered so that Democrats can't win. And that's what Republicans are moving toward right now. So regardless of what your pet political issue is, it all relies on having a house that Democrats are able to win. And so that's why it's so important that Democrats fight back here, fight fire with fire and actually make sure that we can neutralize, neuter what Republicans are doing in Texas and what they very, very well may be doing in Missouri, Indiana and Florida.

1:08:05Brian Tyler Cohen:So, again, I'm going to put the link on the screen and in the post description of this video. Alex, you did mention that you have interviewed Gavin Newsom more than any other California reporter. And so, you know, you spoke to Newsom about what how he changed since the the the recall to right now. But what have you seen over the years in terms of interviewing him and what you've seen from the beginning up until right now? And how he's changed? Yes. I think he has a totally different perception of how media works and how to communicate to people. I thought him admitting that all politics is national is really interesting.

1:08:48Obviously, he's become more focused on the national scene after he won his elections in California and clearly is at least considering running for president. And so he's changed. But he's very focused in the digital space in a way that very few politicians are. The fact that he did one local news interview, but did six or seven digital interviews yesterday and did no other television interviews shows you where he thinks the action is. Gavin Newsom, as I've learned over the years, is very, very focused on metrics, on how things are performing. He looks at the numbers on a lot of different things.

1:09:32And I think he knows where where people are. Um, and, uh, so he's, he's changed, he's gotten, uh, much sharper, um, much blunter. And, uh, and, and in the last six months, he's gotten much angrier, honestly. Yeah. And he talked about this. I mean, when, when, when I saw him after the fires and the ice raids in LA was the angriest I'd ever seen him. Uh, and he would say that he, he sort of left that experience saying, I've got no regrets. I'm going to lay it all out there. and he's a different kind of person.

1:10:06Brian Tyler Cohen:Well, zooming out a little bit, you'd mentioned that this is your last day at Fox 11, Fox LA, and you've been serving this community, my community for years and years and years. And so I'm curious, as you look back on your years at Fox LA and prior to moving on to your next step.

1:10:26I mean, one of the greatest moments was bringing Brian Tyler Cohen on television for the first time. Right. But in all seriousness, I, I, I am so lucky that this show has given me the ability to meet so many of my best friends, including you, that this, this having this platform and having this excuse to talk to people and meet such smart and interesting people from both sides. You know, I mean, that one of my best friends is Bill Malusian, you know, who obviously is a straight news reporter, but clearly has a different perspective than Brian Tyler Cohen. You know, like, I love that there's been this place to interact with people and to have interesting conversations and at a time of so much partisanship and so much division where people can actually talk to each other and actually listen.

1:11:23And I think one of the reasons that we've done that is we've played music and games and other things that in some ways feel silly, but really break down some of the barriers and allow for a conversation. And I think that that's really important these days. I mean, obviously these issues are really important and there are some principles that you can't compromise on. I understand that. But also as a country, I think we need to lessen the temperature a little bit on some of this stuff. And so the ability to do that has really been incredible. And we've gotten a chance to just like travel the world and talk to some of the most interesting players.

1:12:00I mean, on our final episode, we have videos from Gavin Newsom, Jerry Brown, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kamala Harris, Adam Schiff, Alex Padilla, Karen Bass, Rick Caruso. I mean, all the biggest players in California politics for that whole era. and they've been such an important part of the show that they all came back for the final episode. And so my heart is full of gratitude of being able to do this.

1:12:26Brian Tyler Cohen:Well, look, Alex, I know I can speak for all those people in terms of saying that the reason that you're able to bring all of these people together is because of you, is because you're acting in good faith and because you've been so kind, honest, full of integrity and generous in terms of what you've turned that show and that network into. So, you know, You had mentioned that you were the first person to bring me on air. It was the first show that I was ever on. So I thank you for that. But more broadly, I know I can speak for this city of Los Angeles and the state of California in saying thank you for the service that you've provided.

1:12:58Brian Tyler Cohen:And that is having you on air delivering us the news in a way that, again, is full of honesty and integrity and good faith. So congratulations on your final day at Fox Los Angeles. And I'm very excited to see what the next steps in your career are. Alex, thanks for your time. And if people want to watch that last episode, which includes a cameo from Brian Tyler Cohen, you can go to youtube.com slash Alex Michelson. And you can also check out our interview with Governor Newsom there from this week. And I'd appreciate if you check that out and subscribe and stay along for the journey. Excellent.

1:13:34Brian Tyler Cohen:Yes. And I would also echo that sentiment. If you want to keep up with Alex in his life after Fox LA, please subscribe on YouTube. It's E-L-E-X Michelson, M-I-C-H-A-E-L-S-O-N. And that's on YouTube. And I'm going to put that link right here on the screen and also in the post description. Alex, appreciate your time. Thank you, Brian. Love you, brother. Thanks again to Gavin Newsom, Jamie Raskin, Dan Pfeiffer, and Alex Michelson. That's it for this episode. Talk to you next week. You've been listening to No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen. Produced by Sam Graber, music by Wellesley, and interviews edited for YouTube by Nicholas Nicotera.

1:14:10Brian Tyler Cohen:If you want to support the show, please subscribe on your preferred podcast app and leave a five-star rating and a review. And as always, you can find me at BrianTylerCohen on all of my other channels, or you can go to BrianTylerCohen.com to learn more.

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