The two men chatted on Mr. Newsom’s podcast about Democrats, Joe Biden, Graham Platner, phone addiction and other topics.
Ever since Gov. Gavin Newsom of California started his podcast over a year ago, one of the biggest questions about it has been: Doesn’t this man have other things to do?
In the modern political attention economy, the answer is apparently no.
Which is how it came to be that Mr. Newsom, the chief executive of the world’s fourth-largest economy, shared a YouTube screen on Friday for a 95-minute podcast chat with Hunter Biden, the convicted and pardoned son of the last president.
Best known for the personal tumult he caused for himself and the political headaches he caused for his father, the younger Mr. Biden has recently spent his online days reminiscing about his drug abuse and joking — maybe — about running for president in 2028.
In the influencer world, the term for what both Mr. Newsom and Mr. Biden are doing is engagement farming, using notoriety to build an audience while exploiting social media algorithms that reward conflict and rage bait.
For both men, the forum of an extended podcast allows for self-discovery. Mr. Newsom touched on his complicated relationship with his father, while Mr. Biden offered a cleareyed assessment of the pardon he received after his father repeatedly insisted he would not get one.
“That’s how much you know my dad loves me,” Mr. Biden said. “He chose me over his political legacy.”