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- [00:00]
Ro Khanna
Foreign.
- [00:05]
Podcast Host
It's another day in Trump's America, and sources say Vladimir Putin is now on the inside. Like many of you, we are so stressed and concerned about the Democratic response. So today we have invited Congressman Ro Khanna from California to join us to talk about the shit show that is the second term of Trump's presidency. Congressman, how are you?
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Ro Khanna
Really great to be on, a fan of your podcast and appreciate the invitation.
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Podcast Host
Yes. Okay. Did you go to the State of the Union?
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Ro Khanna
I did. And I had to sit through all of the lies. You know, the part that really bothered me the most was when he was scaring the American people, saying that somehow all these people over 100 are getting Social Security benefits and it's simply not true. Look, the truth of the matter is that there's a database that shows people being over 100 when they shouldn't be over 100. But the inspector generals that Donald Trump has fired has made it clear none of those people are actually getting Social Security benefits. It has the least fraud. And he's basically setting this up to do what Musk wants. He calls Social Security a Ponzi scheme. He retweets Mike Lee. He wants to cut Social Security. This is the Republican dream to reverse Roosevelt and gut Social Security.
- [01:26]
Podcast Host
But this is the Republican playbook. They start with these lies, they start with this propaganda and they scare their base. That is Fox News viewers are in right wing propaganda so that then they start setting the psychological soil for everyone to walk into the trap. They demonize something that millions of Americans rely upon for food and shelter. And you have Elon Musk, a South African born man who is subsidized by the American government to the tune of upwards of more than $20 billion. And I believe. Did he not call you a dick on Twitter recently?
- [02:03]
Ro Khanna
He did. He did. Because all I said is he should come to Congress and testify. And he called me a dick. I've known Elon for 15 years. And let me just be very clear. Barack Obama made Elon Musk. I mean, I was in the Obama administration. He got, he begged the Obama administration for those Tesla loans that Obama's Treasury Department gave him. If he hadn't had those loans, there would be no Tesla. And it was Obama's defense secretary, Ash Carter, that allows him to bid on the contracts in defense to have Space X. I mean, those are all defense contracts. And I mean, he has no awareness that he is the beneficiary of smart government investment. And now for him to be calling for the dismantling of government while he's benefited more than anyone. And the dismantling of government for those who really need it, who worked hard for seniors, who learned their benefits, it's just fundamentally morally wrong.
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Podcast Host
And just for the record, we could afford all of the things he's slashing if he and his fellow billionaires paid taxes, correct?
- [03:07]
Ro Khanna
Absolutely. This is the absurdity of it. He's not even slashing the big ticket items. I mean, so yes, we, we should be having the billionaires pay more tax. Currently, the top 400 billionaires pay only 10% tax. The reality is that the share of national income of the top 1% over the last few decades has doubled while their share of actual tax payment has had. So we need to tax the wealthy. And by the way, I say this is representing Silicon Valley. There are more billionaires in my district than probably anywhere in the world. And I said, if you can make the case in my district that we should tax them more. I don't know how hard this is for the other 435, four districts in this country. But the other point is Musk is not going after the big ticket items. Look, the entire federal workforce is only 3% of the federal budget and a 30% of them are veterans, people who've gone to Iraq and Afghanistan. If he wants to go after the big ticket items, how about going after the defense contractors spending with $1 trillion defense budget, but the Republicans actually want to add $100 billion to defense, not credit. How about going after the fossil fuel subsidies that we give to big Oil? How about going after the Medicare Advantage fraud or the way we're getting fleeced by Big Pharma the way President Biden did. But they don't want to do any of this. This is all show. I mean, Donald Trump reciting a series of programs that wouldn't collectively add up to a billion dollars while they're not touching the actual parts of the budget that have defense. And one more point, the Republicans, it's important to note the Republicans are adding $2.8 trillion to the deficit in addition to the $21 trillion that the deficits are already projected. Unlike President Biden, unlike President Clinton who actually had budgets that were going to balance the move towards B budget, they're adding to the deficit.
- [04:58]
Podcast Host
Okay, let me ask you this. There's this whole feeling right now among the Democrat, Democratic base and even moderates that the Democratic response right now is super lackluster. There is anger forming. This report dropped that these moderate third point or third way. I can't remember what the organization is called met with the DNC and said Democrats need to start going to gun shows and embracing patriotic themes. And this is the thing that Americans hate, whether you're Republican or Democrat is disingenuous politicians that do performative bullshit. And right now, as all of us are sitting here and we have a big, big listener base and we're not like we, we live in Oklahoma City, like this is bible thumping Trump country, okay? We're not like these extreme far out leftists and our listeners are all over the range. But this response from Democrats holding up these signs when we know that Donald Trump is more than likely a Russian asset. I mean, somebody on Twitter recently asked Grok Elon Musk's AI is President Trump a Russian asset? And the artificial intelligence says there's a 75 to 80% chance. And if he's not a Russian asset, then he's madly in love with Putin and they've got some affair fling going on that's incredibly dangerous for national security because it's just so bizarre. But the American public right now is looking at Democratic leadership and we're pissed because we have no expectation of Republicans, we have no expectation of triple Trumpers to do the right thing. We have no expectation of all of the sycophants surrounding ridiculous con man Donald Trump to do the right thing. But we expect you guys to do the right thing. And there is an anger forming towards you all and it is bubbling up and we, when we hear, and I know you're progressive and on record as being progressive, but when we hear the Democrats trying to run to the center to get these Trump voters, I'm here to tell you, boots on the ground in a red state, they're never, ever, ever going to vote for Republicans. They've been indoctrinated in their mega churches since birth. It will never happen. We know these people. They won't do it. So what is your response to the Democratic response? And can you go rile everybody up in Congress and get them organized? Because we're dying out here.
- [07:34]
Ro Khanna
I think we got to invite you to the House caucus. That was pretty good. You just put that on social media, it'll go viral. And you have all the passion of the basement I hear every day. Let me start with your first point. It is so insulting to voters, even Trump voters, to say, okay, let's just show up with cowboy boots and go to a gun show and somehow they're going to embrace us. Look, I grew up in Pennsylvania and Bucks County. I represent Silicon Valley and I've shown up to places that have been de. Industrialized. Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Warren, Ohio. Downriver, Michigan. I often go in a coat, you know, maybe I won't wear my tie. I'm an Indian American guy of Hindu faith representing Silicon Valley. And you know what? I go there and I talk about how we're going to bring steel back. Steel and silicon chips. And chips. How are we going to rebuild America, how are we going to have economic prosperity? And I don't dumb it down. People are like, oh, you got to speak simply. That's insulting voters. You know what most of the voters care about there? They care about jobs. They care about actual solutions. They're not concerned about the aesthetic of trying to look like them, which is kind of. Which is pandering. They're concerned that their jobs were offshore, that we had policies in this country that allowed Wall street to grow and Main street suffered, that basically we hollowed out the industrial base and they're upset at the system. And I think what the Democrats really need to do is to have a real economic message for them. Now, I grant you that there's some people in the who voted for Trump were never coming back. But I believe, I fundamentally still believe this. Anyone who voted for Barack Obama is a voter that we can win back across this country. And instead of just performative things, what we ought to be doing is going to these red districts and making the case of what they're doing. So I'm going in California to three red districts in on March 23, and I'm going to be talking in one of those districts about the Medicaid cuts, because 2/3 of the people are on Medicaid, Kate. I'm going to be talking about the mass firing of veterans that are going on. Most people don't know that one third of federal workers are veterans. And who is Elon Musk? He's never wore the uniform. I never wore the uniform. Who are these people to fire a veteran who went to Iraq and Afghanistan? And they're in the Park Service or they're in Veterans affairs, and guess what? Okay. They're not as efficient as a person working at Twitter. Give me a break. Who cares? They serve this country the way many of us haven't. We shouldn't be firing them. And if we take these facts to these red districts and we take the fact that Trump wants to cut the chips, that's actually investing manufacturing here, that he wants to give tax breaks to corporations to ship jobs overseas, that we're the party that wants to build manufacturing, build investment, build steel Build ships in America, not Donald Trump. I think we can win back enough people to win in 26 and 28, but we've got to go out there, we've got to make the case and, and we've, we've got to go into these communities.
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Listener/Co-Host
What I don't see with the Democratic response is like I sitting in Oklahoma City and very concerned about the United States alliance with Russia. What seems to be a full throttle, we're going all in with the axis of evil. I don't see a lot of response from the Democratic leadership regarding how dangerous that is. It's not loud. I might find it sprinkled in. But, but how can we get that message out to the American people, These Reagan voters that are so pro national security, how can we reach them through the Democratic leadership?
- [11:09]
Ro Khanna
You're actually right. I thought, personally, I thought Alyssa Slotkin did a very good job of that in her response. But we need to do more of that, which is to point out what exactly Donald Trump is going to do. He, first of all is saying that Putin is the victim and somehow Ukraine is to blame. Where we all know the basic facts that Putin unprovoked went and conquered Ukraine territory. So this is one of the first times in my lifetime that I can't remember where we're actually taking the side publicly of the aggressor, the country that is conquering another country. And imagine what signal that sends to Xi Jinping in China. The second thing is that we need to let people know what his plan is. He basically wants Ukraine to give us their critical minerals and give Russia 1/5 of their country. That is Putin's demand. Give us 1/5 of Ukraine. It is the ultimate appeasement. And then he's, you know, I don't mind Gaty Vance, you know, went off on me on Twitter. He said, I discussed him. And I'm a whiny congressman because I said that the person who said normalize Indian hate, you know, there was a 25 year old guy who said normalize Indian hate. Yeah. I said, JD before you rehire him, why not just have him apologize? And that was too much for him. That was sort of whiny. I don't mind that. But can he stop having those kind of temper tantrums on the world stage? I do mind that because that's embarrassing to America.
- [12:38]
Podcast Host
You know what I mind? I mind the breathtaking hypocrisy that J.D. vance is married to an Indian woman and has mixed race Indian kids and he's too big of a coward. And he's too obsequious to Donald Trump to stand up for his wife and kids. And you see this time and time again with the so called MAGA alpha males, you see Ted Cruz get eviscerated by Donald Trump and then Ted Cruz just laps back over to him like a little pathetic little coward. And J.D. vance does the same thing. And I'm just going to get petty for one second. MAGA is really upset about drag queens all the time. And it needs to be noted that J.D. vance is a failed drag queen. We have the evidence. It's all over the Internet. He failed at this. And I'm sure drag queens across the globe are celebrating at this failure. But I want to go back to something that you mentioned earlier that I think is super duper important. Important. The Dem, the Republicans for decades have done a very good job trying to demonize blue states and demonize blue cities. We live in a red state that has a MAGA super majority. We're ranked 49th in education. We're ranked 50th and the best place for women to live and 50th, as you know, if you do the math, the worst. And it is when you look at where Oklahoma is statistically among all of the other states, we're a bottom five, bottom ten state at best. And when you look at states that have had these MAGA super majorities or Republican super majorities for two decades, then you see what these policies do. You actually have data, two decades worth of data to see how detrimental and counterproductive these policies are. And Democrats have spent very little time attacking the governing that goes on in these red states because somebody at the dnc, they're always chasing this elusive moderate voter that they're going to get. And somebody needs to go to these rural communities like you're going to. But also on nationally, we need to talk about what a shit show these MAGA states are. Look at Mississippi, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Holes, all of them are. And they take more off taxpayer federal funds than these blue states. And the Republicans have been really good at this. They've been really good at demonizing blue cities. And one of that, that super PAC that met with the DNC recently, one of their suggestions was we need to take accountability for the management of blue cities. And I'm just like, y'all are going to lose and you deserve to lose if that's what you're going to do because you need to be bashing red states and quit acquiescing and capitulating to maga. It makes me so mad, Congressman, I can't see straight. Because if you drive around in rural Oklahoma and you see the conditions and you see MAGA everywhere, you see, I was at my son's basketball game in some rural town and this guy had it on a T shirt and it said, jesus strong, Trump tough. And he gets in this beater of a pickup truck. You know, he's never benefited from a MAGA policy ever, but nobody's ever told him any differently. And that pisses me off because the headlines and the way that we win this writes itself. But this cosplaying being cowboys, apologizing for blue cities. I'm just going to tell you what the name of our main podcast is. I've had it. I will lead a revolt if the Democrats go to this. I can't stand when Democrats placate to the middle, when progressive policies. We fight for human rights, we fight for equality, and that helps rule America. That helps everyone. And it just. I'm at my wit's end. I need you to talk me off the ledge, Congressman.
- [16:38]
Ro Khanna
Well, we need you to run for office. I think you'd be fantastic. You know, that's what we need in this, in our caucus, either Congress or Senator, Governor. But let me just say this. You're, you know, you're absolutely right. When you look at the facts of what these MAGA Republican legislatures have done, it's actually sad to me because they're cutting the basic things that you need for economic success and prosperity in the modern age. Let's be just specific. What are they doing? They're cutting health care funding. Cutting Medicaid funding. What does that do? Well, if you're cutting Medicaid funding in rural communities, in particular, those hospitals which are reliant often on two thirds of the funding from Medicaid, they're going to shut down and that's going to hurt everyone whether they're on Medicaid or not. So you're closing rural hospitals and you're not funding people's basic health care in these states. Just in North Carolina, they were talking today about raising health care premiums on teachers and firefighters because of the costs that the cuts that may happen in Medicaid. The second thing is they're not funding education. It's so sad to me. I mean, no funding for community colleges. For colleges, but also for child care, preschool education, for kindergarten education. We know that the funding of education is the single biggest thing that you can do, whether that's going to be vocational education and the skilled trades, or whether it's going to be college for getting economic activity. In fact, there was a study that showed that to get a big company to invest, it's not about getting tax subsidies, which all these red states often like to do. It's about having the most educated population, and they're cutting the population. And then they wonder why 85% of venture capitalists in this capital money in this country goes to California, New York and Massachusetts is because they're not investing in their state. So they're cutting the healthcare, they're cutting education, they're cutting the investments in apprenticeship programs for people. And yet they're basically trying to divide people. They're giving people fear. Well, the reason that your life is terrible is because of the people coming across the border from Mexico, is because of China, is because of trans kids, is because, you know, we got to own the lips and we've just got to call them out. I mean, we've got to call them out. We got to go to the districts. We've got to go with facts. And I don't care whether you wear the cowboy boots or not. I fundamentally believe that Americans are decent. You know, I grew up in Pennsylvania, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. It was 99% white while I was growing up. But it was decent, it was fair. If you go arm ready to make your case. And I think too often we haven't been willing to go and engage, and we're so afraid. I mean, every Democrat in this recess should be going to a red district and trying to engage with people to get what you're saying out there.
- [19:40]
Listener/Co-Host
Let me ask you one question that I'm concerned about. Were close enough to the inauguration that Trump's horrible economic policies and job cutting, he's still blaming on Biden. I think he said Biden like, 17 times in the State of the Union. You've got Fox News saying, oh, well, all these jobs numbers and all this inflation and all of this, and that it's all because of Biden, which we know of course is a lie. So at some point, they're going to start giving us false information because we're going to be far enough away from Biden's administration. So. So as Congress, can you give us accurate reports on the state of the economy? Because we're not going to get him from the Trump administration.
- [20:20]
Ro Khanna
You're absolutely right. Look, they're going to destroy a lot. Now, partly in fairness, this is American politics. I mean, FDR was blaming Herbert Hoover in 1944, and they still were running against Jimmy Carter in 1992. So, you know, this is, this is American politics. Try to blame everyone before. But here's how we get over that. First, what Trump is doing on these tariffs is crazy. I mean, he is. He is literally going to be raising grocery prices because of the tariffs, especially on Mexico, by the way. He's losing support amongst a lot of the Latino community, including Latino men, many of whom were business owners and do a lot of business back and forth with, with Latin America. And now we're going to be facing these tariffs. And he spooked the stock market, he spoke to businesses. The consumer confidence is down, largely because of his tariffs and his chaos. And then all these mass firings of workers and veterans, well, guess what? If they're not going to have jobs, they're not going to be spending money. And so this is why we have this stagflation possibility where he's hurting our economic growth with tariffs and these mass firings, and he's also raising prices. And the last time we saw that was in the 1970s. You know, the, the irony is, if I was Donald Trump, what I would do is just not mess around. Biden left actually an economy headed in the right direction. Take credit for all the factories that are gonna come up with a CHIPS act instead of canceling it and the IRA and claim credit for all the things that the economy that the Biden left you instead. He's trying to wreck it. I mean, it's literally he's taking a wrecking ball. And I, I just feel bad because the stake for the country. But what he's doing is people are going to quickly catch on. And that's why his numbers have fallen, not because of the competence of the Democratic Party. I mean, his numbers have fallen because he's doing things that are so chaotic and harmful for the economy.
- [22:16]
Podcast Host
Congressman, what you suggested that you would do, you would do that because you're not Vladimir Putin's puppet. And it would make perfect sense for a normal American to flex on Biden's economy a couple years later and take credit for it. I mean, that would be the perfect thing to do. Congressman, I really like you. Thank you for coming on. Please fight the good fight. We're so worried about getting to the midterms. Make sure y'all can do whatever we can do to have free and fair elections in 2026. Because as we all know, autocrats rarely cede power.
- [22:51]
Ro Khanna
Well, thanks for having me, and thanks for your plain spokenness and bluntness. We need more of that. And from the heartland. So it's you're, you're really going to be critical to our movement to take, take back power from Trumpism.
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Podcast Host
Thank you so much, Congressman. Have a great, have a great time at work.
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Listener/Co-Host
Yes, your co workers.
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Podcast Host
Bye.
- [23:11]
Ro Khanna
Do my best.