The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Gavin Newsom - California's COVID-19 Battle & "Ben & Emma's Big Hit"

Episode Date: December 12, 2021

Governor Gavin Newsom chats about California's fight against COVID-19 and his children's book "Ben & Emma's Big Hit," which was inspired by his struggle with dyslexia. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. Kevin Newsom, welcome to the show. It's good to be back. It's really good to see you again, Governor. It's been a while. The last time we spoke was over Zoom. Was at the height of the pandemic? Yeah.

Just, I mean In fact, we peaked in that first week of January where we were getting body bags from outside of the state. We had one of the best summers of any state in the country among the lowest positivity rate and case rates. We start to see an an increase. the fifth lowest, 2.2% positivity in the country. And the the the the the the the the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thate. thi. the. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. We're, th. We're, th. We're, th. We're, th. We're, th. We's, th. We's, th. We's, th. We's, th. We's, th. We's is is is. We's, th. We're, th. We're, th. We're, th. th. We're, the. We're thr. thr. We're thr. We're thr. thr. thr. thr. thr. thr. thr. thr. thr. We're the. We, and for one reason. At the end of the day, it's that we have led with vaccinations and minister doses. 93% now of adults have received at least one dose, and the key is to continue to promote these life-saving vaccines and boosters. That's the only way out of this. You've had a, like, a really rocky journey, you know, to say the least, in and around the pandemic. I mean, California went through a really tough time, you know, and then obviously the whole

country saw the George Floyd protests and California saw some of the biggest, you know, and then then you had the pandemic itself and then you went to the restaurant when you weren't supposed. You didn't even mention the wildfires. I didn't mention the wildfires. I was I was didn't th. I was th. I was th. I was th. I was th. I was th. I was th. I was th. I was th. I was th. I was th. I was th. I was th. I was thi. I was thi. I was thi. I was thi. I didn't thi. I didn't their their the wi. I didn't the wi. I didn't the w. I the w. I the w. I the w. I the whole. I the whole. I the whole. I the whole. I the whole. I the whole. I the whole. I the whole. I was the whole. I was the w. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. th. th. I was. then. I was. then. then. I was. then. I was. I was then. I was the. I was. I was. I Yeah that was. Yeah that was that was the certain choices we make you own them. You know tattoo look hey I hardly perfect and those that are God bless and write a book I hope they do but but I'm not and I made it it made him a mistake but yeah I don't. Let me ask you this though does that mean though that as a governor you would have the same level of maybe compassion for people who mess up with when they break the rules? I always have and I mean honestly it goes and without even just jump into the book, I always have. I'm very humble by the nature of the world in life. And my own struggles and my own mistakes and of course when you have dyslexia you have a learning disability growing up you're prone consistently to make mistakes. It's an anomaly when you don't make a mistake. That's interesting. And so for me this notion of resilience and grit and determination.

But look, the key, the life, you know, I think it was Churchill and other dyslexics, and secret of all success, moving from failure to failure with enthusiasm. You have to own up your mistakes, don't repeat them and learn from them. And at the end of the day, look, I get it. We have to model better behavior as the leaders, but one thing I'm proud of, we've been a model in terms of science and health outcomes. We have had a pandemic, like every state has, but we have not been shy to lean in, take leadership, and with that comes lumps.

Let's talk about the book. Ben and Emma's big hit. So they told me, Governor Gavin Newsome was going to come on the show, he's writing a new book book book book book book book book book book book last time a governor wrote a book, his life didn't go so well. I was like, this could be risky. But this is different. You wrote a children's book. And I'm not going to lie, it was really endearing. You wrote a book about how, basically your struggles. the struggles dyslexia, which the their book, basically, basically, basically, basically, basically, basically, basically, basically, basically, basically, basically, basically, which, basically, which, basically, basically, which, basically, basically, basically, which, basically, basically, basically, basically, basically, basically, basically, basically, basically, basically, basically, basically, basically, basically, basically, basically, basically, basically, basically, basically, basically, basically, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, life, life, life, life, life, life, life, life, life, life, life, life, life, life, life, life, life, life, life, life, life, life, life, life, life, life, did find it ironic that the way you discovered your dyslexia is that you read through documents. But tell me a little bit about the story.

I just kept seeing my name and I'm wondering what the stack of documents were and of course wondering why I was going after school consistently and I didn't realize for years. Because you were really struggling in speech therapy, learning disability, that included inability to read completely and inability to spell. And I still struggle. This is a lifelong issue. And of course, it's not unique to me. I mean, it's jaw dropping.

At least we estimate 20% of people around the globe have some form of learning disability. I said, think about that number. That's huge, yeah. It's tens of millions of Americans, hundreds of millions of people around the globe, many that have been diagnosed, many that have gotten intervention support, many that haven't.

And so I just want to destigmatize this. I just met with a bunch of young kids. All of them that had learning disabilities and differences. And the number one thing they all have in common, self-esteem. And they feel demoralized. They feel that they're stupid. Right. And I had terrible self-esteem, and I was in the back of the classroom, and I had terrible grades. And I can't read speeches, even today.

So what do you do then? have a speech writer, it's all extemporaneous. So you just remember, you just he's got to go up, know your material and that's another thing you learn and just like you got to work ten times as hard as anyone else. Because you're using other parts of your brain, yeah. Other parts of brain. I mean it's awkward to admit all these things, right? Because you want to be the guy, this is come. It's the opposite. This is a composite of me. It's my mom, a single mom. She passed away almost 20 years ago and she's Miss Kim and how she didn't give up on me even though she struggled. And I'll tell you, it's heartbreaking. I got four kids, a couple of them are struggling with learning differences as well. And as a parent, it's much worse. It's much worse, trust me than being a kid with dyslexia. And th. And th. And th. th. th. th. th. th. their, th. their, thi, thi, their, thi, their, thi, their, thi, thi, thi, thi, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, and their, and their, and their, and how, and how, and how, and how, and how, and how, and how, and how, and how, and how, and how, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, thi. And, thi. And, thi. their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, the. the. th. thi. thi. And, and thi. And, and thi, than being a kid with dyslexia is experiencing your own kids with a learning disability.

What's the word that freaks you out the most? There's got to be like a word. That's an interesting question. I never thought about that. I think perfection, it's illusory. It doesn't exist. It's a loser. And we're consumed. to consume the thiiiii. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. toeee. thooooomoom. thoom. thi. thi. thi. thoom. thoom. that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. toee. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toea. t thaea. thaea. thaea. thaea. thaea. thaea. toea. thi. thi. th words. What we need is the creative.

We need the innovative. If you don't make mistakes, you can't find a new way of doing things. In politics, I mean, we destroy people for making mistakes. Right. We do. And so as a consequence, well, there's a difference,

though, I think destroying themto find that balance. Because I don't think you've been destroyed, you're here and you're still the governor. Yeah. You know, some could say, you know, your actions are French laundry meant that now you were taken to task and then the people voted for you. I mean you what, 30 points? So clearly the people are like, all right, you know, governor, news and you're the to throwne. but the. but the, but, the, the, the, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, the, the, the, the, the, the, to, the, the, the, the, the, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, to............. And, you're, you, you, you, to. And, to. And, to. And, to. And, toe. And, toe. And, toe. toe. toe. toe. they. they. the, they. the, they. the, they. the the they. the the they. are you right, let me make a distinction about the point I was making because I didn't say it effectively enough. It's not being held to account. You need to held us to a higher level of accountability because of our unique positions. We have not just formal authority, but we should have, we should have some moral authority. So I couldn't not agree more. But I think about in tterms of policy, in terms of good intentions gone awry.

Right. Not the failings, but try new things, being willing to take risks as it relates to iterative strategy. It is challenging. And that's where people say, see, what, that's complete. They try money and that's where in private sector I have 20 businesses I started as a as an entrepreneur restaurants hotel wineries I'm really proud of pen to paper myself no no inheritance no no and you know all I did I actually did a

writ I every month gave an award to the person who screwed up the most wow we had a failure award I wish I worked in your company. It's never too late. It's never too late. But the reason you did this is because. To incentivize initiative and responsibility. We're not victims. Be accountable.

Let me ask you this then. Using your entrepreneurial spirit and mind, combined with your leadership, Let's look at California. And California is not the only place, please don't get me wrong. But you know, we've seen a spate of like, you know, shoplifting and like these mass things where they drive in, they steal a bunch of stuff and they go. And then we see some police chiefs now, I take what they say with a pinch of salt, but some of them say like, oh, well, it's because people know people know, no bail anymore for shoplifting, no matter how big the scale, people understand the risk versus reward ratio of what they're doing. So how do you find a creative way to create a safer state for people whilst also not

jumping into the, you know, the industrial prison complex and then punishing people who shouldn't be punished because they can't afford to pay bail? How do you find that balance using that entrepreneurial mind? Well, I'm in a unique position to answer that for two reasons. One, I come from California, which led the nation in the lock of three strikes and you're out in 1994, four of the others. I mean, we were on the forefront of that and we saw prisons increase, 175,000 people at peak. We had opened dozens of prisons and actually only opened up, their presence, the thoes, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, th. th. tho, th. th. tho, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. the th. thr. thr. thr. toea. toe up. We advanced reforms and we saw crime go down. Let me be specific. These folks, particularly on one of those networks, every single day, is talking about

something called Prop 47 in California. That was a reform in 2014 as it relates to the issue of shoplifting and property crimes. It would be a felony if it was crime that was committed that was $900 of goods. Roya's different $400, roughly $450. The reality is in 2015, property crimes went down, larceny went down, shoplifting went down, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19. So if it's the cause of the spike, it must have been the cause for the decline. Now, what's happening with the retail theft is unacceptable. We have to hold people to account. And these th tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho the thi thi thi thi thi, thi, thi, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, the, the, the, tho, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thr-n, thri, thri, throi, throi, throi, throi, throi.. throoi, throi,'re doing that. And these are crimes well beyond the $900 threshold.

So it's rather specious, these arguments. Plus 39 states, 39 Republican states, not just Democratic states, did the same thing that California did. 31 states today have higher felony thresholds in the state of California. Interestingly, Texas has higher violent crime rights in California and property crime rights. Why isn't Fox talking about those states? They are scapegoating these reforms because they don't support the reforms. I'm open argument interested in evidence.

If we find that these reforms are not producing as they were intended, then we will own that. Same time, we have to own the responsibility to address these organized criminal rings. And these retail thefts are being done at scale, in Minnesota, in Chicago, not just California. And that's a whole different paradigm and challenge, and we are responsible, again, accountable to addressing that issue and we're doing that. Well, thank you for the time. Thank you for writing a really fun book, and I appreciate.

Hope to see you again on the show. Great to see you. Ben and Emma's Big Hits is available now. Watch the Daily Show, Weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central, and stream full episodes. and, thinn't thr, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, the thi, the thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the the the the the the the the the tho, thooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooe, the the the the thoooooooooooooooo, thooo, the, the, and the, th