Jane Fonda Slams Gavin Newsom for ‘Cozying Up’ to Political Rival Steve Bannon | Video
Jane Fonda is among several Democrats slamming Gavin Newsom for “cozying up to Steve Bannon” after the California governor had the far-right political figure as a guest on his podcast.
By doing so, Fonda argued, the democratic politician “forfeits his ability to inspire and protect the very people that elected him.”
She described the moment as Newsom shifting from being Winston Churchill — the British prime minister who led the nation to an allied victory over Hitler during World War II — to Neville Chamberlain, his predecessor whose appeasement tactics were seen as caving to the Nazi leader.
“Leaders are made or broken in times like this, and we have to ask ourselves [about] our governor Newsom: Is he Chamberlain, or is he Churchill?” she told Fox L.A. anchor Elex Michaelson.
“He’s Chamberlain [now]. He’s been Churchill. This is what’s so insane. He has been a great leader,” she continued, criticizing Newsom’s willingness to let Sable Offshore restart Exxon’s former oil and gas plant off the Gaviota Coast in Santa Barbara.
Watch the full moment below:
“He has been braver than most past governors. He stood up and passed a bill, Senate Bill 1137, that outlawed neighborhood drilling, kept new oil wells out of communities. Fantastic. He stood up to oil companies who were gouging us at the pump. And he’s been brave about a lot of things,” she continued.
“We need him to stand up,” she said. “We need leadership, it’s a cause of concern to see him, this brave governor, suddenly gets silent and and not step up.”
Michaelson asked why she thought Newsom was now sitting down with conservative media personalities like Bannon and Charlie Kirk.
“Because he’s running for president?” she speculated. “I don’t know. That’s what everybody assumes.” The actress and activist said she would still consider voting for Newsom as president, but “it depends on on which governor shows up for us here.”
Michaelson suggested that in talking to people like Bannon, maybe there’s “lessons to be learned” about why the Democrats lost the 2024 election.
Fonda emphatically replied, “No, you’re not going to learn any lesson from Steve Bannon about why Democrats lost, or any of the other Republicans he’s had. [If] anybody wants to find out why Democrats lost, talk to people in the middle of the country, or working people here. Working class people are the people that can explain to the Democrats what went wrong. Not Steve Bannon.”
“The View” co-host Sunny Hostin also slammed Newsom as “despicable” for hosting Bannon.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear weighed in to say, “I don’t think we should give [Bannon] oxygen on any platform, ever, anywhere.”
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