Ep 116: California — the Next Revolution? A Conversation with Steve Hilton

Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist

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Ep 116: California — the Next Revolution? A Conversation with Steve Hilton

Joe Lonsdale

Jun 19, 2025

Transcript

California has been governed by left-wing, one party-rule for 15 years, and the results speak for themselves. How did California turn deep blue? What are the policies needed to reverse course? And can those ideas actually win?

This week we talk about the future of California with my longtime friend Steve Hilton. Many people know Steve from his popular Fox News show, "The Next Revolution," but may not know that his parents fled communism in Hungary to start a new life in the UK. The fight for freedom is core to who he is and why he fell in love with America, specifically California. After the success of his television show, he decided he didn't want to just talk about issues but also get in the arena. He launched his policy group, Golden Together, and recently went one step further and jumped into the race for governor.

We begin with Steve's upbringing, from working class London to studying at Oxford and later serving as senior advisor to Prime Minister David Cameron. We discuss key lessons learned at the highest levels of UK government, including his DOGE-like research into the UK's crippling bureaucratic growth. Next, we cover his journey to the Golden State, why he decided to stay and fight for its future, and how terrible policies turned California into a paradise for lawyers and government unions, instead of hard-working families and small businesses. Learn why, for example, restaurants budget a million dollars a year just to deal with frivolous lawsuits, plus other insanity Steve has discovered as he travels the state. Despite the dysfunction, he still believes there's reason for optimism and explains why he's confident Republicans can win statewide office — and why they don't need to water down their message or agenda to do it.