Newsom lauded Kirk for his deep understanding of ‘the pain young men are facing and struggling with’

California Gov. Gavin Newsom reflected on his March interview with slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk, praising the Turning Point USA (TPUSA) co-founder for his willingness to debate those who disagreed with him in a “fair and balanced way” and for his understanding of “the pain young men are facing and struggling with,” an area Newsom said Democrats could be addressing more effectively.

In an interview with The New York Times’ Ezra Klein Wednesday, Newsom lauded Kirk’s “sincerity” and “grace,” recalling him as someone who was “deeply focused on organizing in a deeper way than I fully understood.”

“I thought there was a deeper sincerity than I had anticipated, in terms of his point of view and his perspective. A willingness to engage with people he disagreed with, a willingness to debate — to the extent that he thought — in a fair and balanced way. I think there’s grace in that,” he told Klein on “The Ezra Klein Show.”

The governor added that Kirk “understood more deeply the pain that young men are facing and struggling with” and was able to “do something about it and give them hope and recognize that society is failing young men.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a rally with Harris County Democrats Nov. 8, 2025, in Houston, Texas. (Karen Warren/AP Photo)

Speaking on the struggles facing young men, Newsom conceded that “if you’re 30 years old, you’re the first generation living that’s not doing better than your parents,” noting that there is a growing sense of nihilism among that demographic.

He said he felt that same nihilism while speaking to young men at a recent event, pointing out that Kirk had a strong understanding of this phenomenon.

“I went down to TwitchCon and was there with a lot of gamers, really trying to get into the belly of the beast of understanding where young men are and this pain and suffering, this isolation, that’s turning increasingly to grievance that they’re never going to do better than their parents. They’re never going to get out of that room with three roommates. They can’t even afford rent because they can’t afford the first two months’ payment on the rent, let alone buy a home,” he recalled.

“And this nihilism Kirk understood. Certainly Trump understood it, as well. He took advantage of it.”

While Newsom praised Kirk — and even President Donald Trump — for their understanding of the unique situation that young men are in, he argued that “they have no prescriptions to address it and deal with it.”

Charlie Kirk, who founded Turning Point USA, was killed Sept. 10 while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

“Of course, I only had an hour-and-a-half conversation with Charlie, but where it seems to me to have fallen short with Turning Point USA and the MAGA movement is they don’t have a prescription to actually address the real and substantive issues, but they sure as hell identify the problem,” he asserted.

Klein followed up by questioning whether Newsom had just laid out Kirk’s prescription for the problem, “Tariffs, a closed border and Christianity.”

Newsom didn’t directly answer Klein’s question but noted that “Christianity is a big part” before recounting a story from one of his interactions with Kirk during their interview.

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“I lazily said, “Jesus!” and he got offended. And then I said it again, and I realized, ‘Boy, I really am offending him now. Forgive me,’” he recalled. “I didn’t understand how deeply held his faith was and how much of an organizing principle it was for him as well.”

Although the governor admitted he’s more spiritual than religious, he acknowledged the value in Kirk building a movement that merged “creating community, a sense of belonging, meaning, identity.”

In September, Newsom said the assassination of Kirk had not swayed his political strategy going forward amid concerns about the impact of inflammatory political rhetoric. (Getty Images)

Newsom added that while “there are a lot of grievances” he holds about some of Kirk’s views, “there are also a lot of grievances I have in this space, that my party has completely neglected this space, that we haven’t been organizing the campuses.”

“We haven’t been organizing young men. We haven’t been addressing their societal screams, their concerns. Their suicide rate — four times that of women. Their dropout rates. Their depths of despair. We have men who are suffering, and it’s hurting women. Any mother understands this,” he explained.

Wrapping up his reflection on Kirk’s impact on young men, Newsom recalled how excited his son was when he found out that he was interviewing the TPUSA founder, telling his father, “You really need to get to know him, Dad.”

“I started to wake up to this reality that the Democratic Party needs to wake up to. And that’s, again, the entry into why I did this podcast and had those folks on as first guests,” he shared.