‘Two different worlds.’ Gavin Newsom rips DeSantis, talks California housing on late night TV

California Gov. Gavin Newsom held a post-mortem about his face-off with Ron DeSantis, and sprinkled in some talk about zoning laws, in his appearance on NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers” early Thursday morning.

Newsom said he had “developed a lot of animus” toward the Florida governor, his opponent in the Nov. 30 “Red State vs. Blue State” debate, “because of his animus towards all of you.”

“This guy is out there scapegoating vulnerable communities,” Newsom said. “He’s attacking minorities, he’s attacking women. And I don’t like it, and I wanted to push back against it. And I felt like the party was a little timid on all this.”

When DeSantis uses the phrase “anti-woke,” what he really means is “anti-Black,” Newsom said, referring to his efforts to ban AP African-American Studies and statements about slavery as a “some workforce development program.”

“It’s a very serious moment,” the second-term Democrat said. “I just felt it was important to blow back against that, against that narrative, and hold these guys accountable on a network where they don’t hear from guys like me, ever.”

In spite of the challenges of facing DeSantis and Fox News host Sean Hannity in an unfriendly setting, Newsom said he thinks such discussions continue to be important.

“We’re living in two different worlds,” he said. “These sort of micro-cults. And people are in this filter bubble, only listening to one thing all the time. And that’s why I started going on Fox. And that’s why I thought it was important to have a 90-minute live debate, at least so I can assert and push back.”

He praised President Joe Biden and said the Democratic party needs to be more aggressive in promoting its values.

When asked why few Democrats are advocating for Biden less than a year ahead of the 2024 presidential election, Newsom touted his accomplishments and called him a “master class” with an “extraordinary record.”

“I think we need to assert ourselves,” Newsom said. “We’ve got to be assertive. And, frankly, Republicans, they’ve been defining the terms. CRT, DEI, ESG — no one even understands what these things mean, and we’re on the defense.”

“They think the most important issue for our kids is drag shows and trans issues, not gun violence in this country?” Newsom added. “On all of these issues, we’re on the right side. We just need to get on the other side of our anxiety and doubts and go on the offensive.”

Newsom got a chance to talk about California housing when Meyers asked him about the need to address homelessness, build more housing and curb NIMBY-ism. Meyers brought up the use of zoning laws to exclude new housing from communities.

“You’re up against zoning,” said Meyers. “And zoning is often not ... You can’t blame conservatives. This is often your own liberal support base.”

“I’m suing cities,” the governor said, referring to action Attorney General Rob Bonta has taken to bring cities into compliance with state housing laws.

“I threatened to sue my old city, San Francisco,” Newsom said. “In fact, we did a big audit, and now we are conforming to state law for the first time and finally addressing the housing crisis. The original sin in California: affordability in all its forms and manifestations, none more acute than the issues you see on the streets and sidewalks.”