I like how you bring her wife here to try to get me to be nice.

That's it. I know. I mean, we worked on that speech for, you know, the last,

better part of the last week.

Sadly, it's not going to work.

Unbelievable.

Hi, everyone from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network.

This is on with Kara Swisher, and I'm Kara Swisher.

My guest today is California Governor Gavin Newsom.

He's on the shortlist of Democrats expected to run for president in 28,

and he's arguably the frontrunner will probably be a very crowded field, at least at this point.

Well, Newsom hasn't made his presidential ambitions officially yet. He's kind of telegraphing it all the time, and he's out with a new memoir that definitely makes it seem like he's running. He is running. Let's stop playing games.

The book is called Young Man in a Hurry, and the promotional tour has him conveniently passing through some major swing states in early primary states like Georgia and South Carolina.

But Newsom's tour and book have gotten mixed reviews, and the criticisms speak to something Newsom has grappled with in his political life, his own identity and what it means.

Is he the son of a single mom who held down three jobs to

support her kids or the son of a top confident to one of the richest families in the world?

Is he the man who led the California resistance during President Trump's first term or the one

who sat down with Steve Bannon for an episode of his podcast in the early days of Trump's second

term? I have been a long-time California resident. I think a lot

of Gavin Newsom, I think he's really interesting and complex. And I think it'll be really interesting

to see how the public reacts to him. He's been very good about pressing back at President Trump.

What he did around gay marriage was incredibly heroic. At the same time, some people think he's

a little too malleable to whatever

...