Christmas Lists & Relationship Advice
24:37 Share

Man, what's happening, man? You got Marshawn beast mode Lynch. Doug Hendrickson. And Gavin Newsom. And you're listening to Politicking. Right before Thanksgiving, every Thanksgiving, the week of Thanksgiving, we do a series of pardons and commutations. And one of the great gifts, no BS, like it's an amazing, amazing, amazing experience to

picking up the phone and making the calls to dozens of people that for years and years and years have wanted to clear their record and turn the page in their life and to let them know that they officially have been pardoned. And so I was on the phone, coincidental to this Hunter pardon, with, I think it was 18 or so, I can't remember the exact number, but it was roughly about 18 people. And

and give him a call. I got hung up on a number of times. One person said, fuck you. I was like, Jesus, I was calling to tell you I parted you. Another person goes, yeah, send me the paperwork. I'm like, wow, okay. I have no gratitude. They don't believe it. They don't believe it. Other people, like literally I'll get a call back because I don't have a block. They said,

is this really you? I thought it was my buddy, Bob. He was pulling my leg. I'm totally embarrassed, man. That's amazing. Other people literally it's other people literally say there's like silence. I'm like, I'm sorry. Are you there? Um, it's, it's, it's Gavin. He goes, if this is really you, and if you're not pulling my leg and then they're start crying, he's like, and it's like a mate. And then I'm starting to cry. I can't even talk.

Because it's so intense. You don't know what this means to my kids. I can look at my kids in the eye for 30 years. I made a mistake 30 years ago. I've done everything right, but I've never felt right. This is the first time I felt, you know, and like, you're like, Jesus. And you hang up and you sit there. I said, I swear to God, I'm sitting in my office by myself. And most folks have left the office. I'm just looking outside going, I'm the luckiest goddamn son of a bitch in the world to be able to make these calls.

and to have the gift of just a simple decision and to give people that second chance in their life. So, man, Marshawn, to your point, those things matter and you take them very seriously. There's something reverential about that process, commutations.

about commuting a sentence, about a pardon, about cleaning a record. So they just, you gotta be careful about politicizing. And I guess that goes to my concern more broadly is because I'm a practitioner in this space. It's not intellectual and it's real power and it should be used sparingly, but it's very powerful. It's just as a human expression. It's one of the, no bullshit. I swear I sat there saying, for all the crap you take in this job,

You have moments like this where you're talking to human beings and you feel like you've changed their lives. And to have that ability to do that so easily, man, what a gift. It's rewarding, huh? Next level, brother. There's also pretty good perks to the job being, huh? Yeah. And that's like, that's, you know, I think getting reservations or using Doug to get a free, you know, get through the bar or something. It ain't about that, brother. Yeah.

He's going for a show. There's one dude you don't want to see with power. Oh, shit. I could only imagine...

I wouldn't last very long more, Sean. It would last maybe two weeks in the job. Hey, by the way, I don't want to believe this. Shots for everybody. Shots for you. Shots for you. Shots for you. We're keeping this place open on that long. We're getting the planes. I don't care if I can't take your private plane. I'm taking it. Let's go. We're going on vacation. Okay, you guys are talking private planes. I'm like, Jesus Christ, kind of lives you two live. I'm sitting there grinding, doing pardons and paroles every week.

By the way, I got some good paroles this week, about 60 paroles this week. I mean, people like you, this Doug, I've shared some of those with you in confidence, broad strokes, because we don't break, I don't use names. You ain't seen nothing like this group.

You know, like bodies dismembered, the whole thing. He's dismembered. Tough world. Marshawn, no bullshit. I will tell you that right now. We don't let that person out. We keep that one in. Back to the Menendez brothers too, because no bullshit. It's like, it's, those are the high profile things and then the low profile stuff. But the things that people don't even realize that happened every single goddamn day, man. Yeah.

the human condition. Doug, man, so we got a bunch of questions this week. And I know for Marshawn, we got a bunch of questions. I think Doug,

Doug, there are a few coming my way, but I didn't understand one of these damn questions about Black Monday. I was like, is this some shopping network thing? And then I realized it has nothing to do with shopping unless you're shopping for a new head coach or something. What the hell is this Black Monday thing? Yeah, Black Monday, Gavin, is notoriously the Monday after the last NFL game in a few weeks.

And that is when the coaches in the GMs have not been fired, get fired. It's a brutal day for everybody in the organization. But these owners now, as you know, these guys want to win. And so it used to be these head coaches, GMs get a couple of years, two, three, four years to build a team. Now, sometimes they're hired one year and done. So you're going to have Black Monday, probably as many as maybe six, seven, eight coaches getting fired. Four or five GMs get fired.

And a lot of coaches try to come in and revamp things. But the interesting part is, you know, these owners looking for a quick fix. They're looking for leaders. They're looking for CEOs, looking for coaches. More than all, they don't work out. They fail. There's a lot of number twos out there and not a lot of number ones. Do they fail? No.

A lot of these coaches fail. A lot of the GMs fail. With a year to get an understanding of this and you come into a fucked up position, how is that a fail? Thank you. I'm with you. You don't have to, you don't have to, you don't even have the time to fail. Because you have, you have owners that don't really know the sport and they want to win right away and they don't, they don't have any patience. Who haven't won a Super Bowl with,

Which team? Well, other than lately, KC and I don't know who else is going to be besides KC, lady. I said, who hasn't? I mean, it's teams that ain't even you feel me? No, it's a it's a it's a brutal thing. They've been going through this for forever. Jets are a prime example of this, man. You get rid of the coach in the middle of the year and then they keep losing, losing, losing the pressure on that. How about pressure on him, on Johnson as the owner of the Jets after what? More losing seasons than any other franchise the last decade or so.

Well, it's interesting. It's interesting question, Gavin, whoever asked that. And I do want to parallel that back to you quickly, because if you look about a lot of these guys that get these jobs as new coaches or new GMs, they fail for a couple of reasons. One is, yes, as more Sean's point, the team's not very good. It's tough to build it back quickly, but they also fail because they're afraid to make decisions quickly.

and they're afraid to really be that person. And so do you find the same thing in politics? Do you see mayors or governors that come in that kind of are afraid to lead? I've always admired what you've done. You're right, wrong, or different. You're going to do something and stand by it. But do you see a lot of people in your industry that get that number one job and then they don't deliver? No.

Yeah, but I think it has, I can't help but thinking about, and forgive me, sort of fixated on the Jets in the context of some of their struggles over the last many years, predating even Rodgers. But it's interesting in the context of your question, because I think about the times you don't make decisions are when those decisions have consequences as it relates to people that are on your team that have outsized influence on that decision-making. So even the owner of a team, even the head coach of a team sometimes doesn't have that ability

to make those decisions. And I think about, honestly, the impact of some of the decisions that you wonder are being made by the GM or the owner of the Jets or by their quarterback and how you balance that and the consequences of indecision or decision that you outsource to a superstar. Think about LeBron. You think about some of the most high-profile and prolific

leaders on teams and a lot of owners, you'd think they have the real control, but a lot of that's outsourced to the folks that are out there on the field. And I honestly, I think about that in the context of politics as well and how you sort of balance all of those things. And, you know, our field's not just a board of directors of 120 people that I don't pick

And if I did, how do you get consensus with 120 people in the legislature? And then you have 40 million people that you quote unquote serve that pay your salary. So it's a different construct, but it's the same, I think, fundamental challenge is balancing

that decision-making in the context of how that decision-making ultimately will be implemented and absorbed. We'll also look at, look at Marshawn. I know we've talked about it. You know, when John Schneider traded for Marshawn, it revamped the entire organization. They get to, they win a Superbowl, get back to another one. There's only one other team at that time that was interested in trading for Marshawn. That was Green Bay and a lot had to do with Aaron Rodgers. Okay.

Okay. Cause the Packers never traded for people back then. They still didn't trade for it. But the point I'm trying to make is that you had one team, Gavin, that was willing to jump out and say, you know what? I'm not, there's no chance on his talent, but there's a chance on making it all work together. But they did it. Look what happened to that team. But a lot of these GMs come in and are afraid to trade up in the draft. They're afraid to get a phrase. They're afraid to take a gamble on a player. And you can't win. If you don't do that, you can't sit back and say, I'm gonna take my eight picks and

and not going to free agency and not gamble and do something. You have to be able to willing to roll the dice a little bit. - Not pretty, I mean, you think about it with the Niners, they did that with Trey.

with Lance and the first round draft choice. And, you know, and so far their GM is living to fight another day. And to your point, you know, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. But the flip side of that as well is some sort of legendary screw-ups as it relates to some of those picks or moving up in a draft.

and then falling flat on your face and you destroy your franchise for a decade because you skipped someone of epic talent to get someone no talent. So look, decisions are tough. Leadership's tough. But the buck stops. And it's I think the buck in this case is next level. And to your point about these owners now, I mean, they're you know, this is I mean, these guys always get what they want.

in their private lives. And they expect when they own a franchise that they should be able to get that on the field. And it's, it's, that's the short-termism is not good for the sport. And obviously not good for these franchises. It's the most wonderful time of the year for getting in on all the hoops, football and hockey action at DraftKings Sportsbook.

In the season of giving, we're being gifted college football and basketball, pro football and basketball, and pro hockey too, almost 24-7. And here is a gift for all. New customers bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets if...

Your bet wins. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use code GMD. That's code GMD for new customers to get $150 in bonus bets if your bet wins when you bet just five bucks. Happy holiday from DraftKings. The crown is yours. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. In New York, call 877-8-HOPE-NY or text HOPE-NY-467-369.

In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org. Please play responsibly.

On behalf of Boot Hill Casino and Resort in Kansas, 21 plus age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. Bet must win to receive reward. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng.co slash bball. ♪♪♪

Well, I got a question for you, Marshawn. This comes from Stacy, and she wants some relationship advice for you, Marshawn. Oh, shit. The only one of us does not marry? So here's the question. I am currently in a long-distance relationship with a guy in Oakland. I live in New Hampshire.

Whenever I text him first, which is rare, he takes sometimes hours to respond and tells me he's busy with his work. On the flip side, when he texts me first, he expects me to drop everything I'm doing and immediately talk to him or else he becomes irate. What do I do about the double standard? Give me some counsel. That's to you, Marshawn. Oh, my gosh. How do I get put on the spot for the relationship? Relationship advice. You feel me? I'm not even... I think it's just because...

Day from the town. And I mean, if he said he was busy, I mean, if he ain't gave you no other reason to not believe that, then, you know what I mean? You got to take it for face value. But, you know, women got something called women's intuition that they be running with. And if that's what you feel, then maybe you got to make your decision. And we just talk about decision. You got to make it and you got to stick with it.

And by the way, maybe she could move out of New Hampshire. I've been there a couple of times. There's not a lot of New Hampshire. That's right. New Hampshire is unbelievable. By the way, hey, no, no, you don't go hating on New Hampshire, man. What a beautiful damn state. I mean, long distance relationships. I mean, you know, I mean, they can be hard. They can be hard for sure. You got to have a lot of trust, a lot of trust. And I mean, and a lot of faith, a lot of trust and a lot of faith.

So, Stacey, we're going to send you some Southwest vouchers to get you out to Oakland more often and maybe you can see your boyfriend. Good. I mean, this guy, this is a real. Marshawn, I appreciate your relationship advice, brother. That's all sound. I got one here for you, Gavin, from a concerned teacher. And we know about teachers. We got kids. Yes, sir. Mr. Newsome, I am a teacher. I've read that the Department of Education is possibly going to be demolished.

Thinking of the effects this will have as a CTA union member, should we be proactive and learn more about what this would mean for teachers? I've also heard about detention centers and knowing my students' families, I worry. I know it's a lot on the teachers' minds how funds and SPED will be affected. What can we do now? Any advice? Well, I mean, I think the question's pretty grounded and legit concern. You got Vince McMahon's ex-wife,

who's going to be running federally the Department of Education. Wait, the wrestlers at the Vince McMahon doc I just saw, the WWE guy, his wife is running the Department of Education? By the way, she's no dummy. So I just want to say this. She's not, and I don't say that as a pejorative. She ran the Small Business Administration. She's extraordinarily bright, but I don't know of any real history she has on public education. And the guy that is appointing her

the future president wants to eliminate the Department of Education. He ran on it. So the question is, is he going to follow through on his campaign promise? My concern is less about her and more about his intention to do exactly what our listener is concerned about. But that said, it's such a small margin in Congress.

You got to get congressional approval. We just won a big race out here in California. It's just that it's literally a two vote margin now in the House of Representatives, in Congress. And so I don't know that they're ever going to pass something that completely vandalizes the Department of Education. But we've gamed it out. California, it's I think, and don't quote me, but I think it's $7.9 billion that's at risk.

If they eliminated all the federal funds coming to the state. So it's not inconsequential. But, you know, I can't imagine they'll be able to pull it off. But we're preparing for the worst case scenario and we'll have the backs of our damn teachers. Don't don't you worry. Good. Appreciate that, Gavin. I'll let her know. Question more, Sean. This is for you. Coming out Black Friday, Cyber Monday is coming up.

We've loved the beast mode products back in the day. What are you looking for for Christmas? Any beast mode stuff we can buy? And what do you recommend that's on your holiday list? Oh, man, damn. I'm pretty simple when it comes to that kind of shit.

Don't buy the Oura ring, I can tell you that. Don't give that to him. No, leave that at home. You just lost a sponsor. Damn. You just lost a sponsor, but I'm living. Something simple. I might have to think about that. All right. We'll bring that back in the next episode. What do you want, Gavin? Tell me what you want, Gavin. You know what? I was humbled yesterday. There's a guy, an unbelievable guy that's worked in three administrations who had his birthday yesterday, John, who works in our office. Yeah.

And John's a rock star in every way, shape or form. He's a young man with special needs. And I said, what are you hoping to get for your birthday? And he literally lit up and got emotional because he said, I think I'm going to get what I want. I was like, what is it, John? This is amazing. He says, black socks and white socks. And I was like, damn. And it was like he was touched just by the question. He was so excited I asked.

And he said, that's what he really wants. And he thinks he's going to get that. And it made me just adjust all my, I literally was thinking like, I'm going through, you know, the list of what all the kids want and everything else. They got to meet John, man. Get his info. We'll get him some beast mode socks right now out to him. We'll send him a care package. I'm dead serious. Yeah, no, we can do that. But you know what? That's just a different level of, you know, I mean, in terms of just setting your own expectations of life and having a framework of gratitude, uh,

And this is a guy just filled with joy all the time and fills our damn office with joy. He worked for the Schwarzenegger administration. He's still with us. And I joked, I said, in a couple of years, man, you're going to work for another governor. He's like, yeah. I'm like, Jesus, we come and go. And John's still with us. He does the mailroom at the office. And he's a rock star. And it's a good life lesson. So my Christmas list just got pared down.

Though I do want some shoes, man. You guys are good giving me shoes. Size 12, 12 and a half. That's all. So I love every time you guys get me, Snoop gets those shoes. Those, you know, we love those. I'm the only guy I know that like you go between a 12 and a 12 and a half. You're 12 or 12 and a half. I know I'm both. It depends on the damn make of the shoe. Just saying. Though I do like those Snoop Skechers. No BS. Thank you, Snoop. They are nice.

So Gavin, we've got another listener question here from Grace. And her question is, thank you for all that you're doing on this podcast and engaging with listeners. Gavin, at 23, you or someone claiming to be you made your first and last public post on Blue Sky.

Oh, interesting. Flash forward to now. There are a number of people in your comment section begging you to come back. Will you please appease them? You can't even make this up. We literally now are doing simultaneous posts on X and Blue Sky, which is interesting. And I love the question. Timely question.

Because, I mean, you know, by any objective measure, the toxicity on X is next level. And there's not a lot of confidence it's going to get any better as the editorial side of it is completely just gone. And a lot of vile and terrible things are said on that platform. And Blue Sky has provided an alternative that everybody's been hoping for for some time. This even predates Elon Musk taking over

Twitter and moving it to X, this notion that you just don't want one platform to dominate. And Blue Sky is literally getting all this renewed attention and traction. And as a consequence, we're now posting consistently. So we're back on it and we're really excited about the traction. And I don't know, I don't want to overstate or overpromote because there's other platforms, threads and other things. But Blue Sky seems to be taking off in a way that some of us had hoped that

it would or another platform would. And so I think it's incredibly important that we get out there. By the way, Doug, you know this, man. I'm not shy. It's not a political statement. You know, I went on True Social. I think I was the first Democrat or one of the first, certainly I think it was the first governor, Democratic governor to go on True Social. I thought it was important to meet people where they are. So it's not a partisan lens to which I see the world. It's just opportunity to engage people and to not be...

frankly held hostage by the whims of one individual who's could change the algorithms or could continue to, to, to pollute a platform by allowing a lot of hate and antisemitism and other things that are pretty ubiquitous on X today. Well, and for, and for this listener also on a parallel to this question and I appreciate Gavin, you going on that and going on the shows you've gone on. It was interesting. Charlemagne, the God went on the view and,

and reference the fact of what you're doing and you're not afraid to go on these shows. And I think our listeners are going to see a lot more of that from you as well as we continue, correct? Whether it be podcasts, whether it be TV shows, you're going to go in the lion's den per se, but it's no more lion's den because these are all people that have real issues and you're there to meet the people. And that's what Charlemagne said, that you're going to go meet the people and hear the issues.

Well, I appreciate that he referenced that and, you know, and I'm grateful to him. And obviously he's got, you know, a next level platform and his podcast is blown up. And it's, you know, it's a must, you know, for if you're running for national office, you know, from the from the vice president herself that was on there just a few weeks before the election. It's important, but you can't just, you know, run in the blue lane.

You can't run just in the independent lane. You got to run in all lanes. As I said, you got to meet people where they are. And you can't talk down to people. You can't talk past people. And you got to respect people if you ever disagree with them. And so that's been my approach for some time. And that's why, again, we went on True Social. And that's why we did that debate with Ron DeSantis. That's why we've reached out to Hannity and I go on Newsmax.

periodically. And I want to do a lot more of that because you continue to do what you've done, you'll get what you got. And we just can't afford to be talking past each other. There's so much at stake. And so, again, it's trying to, you know, just to break out of those traditional safe places. And look, blue sky is a big part of that, just breaking out of

the sort of the dominance that is X in terms of platforming so many of us that are concerned that, you know, their voices may not be heard if on the whims of one individual that as a private owner can make a determination on one of the biggest platforms for civic engagement on the globe. So it's really, really important that more of us do more things and iterate. And so I was grateful for Charlemagne.

saying that today. And Gavin, in 25, do you see, are you going to be even more active than you already have, which has been next level active, but going to, you know, back to the Central Valley and going up to the Northern region of California and Humboldt County and those areas and all over throughout California and do sort of the

I don't want to say knocking the doors, but town halls and just meeting the people. Well, I'm pretty proud. Last three weeks, I've been with three Republican mayors in three parts of the state, two of the most conservative and rural parts of California and Kern County that overwhelmingly went for Donald Trump in Fresno, California.

which was a little more mixed, but with the former Republican mayor, Ashley Swearengin. And I just think it's incredibly important that we meet people again where they are, not just from a platform perspective, but get back in the communities, frankly, where people don't think we care and they think we sort of fly over a drive-through. And, you know, I've been out there a lot, but I need to keep coming back and remind people over and over and over again. And

that they matter and we care. And I can't turn my back on someone just because they disagree with me. It doesn't mean I'll stand back and, you know, watch, you know, progress or, you know, the 21st century unraveled either. I mean, we'll push back when we need to, but with respect and open hand, not a closed fist. So no, you'll be seeing a lot more of that. And also trying to get on some of these podcasts, not just trying to get on some of these podcasts, saying yes to,

A lot of the requests and some of the even more, more conservative podcast hosts out there that are these longer form one, two hour podcasts. So definitely, definitely, Doug, I'll be doing a lot more of that. Good. Hey, Doug, we love hearing from our listeners. And if you have any questions or comments, you can email us. Doug, where do you email us? It's politikin at iheartradio.com.

That's politicking at iheartradio.com. But Gavin, here's the deal. We want all the questions, good, bad, indifferent, ugly to you. To Doug, to Beast Mode, send your questions to politicking at iheartradio.com.