Californians Give Their Leaders a Failing Grade - Then Vote for Them Anyway | Alex Marlow

**Guest:** Alex Marlow, Editor-in-Chief, Breitbart News & Host of the Alex Marlow Show **Guest Bio:**  Alex Marlow is the editor-in-chief of Breitbart News, where he was the site's first employee and has run its newsroom since 2013. He is a bestselling author whose latest book, *Breaking the Law*, examines the six major court cases brought against President Trump. A Los Angeles native who came up through an elite LA prep school, UC Berkeley, and an early obsession with talk radio, he covers national politics from the perspective of someone still living in, and rooting for, Southern California. **Show Summary** Gavin Newsom is polling at or near the top of the 2028 Democratic field, and Breitbart News editor-in-chief Alex Marlow joins host Jon Slavet with the obvious question: how does anyone run for president on that record? Marlow runs through the surplus that became a deficit, the fires, the homelessness, and the oppo file Axios reports is already being assembled - and explains why none of it may matter in a Democratic field he considers weak. Marlow makes his calls: the Republican side is already settled for JD Vance (the one name he gave Trump when asked who should be vice president), Kamala Harris still in the driver's seat on the Democratic side, and a warning about the one kind of candidate who could take it from her. He and Jon dig into Scott Galloway's Newsom worship, why Woke 2.0 is just Woke 1.0 with new branding, and the question Marlow says decides whether California is salvageable at all: will the tech elite follow Elon Musk and Sergey Brin out of the Democratic coalition, or keep grading Sacramento an F and voting for it anyway? The back half is a two-way report card on the Trump administration, from unsold victories like prescription drug pricing to the handling of the Iran strikes and tariffs, and it closes with Marlow's historical parallel for this moment: a new Gilded Age, where technology cured boredom and, in his telling, made us less informed, stupider, and crazier. **Chapters** 00:00 – Welcome: Breitbart Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow 00:17 – Newsom at the Top of the 2028 Polls 00:50 – The Record He'd Run On: Surplus to Deficit, Fires, Homelessness 02:08 – The Oppo File Is Already Being Built 03:12 – A Field So Weak the 10th Strongest Republican Wins 03:41 – Scott Galloway and the Newsom Aura 04:47 – The Tech Elite: Will They Follow Musk and Brin Out? 05:48 – Focus Groups: F Grades, Same Votes 06:16 – The 2028 Matchup: JD Vance vs. Kamala Harris 09:25 – Woke 1.0 vs. Woke 2.0: No Difference 12:41 – Can the Democrats Course-Correct Before 2028? 14:26 – Marlow's Honest Report Card on Trump 15:59 – The Unsold Victory: Prescription Drug Prices 18:20 – Jon's Case: Stale Bread on a Soviet Shelf 19:55 – The Historical Parallel: A New Gilded Age 20:29 – We Cured Boredom and Got Stupider 22:37 – The Positive Spin: This Gilded Age Builds Millionaires **Connect with Alex Marlow**  - X: https://x.com/AlexMarlow - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marlownews/ - Facebook: https://facebook.com/alexmarlowmedia - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AlexMarlowShow - Website: alexmarlow.com Enjoyed the episode? Subscribe to our podcast, leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and join the conversation on Instagram and LinkedIn with the hashtag #stateofgoldpodcast **Connect with State of Gold** - X: https://x.com/realjonslavet - Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stateofgold/about - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stateofgoldpodcast/?hl=en - Website: www.stateofgold.com