Featured Session: Networth and Chill With Guest Governor Gavin Newsom

Speaker 1 00:00 While that were intertwined. That's why, on this very special South by Southwest episode of network and chill, I'm excited to talk to our guests about how the government should actually be helping you and how you can take advantage of it to make sure you feel left alone in your personal finance journey. Me. You know him as the California governor and my close personal Speaker 1 00:25 friend, incredible work on infrastructure and LGBTQIA rights. You might know him as viral tiktoks, and he has just released a memoir, young man, in a hurry, we'll talk about his journey, what he thinks are the most pressing issues facing Americans today, and what government resources currently exist to help protect your wallet. Governor Newsom, Speaker 1 00:57 politician with a book so say since we're just starting to get to know each other, I thought it'd be really fun for myself in the audience to get to go on the first date with you. So I've got some fun questions. Excuse me, the first thing that comes to mind and it's short answers. Short answers, what is your weekly screen time? I got Speaker 2 01:22 four kids, so I don't want to tell anybody what the real three times. How is that, Eric? We have two states asleep and online. I'll just leave it at that. Italian, Italian, Italian, Italian, Speaker 1 01:41 Italian. What is your first date? What's your first money? Unknown Speaker 01:50 Memory? You are a tough person. That's Speaker 2 01:57 interesting the first memory I have an impact, literally true. Coincidentally, it's in the book. I was working as a busboy at ramona's restaurant in San Rafael, California, and working my tail off. And there was a guy in there alone early niner, and he got up, came over to me, I'll never forget this. Handed me a $20 I never had a tip before. I need to get recognized. Just out there hustling. And he said, Keep doing what you're doing. It's impossible, incalculable to tell you how much I changed my life, so much so, just very briefly, that when I became a county supervisor in San Francisco. It was, at first, a part time job, and it was about $13,000 a year, and and I just I felt compelled to take my paycheck and convert it to cash, and I would give the money away, including, you never forget one of the great memories I've ever had. I still get my heart sometimes, on the Golden Gate Bridge back when they had toll takers. And you get in that long line waving $1 dollar, dollar. And I gave the guy $700 and I said, by 700 people behind me, he's always dreamt somewhat. I just remembered the feeling of the people sort of driving fast, going inside with the thumbs up. Was like, oh man. And so that's my first money memory. It got a stranger. No thank you. And now just a simple act like that, 20 bucks was a lot of money back then changed everything for me, profound. Speaker 1 03:33 I love that. On flip side, what is the worst purchase you have ever made, something you regret buying. Speaker 2 03:41 My 14 year old phone. I was not advertised before Verizon, but we went to the mall horizon, and she's like crying. I was crying. She had to pick her number, and then she called me first, and we had that, and then we took a selfie. We signed a contract. A week later, we did an amendment to the contract, and you know, the rest is history. Seriously, bad situation. Speaker 1 04:18 It's who is your favorite villain, real or Speaker 3 04:37 definitely Trump is on kind Speaker 2 04:57 of a Nolan Batman, trill man. I mean, just like you pleasure the Joker and what you're Bane, because the righteous is back to using populist language, anti legalism for cruelty and chaos. Kind of sums things up today. I feel Unknown Speaker 05:18 like the date, amazing. Weirdest reason you ever gotten stopped by TSA in the airport? Speaker 2 05:26 Well, recently, it was just, I just stood there and didn't move. And I was like, What is Christine Nome Unknown Speaker 05:38 doing on it? Like, like, No, we did. We were able to, I Speaker 2 05:45 was able to call Our airport authorities and said, take the next step. Speaker 4 06:16 The bill. So to wrap up, our first Unknown Speaker 06:27 date, yes, we're in a time restroom. Unknown Speaker 06:35 Okay, so what is the hype up song? I have Speaker 2 06:43 to hype up, actually. So I was so excited for this day, yeah, but I didn't even get all hyped up. I already was there. My current state of de that's interesting. See, I have my real answer today. I can be cool, but then, you know, that's, you know, my entire book is about not being that guy, you know what? So here's the one I love. I just do the gladiator song. You know about the other Gladiator? Sorry, this is like, I'm sorry, this is, like, one of the great Shingo energy. And then I'm like, you know, because I'm California, man, just the whole just so much about Dre Eminem and forgot about Dre. Speaker 4 07:36 Nowadays. And, you know, but, and then I got a bad news selection, though you don't want to know my staff, like, Dad, rock. Okay, Speaker 1 07:55 amazing. So the appetizers during our date went incredibly well. Now we're moving on to the main course. Okay, ready? Okay, so now that we know you a little bit better. In your book, young man in a hurry, you write about growing up in between two worlds, your mom working multiple jobs, your dad's connection to the Getty family. How do you think about those differences, and how does it shape your perspective on wealth, power and opportunity. Speaker 2 08:18 Well, I had it Tuesday night. My mom was 19 pregnant, and couple years later, she's on her own. She came from no wealth. Now that she worked two, three jobs, she was the waitress at that restaurant. That's why I became the bus boy at that restaurant, Mexican restaurant, the moment. And so she was always hustling bookkeeper. Worked for Avi, adoption of special kids, physical family, kids with intellectual and physical disabilities, and she just was a grind of hard work. We always had roommates. She would literally show up and there's like two people in her room, and she'd be in the living room. She's just one of those people. You know them well. You may be that person yourself. You may know that from your own experience, single moms, these rock stops, these heroes and and so and so. Here she is. She's a kid raising two kids after my father made the mistake of trying to get an apologies, ran for county supervisor in San Francisco, lost, ran for state senate and lost and said he was broke and broken, kind of had a breakdown and just took off. He became a big part of my life later on, but not in those early years, but later on, his relationship with a very wealthy family shaped so much of my time with him, which was the week every summer where we go on some exotic and extraordinary vacation. It was proximity to love without the wealth, and it was different reality at home in a significant way. And so I've always had this sort of this relationship to both and and this sense that I was an imposter in my Father's world. And I'll give you an example. There's I write about in the book, one of these crazy trips, and we there's some really interesting stories, legitimately crazy King Juan Carlos, private fight, the ridiculous stuff. And I'll never forget being there, getting families, a wealthy family, and the four boys, I was same age, and I'll never forget being at the party and this woman, oh, it's so wonderful to have you and your brothers here at this wonderful event. And which, which one are you? Which, which one of the getting boys are you? And I said, Oh, my name is Gavin which number? I said, Look, Gavin Newsom. And she goes, Oh, and then immediately turned and talked to everybody else. So always knew my relationship to it wasn't who I was. And this book is really that journey about discovering the one of us, you know, with the single mom went to a grind, and then his father adventures, and all of this and, and the fact, you know, I talk about, I think, was Oscar Wilde, who said the first duty in life is to assume A pose. The second duty no one really knows. And really knows. And so I assumed this pose, trying to be something maybe I was not. And I put a mask on my face, started to grow into a little bit, and that inauthenticity started to show. And I really this is why this is not a typical politician book, it English is not, at some point, plan to say this is about me really scrutinizing, not sanitizing my life and going deeper and all the mistakes I made, you know and what and who I am today, my insecurities, my anxieties, those struggles and a lot of them not only shape in relationship with these two worlds and my father being more distant, but also with a pretty profound learning disability that I still struggle with today, and as a consequence, I don't read speeches the president, that's my expense. The other day on that mocking me, literally two days ago, on his affordability tour, talk about Newsom, mentioning the affordability Speaker 1 12:17 tour, mentioning wealth, if I can be really candid, people claim that the country should be led like a business and the economy is in large part why Trump has been elected and continues to be supported by but I actually learned from your book that you actually used to run a small business. So can you give me your Give me your take on this? What do people get wrong? What are they not understanding about business versus Speaker 2 12:44 if you ask me my identity, I'm a small business person. Started writing a college pen and paper one part time employee. Pat Kelly, raised $175,000 in $7,500 increments. I was the managing general partner. Borrowed $5,000 from my dollar, and it was appointed deprived administrators. That business took two and a half years to open. It was a little wine store in San Francisco. Was carpeted. I was ready to open the doors, and the city came in. The health department said, Where's your mom? Sink? Boxing. It's carpeted. There's nothing to mop. They said, Well, it's a food establishment. I said, it's a wine store. They said, well, it's under the Code wine and food, so you need a new mom sink. It delayed the business opening for another few months. I was in apartment building. We had to literally do a pipe up four story. It was a major thing. And so I started read just reaching Against The Machine. Saint Sam is the worst place to do business. And there was a new mayor by this guy named Willie Brown, and he was where I got him. This some of you know, there's this info famous columnist in Sam's book called hurricane. And I got him a hurricane, saying, This place sucks to do business, this new guy. And he was tired, and Willie Brown calls me up the new man and, and this is literally my this is the origin story I have got in politics. Willie Brown said, Hey, Newsom, you know what the hell's going on while he's screaming. I said, Well, this is possible. I'm gonna make I'm gonna shut you up. I said, you can't show me that, because I'm gonna shut you up. I'm gonna name you the police. Come there, parking traffic. You can't complain, and now you're part of the problem. So all of a sudden, I got immediately placed on the other side in order to get out of the pedigree box of being on that side being a critique. So I've always had this entrepreneur mindset. I've always had the image. I grew that business to about 21 small businesses, about 1000 employees. It had literally been the wrong place to try to impress anyone and just depressing. Finding my passion for entrepreneurs, people that put everything on the line for risks, take that risks and new beginnings. And so it's shaped me, and that entrepreneur mindset is about agency, that you can shape the future. You're not a victim. No one cares about how much, how much the competition. Do whatever. You just gotta show up every single day. And I do that some restaurants, hotels and a few winches up in Napa now. And so I think it's born out of business like mindset in terms of how we govern, but we're not for private business, and we can't choose our customers. We can't choose our zip code in this whole and most of these guys come in top down. They're disasters, just like Donald Trump is a disaster. Speaker 2 15:44 Cost the average house of $1,701 what it's done is small businesses over his own incompetence is back to Christine Holmes only confidence, secret police, mass men on the streets all across the United States of America, communities on edge. It's not the rule of law. It's the rule of dawn, and I will just die. Everyone our precious this moment is now. We have to meet this moment and how we have to call this out with clarity and conviction will lose our country if we do not. And instead of losing my mind, I'm just trying to do something about it and frame it the context of pushing back. And I hope you've seen some of our social media. We're trying to put a mirror in our lifetime, a regressive tax. Speaker 2 16:36 History, in our lifetime, a regressive tax, a working folks and poor folks on those small businesses like mine or ranchers and farmers. I mean, across the spectrum. You saw the GDP numbers point 7% you saw last month's job numbers minus 92,000 145,000, less blue collar jobs there were a year ago, the cuts Medicaid, the cuts to food stamps, the big tax cuts to billionaires and corporations. The hell is going on in this country? Not even got into that first week of a war and can't figure out the end game. Speaker 4 17:15 They can't figure out, you know, the real reason, the real reason. Just, you know you're here. Please stand up. Speaker 2 17:23 How the hell are we going to get out of this? So wrecking ball presence, and it's one forgiving. I'll close on this. You don't believe in the spirit I've got free enterprise, healthy horse, dirty, white. He is about phony capitalism, state capitalism. You saw the Tick Tock deal. $10 billion going into government. 10% of Intel going into government. 25% of AMD, Nvidia going into the government. MP materials, the golden shares. What a tariffs? What's the whole tariff regime out of common personal portfolio of Donald Trump, he lowered the tariffs 26% in Vietnam after he got the golf course approved, the $1.5 billion golf course, they fast tracked the approval in Vietnam, asked woodcock, Jared Kushner, the great grift, the board of peace in the Middle East is about getting a piece of the deals, the $2 billion the world, liberty, financial in return, high value computer chips, national security questions in the UAE, all these foreign trips. What does that have in common? He sends out the envoys for the business deal for the personal portfolio, first, to set the tone and tenor for the great brick tonight in diamond. $10 million is negotiating of your money with the IRS, with himself, the two 30 million Department of Justice. We don't even have to remind you of the plane. It's not just a Florida million dollar gift. There. It was a 900 plus million dollars. It was in the big, beautiful bill, tax cuts for billionaires, cuts to poor people and working folks and $900 million to retrofit his airplane. This is a corruption story, the likes of which we've never experienced in modern America. I'm more Unknown Speaker 19:25 business, like just no business. You know, I think you just literally rattle Speaker 1 19:30 off so many financial obstacles that we are now facing as a country that individuals are feeling directly in their own pocketbooks. What do you think is the biggest one that we are that's essentially standing in the way of a better quality of life for average Americans, and what has the government be doing to actually? Unknown Speaker 19:53 I mean literally, Donald Trump was the biggest period. Speaker 2 19:57 Full stop. Look, I mean, these terrorists, we were the first state to sue on terrorists, by the way, stating they were completely illegal under the IEPA. It was a no brainer. Still members of Supreme Court that were descent on it, and then he re established on this new section, 150 day virtually tax, just doubling down on student, again, a regressive tax all of you are paying 160 6 billion. I mean, you see different numbers, but the number that pop out more often is 160 $6 billion that needs to be sent back. What he's, the whole theory of his, he's, he's, he's about destruction, and destruction is not strength. You go into any you know DC, there's a library building. And Sam Reimer and had a wonderful point. He said, Any Jack last can tear down a barn, but it takes a skilled carpenter to build one. Trump is a jackass. I mean, Speaker 2 21:15 this is the guy calls me new stuff. Okay, the President's 80 years old, writing the book about an eight year old. They used to call me Newsom. The President states, Guy justice. Cosplay is the poking Superman picture on the side of Mount Rushmore all caps. Don't forget the AI videos. They're very open one and suddenly in the middle, assembly in the middle of a war, 13 human beings, American soldiers died, 140 maze lives, or maybe never recovered. And he's out there, video game images, AI generated images. This is madness, madness. And we're de Oh, this is it to you. It's me, it's all of us. I, you know, I, I came back. It's interesting. Just forgive me, one of the privileges of being here with me was the privilege of also being a bat made in Texas, because you're a big part of the origin story here. Donald Trump tried to, let's not forget, I won't spend too much time on this, but tried to light democracy on fire on January 6, he tried to wreck this democracy for suckers. His word basically not mine. He tried to dial in for 12,000 votes in Georgia. And what did he do? Once again, he tried to break the election. But in this case, before one vote was cast this November, by calling on your governor right now say he was, quote, unquote, said he was entitled to five seats again for things to change, we have to change. And I think, with respect to me, at times, mistakes that I've made, little timidity. I'm not leading, I'm managing. And that moment was sort of an existential moment for us in California. What can we do? I sent out a tweet saying it's wrong, and I got like 600 likes. It's amazing. It's pretty good too. And he says, Honey, I know. Speaker 2 23:26 And then the election, your legislative, Texas legislature came and said, that ain't good enough. I said, What do you mean? I said, No, I'm working on an op ed. Maybe I'll get in the New York Times, and I had this mindset, we just need to win the arguments, that we just have to be right. But the other side, they're ruthless, again, rigging the election before one vote is cast mid district. And so that's why we did this thing in California called prop 50. We drew the lines. Speaker 2 24:03 And I just want to remind you, remember all this stuff that's all that anxiety you're all feeling, not just about this economy that's wobbling now and certainly chaos in the world, but I'll remind you future happened in California first last June, 4000 National Guard were federalized. 700 active duty Marines were not sent overseas. They were sent to an American City, Los Angeles. We said at the time, that was a preview of things to come. You saw what happened in DC, you saw what happened in Chicago. You saw what happened in Minnesota. We said when Greg Bovino, the great, great vovina, showed up with masked men and his secret police to our campaign kickoff, we said that was a preview of things to come election day in California just a few months ago, what did Trump do? Sent out a true social saying, our election was rigged. Send out the Department of Justice as election monitors to file a lawsuit that went to the Supreme Court. He sent out four tag teams, border patrol tactical units. These are the guys cosplay with all the Apache helicopters. Sent them to Dodger Stadium the morning of the election to tell diverse communities already on edge, don't bother to vote. That is a preview of things to come this November. They're not screwing around. He's trying to nationalize the election to save act is not about voter ID. It's about choosing who votes and who doesn't. It is a precious moment, so forgive me as I answer your question the biggest impediment Yes, Donald Trump, you this Unknown Speaker 26:05 date just keeps getting better guys. So I want to Speaker 1 26:11 actually focus a little bit on California now. So California has more billionaires than any other state, but it also has one of the largest populations of unhoused people. You're governor to both groups, yeah. Who is California truly for? Speaker 2 26:26 Well, look, it's interesting. I want to answer specifically. Just paint a picture. Just give you a sense. Those you're not from California may have a sense of it. Some of you may have a perverse site with the California arrangement syndrome that's out there, particularly with my friends on Fox News, one American news and news max. And I can go ahead and release with the size of 21 state populations come up 20. 27% of the state is foreign born. It's a majority minority state, and it's a state in terms of the context of representation and practice and pluralism. We think we're all better off. We're all better off. We don't celebrate adversity at our best celebrated University. Yes, we're the richest and poorest state, and I'm very mindful of that. And I'm mindful about wealth inequality, not just income inequality. I'm also reminded we're living in a country where 10% of people on two thirds of wealth. We're living in a country if you're 30 years old with a first generation American history not doing better than your parents. I beat de mindful as we talk about democracy, that if we don't democratize the economy, we will lose our democracy. Thus Trump and Trumpism is a populism that so much part of an actor I like, which even they go back to that no one and so that issue has to fundamentally be addressed. California, we finally, for the first time, 15 years, saw close to a double digit decline in our unsheltered homeless population. We have not seen that again in years and years, finally, making real progress, we have the most progressive tax rates in America. Texas the most regressive Texas taxes for folks more than we tax our riches. The question for you is, who's the higher tax state? California or Texas? Unknown Speaker 28:33 Who are you for? Are you just put a 1% Speaker 2 28:39 or you put a 90 day. And so our whole approach that's that's one progressive tax. Florida is the other progressive tax state. Your middle class pay more taxes in Texas than our middle class in California. It's a great mythology. It's just the richest, the rich come here because they can avoid paying a damn Penny. They don't pay any capital gains. They come here after they cash out make their billions. Elon, why? Well, because of regulations in California, there's no Tesla without California. California Air Resource support. There's no Tesla without tailpipe emission standards. No Tesla without rules and regulations that created the market conditions to make the kind of investments the energy and caring that is he won in his entrepreneurial spirit that is still alive and well, unlike any other state, war scientists, engineers or researchers, more Nobel laureates in my state than any other state in America, the finest System Speaker 2 29:44 of Higher Education from the UC you talk about quantum. Talk about robotics, you talk about AI. You talk about 32 the top 50 market cap companies all in the state of California. You talk about the future of space, you talk about the future of new energy technologies, including nuclear. You're talking about California, and you're talking about a disparity that is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics, and that's Pluto in around 50 ad warning the Athenians, the imbalance between the rich and the poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics. Warning The Athenians, 2000 years ago, wake up. So this notion of progressive taxation allows California to do more things in more ways, on more days than most states when it comes to paid family leave, when it comes to paid sick care the highest minimum wage, $25 for health care workers, highest minimum wage for fast food workers, $20 United States current $11 insulin, brand new, grade pre school For all massive subsidies, 369,000 for childcare workers, the ability to start to address these things. But the original sin in California, you know it well, wherever we are from, housing and we've been as dumb as we want to be, back to this idea of nimbyism, localism, and it's killed us, supply and demand imbalance for decades has exacerbated those conditions in profound and consequential ways, and it was profound, and I believe, consequential. This year we had that abundant mindset, and we did some things that for 30 years we never thought was possible, and we did some of the most significant housing reforms in American history, secret reforms, land use reforms, and we just are breaking through that local mindset. We're holding local governments accountable to finally building more housing. This is the original sin of California. Is one of the great challenges in the United States of America, that supply demand and balance, one of the great challenges for young folks, and so I can't make up for 50 years, but I'm very, very proud of my state in the state of mind about legislature that finally went through that gate and finally moving forward with real you. Speaker 1 32:16 You talked a little bit about, essentially what is called the K shaped economy. The rich get richer and poor get poorer. And I think it's really frustrating right now for so many people to feel like they can't get ahead no matter how hard they work. Your book is literally called young man in a hurry. A lot of people today feel like they hustle and hustle and hustle, and it's like running on a treadmill. What do you say to a 28 year old in a high cost of living city like maybe in LA or San Francisco, who's doing everything right, and they still can barely afford to live there, let alone dream of purchasing that home or starting Speaker 2 32:57 I think, is who we want to take in many respects. I mean, it's look, you have to, you have to own that. And look, we have to own that, say, all the time. We need a liberalism that builds, you know, not process focused and we look, I get it. We were, I think the biggest mistake I've made is Governor, maybe even there. Back even further, is a combination so many special interests. And again, the state is large, 21 state population, 58 counties, 478 cities, 1050 school boards. It's a bottom it's a very decentralized, constructive government and governance. Planning Commission, city administrators, boards of supervisors, mayors, accommodations, all of those tickets and you just try to get managed and just land the bike, as opposed to lead. And that mindset to your question, the shift is, what I tell them, is, it's time for real leadership and accountability, things to change. I gotta change. We have to check and this notion, you know, the only reason we were able to get any housing reforms done of the size and scope we did, is I did something that had never been done. It couldn't get done. Like you said, couldn't get it out. We had accommodate all those, those interest groups. So I attached it to the budget, and it's a no big deal. We don't have to have a budget. And I literally, we had, up until a few hours until the state budget was passed. We didn't know we would have a budget. And they tested by result, they I said, Fine, by me, I got all summer. I'm happy not to have a budget. Fourth largest economy in the world. We don't need a budget. We need housing reforms. We need to address affordability. We need to address this crisis of young kids. I'm doing all this stuff, you know, I went to TwitchCon. I'm doing Fortnite Fridays. I got a podcast. I'm meeting all these guys. I'm like, there's, there's an anonymous it sort of creeps in. Trump exploited the hell out of that. And you see it how it's impacting our boys. We can do a box. Scott Galloway moment here, right, and talking about this crisis of what's happening men and boys. I've got Richard Rees coming in this week. We're doing some really exciting work in this space to address the issue of men and boys, forex suicide rate and drop out rates and the crisis there, but how Trump, turning more USA and others exploited that, and haven't solved it, but at least they spoke about it in two of those Things my party. They weren't doing that. We haven't been doing that. We have to own that. And so I think it's it's recognizing those challenges. It's taking responsibility, not just identify the profit to lead to solve them. And the two questions you have to ask yourselves every single day is, the two questions that you deserve answered is, how can I lower cost, and how can I increase wages? Only two things that matter, and it's animating all of our lives right now, and it's hard in a country with 20 states still have $7.25 cent minimum wages. Come on. Can start there where corporations are getting a subsidy of your tax dollars because those same folks working full time are ending up on food stamps, are ending up on welfare programs in the windfalls the folks on top all that has to be called out. We're about to go through the greatest transfer of wealth in world history, in the next two decades, by some estimates, $124 trillion in the tax haven that is part of those estates, trillions of dollars won't be taxed. All that has to change. And again, Trump just reinforced all that, and that's why it should infuriate everybody here. I say it all the time. Businesses can't thrive in a world that's failing. Can't be pro job and anti business either, but businesses can't thrive in a world that's failing. It's this notion of, we're all better off. We're all better off. It's a core value. And I just, you know, I think this notion of zero sum versus this abundance frame is deeply the zeitgeist, how we have to respond to that concern, and you talked a little bit about your Speaker 1 37:33 strategy of Using new mediums, whether that be podcasts. You're very famous social media. We love it, Speaker 2 37:42 so I dressed up as the pope as well. You are no she was alive looking for some to wash my mouth. Speaker 1 37:51 But you're no stranger to beeping with your ops. Do you think Speaker 1 38:02 so? How do you think other government officials should take maybe a page out of your playbook to actually fight fire and fire and get on some of their clients level? Unknown Speaker 38:12 I'll just reinforce it. We're going to lose this country Speaker 2 38:19 if we don't recognize enough against asymmetry. I mean, we were just talking in the back. Did you actually see what Brendan Carr just said? He said that he's going to review all broadcast licenses unless they change their coverage of the war. I mean, Putin's proud Orban is proud of everyone Unknown Speaker 38:50 that the dictator's playbook this max consolidation of the media, please just total disregard of antitrust laws. Speaker 2 39:04 Crony capitalism, as I said, state capitalism and another of these Imperial presidencies, dyed purple picture on the side of the Department of Justice trust. You've seen it in DC, so I, you know, we're gonna sit back and, you know, try to just, well, it's just so wrong visual, you know, I just, we're up against propaganda networks problem. That's the prime time lineup at box. It is illusion. Rules, facts don't matter. We have to wake up to that. We've got to call this out again with conviction and clarity. And so look, I started to do that after the federalization of the National Guard, and that sounds like I'm on the other side. I can't do it anymore, to be accountable like, I can't do this anymore. I'm losing, I mean, I'm coming out with 10 Point. None of you care less. And you know what? I started doing those all cap tweets. I did Unknown Speaker 40:12 not get a pause on box, you know, like on the five they're like, Oh, Speaker 2 40:18 this is so unbecoming Jesse. Isn't that right? Jesse says, Yes, except governor should act with more dignity, although I'm completely situationally unaware of the Dear Leader, not once and they said a damn word about this man. Chill. Yeah, that for 10 years has dominated every conversation, and it just occurs to me in terms of the clarity and how we communicate, it is about communication. Narrative matters. You just got to drive it's it's always been an intention of coming, but it's an intention. He understands shock and awe. He understands how to dominate every news cycle, every conversation. He doesn't care if he's the hero. He doesn't care if he's the heel. He cares only that he's the star. And to understand that, to understand the other side, all of all sense, the, you know, obstacles the way, right? What stands in the way becomes the way. The impediment to action becomes the action. And so that's why we shifted, and that's why I think it's incredibly important our party shift the way it communicates. Because we've been shape shifted. CRT, EEI, ESI, you know, dei, ESG, anything with three damn letters. These guys are weaponized. Meanwhile, they're rewriting history, sensory historical facts. You think, I'm not me. I just came from Florida. Literally two years ago, they changed their social studies books, and they eliminated the race of Rosa Parks under the anti woke act. 4340 books you can't check out at libraries or have access to in schools. They are putting America in reverse, civil rights, voting rights, LGBTQ women's rights. They want to bring us back. Truly, I maybe it's not even a 1960s world. Sometimes one of it's 1860s world. Unknown Speaker 42:27 We will lose this country. Speaker 2 42:30 And so we've got to win the messaging war as well, and that's why we have to be more Speaker 1 42:48 aggressive, those main dishes were absolutely amazing, but now, hey, listen, not hold you off. Too easy. I love dessert. What do you want? Unknown Speaker 42:56 What I love, rocky red ice cream. But I'm not sure this restaurant has it. Speaker 1 43:02 Yeah, you know what? This restaurant has some a little different, but I want to take a really big picture. Is there a political decision that you would personally reconsider, either due to unintended consequences or because it wasn't just as impactful as you have hoped. Do you have any regrets? Speaker 2 43:19 Well, I talked about accommodation because it connects with so many when I when my mindset was more just managing situationally as opposed to leaving more sustainably, all regrets. But it's interesting just in the frame your question, and it try to also just connect a little bit back to book in 2004 some of the black and white movie days I was mayor, and I didn't know what. I didn't know the beginner's mind sort of the Roger bastard theory of life, the guy who don't perform in a mile because no one told him he could. And it's amazing. Just once a mind is stretched, it never goes back to its original form. How many people shortly after? I just love that. Then think about that as a mindset, this notion we gotta erase so much of what we know gets in the way of what we're capable of. So I didn't know any better. So in 2004 shortly after becoming mayor, I started marrying same sex couples, 4036 couples in 46 states and six countries. Speaker 2 44:30 The Democratic Party was furious. There was a convention later that year, and they said, you really should focus on dealing with the billionaires and the unhoused in your city. You don't need to go to Boston for the convention. Some of my heroes in politics read me the right act. I didn't include all the names I really wanted to, but the unintended consequences. Back to your question of that I talked about in the book, some people said I was responsible for the election going the wrong direction that November because I had sparked a debate that we didn't want to have back then. Remember, 2004 we had just finished debating domestic partnerships. We weren't even into separate and equal to civil unions, we kind of leapfrogged that in this, what we call winter of love in San Francisco. And it was surround sound, 24/7 of people saying two magic words I do, and it was extraordinary. And it wasn't at the same time, no images could be exploited. It was doctors, lawyers, it was nurses, it was your pilot, was your uncle, Joe, it was maybe one or two of you. But the consequences of that, I didn't think through. And for all I've for years, had doubt, not about doing the right thing, because it was the right thing to do, but was it the right time, and was I responsible? And again, back to the book about scrutinizing, not sanitizing all that. Any Polyana. It's, you know, it's part of what's possible. There's a pragmatism. It's not an ideological it's not a think tank when you're in this stuff. It's how you deal with the parts that are done, how you actually moved the needle. And so much of that, you know, that's stuff y'all hate. You know, no one likes to compromise. No one likes the sauces, really. You know, we want the Sorkin music. We want West Wing. You know, I wanted to, and that was, by the way, it was hard when we did redistricting, because, you know, they go low. I wanted to go high. I feel like that doesn't work, but, but no. And the point is, and so it's just, you know, but we want that song again, yeah. And I think we all want to breathe again. This has been exhausting, all our anxiety, our stress, everything you guys went through covid, and how you haven't even given yourself enough time to reflect on that embrace social unrest. Remember that out on the streets. I went to what's happened post George Floyd, right after the all middle of all that, then supply chains and inflation scars, interest rates through the roofs, still struggling with that, all of these things stacked on top of each other. And so I think in those terms, but in hindsight, look, we're all geniuses, and so the time you're not. And so I do think, the more I think about my life, I regret, perhaps, I mean, like Lucille Ball said at the end of her life, she didn't regret she was asked about, she said, I fully regret the things I didn't do, not the things I did. And I think about that in terms of that your question about business, how we can take more risks without new practice, how we can be more iterative, that's what I'm trying my social media. That's why I've got this podcast, and I'm meeting with folks. People are angry that I was platforming Charlie Kirk on my first podcast, and Steve Bannon, right Unknown Speaker 48:12 after Newt Gingrich, who led my recall Speaker 2 48:16 in the iteration there is to understand. And it's the heart of war. It's, I mean, we all have to read value, some of us little sideways. Gotta understand the opposition, and let's say the enemy, those terms, feels like that most days. In order to figure out and strategies to deal with it, because, again, this Donald Trump, what we're dealing with. He's an invasive species. This is unlike anything we've ever experienced in our lifetime, and so we cannot fall prey to conventional politics. Our politics I Unknown Speaker 49:09 also want to give you an opportunity to get a Wish granted with this magic wand, if you could pass one economic policy tomorrow, no opposition, it just happens. Speaker 2 49:28 What would it be? You know, I've been playing around. You know, one of the responsibilities of being in the state of dreamers and doers and entrepreneurs is to lead, for example, our regulations around AI to address the issues of promise, barrel to trust. We did that in the first large language model, Frontier model regulations in the United States. But to lead now in the anxiety that's dominated so much, particularly, I think, for you, but I imagine for especially out of California, what's going to happen, my damn job. The robots coming. You know, Elon just converted his Tesla facility in, I mean, Fremont, which is his second largest Shanghai Fremont, he's got rid of the s and x, and it's now just humanoid robotics. It's happening you I mean, you're seeing all the windows. We're all here in Austin. We share a lot in common in that respect. I mean, it's, you know, we're starting to do autonomous flights. The Olympics will be showcasing a lot of that, and what's happening in that space. And so I think about this notion of displacement, speed and scale, and so we've been playing around, and this is to answer your question of this notion of not UBI not the old construct, which I've done 5060, pilots on around University basic income and big income. And it was for years ago when it was novel in places like Canada, but University basic capital, and we're playing around with that, in a way, looks like sovereign wealth. And if there's a magic wand, would be in this space where everyone feels part of they have ownership in that we all are in the game together again. Just know so we rise and fall together. It's why I'm absolutely obsessed with service, shared experiences. That's why we have the largest Service Corps, much bigger than the Peace Corps, in California. It's one of the things I'm most proud of that we've accomplished. But this notion of universally basic capital, sovereign wealth, and how we can try to level the playing field, create that baseline of support, pre distribution focus, not just redistribution, build assets, financial literacy, that mindset, that growth mindset, this Ownership mindset, I think, is incredibly important to deal with, a lot of the cynicism that has shaped so much about politics and people's feelings. You and Speaker 1 52:04 I have one final question for you, is this the after dinner drink? Yeah, we're wrapping up. The bill is coming. I Governor news. I've had a really great time on this first date. I think everybody here at South by Speaker 1 52:29 Southwest, I hope you have had just as good of a time on this first date. So I'm wondering, would you be willing to go on a second date with us? But I actually have calendar availability of every single person in this room, and it's so crazy. We're all actually available, specifically November 2028 Speaker 2 52:56 know, I mean the assault and attacks are next up. I do not believe we will have a fair and free election as we know it, in 2028 if we don't take back the House of Representatives. One of my concerns, and we have seen this, typically, my partner, we just we love, falling in love and daring down with the white horse. And there's a romantic verse on that. Again, back to the sore confusion. I confusion at the credits of Westwood, but it is the hard work that you did here in Texas in this primary where Democrats showed up. Speaker 2 53:56 30 state races that will be flipped blue from red. The work that needs to be done between now and then to get speaker, Jeffreys that Gavin, we can do that. Then you and I could go on a Saturday. You Unknown Speaker 54:26 thank you so much. I feel like this was Speaker 1 54:30 the perfect first date, and I so very look forward to our second but while I have Speaker 5 54:38 everybody here, second, while I have everybody here, please grab a copy, young man in a hurry, you can get it here at South by anywhere you can Unknown Speaker 54:49 buy Your books, and the best way to buy it is Speaker 6 54:56 So thank you so much. What are you advising? Dr? Unknown Speaker 55:17 What are you advising? Well, he's he's down the track of physics. Unknown Speaker 55:30 Is where we want to Speaker 3 55:36 morning physics is Weird for the Air Force as Well. I chill, I'm.