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  • -Our first guest tonight is the Governor of California.

  • Please welcome back to the show Governor Gavin Newsom.

  • -It's great to be with you. -Thank you so much.

  • Obviously, this is an incredibly busy time for you.

  • We really appreciate you making time for us.

  • You were in the studio three months ago,

  • a very different world than just three months ago.

  • -Yeah, isn't it amazing?

  • I mean, I was not only in your studio,

  • I was here at the state capital, announcing

  • a $6 billion budget surplus in the state of California,

  • record job growth, record reserves.

  • And I'm about to update the budget

  • and talk about unprecedented unemployment and deficits.

  • And every day, I go in front of the press,

  • and I announce the number of lives lost --

  • another 95 human beings lost their lives

  • in the last 24 hours here in California alone.

  • It's remarkable what a few months -- how things can change.

  • -You were the first governor to issue a stay-at-home order.

  • And I think, in these really fractured political times,

  • people might forget that no governor ever wants

  • to tell the people in their state to stay at home.

  • That must have been an incredibly hard decision.

  • Can you talk about the difficulty in making it?

  • -Yeah. It's a hard decision because --

  • just 'cause you say something

  • doesn't mean people are gonna do something.

  • But all this happens with the speed of trust.

  • And if you don't have the trust of folks,

  • you're doing the right thing for the right reasons,

  • things could fall apart.

  • What I was so humbled by, so amazed by,

  • was how 40 million people --

  • I mean, this is the fifth largest economy in the world --

  • it truly is a nation-state

  • in terms of the size and scale and scope --

  • across every geographic and political difference,

  • overwhelmingly abided by the stay-at-home order

  • for at least the last 60 days.

  • The challenge is we're now in a period

  • where people have cabin fever

  • and they're very, very frustrated

  • and want to come back.

  • And so this is, I think,

  • the most challenging period for all of us --

  • not just for the folks in California,

  • but we were really, really humbled

  • by how people took to heart this crisis

  • and recognized their imperative

  • to do the right thing as individuals

  • so that they can help the state of California.

  • -Californians, justifiably so, brag about their beaches.

  • We saw footage this past weekend

  • of a lot of people crowding the beaches.

  • You just gave a press conference

  • where, I think specifically in Orange County,

  • you reinforced the importance of staying at home.

  • Is that -- That must be hard.

  • You mentioned cabin fever.

  • You know, people want to be outside.

  • -No, I've spent my entire political life

  • opening up beach access,

  • fighting for people's right to their beach.

  • And this state -- it's one of the reasons

  • Horace Greeley said,

  • "Go West, young man, go West," in the 1850s.

  • It's our natural beauty --

  • an 1,100-mile coastline, 800 miles of pristine beaches,

  • none more beautiful than down in Orange County,

  • one of the really most magnificent,

  • bucolic parts of the world.

  • And so I hated to do it, but I had to do it

  • on the basis of the advice and counsel

  • from my public health directors.

  • They're all saying the only way we can set this course back

  • to re-opening with modifications, our economy,

  • is to see the kind of concentration

  • that we saw on those beaches over the weekend.

  • And so we're going to do our best,

  • try to be collaborative and cooperative.

  • Most of the beaches -- over 100 did everything right,

  • and the communities there really met the moment.

  • But, unfortunately, people were really eager to get out,

  • a little too much so last weekend.

  • And so I just want to slow that down,

  • decompress a little bit,

  • and then have a pathway to reopen very quickly.

  • -You have announced a four-phase plan to reopening.

  • One of the fears, of course,

  • is we've seen in countries that have started to re-open

  • that there's an uptick in cases.

  • How strictly do you adhere to this four-phase plan,

  • and how often during the day are you checking in with the data

  • to back up the choices?

  • -Every single morning.

  • We're driven by data. We're driven by health.

  • We're driven by evidence.

  • We're not ideological about any of this.

  • You know, a lot of pressure to quote, unquote,

  • "re-open the economy."

  • If that is the best public health decision, I'll make it.

  • But it's not right now.

  • It would be devastating.

  • Just ask the folks in Singapore, parts of China,

  • that island off the coast of Japan

  • that's part of Japan,

  • where they had all this progress,

  • and, literally, in a moment,

  • they unwound all of that progress.

  • They ran the proverbial 90-yard dash.

  • We don't want to do that.

  • So our health directors -- not just our state folks,

  • but the local folks will guide that.

  • And we're also guided by this --

  • a recognition in a state as large as ours

  • that each jurisdiction's a little bit different

  • than the other.

  • And so we're looking at some regional variations,

  • regional constructs

  • that may allow some parts of the state

  • to move a little bit sooner than other parts.

  • -The last time we spoke, we talked about the fact

  • that you have sued the Trump administration

  • over 70 times.

  • There has been criticism from both sides towards each other.

  • And yet, you've also praised the federal government response

  • in the way they've helped California.

  • Does -- To the point

  • that the President has actually released a new campaign

  • with and both you and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo

  • saying nice things about him,

  • can we say that the relationship is decent at this point?

  • -Well, we've filed two new lawsuits

  • since we were last together,

  • and we will continue to fight to protect our values,

  • and when it comes to diversity, clean air, clean water,

  • the health of this state,

  • we will always stand on principle and stand tall.

  • But, you know, my mom taught me be polite,

  • and when someone --

  • you ask for help and someone actually delivers,

  • you have to acknowledge it.

  • And so all I can talk to is through the prism and the frame

  • of the state of California.

  • When I've called the administration,

  • when I've called the President directly,

  • not only is he available and answers,

  • but he's also delivered on a lot of the requests.

  • And so I can make it up --

  • I could try to avoid any kind of non-partisan behavior

  • and just play hard in my lane as a Democrat

  • and a tribal mind-set.

  • But we're in a crisis.

  • I'm trying to save 40 million Californians,

  • 40 million Americans that live in California.

  • And I don't care if you're Democrat or Republican.

  • I care that you care about your kids

  • and your community and your loved ones,

  • and we're all in this together.

  • And so that's the spirit we're bringing into this.

  • But it doesn't stop us

  • from having our points of disagreement, I can assure you.

-Our first guest tonight is the Governor of California.

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