Example Image
Civitas Outlook
Topic
Politics
Published on
Mar 26, 2025
Contributors
Joel Kotkin
Photo from Office of the California Governor via Wikimedia Commons

Does Gavin Newsom Believe in Anything?

Contributors
Joel Kotkin
Joel Kotkin
Senior Research Fellow
Joel Kotkin
Summary
Tech elites are his one lodestar.
Summary
Tech elites are his one lodestar.
Listen to this article

Gavin Newsom’s new podcast reveals not only a media-savvy politico seeking more exposure to a bigger audience. It also reflects a concerted drive by the onetime self-anointed leader of the #Resistance to reinvent himself as the unique progressive breaking through to MAGA World, as evidenced by his decision to invite Right-wing firebrands like Charlie Kirk, Michael Savage, and Steve Bannon as his initial guests.

This shift away from liberal orthodoxy has shocked Newsom’s long-time progressive allies, who see it as an act of treachery. Yet if they had been paying attention to Newsom’s career — above all, his willingness to morph into whatever identity best serves his quest for power — this wouldn’t be so surprising.

Conservatives, too, will discover that Newsom isn’t a tool of the progressive Left, or a typical California progressives with “communistic” policies, as one conservative outlet described them. On the contrary, Newsom, unlike his predecessor, Jerry Brown, has been a committed, shameless sniffer of political winds throughout his career.

Continue reading at UnHerd

10:13
1x
10:13
More articles

'Pluribus' Is About More Than 'the Warmth of Collectivism'

Pursuit of Happiness
May 8, 2026

The Firestorm Over Congressional Redistricting

Constitutionalism
May 8, 2026
View all

Join the newsletter

Receive new publications, news, and updates from the Civitas Institute.

Sign up
More on

Politics

Is American Nationalism Still Creed-able?

We are not there now, but there is reason to worry that the United States is in danger, if we are not careful, of ceasing to be a nation with the principles of 1776 at its core.

Richard Samuelson
Politics
Apr 29, 2026
National Civitas Institute Poll: Americans are Anxious and Frustrated, Creating a Challenging Environment for Leaders

The poll reveals a deeply pessimistic American electorate, with a majority convinced the nation is on the wrong track.

Politics
Feb 19, 2026
Liberal Democracy Reexamined: Leo Strauss on Alexis de Tocqueville

This article explores Leo Strauss’s thoughts on Alexis de Tocqueville in his 1954 “Natural Right” course transcript.

Raúl Rodríguez
Politics
Feb 25, 2025
Long Distance Migration as a Two-Step Sorting Process: The Resettlement of Californians in Texas

Here we press the question of whether the well-documented stream of migrants relocating from California to Texas has been sufficient to alter the political complexion of the destination state.

James Gimpel, Daron Shaw
Politics
Feb 6, 2025

The Three Whiskey Happy Hour

Steven Hayward brings you the Power Line Blog's perspective on the week's big headlines.

View all
** items
Iranian-Americans Want Regime Gone — Aside From a Few Gun-Running Social Media Mavens

Joel Kotkin
Politics
May 4, 2026
California is Sacrificing its Economic Future on the Altar of Climate Change

John Yoo, Michael Toth
Politics
Apr 26, 2026
The Left’s War on the Supreme Court Just Hit a Terrifying New Low

John Yoo
Politics
Apr 25, 2026
Canadians Must Stop Romanticizing a Failing Europe

Joel Kotkin
Politics
Apr 23, 2026

May Day Protests Take Place Across the U.S.

Politics
May 1, 2026
1:05

How Gavin Newsom Ran California Into The Ground

Politics
Apr 30, 2026
1:05

WHCD Shooting Suspect Allegedly Targeted Trump Administration Officials

Politics
Apr 26, 2026
1:05

All federal law enforcement agencies must answer to the president: Former deputy assistant AG

Politics
Apr 16, 2026
1:05

‘NO RIGHT to block passage’: John Yoo on Strait of Hormuz Dispute

Politics
Apr 10, 2026
1:05
No items found.
No items found.
Teddy Roosevelt’s Expansive Spirit

Roosevelt left a mark not only on the American presidency but also on the American imagination, continuing to affirm the necessity of the American myth.

Emina Melonic
Politics
May 7, 2026
Trumpadelic

Lives are at stake, not just elections.

Paul J. Larkin
Politics
May 6, 2026
Why Amtrak Needs Airport-Level Security

Cole Allen transporting weapons across the country on Amtrak highlights the issue.

Jonathan Hartley
Politics
May 5, 2026
Remembering and Rebuking the Covid Regime

Preventing a future repetition of this exercise in pandemic central planning will require removing “emergency” powers from political authorities who are all too keen to use them as instruments to impose an unattainable societal order.

Phillip W. Magness
Politics
May 4, 2026
No items found.