In a rare and candid discussion, conservative firebrand Michael Savage sat down with Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom for a conversation on his new podcast that defied expectations, covering a wide range of topics — from the state of San Francisco to the future of the Democratic Party — offering sharp disagreements but also moments of surprising common ground.
An exclusive sneak peek provided to Breitbart News in advance offers a glimpse into the soon-to-be-released interview where Savage takes the seat as the second guest on the governor’s This Is Gavin Newsom podcast, where no topic appears to be off-limits.
Political Divides and JFK’s Influence
Despite their ideological differences, the iconic right-wing commentator and Democratic California governor acknowledged their decades-long acquaintance.
“We’ve known each other over the course on and off for a couple decades now, right?” Newsom remarked.
Savage, in turn, reflected on how John F. Kennedy inspired him as a young man.
“I loved JFK. He was one of my heroes … ‘Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country’ — that put steel in my spine; I wanted to go out and march into something for my country,” Savage recalled, as they criticized modern politics for losing that sense of responsibility.
Borders, Language, and Culture
Reasserting his long-standing mantra, “Borders, language, culture,” Savage — citing historical examples — argued that without these, a nation ceases to exist. Newsom countered, touting California’s efforts to support border enforcement, claiming he deployed nearly 400 National Guard members to supplement border security.
“We put down almost 400 … National Guards since the week I first became governor to supplement and support Customs and Border Patrol at the border,” he stated.
However, Savage actually voiced support for long-term undocumented workers, saying, “I know of a person who was here 20 years from Mexico. He’s worked seven days a week, he’s paid taxes, he can’t become a citizen. That’s wrong.”
Newsom agreed, adding that “67 percent of people that are here without documentation in California have been here for ten-plus years … and paying taxes.”
Health and Nutrition
Turning to Savage’s background in nutritional ethnomedicine, Savage detailed his academic journey.
“I earned [my PhD] in two years and seven months, which is a world record,” he stated.
He also criticized what he saw as discrimination in academia: “I was rejected from every position I applied for. And I was told point blank — we can’t hire you because we have to fill quotas.”
Savage lamented the state of the healthcare system, sharing a personal story of being delayed in a hospital ER while suffering a heart attack.
“I have to wait in line. It’s filled with illegal aliens, and the girl at the desk makes me wait,” he stated. “I said [to her], ‘I’m dying, do you understand?’”
Newsom responded by defending California’s approach, emphasizing preventative care.
“That’s why we do preventative care,” he said. “That’s why we have a different approach.”
Climate Change and Science
Savage dismissed mainstream climate concerns as “total bullshit,” citing the Vostok ice core samples.
“There were carbon dioxide increases millennia ago, but they always followed temperature increases,” he said. “They didn’t cause the temperature increases.”
Newsom countered by pointing to extreme weather patterns, saying, “We had a three-year historic drought — the most significant drought in California’s history since statehood — and it ended in three weeks with the wettest three weeks since statehood.”
However, Savage remained skeptical, insisting that climate change has always occurred naturally.
“In 1872, it was so hot in the state of California before there was the first internal combustion engine, the cornfields exploded in the Sacramento Valley from a heat wave,” he stated.
Crime and San Francisco’s Decline
Savage described a turning point for his relationship with San Francisco.
“I was having dinner in North Beach, and a man comes by — if you want to call him that — takes his pants down and defecates outside the window in the street,” he said, adding that “without civility, there could be no civil order in a country.”
Newsom acknowledged the crisis but defended the city’s efforts, saying, “The homeless population … it’s not a static environment … It’s been decades.”
However, Savage argued for a more forceful approach, offering his own “solution” to the issue.
“You build camps for them in places outside cities and you give them the care that they need — against their will,” he suggested.
Newsom countered that California was already addressing this issue, citing recent reforms, including having “strengthened the conservatorship law so we can begin to get people off the streets.”
The Future of the Democratic Party
Asked what the Democratic Party needed to learn from recent political shifts, Savage pointed to what he saw as the party’s alienation of working-class voters.
“The thing that triggered most of the people who turned against the Democrat party was this incessant drumbeat, going back years, vilifying the white male,” he said. “‘White supremacy,’ ‘white supremacy,’ ‘white supremacy.’”
He also cited the influence of gender ideology in schools as a turning point.
“The trans issue triggered the women who were normally liberal,” Savage said. “But when you have kids being brainwashed in school to accept that stuff into kindergarten — hey, I’m a sexual libertarian, I really don’t care what people do to make themselves happy — but leave the kids alone.”
Trump and Savage’s Influence
Savage claimed that many of President Donald Trump’s key talking points were inspired by his own work, with one of Trump’s advisers “explicitly telling me: ‘We took all of your books [and] we made talking points. He ran on your platform.’”
Calling himself “the father of a lot of what [Trump’s] doing,” he expressed frustration at not being formally recognized for his influence, saying, “No one called me from the White House and said, ‘We want to give you the Presidential Medal of Freedom.’”
The conversation was marked with mutual respect, despite the sharp debates.
“I don’t have to agree with you, nor you with me, for us to sit and have civilized conversations,” Savage noted. “It’s the only way we’re going to solve the problems of the state and of the country’s rights, and I feel the same thing about the country itself: the left and the right are at each other’s throats. They hate each other, and they would like me not to have been on this podcast and be screaming and yelling like a foaming idiot.”
“We get nowhere with that,” he added. “It’s idiotic, idiotic.”
Newsom agreed, adding that that is “the whole point” of these discussions.
The full interview, which offers a fascinating glimpse into two towering figures from opposite ends of the political spectrum, engaging in the kind of frank discussion rarely seen in today’s divided climate, is scheduled to be released Tuesday.
Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.
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