David Axelrod and Karen Finney Tear Apart Gavin Newsom's Charlie Kirk Podcast as a 2028 Political Gimmick
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David Axelrod and Karen Finney Tear Apart Gavin Newsom's Charlie Kirk Podcast as a 2028 Political Gimmick
California Governor Gavin Newsom drew sharp criticism from within his own party after the first episode of his new podcast, in which he sat down with Charlie Kirk and acknowledged that Republicans had effectively used the transgender athletes issue against Democrats. Democratic strategist David Axelrod and commentator Karen Finney both called it an obvious political play, timed to generate 2028 presidential buzz by manufacturing a headline about Newsom breaking with the left. Axelrod zeroed in on the credibility gap: Newsom has been governor of California for six years without taking a clear stand on this issue, and his apparent change of heart landed at the exact moment he found Republicans could exploit it. Finney added that the base Newsom is now distancing himself from is the same one that stood behind him during his recall fight, and they are not going to miss what he is doing.
Newsom's Podcast: Sitting Down with Charlie Kirk on Trans Athletes
On the first episode of his new podcast, California Governor Gavin Newsom — widely viewed as positioning himself for a 2028 presidential run — sat down with conservative activist Charlie Kirk and broke with his own party on the issue of transgender athletes competing in women's sports. Newsom told Kirk he agreed the issue was one of fairness, then went further, openly acknowledging that Republicans had used it effectively against Democrats.
"I saw how you guys were able to weaponize that issue at another level," Newsom said.
Kirk pushed back during the exchange, arguing that Republicans were not weaponizing the issue — they were simply highlighting it.
"The Thirsting Is Dripping Off Him"
Democratic strategist David Axelrod and Democratic commentator Karen Finney offered a blunt response. Both landed on the same diagnosis: it was an obvious political move designed to generate a headline — "Newsom breaks with the left" — ahead of a presidential campaign.
"It was such an obvious gimmick," Axelrod said. "And of all the people he could have picked to have a conversation with someone from a different perspective, he picks Charlie Kirk. The thirsting is dripping off of him and it's just gross."
Axelrod pointed to a fundamental credibility problem. Newsom has been governor of California for six years and lieutenant governor for years before that. The obvious question is when exactly he had this change of heart — and the answer, Axelrod suggested, is the moment Republicans found the issue politically useful.
Finney was equally pointed. The liberal base Newsom is now distancing himself from is the same one that stood by him during his recall fight. She predicted they would not take kindly to watching him court conservative approval.
Is There a Real Case on Fairness?
Both Axelrod and Finney acknowledged that the underlying question of fairness in women's sports is legitimate. Finney noted that she competed in college sports and would not have felt it was fair to compete against a trans athlete under certain conditions.
But she drew a firm line between holding that position and how it gets expressed. The conversation Democrats should be having, she argued, does not require demonizing children — particularly transgender youth, who face high rates of vulnerability and suicide.
"You don't have to demonize children who are trans and who are vulnerable and have high suicide rates," Finney said. "Why don't you take a stand rather than gushing at Charlie Kirk about how well he weaponized it?"
The Kamala Harris Ad That Went Unanswered
Newsom also weighed in on the 2024 presidential race during his podcast, calling the most devastating attack ad against Kamala Harris a Trump campaign spot using her own words — footage of her defending gender-affirming surgery access for state prisoners. His argument: the Harris campaign never answered it, and that silence was devastating.
Axelrod and Finney largely agreed the ad was damaging. Harris had built her campaign narrative around middle-class roots and mainstream thinking, Finney said, and that ad cut directly against it, separating her from the very voters she was trying to reach.
But Finney pushed back on the silence-as-strategy framing. Neuroscience, she noted, shows that when you do not respond, people fill in the gaps themselves — handing the other side control of the narrative. At the same time, she questioned why Newsom was doing this analysis from Charlie Kirk's platform rather than talking about his own record and accomplishments.
The Trump campaign spent roughly a quarter of its total resources on a series of ads built around that single issue, with approximately $60 million from Elon Musk directed at Pennsylvania alone.
Seth Moulton and the Democratic Pattern on Hard Questions
Seth Moulton of Massachusetts made similar comments about trans athletes and was attacked by fellow Democrats for it. Moulton said, as a father of two daughters, he did not want them competing against male or female athletes in a way that felt unfair — and then added that as a Democrat, he was supposed to be afraid to say that.
Finney's read: the problem was not what Moulton said on the fairness question — she largely agreed with him — but the framing. He presented it as a primary reason Democrats lost in 2024, and that was too simple. The causes of the loss were far more complicated.
Her broader argument: Democrats too often retreat from difficult cultural questions rather than standing in their values. If you believe trans athletes raise a genuine fairness issue in competitive sports, say so — and also stand up for the humanity of trans people at the same time. That combination, she said, is what voters actually respect.
The Real Democratic Problem: Working-Class Voters
The conversation closed on the wider challenge facing the party. Both Axelrod and Finney agreed Democrats perform better when the debate is about economic issues that touch the most people, not cultural flash points. That has been true for decades.
But Finney pushed back on the popular narrative about what winning back working-class voters actually means. Forty-five percent of working-class voters are Black and Hispanic Americans. The notion that Democrats can solve their problem by crafting a single message aimed at white non-college-educated men is a fantasy — and the biggest losses in 2024 came among Hispanic voters, not just the white working class.
"The Democratic Party has to stop approaching working people like missionaries and anthropologists with the message, 'We're here to help you become more like us,'" she said. The party, in her view, needs to get back to fundamentals — and it has two to four years to figure out how.
