Sean Hannity says he and Gavin Newsom are no longer friends, and he is using his new podcast to say why. In an interview published this week, the host turned a personal split into a political broadside, saying Newsom has done such a poor job in California that his odds are diminishing.

Hannity, 64, said he launched the twice-weekly podcast “Hang Out with Sean Hannity” in March because he wants to keep talking long after his television shift ends. “I’ll rest when I’m dead,” he said, adding with a laugh, “Can we all just get along?” The comments came as he reflected on friends, rivals and the growing gap between the people he used to know at Fox and the people he says he no longer talks to now, including Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly. “I’m just not in touch with them,” he said, while also saying he never had any problems with either of them when they were at the network.

The split with Newsom lands with extra weight because Hannity is not some podcaster trying to find an audience. He has been a fixture of conservative media for 30 years, joined in 1996 and remains the longest-running prime-time host in cable news, with a show that averages about 3 million viewers a night. That gives his remarks about California more reach than a routine feud. His podcast has already drawn Stephen A. Smith, Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman and Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a sign that he is trying to turn the project into something broader than a companion piece to television.

Hannity’s criticism of Newsom was blunt and specific. He said California has the fourth largest economy, but argued that Newsom leans on that line to cover a state with the largest income tax, gas tax and sales tax in the country. He said California is still running a multibillion dollar deficit and called it a sanctuary state with the worst poverty rate and the worst homeless rate. “He doesn’t work,” Hannity said. “He’s a world traveler.” He said Newsom is rarely in California and spends his time in places such as Davos and Munich, then added, “He’s a full-time Trump stalker. He’s a half-time Hannity stalker.”

That is the friction inside the story: Hannity and Newsom were once friendly enough for the host to speak of a breakup, yet the California governor has also made Hannity a regular target on his podcast and social media. Hannity’s version of the relationship is that the friendship is over because Newsom failed at governing, not because of a passing political spat. Whether Newsom answers that challenge, or keeps making Hannity part of his own political show, is now part of the same public fight.