Sunny Hostin is calling out California Gov. Gavin Newsom for inviting controversial supporters of President Donald Trump onto his new podcast.
During the recent episode of The View, the hosts discussed Governor Newsom’s decision to feature “controversial MAGA Republicans” such as Steve Bannon and Charlie Kirk on his podcast, Politickin’. While the hosts agreed that Newsom should have challenged some of the claims made by his guests, co-host Hostin criticized the move as a poor strategy to garner support for the 2028 election, in which Newsom is speculated to participate.
Hostin expressed her disappointment by highlighting Newsom’s previous stance where he had criticized Republicans and positioned California as a counterforce to the negative populism of the right during his State of the Union address. She pointed out that by now having Steve Bannon on the show without challenging his statements, Newsom was indirectly legitimizing Bannon’s views and also failing to oppose derogatory remarks made about Senator Elizabeth Warren.
Hostin emphasized her concern by stating, “He gives a platform and normalizes, in my view, an election denier and someone who is the person behind Project 2025.” She raised questions about Newsom’s decision to provide a platform for individuals whose beliefs and actions undermine the democratic process, potentially affecting Newsom’s political standing in future elections.
Hostin told her fellow co-hosts that Newsom’s podcast, in her opinion, made him come off as “inauthentic.”
“I believe that if you are going to be a public servant, you better be unapologetically authentic because voters can sniff out inauthenticity in a second and I thought that that was one of the most inauthentic things I’ve seen Gavin Newsom do,” she said, before adding, “I’m terribly disappointed.”
According to Hostin, she would’ve liked to see more “pushback” from the California native.
“I think you meet energy with energy,” she said. “And what he did was he showed his pretty white teeth and his cute face and did nothing other than that. And I think it’s despicable.”
The View airs on weekdays at 11/10c on ABC.
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