New York Magazine

08/29/2025

Swisher: And you don’t stop. That’s what’s interesting about it — it’s relentless, which is very different. I had told, I think it was Kamala Harris, you’ve got to be almost promiscuous now from a social-media point of view. You have to be everywhere constantly and not stopping, which I think characterizes this quite a bit. When you hear criticism that it’s too much or cringey even from the left or right, how do you answer that?

Newsom: You know how I answered it? I haven’t really said this publicly, but I send my team a YouTube video of Marshawn Lynch on 60 Minutes Sports when he was asked about his running style. And he says, about going into the front line, “Over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.” So this notion of communication — I could not agree with you more. Trump’s success is the simplicity with which he communicates the same thing in that cadence over and over and over and over and over again. And we move week to week. It’s Infrastructure Week, and all of sudden, now Child-care Week and it’s Foster-care Week. And as a consequence, we have weak messaging, and they’re winning the narrative war.

Illusion rules. Facts don’t matter. That’s what Fox understands. That’s what Trump understands. He floods the zone, and we’re constantly on our heels and not on our front toes. And so, what we’re trying to do is, yes, fight fire with fire with the redistricting substance and in terms of our communication style. And we’re trying to keep at it. Look, you mentioned the Patriot Store. Just look at the stuff he’s selling. Perfumes? This is embarrassing. The guy’s hawking Bibles. Ours is sold out, so if you want it, sorry, it’s sold out.

Swisher: I was hoping to get one.

Newsom: And if you want a real prediction, we’re about to put a meme coin out. And you know what? Donald Trump, we’ll see how well your coin does versus our coin.

Swisher: Wow. You’re doing a coin. Of course you are.

Newsom: We’re just trying to turn up the heat.

Swisher: Is it going to be called Gavin Coin?

Newsom: No, I think Trump Corruption Coin.

Swisher: Oh, okay. That’s a little long.

Newsom: This is one of the great grifters of our time. It’s just jaw-dropping, and none of this is normal. Again, none of this is funny. I mean, it’s funny in one respect.

Swisher: It is. You’re being funny.

Newsom: It’s extraordinary what’s going on. It’s jaw-dropping. His family is sent out before these foreign trips, doing deals. Deals are literally done before tariffs are imposed. The crony capitalism that’s going on, the people that are selling their souls in this country. I mean, that was insanity at the Cabinet meeting. And Lutnick, talking about socializing and nationalizing companies like Lockheed. And you’re worried about Mamdani and some grocery stores? And these guys are taking tidings from AMD, 15 percent from Nvidia. I mean, this is serious stuff. The grift and the corruption, the self-dealing, is something that we will continue to call out. I’m really worried about this country. I think we’ve crossed the red line. I think it is much more acute and profound than many people think. And I’m just trying to wake people up. That’s what this is all about. Wake up, everybody.