Live Right Now With Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna talking Charlie Kirk, Leftist Violence, Trump Peace Deal

Summary

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The Benny Show – October 15, 2025

Episode Theme:
Bridging America’s Political Divide: A Candid Conversation with Rep. Ro Khanna on Political Violence, Charlie Kirk’s Legacy, and Paths to National Renewal

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Overview

This special live episode features a rare, extended, and wide-ranging conversation between conservative host Benny Johnson and Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna (CA). Against the backdrop of the recent assassination of Charlie Kirk and ongoing political violence in America, the dialogue attempts to model civil, substantive engagement across ideological lines. The pair discuss the aftermath of Kirk’s Medal of Freedom ceremony, left-right polarization, the Jay Jones controversy, policy divides, and the future of constructive debate. Their candid exchange is peppered with moments of disagreement, empathy, and surprising common ground—especially on restoring civility, combating extremism, and revitalizing the American Dream for future generations.

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Key Highlights & Discussion Points

1. Setting the Stage: Political Violence and Bridging Divides

[00:01–09:49]

• Charlie Kirk’s Medal of Freedom Ceremony:
  Benny opens by recounting the emotional White House event, featuring Trump’s remarks and the historic inscription of a Christian cross on the Medal for the first time.

• Condolences and Reaching Out Across the Aisle:
  Ro Khanna explains he initiated contact with Benny after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, highlighting the importance of recognizing each other’s humanity, regardless of political disagreement.

  “Something is broken when we're not able to offer condolences to each other, even if we disagree.” – Ro Khanna [09:07]

• Personal Stories of Threats:
  Benny shares his own family has been specifically threatened, drawing a parallel to the broader issue of political violence and dehumanization.

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2. Can We Restore Common Humanity?

[09:49–21:09]

• Mutual Empathy and Loss:
  Benny highlights Khanna’s outreach and the lack of similar gestures from other Democrats, lamenting reactions by figures like Ilhan Omar and AOC who “used the opportunity to attack Charlie.”

• Khanna’s Perspective:
  Khanna insists that, personal views aside, no one should celebrate killings, contextualizing some of the left’s bitterness as rooted in disagreement with Kirk’s policy positions and past statements.

  “It shouldn't be a high bar to say we condemn political assassinations... your heart breaks for someone's wife and their kids, and we can see each other as Americans ultimately.” – Ro Khanna [13:59]

• Navigating Humanity Versus Politics: Benny distinguishes political disagreement from fundamental human decency, asserting: “There’s moments where you can...shift from one to the other...the human side.” [17:48]

• The Need for a Baseline:
  Both agree—unequivocal condemnation of violence should be a basic, bipartisan standard.

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3. Is Condemnation of Violence Politicized?

[21:09–38:06]

• The Jay Jones Case:
  Benny raises the issue of Democratic AG candidate Jay Jones (VA) allegedly threatening Republicans and their children. He criticizes Democrats for not denouncing Jones, contrasting it with his own condemnation of violence against the left.

• Khanna’s Response:
  Khanna refuses to support Jones, calling his comments “horrible” and affirming he would not endorse such a candidate:

  “I can't support someone who threatens violence in that way...that's not the type of politics.” – Ro Khanna [26:30]

• Parsing Legal and Moral Lines:
  Khanna distinguishes between prosecution for actionable threats and political support, arguing that mere speech may be protected, but is disqualifying for public office.

• Debate Over “Whataboutism”:
  Khanna points to left-wing victims (Paul Pelosi, Gretchen Whitmer plot), suggesting both sides experience political violence. Benny pushes back, challenging the “right-wing” label on some incidents.

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4. The State of American Discourse & the Meme Age

[38:06–46:28]

• Memes, Mockery, and Hyper-Partisanship:
  Both jest about the spectacle of meme wars between Trump and Newsom, questioning if gladiatorial politics is the future.

  “Is that going to make us lead in AI? Is that what Ronald Reagan would have done...?” – Ro Khanna [43:39]

• Craving Real Debate:
  They lament the decline from the Lincoln-Douglas level of dialogue, suggesting America is hungry for real, good-faith debates. Benny asserts such events would “sell out arenas.”

  “There is a ravenous hunger for true…hearty debate in this country.” – Benny Johnson [45:28]

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5. Policy, Place, and Decline: San Francisco as Microcosm

[46:28–52:34]

• Urban Decay & Safety:
  Benny details experiences of crime, homelessness, and even public defecation during visits to San Francisco—including near Pelosi’s own house.
• Khanna’s Defense & Nuance:
  Khanna acknowledges failures but highlights local improvements and the continued success and safety of nearby Silicon Valley cities.
• Role of Local Control:
  Both debate whether federal intervention or local solutions are the answer for struggling cities.

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6. DEI, the American Dream, and Economic Justice

[54:47–68:43]

• DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion):
  Benny rails against quotas and race-based admissions as contrary to MLK and the Civil Rights Act.
  Khanna defends DEI as an attempt to level opportunities, citing underrepresentation and network disparities in venture capital.

  “We have to work to make [networks] more inclusive. And that's the American problem.” – Ro Khanna [57:59]

• Shared Concerns:
  Young Americans can’t afford homes, health care, or start families, which both identify as an urgent threat to America’s future.

  “You're gonna have an entire nation of nihilistic renters. That's an awful future.” – Benny Johnson [61:10]

• Reflecting on Party Weaknesses:
  Khanna admits Democrats can be “preachy”; Benny criticizes GOP’s inability to communicate a compelling vision for the future.

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7. Finding Common Cause in Economic Renewal

[68:43–70:35]

• Billionaires and Tax Policy:
  Khanna pushes for wealth taxes on the ultra-rich to help restore the American dream.

  “Look at all the billionaires/trillionaires we have...if you just tax them, you can solve some of these issues.” – Ro Khanna [67:36]

• Beyond Partisanship:
  Benny warns of “kleptocracy” and the destruction of the middle class, echoing themes common to both Trump and Bernie Sanders’ populist bases.

  • Discussion pivots to what a real national debate should be: how to make homes affordable, tame healthcare costs, and end forever wars rather than endless culture warring online.

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8. Building toward a New Political Culture

[70:10–71:41]

• Proposing a Post-Trump, Post-Biden Debate Era:
  Both fantasize about hosting substantive cross-partisan events—suggesting that real conversations, not partisanship, would attract diverse crowds and foster consensus.
• Modeling Disagreement & Agreement:
  They note, with some surprise, shared ground on issues from healthcare to the cost of living to the dangers of extremism. Khanna commends moments when stadiums filled with both MAGA and Bernie supporters could unite in applause against lobbying, corporate power, or political corruption.

  “If we had this conversation with a stadium of people, there would have been multiple applause lines where both sides...would have stood up and applauded.” – Ro Khanna [66:18]

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9. Close: National Healing, Charlie’s Legacy, and Fearless Hope

[71:41–91:00+]

• Reflections & Humor:
  The two end playfully, contemplating future live debates "in San Francisco’s Tenderloin...with In-N-Out burgers."
• Spiritual Notes:
  Benny closes with scripture (John 14:27, “Do not be afraid”) and a call not to let violence silence political discourse.

  “This is a moment where people have a profound sense of purpose in life...The intention of that assassin's bullet with Trump and with Charlie was to make us fear...And now people are speaking up louder than ever. Fear not.” – Benny Johnson [90:48]

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Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• “It shouldn't be a high bar to say we condemn political assassinations...and that we can see each other as Americans ultimately.”
  — Ro Khanna [13:59]
• “There’s moments...where you can shift hopefully from one to the other...the human side. And I wish more of America saw the human side.”
  — Benny Johnson [17:48]
• “I can't support someone who threatens violence in that way...that's not the type of politics.”
  — Ro Khanna on Jay Jones [26:30]
• “You could sell out arenas by doing actual Lincoln-Douglas debates. People love that...there is a ravenous hunger for true and real and hearty debate in this country.”
  — Benny Johnson [44:33 & 45:28]
• “You're gonna have an entire nation of nihilistic renters. That's an awful future.”
  — Benny Johnson [61:10]
• “If we had this conversation with a stadium of people, there would have been multiple applause lines where both sides…would have stood up and applauded.”
  — Ro Khanna [66:18]
• “The intention of that assassin's bullet…was to make us fear, to make us put our heads down and to not speak anymore. And now people are speaking up louder than ever. Fear not.”
  — Benny Johnson [90:48]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Opening/Setting the Stakes (Political Violence, Charlie Kirk): 00:01–09:49
• Empathy, Humanity & Condolences: 09:49–15:04
• Debating Political Violence & Jay Jones: 21:09–36:48
• The Meme Era and Debate Culture: 41:22–46:28
• San Francisco as Cultural Battleground: 46:28–52:34
• DEI, Equity & Economic Anxiety: 54:47–68:43
• Common Ground & National Renewal: 68:43–70:35
• Envisioning Constructive Dialogue: 70:10–71:41
• Closing Reflections/Spiritual Remarks: 71:41–91:00

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Final Reflection

This episode stands out as a rare, extended model of real-time bridge-building at the highest levels—sometimes fractious, often heartfelt, and surprisingly rich in civil disagreement and genuine overlap. Benny and Ro show that beneath the memes, vitriol, and culture wars exists a hunger for real dialogue and an American consensus waiting to be rediscovered.

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For listeners, this episode is both a meditation on what America has lost and a live demonstration of how we can begin to get it back—one honest conversation at a time.

Transcript

[Benny Johnson]

Going on. Everyone, we are live again from Washington, D.C. we have a special show for you, a show that I think is going to be very important because it will be our first big congressional Democrat joining the show today. And we hope that we can find some common ground. We hope that we can find a little bit of consensus and we hope that we can find a moment here where we can love America and a little bit more than we hate each other. And that's what we want to do in the wake of Charlie Kirk's Medal of Freedom ceremony, which we witnessed yesterday at the White House. Some incredible breaking news, some remarkable things that the Trump administration did, some behind the scenes that I want to bring to you very swiftly here before we get to our guest Democrat from California, Ro Khanna. Are we going to be asking him about the cat fight between Gavin Newsom and Kamala Harris? Absolutely. Are we going to be asking him about political violence? Absolutely. Are we going to pull any punches and like trying Kumbaya? Well, I mean, the point here is that you should not have to sacrifice your values in order to have a conversation. You should be able to do that in a civilized manner. So that's what we're going to do today and we're excited about it. Wednesday, October 15, 2025 will be a very special day. It is today. We are at the Conservative Partnership Institute here in Washington D.C. as our broadcast partner has been an awesome trip so far and well, ladies and gentlemen, it's going to get even better. Lock in.

[Ro Khanna]

Go.

[Benny Johnson]

My name is Benny Johnson and this is the Benny Show. This show is brought to you by 120 Life. 120 Life is this spectacular blend of all natural juices, vegetables and fruits that are so good for you. It's good for your health, it's good for your soul, it's good for your ticker. And I gotta tell you, after the last couple of weeks, I think my high blood pressure has not improved. But the way to improve it is actually to make sure that your body is getting the fuel that it needs from the sources that are all natural that make sure that you are able to manage high blood pressure. I certainly haven't. Nearly half of all American adults have high blood pressure and that is what 120life is therefore trusted by healthcare professionals to make sure that you are getting the kind of beneficiary results that you can get measurable changes when you drink and eat the right things. 120 Life helps me get there. It's great tasting, it's delicious and it's good for you. For a limited time, try 120Life and save 20%. Just use the code Benny at checkout. For a limited time at 120Life.com. 120Life offers a risk free trial with a full refund. If you don't see lower numbers in two weeks, go to 120L I F E.com and use the code BENNY to save on 120 life. You can save 20%, ladies and gentlemen. Okay, here we go. We were at the White House yesterday. It was an amazing day and it was a profound day. It was one of the most beautiful days I've ever seen at the White House. I've never seen. I, you know, this is not a brag. I've been to the White House hundreds of times. Maybe not thousands, but hundreds. The reason why is because I lived in Washington, D.C. for 15 years. I was a reporter here. And so I've seen, I've seen a lot of. And I've never been there on a more beautiful day. It was just completely and totally stunning. And this is October in D.C. it could be sleeting, it could be overcast, there could be ice storms. You don't know. It's the swamp. It's, it's that bad weather here. And it was just utterly gorgeous. And so the day itself was magnificent. And then the event itself was also beautiful. Erica Kirk and Donald Trump spoke at this event. There were a lot of friends there in the audience, a lot of people that we loved seeing and a lot of old and new friends. Ladies and gentlemen, here's just a little short cycle of some of the individuals that we were able to chat with and that we were able to have the pleasure of. Klein. This is the time that we're putting up all of our photos. Please, Alex. I don't like this block. I don't like leading in this block. I don't like this. Yeah, so it's like, it's like birthday gift ever. Erica Kirk fights back tears as Trump presents her with Charlie's Medal of Freedom. You've given him the best birthday ever. President Donald Trump awarded Charlie Kirk the Medal of Freedom, marking what would have been his 32nd birthday. Charlie, Erica's widow wiped away tears as Trump handed her the highest civilian honor in the White House Rose Garden. Now, something that made a ton of news was what happened next. After this, Erica Kirk went up to me at the White House ceremony and showed me what was on the back of the cross and what was on the back of this Medal of Freedom medal was a cross and it was the first ever Christian crucifix that has ever been engraved in. This is the first time they've ever put a cross on the back of the Medal of Freedom. President Trump to honor Charlie Kirk's advancement for the Kingdom of Christ. Charlie Kirk was memorialized by his friend Donald Trump in beautiful statement right here. Filled every single day with purpose. And he fought for truth when it was unpopular, and he stood for God when it was costly. But that's what we're called to do. Surprisingly enough, he did pray for his enemies, which is very hard, but he did. He did. He did. No one else. I mean, I saw him do it. No, he never did it in front of anyone else, but I can attest to that. But he also loved people when it was inconvenient. That's the wrong clip, Klein. And I'm just saying we're just gonna. Like our guest. Our guest is here now, so. Our guest is here now, so I'm going to maximize time. We're going to read. Let's just maximize time with the congressman. And we'll do the intro. We'll try and do the intro later.

[Ro Khanna]

Clips were labeled wrong. It's fine, though. I can. I can only switch that, too, but.

[Benny Johnson]

Yeah, yeah, let's get to RO and we'll.

[Ro Khanna]

We'll do what we have to. I'll fix it all in post if I have to.

[Benny Johnson]

Well, okay, Great. All right. Thanks.

[Ro Khanna]

Hi. Hey.

[Benny Johnson]

What's going on, man?

[Ro Khanna]

Thanks for having me.

[Benny Johnson]

It was sweet to hear from you.

[Ro Khanna]

I appreciate. I'm sorry. What's happening with your family? Huh, dude?

[Benny Johnson]

What is it?

[Ro Khanna]

I'm. I didn't realize. I mean, that's pretty scary stuff.

[Benny Johnson]

Yeah.

[Ro Khanna]

Has the guy been. The guy's been apprehended. Everybody gets that. Threats and not that explicitly.

[Benny Johnson]

Yeah, like, whatever. What I'm trying to. Established here is like a baseline.

[Ro Khanna]

Right.

[Benny Johnson]

But somebody has to get punished. Yeah, but saying they're gonna, like, murder a whole family. Yeah, because you can't live in a society like that. It's like terrorism.

[Ro Khanna]

I didn't see the. They threatened your family, so it's great.

[Benny Johnson]

Like, to see somebody. What you want is mitigate this. You just want to have them.

[Ro Khanna]

Yeah. Oh, well, I'm sorry you're dealing with that. How's your wife been dealing with it?

[Benny Johnson]

You know, she's fine. Right. A lot of trips to the pool. Like, a lot of, like, kids. Yeah. We have four kids, so we have.

[Ro Khanna]

To buy in the house. Oh, my gosh.

[Benny Johnson]

Sucks.

[Ro Khanna]

Because he identified where.

[Benny Johnson]

Well, our Address is public. It's posted all the time.

[Ro Khanna]

So you're doing. How old are your children?

[Benny Johnson]

Four. And just count down. Four.

[Ro Khanna]

That's a hard. That's. That's a handful.

[Benny Johnson]

Yeah. Not fun. Yeah, it's not fun. Hey, Alex, this is awesome. Thank you for doing this.

[Ro Khanna]

Thank you.

[Benny Johnson]

This is great. All right, good to go.

[Ro Khanna]

Recording now.

[Benny Johnson]

Benny and I'll just. Oh, I see Klein popping in. What's he saying?

[Ro Khanna]

I'll play the guest stinger for you.

[Benny Johnson]

Does that sound good? Okay. My technical producer back in Tampa. All right. Three, two, one. Ladies and gentlemen, we are honored today to have in the studio, live with us Ro Khanna of California. Congressman, good to see you joining us live. Welcome to the program. Welcome to any show.

[Ro Khanna]

Well, thanks for having me. Look, it started out because I reached out to you offering condolences on the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk. And I knew, because you show up in my feeds, how close you were on a human level. And to me, something is broken when we're not able to offer condolences to each other, even if we disagree. And then I. I'm so sorry for what your family is going through. I mean, horrific having someone you don't know threatened to eliminate not just you, but your wife and kids. Appalling. And he needs to be brought to justice. And I'm sorry on a human level, what you've been going through.

[Benny Johnson]

I'm just really happy that the DOJ has taken action. Nobody should have to live like this. We certainly aren't the only ones who get death threats. It happens a lot. I was actually helping a. Well, I won't name them because I'll destroy their career, but a well known leftist yesterday who has gotten some really credible death threats, and it's not anything that should ever happen. It's hard enough to raise a family as it is. And you shouldn't do that under terroristic threatening. I mean, right, like we're all calm.

[Ro Khanna]

About it, but people, I mean, as a family, to threaten your kids, to threaten to eliminate you. This person deserves the book thrown at them. And, and we were talking about how you may not fess up to it, but you're Democrats at your wedding. And you know, there's. There used to be a time in this country where you have strong hard agreements on where the country is going, but we could talk to each other, still have friendships across party lines, try to understand each other, recognize that none of us have a monopoly on the truth, that, you know, we all have blind spots. And so I, I appreciate your Inviting me just to have a conversation. It's maybe it's Iowa. Nice. I don't know what.

[Benny Johnson]

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[Ro Khanna]

There needs to be more dialogue in this country.

[Benny Johnson]

Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I want everyone to know that Ro Khanna, before almost anyone after Charlie's death, reached out. And I don't know how he got my email. We had never spoken before and not out of animosity, but just we didn't have any professional necessity to speak at that time. And he reached out like the congressman reached out right away and said, how do we fix this? Like, what happened to Charlie was horrible and what can we do to make sure that it doesn't happen to any other American? And that is just like such an honorable baseline, such a human baseline that I think is missed by some people in your party, by some people who've used this as an opportunity to further desecrate Dance on Charlie's grave. It's been tough to see. It's been tough to watch. And it's what makes people cold and bitter actually, is seeing that, that the. Even in, even after this man's widow wife is widowed and children are orphaned, that there's still no humanity left. And I don't want, you know, you don't want to live in a country like that. Right. You don't want to live in a country where people will celebrate the death of somebody that disagree with politically or want to assassinate them. And you can't unite with that. And in order to have a country that functions, you have to be able to agree on more than you disagree on. And so anyway, it was just refreshing to see. It's been. It's been nice to see. It's been great to do this. This is why we're having this conversation.

[Ro Khanna]

Well, I appreciate that. Look, I think we have to be able to see each other's humanity. It shouldn't be a big high bar to say we condemn political assassinations, that if there is a political assassination, you know, someone's close to them, that you reach out and you offer condolences, that your heart breaks for someone's wife and their kids and that we can see each other as Americans ultimately. That doesn't mean that you have to agree with everything Charlie stood for in terms of. I mean, that Charlie wouldn't want that. He would. If we want to have a. Conversations about the, you know, places of disagreement, fine. That. And we can get into that in terms of where people agree or disagree. But it should be done in a way of honoring our country's ability to have dialogue, debate, and seeing each other as humans.

[Benny Johnson]

It was tough watching Ilhan Omar and AOC, Right. Use as an opportunity to attack Charlie. I mean, obviously you disagree with him, but to not have Democrats vote to disavow political violence. Right. There's like, I think there was 53 Democrats that did that. Then Ilhan Omar, you know, using it as a real opportunity to attack Charlie, you know, saying that, you know, his. His opinion belongs in the dustbin of history. You know, his. His worldview belongs in the dustbin of history. That she's not going to honor this shitty person. Yeah, I mean, that's just. It's just a nastiness.

[Ro Khanna]

She's had a lot of death threats too. Right. She's had. We've got a. But look, I think there's. Here's where people are coming from on the Democratic side so we can have an honest conversation. I think even Ilhan or AOC would unequivocally condemn the murder of Charlie Kirk. If they were here. They, at a human level, would express an empathy for you as someone who knew Him. I'm sure of that. I mean, I. And maybe we as a party needed to. To do that more. But there are places where, Where Charlie had views that were deeply hurtful to, To. To people on our side. Two of those views were what he had said about the. The Civil Rights Act. Right. I mean, if it weren't for the Civil Rights act, the Immigration Reform act, my parents wouldn't have been able to come to the United States. I wouldn't be in the United States Congress. And then what the comments he had made about Michelle Obama and Kitanji Jackson Brown. So I, I don't think it's. It's beyond the pill. You tell me if I wrong to be criticizing.

[Benny Johnson]

I'm just saying that he was assassinated, right. So, like he was. He was assassinated by the left. So he's killed. And so. Yes, so he's assassinated. And it just seems like. It seems like those are the kind of moments where you can set that stuff aside. Let me give you an example. Right now, Joe Biden has stage 5 metastasized cancer to his bones. As this is a death sentence, according.

[Ro Khanna]

You know, they say there's some therapies, but let's say at least.

[Benny Johnson]

Yeah. I mean, most medical professionals say that, and it's terrible. And I've seen members of my family die of cancer.

[Ro Khanna]

Right.

[Benny Johnson]

And I think that. That Joe Biden is the worst president of my lifetime. I don't like Joe Biden and I.

[Ro Khanna]

You really think that?

[Benny Johnson]

I do. I think it's. I think it was a really bad president. And when I heard that about his cancer diagnosis, you, like, take the political and you set it aside. And no matter what I thought of Joe Biden and no matter how hard I fought to make sure that Joe Biden wasn't president, you take it and you compartmentalize it and you put it aside and you say a prayer for Joe.

[Ro Khanna]

I appreciate it because you had said this to me privately.

[Benny Johnson]

Yeah. This is not something I want to, you know. And so there's like these two planes that I think are really important. Right. Where it's like there's the plane of we're working to figure out what the best ideas for this country are. And then there's the human plane where it's like, I really don't. It's terrible that Joe Biden is going to suffer through this terrible cancer treatment that I've seen myself personally will affect my family, millions of other Americans. And so I'm going to say a prayer for him that his, you know, whatever Days God has for him are painless. And I feel like there's moments, there's like, there's like, there's like, moments where you can shift hopefully from one to the other other. Right. The human side. And I wish more of America saw the human side, right, and, and, and that they.

[Ro Khanna]

We.

[Benny Johnson]

Doesn't all have to be political. It doesn't. It doesn't have to be. Charlie Kirk was killed, and that's bad. But, you know, here's everything I hate about him, you know, and that, and that, that's what I try, I've tried to do. And I, I haven't seen any conservatives dancing on Joe Biden's, you know, grave, so to speak. I haven't seen anybody celebrating the horrible thing that's happening to Joe Biden. I've seen a lot of people praying for him and saying, you know, we hope. We hope that he lives a painless, you know, whatever days God has for him. Our panels, but, but there were a lot of leftists that were celebrating Charlie Kirk's death and that. And I'm trying. What I, What I want is to try and figure out, you know, what. What is that exactly? You know, why is that happening? Because that is something that's bothered a lot of people. People.

[Ro Khanna]

Well, look, the celebration of his death was horrific, disgusting, appalling. I mean, I, I have never met Erica, but I saw her comments about forgiving Charlie's killer. And to me, that was what Christianity is, is all about, right? Forgiveness, redemption. And I, I saw his kids. I saw this clip of Charlie being interviewed and his daughter running to, to hug him. And at a human level, it, It. Your heart goes out to the family. The question then is, okay, you know, and I know you're sincere about praying for, For Joe Biden because you've told me that not just in this interview, that before, but if there was a, you know, if you were in the Congress and there is a resolution just to have an honest conversation that says Joe Biden was the greatest president in American history, hypothetically, you know, and let's wish him well for cancer. You could see why that would maybe.

[Benny Johnson]

I would never say Joe Biden's the president, say, because what the resolution for Charlie was, was just to honor his life. Right? You know, so I would be like, yeah, Joe Biden was president and he, you know, had a, you know, he did, he did his career, you know, here in the Senate and in the federal government. If I was a member of Congress, I would find that, okay, so we're gonna, so Joe. So Joe Biden has terminal cancer. We're gonna honor his life and his service and say that that cancer is bad. Right. I would totally vote for God. Vote, like voted for it. Like, fine. You know, fine. That's not even hard.

[Ro Khanna]

Right.

[Benny Johnson]

But it was, you know, I don't want to, I'm just trying to get to the core of like the humanity that we're losing. Right.

[Ro Khanna]

Which is it.

[Benny Johnson]

See, that's been on full display. Like, the humanity loss has been, it's been tough to see. Now there's been some members like your, You, John Federman, who've just like, come out front and been like, no, like, we're not going to use this as an opportunity to attack Charlie further or to celebrate his death. And I think that that's like a, like a rock bottom basement that we can like build from actually. That political violence is wrong and that we shouldn't celebrate it and we shouldn't, shouldn't want more of it. Right?

[Ro Khanna]

Absolutely. I mean, that unequivocal condemnation of the violence, empathy for people who have suffered from it, the ability to condemn violence to you, to your family, threats of violence. I mean, unambiguously thinking how we tone, tone down and, and understand how we bring down the temperature. Yes. In this country. You know, I mean, I've con. Condemned. I got some hot waters on Hugh Hewitt and I said that the Attorney General who was running in Virginia, that those tweets were beyond the pale, that I can support him in, in good conscience when he's threatening to kill the speaker of the House and, and texting that, I mean, that's not a, that's not a high bar. But at the same time, you call.

[Benny Johnson]

For him to drop out of the race. Jay Jones.

[Ro Khanna]

I don't call from, I never called for anyone to drop out, but I said that I don't, I wouldn't support him. I don't endorse him. I wouldn't, I don't support, support him. And I condemn those tweets. But I, it's for the people to decide in terms of whether it's Republican, Democrat, we have a democracy. It's like people who are calling for Donald Trump to drop out because he had charges or I, I just think we need, but we need to be clear that those, that I wouldn't be calling me up today and said, would you endorse me? I wouldn't endorse them. Yeah, yeah, I don't support him. But at the same time, the group chat, I mean, I know people have dismissed this but you know, you have these 20, 30 year old folks talking about insults to, to, to, to, to, to people who are Jewish, to people.

[Benny Johnson]

Before we get to that, because I'm happy to talk about that and I want to obviously talk about the differences between the two of them. But Jay Jones, yeah, he texted Republicans that he wanted to kill them. He wanted to shoot him with bullets. He called them and harassed them and then he said he wanted to kill their children.

[Ro Khanna]

Right.

[Benny Johnson]

Called their children little fascists. This is the exact same thing that happened to me. And a man is now in prison for it, a Californian man from San Diego, and he's in jail for doing the same thing, threatening my family and threatening to kill me. And so how do you, how do you parse the difference there between the results? Because Jay Jones, who did that to a Republican, is on the ballot in Virginia and still has a considerable amount of Democrat support. I haven't seen Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama or Nancy Pelosi call for him to drop out of the race or even to condemn. Actually, he still has the full support of the dnc, the dccc. How do you know? How do you square that? Because what that says to someone like me is we're going to like selectively choose, you know, where we find condemnation for this. We actually, we actually don't think that's wrong. Abigail Spanberger hasn't called for him to drop out. I mean, that seems like a, it seems like the lowest possible threshold is like you shouldn't be asking for people to die, you know, asking for Republicans to be killed.

[Ro Khanna]

Look, I, I don't think he should be supported. I mean, that's, that's. And I, I don't think we should be in endorsing him in because of what those, those, those texts were pretty horrible. Now. Yeah, I don't think you would say he should be prosecuted. The guy who threatened you should be prosecuted because there was a actionable intent to, to, to actually harm you. And we have a broad First Amendment in this country for a reason. That, but there's a difference between saying someone's speech may be protected under the First Amendment and that.

[Benny Johnson]

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[Ro Khanna]

We should be supporting them as a political candidate. But you know, Benny, I, it's refreshing.

[Benny Johnson]

To hear someone say it, though. I mean, I guess it's refreshing to hear. I'm, I'm, I'm not trying to put the screws to you. I'm, I, I appreciate the fact that you're able to just disavow it.

[Ro Khanna]

And look, I'm sure there'll be some people upset at me because they'll say, you know, it's a close race and he's on the ballot and are you not going to endorse him or support him, given that it's neck and neck and. No, I, I can't. I can't support someone who threatens violence in that way. And it's not like someone, not. It's not like, okay, the next day he woke up and then he texted, I'm really sorry. I was having a moment. Right. It's three years later that, that, that, that's not the type of politics. But let me ask you this because I, I want to. The, the why, why on the left that the hurt in terms of these issues and take, take, take Kirk out of it because obviously he, he was murdered in and, and sympathies. And you were a genuine friend of his and his, his family. And I know that that's been painful when you look at the, the issues that, that the left has been hurt by this idea of the Civil Rights movement, right, and the Civil Rights act and this, that overcomes segregation in the South. And I was talking to someone the other day who said, you know, when he grew up in the south, he couldn't go through the front door of the restaurant. He used to go through the back door, but it didn't really matter because he was too poor to buy anything. And growing up in the south, black meant being black and poor. And then we have Dr. King, we have the civil rights movement. Now we have the end of Jim Crow. You have the Immigration Reform act that allows people like my parents to come to the United States. I'm born in Philadelphia. Do you see how people would be hurt if it's anyone saying, well, we don't believe in the Civil Rights act, or, you know, if anyone's an African American woman in a high. In a high place, like Ketanji Jackson Brown, we're questioning their intelligence. I. I'm saying, I'm trying to, you know, because in the spirit of having this honest conversation, I'm telling you where totally where that hurt comes from.

[Benny Johnson]

And I, again, I've said it before, but I'll say it now. Like, I love that we're having this conversation. You can't fix the country if you can't have conversations like this. I hope that more Democrats come on the show and we can have more civilized conversations and have more spirited debate, because that's the only way that you start seeing each other as human. Actually, it's easy when it's an avatar, right. When it's like a meme online. Right. When it's something that's not inhuman. But I'm a physical. I'm a human being. I have kids. I have real children that I'm really raising. I'm just a dad. I'm just a normal dude. Right. Just like everybody else. Like, just like you and your family. And we're just normal dudes and we're all on the ship together. And if the ship sinks, if America fails, like, we all fail together and it sucks for all of us, right?

[Ro Khanna]

Yeah. Greatest country in the world, right?

[Benny Johnson]

Yes. But we used to, like. Well, we used to say, I don't. Like. I. I know you do, but I'm not sure that many. I'm not sure. I think that that's actually the difference between now and the 90s is that the majority. I think I'm not. I think there's a considerable, perhaps still minority of voters that are not sure if America is the greatest country in the world and aren't tell you, this.

[Ro Khanna]

Is the greatest country I'm in.

[Benny Johnson]

Cheers to that.

[Ro Khanna]

American born in Philadelphia, 1976. I of Hindu faith and this country elected me to represent the richest, most powerful, economically prosperous place in the world, Silicon Valley. This is a country where still your dreams can come true from whatever background you are. It's an incredible place. But the reason I have this conversation, a lot of times people get together like us, we have a dialogue, and then we don't get people are. It's sort of the niceties, and they don't get to the. Yeah, the heart.

[Benny Johnson]

So please let me get to the heart of the issue that you just brought up. So you're talking about hurt, and you're talking about people's feelings being hurt or someone's like, like core beliefs.

[Ro Khanna]

Right.

[Benny Johnson]

That's important. Okay. And that's a level that we have to, like, talk about. I'm talking about people getting shot and killed. That's a different level of hurt. So when the President takes a bullet to the head, that's hurt. When Corey Comprator gets killed in front of his wife and children, that's hurt. When Charlie Kirk gets struck in the neck and killed, that's hurt. And millions of people see it. That's actual hurt. That's physical violence. When a church in Minneapolis gets shot up, right? That's in the children praying there are killed. That's hurt. When ICE facilities get shot up by snipers with anti ICE iconography carved in the bullets, that's hurt. Right, Right. This is hurt. And so we, in order to get to the next level of politics where we talk about these issues, right, Marginal tax rates in health, right. In the Civil Rights act, you have to stop the kill. You, you have to stop the physical killing. Right. Before you can even talk about that stuff.

[Ro Khanna]

But they don't exist.

[Benny Johnson]

They don't exist in the same plane. One's. One, you know, one is esoteric and as a policy, and the other one is war. Right. And, and that, and that's. And so when Jay Jones. I want to bring this all back to Jay Jones. When there's a Democrat on the ballot in Virginia to be the top law enforcement agent of that state. And there are 3 million Democrats registered in Virginia, and millions of them vote for a man that says he wants to kill Republicans and their children because they're little fascists. What message is that sending? And when the Democrat Party can't disavow that individual. Well, what message is that sending to Republicans? You want to talk about hurt, Congressman? That's hurt. And it's. Now, it's no longer something that is esoteric. It's something that's physically happening. We're witnessing it happening. I just saw it happen to my family three days ago. Right. With the DOJ charges. Yeah. So it's like, these are real. When somebody shows you who they are, believe them, you know, these are. These are real. That's. That's real hurt. And so I think that's a major divide in the country right now, right? Because from a Republican standpoint, from a conservative standpoint, we're seeing the actual physical bullets and the actual, you know, death of generational leaders. Our president taking a bullet to the head.

[Ro Khanna]

Look, I mean, look what happened to the President and every Democrat, including President Biden. Vice President Harris condemned within hours the horrific assassination attempt at Butler. The 99 of elected Democrats condemned the, the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk. But you would agree that this violence has not been one sided, right? I mean, I guess. And the Vice President and I have debated a lot, Vance, but one of the things that I was disappointed is for him to say, well, it's all this, the violence in the left. What about, and I don't want to make it a what about ism, but what about when Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul Pelosi was beaten with a, with a hammer in his house? What about the assassination? Hold on, hold on, let me just finish. What about the assassination?

[Benny Johnson]

That guy's kids describe him as a leftist. He lived in a trailer with a BLM sign.

[Ro Khanna]

Assassination in Minnesota.

[Benny Johnson]

Hold on.

[Ro Khanna]

What about Gretchen Whitmer and the governor and, and militias who captured her? What about the, the threat?

[Benny Johnson]

You're saying all these things, but you're not giving me a, you know, you're, you're casting these, this happened to me on cable news the other night when they said, well, what about the Pulse nightclub club shooting? That's, that's right wing violence. That was ISIS violence, bro. That, well, that has nothing to do with the right wing. They're not the right wing. If I disavow them and I don't Nancy Pelosi's attack. So let's start on the level. It's horrible to attack Paul Pelosi in his home. That was awful. I disavow, I disavow that violence entirely.

[Ro Khanna]

President Trump should have his own more clearly. I mean, he was kind of mocking it.

[Benny Johnson]

So that man has a very unique story. And if you actually want to get down to the details, his family describes him as a, as a left wing environmentalist who supported Democrats. He lived inside of a house with BLM signs in it. And, and so you're saying you're ascribing that as right wing violence. It's not right wing violence. I don't think. Either way, I disavow it. Either way, I disavow. It's not even hard for me. Right.

[Ro Khanna]

Do you, do you, are you willing to criticize President Trump's reactions to John McCain, to Paul Pelosi, to the the absence of condemnation when the Minnesota.

[Benny Johnson]

I'm not here to speak for the President. I'm here to speak for myself. And I can, and I respect the fact that you're speaking for yourself with Jay Jones.

[Ro Khanna]

Right. But like, I guess the point is that there's, there's in this country, and I'm not saying that there aren't problems on our side. There's in this country a feeling that violence has taken place against people on the left. I'm not saying that literally by someone on the right, but that the right, the leaders of the right from the president have not been as unequivocal in condemning that as they should be.

[Benny Johnson]

But come on, we both have like functional brain stems and eyeballs. You can see that the vast majority of the modern political violence is on the left. And that's what all available data shows. And so I'm not.

[Ro Khanna]

That's what the, the ADL does. That is, you can't use the adl.

[Benny Johnson]

The ADL uses prison, uses prison violence and ascribes right wing, ascribes white nationalist prison violence as right, as right wing hate. We disavow that entirely. That's not part of our movement. You can't bundle that data together. I refuse to acknowledge that data on this program.

[Ro Khanna]

That the point is what, what is the gain from even arguing whether it's left or right is more to blame. Why I didn't just come together and.

[Benny Johnson]

Say that it's all wrong.

[Ro Khanna]

Totally, totally. And it's all wrong.

[Benny Johnson]

And I can, I can tell you this, as a matter of fact. If a Republican was running right now that said that Democrat children should be slaughtered because they're little communists, right? And that I want to kill, I want to kill Democrats, I would be calling for that person to be banished from the party. I'd say that's absolutely, totally morally repugnant and indefensible. And what I'm saying right now is that the Democrats have a man who's running for the chief law enforcement position in Virginia. It's a big powerful state, right. Half the federal government's in that state. And you know, he hasn't been like, it's barely even been covered. And so that signals that it's appropriate. That's all. I don't want the signal that that's appropriate.

[Ro Khanna]

That's fine.

[Benny Johnson]

But, but that's why I want the guy. That's why I'm glad the guy was arrested. You know, that came after. I want to signal that it's important that we can't tolerate this in society.

[Ro Khanna]

Right. You know, but, but, but, but it's not been a, a one sided problem on the devolution of public discourse to.

[Benny Johnson]

Say that it's all 100% one side.

[Ro Khanna]

That, the Democratic side that just to share the perspective that there, there is a sense that the President, whatever you think of him, you know when he came and he's calling about deporting Ilhan Omar said, you know that at a rally who's an American citizen in the Congress when he's not condemning Paul Pelosi's incident of Hammer when he's joking about it, joking about McCain, joking about not condemning unequivocally what happened. It took a week to cover the, the arson anti Semitic arson of Josh Shapiro's home in Pennsylvania.

[Benny Johnson]

That also also a man of the left, a big pro Palestine guy.

[Ro Khanna]

Is that the case?

[Benny Johnson]

As a matter of fact, the question is not so more left wing violence. I hate it and I condemn it by the way like completely.

[Ro Khanna]

If you, and maybe if you were president, we would have had that response within hours. But what we've had is a sense where Trump and others have not, haven't done it.

[Benny Johnson]

I'm not, I stood with the Attorney General 72 hours ago and she condemned all of those including the Minnesota attack, Josh Shapiro attack the Attorney General's top law enforcement official. And she, she, she in her speech right in front of me, I was foot from her. She condemned all of that, of course, because it's like not even hard to do.

[Ro Khanna]

Well, I, my hope is that this can become the baseline. Maybe we can start with this that regardless of who the violence is against or who the random suspect is, sometimes it's a mental health issue, sometimes it's in initial motives. We can come together, Republicans, Democrats, unequivocal condemnation within hours and zero tolerance. I think if, if we establish that. Betty.

[Benny Johnson]

I love it.

[Ro Khanna]

There would be. I love it.

[Benny Johnson]

I'm fine with it. I want Paul Pelosi to also live a happy, you know, a happy and you know, like I like of course these things are wrong. This guy's from California. I haven't, I mean do you think that I'll hear anything from Gavin Newsome about this? About the guy who threatened my family?

[Ro Khanna]

He should, I mean I, I'm happy to, to, to reach out to him and I mean I, it's a federal crime but, but you know, we've got to tone down the, the, the anger, the hate, the insult. And here's the question, Benny, on a deeper level, please.

[Benny Johnson]

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[Ro Khanna]

We can keep going down a politics that's going to insult each other, right? I mean Trump does a meme, Gavin does a meme. There's a, you know they're mocking each other's physical appearance. I mean you're laughing but that's no, I mean, this has become like the gladiator.

[Benny Johnson]

I mean, the best thing the left has going for them digitally is Gavin Newsom having a Stan account that just copies Trump, like on every tweet.

[Ro Khanna]

And it's like we're very close to.

[Benny Johnson]

The people that do like Trump social media. And that's, that, that's what Gavin's doing and he's going gangbusters on it. You know, it's like, it's actually remarkable to watch.

[Ro Khanna]

It's, that can be, that can be the future of America. Or we can try to say that we can have ferocious competition, but on a debate about ideas, about a debate about where we stand on, on, on things like how we bring manufacturing back, how we grow the economy, how we deal with AI, how we make sure we're ahead of China. And we could debate these issues and we can do it in a way that is spirited, that is competitive, but isn't like Roman gladiators and mud wrestling. And maybe we just keep going down this kind of shock jock politics. I don't think that's what's going to keep America preeminent if we do that. And what I'd like to do, which I did with Vivek Ramaswamy in a conversation when he was running for president, is we had an hour and a half long conversation. Deep divisions, but in an elevated plane. And I wish the vice president would do that. The guy's obviously educated. He went to, you know, Ohio State, went to Yale. No one questions his intellect. Why, why is it always, okay, let's figure out how we insult or mock. And I'm not saying I'm perfect. Why not? Why not turn it around? A new generation post Trump, right? We've had three 80 year old presidents in a row. Literally, through some quirk, we're going to have people like you and me now leading this country in a post Trump Biden future. Why don't we try to turn things around in a better way so it's not just putting up pictures of Donald Trump and calling him fat or vice.

[Benny Johnson]

Versa in defense of the vice president. I think he was on virtually every single news network this weekend on Sunday shows. He did Sunday shows. He, he, he subjects himself to questioning all the time.

[Ro Khanna]

He's out there unquestioning.

[Benny Johnson]

But he, he has this Stephanopoulos cut him off with a commercial break.

[Ro Khanna]

He's got the side of him, you know, he's, it's something and maybe he finds it humorous. It's calling Elizabeth Warren Pocahontas et cetera. I'm just saying that we could. It. You would agree with me, putting aside who's to blame, that we can do better in this country. Like, we're not at like Lincoln Douglas or Kennedy Nixon. We've become a, a country where to your point, having a stand. Social media account trying to, to imitate Trump is, is like, is that the future of America? Like, is that the future of, of conversation? And maybe, you know, maybe that is, but that's. Is that going to make us lead in AI? Is that going to make us the leader of the free world? Is that what Ronald Reagan would have done and like calling to Gorbachev to tear down the wall? Yeah, so, so how. How do we. What I'm trying to say is how do we try to raise the, the standards of conversation discourse in this country?

[Benny Johnson]

I swear, you could sell out arenas by doing actual Lincoln Douglas debates, by bringing thought leaders from both sides and having true debates. People love that. There are big YouTube channels with me, tens of millions of views. Jubilee is one of them where they just have good faith. Good faith debate. Yeah, Good faith debate between sides. Right. Things you could do and, and like, people love that. I swear, you could, you really could truly sell out arenas. I would love to.

[Ro Khanna]

You know, I did one with the vac. It could have Marjorie Taylor, Greene Massey or the Vice president. Not in a way of like, okay, here's the debate with Sean Hannity as a moderator and you take your swing with your rehearse talking points and how about just a conversation?

[Benny Johnson]

Right?

[Ro Khanna]

That's. That was what Douglas and Lincoln where they were actually talking for hours in a way of trying to understand where to go as a country. And by the way, it elevated both of them to the point that 150 years later, we're talking about.

[Benny Johnson]

People read those debates like they still study them. Right?

[Ro Khanna]

Yeah. Reading about Newsom Stan accounts you think they're going to be reading.

[Benny Johnson]

There will definitely be history books written about Trump's memes. But. And that's a corner of the Internet. Listen, we live in the, you know, we live in the Internet age and people love memes and they love, it's like they love that style of communication. The base does. But I think that there is a ravenous hunger for true and real and hearty debate in this country. And I think that they can coexist, honestly. And there was a debate that was done between Ron DeSantis and Gavin Newsom. Yeah, I think it did really well. I think a lot of people watched it. They Liked it.

[Ro Khanna]

Yeah.

[Benny Johnson]

And I'd love to see more of that, actually. Yeah. Ron DeSantis held up the poop map. Did you see that?

[Ro Khanna]

I did not. I didn't watch the man.

[Benny Johnson]

I saw the clip, the San Francisco poop map. He said, here's, here's where all the public defecation is in San Francisco.

[Ro Khanna]

Lori is cleaning that up. A new mirror. Oh, is he? Yeah, no, we got a new generation of mirrors. And have you been out to the Bay Area recently?

[Benny Johnson]

Not recently, but I've been a couple times. It is, it is sunken, man.

[Ro Khanna]

It is tough.

[Benny Johnson]

I watched a guy, I, I got an in and out burger right by the wharf. There's an in out burger right there. And then I watched a guy drop his pants and then just take a giant right in front of me. And I could, I couldn't eat. I couldn't eat it anymore. Lori's I love in and out, and I don't get it very often. So I'm like, I was only there for a few hours. This was my In N Out burger. And this guy takes a. In front of me. I had to throw away my in and out.

[Ro Khanna]

Well, we'll come to my district. It's a little bit further south. We won't have defecation. We do, we do have. You gotta. You know, for all the mockery of Silicon Valley, if it were really that unsafe a place, you wouldn't have five companies over a trillion dollars. Apple, Google, Nvidia, Tesla, you know, Broadcom. You wouldn't have them have their families there living, their schools, their employees there? Actually, some of the cities in my district are the safest in the country. Sunnyville, Cupertino, Fremont. But did we have a problem in San Francisco? Absolutely. Open drug culture, homelessness. And Lori is cleaning it up. Last year he's taken some big measures. That's why he's got 73% approval.

[Benny Johnson]

That's wonderful to see. I'd love to do this tour with you in great American cities. My take on this is that we'll never get another San Francisco. God didn't make two San Francisco's. There's only one. It is a gorgeous, beautiful American city, is probably one of the most gifted, naturally beautiful American cities in cities in the world, just period. Yes, yes. And so what happens when I. When you can drive through it? When you drive through it, and I have plenty of video to show. We got broken. We got a car broken into in five minutes. You know, famously, in San Francisco last year, you know, in San Francisco, and it was all on camera, right. And you could see it. You don't want to see these places.

[Ro Khanna]

Experiences what a car broken in and one defecation.

[Benny Johnson]

Yeah, dude, man. We go there.

[Ro Khanna]

I've lived there over 20 years.

[Benny Johnson]

But you're in the areas outside. You know, we go downtown. We go downtown, right. And so we're staying in downtown San Francisco. We're not looking for trouble.

[Ro Khanna]

Yeah, no, no.

[Benny Johnson]

But you know where we got our car broken into? Nancy Pelosi's house. We were just there. We were right up there on Billionaires. Your little billionaires block.

[Ro Khanna]

Yeah, sister bro.

[Benny Johnson]

They smashed right into our car, took all of our stuff right across. We were just filming an open, right, because we were going to talk about. Not to dox. We were just talk about the neighborhood. Yeah, this was after Company.

[Ro Khanna]

Yeah, I mean look, right across from.

[Benny Johnson]

Closing this, her Secret service was there actually.

[Ro Khanna]

Right.

[Benny Johnson]

And they just watched our car get smashed and all of our stuff get taken. I think they were laughing about it. But that happened. I mean that was, that's a very safe neighborhood with some of the most beautiful homes I've ever seen in my life and very expensive homes.

[Ro Khanna]

Right.

[Benny Johnson]

And it was not safe even there. And so then you watch the Paul Pelosi thing happen and it didn't shock me because we were someone, someone criminally attacked us right across from her house. And I was like, geez man, this is just unsafe. It's unsafe. Like Pelosi should move actually. Like this is unsafe for anyone to live here. And I hate seeing that. Well, here's my take, okay? This is not the own, the libs thing. My take is that we should protect, we should preserve Chicago. Like we won't get another Chicago, we won't get another New York. Like we shouldn't abandon these cities to total ruin. It's actually important for America to have.

[Ro Khanna]

These cities and local control. Don't you think that the way to do that is. You know, I often say to. About the president, I said, part of me thinks that he really wants to run for like mirror New York. Like the guy is like, that's the job. Great one. That's the job he really wants.

[Benny Johnson]

You like Mandami, did you endorse him?

[Ro Khanna]

I've endorsed, I've, I'm, I have endorsed him and I'm going to campaign. I've campaigned for him, for Mikey, Sheryl, for Abigail Spanberger and that we've got a broad tent party. But I have endorsed Mamdani. But the, the, the, the point is, I mean, why not?

[Benny Johnson]

Okay, we don't have enough time on the live for this. That's the next conversation. I would love to. I mean this. I would love to. I'd say this in absolute earnest. I would love to have him on. I'd like to have AOC on. I'd like a Bernie on.

[Ro Khanna]

Yeah.

[Benny Johnson]

This is like critically. It is like critically important that we at the very least, like, can have these conversations.

[Ro Khanna]

You know what you could do? Like, adults hold, you know, get one conservative, one progressive Democrat or whatever and have a conversation like we're having where it's substantive. It. It's not like, oh, Kumbaya. Like we've had disagreements and you. And try to. There may be a, a huge appetite for that in the country. No one is. No one has tried it. Right. And. And so what we end up having is like this 10 second back and forth. But my point was, you know what.

[Benny Johnson]

You'D get to with that. Sorry to interrupt you, Congressman, but what you get with that is you'd probably get an arena. I don't know if you could sell arena. Maybe you could. You'd probably get an arena that would show up where like, the crowd would be very, very mixed.

[Ro Khanna]

Yeah.

[Benny Johnson]

Would be like a ton of people from different backgrounds.

[Ro Khanna]

Right.

[Benny Johnson]

That like, would be there to see their side. Right. So you'd have the AOC people, like, but with the MAGA people. Right. Like, it'd be kind of neat. It'd be neat. I mean, I don't want there to be too much alcohol served. Right. Like, I don't want people doing shots. Okay. Because it'd be like an Eagles. Be like an Eagles game. Right. I don't want batteries being thrown.

[Ro Khanna]

There'll be some overlap. Like, there'll be an overlap of like getting money out of politics. There'll be an overlap about, about not having lobbyists. They'll be an over, like, transparency of government in government. There'll be an overlap saying like, we got to bring manufacturer.

[Benny Johnson]

You know what go so viral, Congressman.

[Ro Khanna]

Yeah.

[Benny Johnson]

Is having like the, the, the stadium roar. Because there would be a line like that about like, let's get filthy lobbyist money out of politics. I'm sick of Big Pharma money in politics. Right. And the stadium would roar and it'd be all these MAGA people next to all these Bernie people, and they all be clapping together for the same thing. It was like, it's the meme, you know, it'd be the meme, like the driving meme.

[Ro Khanna]

I introduced Trump's executive order on Big Pharma as A bill in Congress because I agree with it like his. He could have written that same thing. I mean it was basically going after pharma saying Americans should pay more than people in like Britain, France and Japan. So there are those areas. But on this city thing, like if Republicans are concerned about what's happening in Chicago or what's happening in these cities and run, run someone for Mary. It's not like you guys haven't won with Giuliani or, or more centrist marriage. What my concern is, you don't want the federal government. There's going to be a Democratic president at some point. You don't want a Democratic president sitting there saying, okay, we're going to mobilize the National Guard because we don't like what Abbott is doing.

[Benny Johnson]

We're gonna, we're gonna bring in the tent cities. We're gonna force the tent cities on you. Yes, that's right. So we're deploying 100,000 drug users to Tampa. Okay. And we got a bunch of meth heads. We got an army National Guard of meth heads. Okay, we're going to send them in. Obviously we're to make everything San Francisco.

[Ro Khanna]

And by the way, what they're doing on universities, you want to like, just think sometimes it's short sighted. Just think of what a Democratic president could do to conservative universities if we said, okay, you want federal funding. Now here are all the left curriculum that you need to have. I mean it's keep the federal government out of sort of the, the interference on local cities, on private universities, on. Even if they're getting federal funding. I get that argument. But you really want like, okay, right now it's like Trump making the compact for MIT and Massey's pushback on it as MIT Grid. But do you really want the, the left being. Getting in there and then, well, I.

[Benny Johnson]

Mean like, oh, okay, do we want the left? You have a lot of choices for cell phone service with new ones popping up all the time. But here's the truth. There's only been one cell phone company that stands in the gap for every American that believes in freedom and believes that freedom is worth fighting for, and that's Patriot Mobile. The good news is you can switch to Patriot Mobile today without sacrificing quality or service. Worried about coverage? Don't be. Patriot Mobile uses all three major US Networks. If you have service in this country today, you'll be good or better with Patriot Mobile. Think switching is a hassle. It's not. You can keep your number, your phone or Upgrade Patriot Mobile's 100% US based customer service team will get you activated in minutes from the comfort of your own home. If you're stuck at a contract and you owe money on your phones, don't worry. Patriot Mobile has a contract buyout program. And that's how we win, folks, by aligning our spending with our values. Every dollar we spend matters. Go to patriotmobile.com benny or call 972 Patriot. Use a promo code, Benny and get a free month of service Switch today. That's patriot mobile.com benny or call 972-patriot being on college campuses talking about curriculum. Come on, Congressman, you hear yourself.

[Ro Khanna]

The president.

[Benny Johnson]

Could you imagine if Democrats tried to censor people on social media? It'd be crazy.

[Ro Khanna]

Whoa.

[Benny Johnson]

Yes. As a guy who's lost like 50 accounts to censorship, could you imagine if the left was operating on a college campus? Come on, come on. These are the kind of conversations you can have. Like if you have an open debate. And, and yes, of course, like obviously institutional racism, dei, like quotas. I think those are wrong, actually. And I think they're against the civil rights. You talk about the Civil Rights Amendment. Yeah. Obviously it's illegal to hire people based on their skin color. You started this conversation saying the civil rights, that the Civil Rights act is, is incredibly good for the country. Totally. And like what? So we shouldn't be hiring people based on quotas and skin colors and we shouldn't be bringing them into colleges based on DEIs and quotas and skin colors and having that foisted down from a government. So what I'm saying here is that Trump is, and this is probably a much longer conversation than we have time for, but Trump is to reset. That is actually aligned with the Civil Rights act to say that we're not going to look at skin, we're not going to look at the, the amount of melanin you have in your skin to say whether you deserve to be in this college. That, that is actually a good thing. We're going to look at you on your merits.

[Ro Khanna]

Here's what I think is missing.

[Benny Johnson]

I think that's where the, that's actually in line. I used to, you know, with an MLK speech that says I want my children to be judged by the content of the character.

[Ro Khanna]

Nothing color their skin. And I agree no one should be hired because they're Indian or white or what their race is. But here's the challenge that, that those totally agree, totally. Who have supported diversity and inclusion programs, equity inclusion programs. Here's what the challenge is. So I used to teach at Stanford in economics before I got into Congress. And I used to say my students used to get funded before they had an idea. Why? Because they were meritorious? Because they had the best plan? No, because they had the email to the venture capitalist who their parents knew or who they had a network. And then I went down to the South. Sway.

[Benny Johnson]

It's always been, by the way, like in all human history, right?

[Ro Khanna]

Like, you know, historically black colleges were some of the most hardworking, ambitious kids, you know, had some of the most incredible ideas, but they would have no shot, no shot of getting any of that venture capital. Less than 1% of venture capital goes to black entrepreneurs. Now I know you believe this because you believe in the potential of everyone. If we are going to have programs that say, you know what, that's kind of messed up that we've got all this talent that is not getting access to the right networks and we're going to lose to China if we don't have everyone on the playing field. I don't view that as unmeritorious. I view that as meritorious. I view that as looking for God given potential in every zip code and making sure people aren't disadvantaged because they don't have certain networks. And so this is the real conversation about dei. It's not okay, do you just hire someone based on, on race? It's how do we make this country more meritorious when some people have not had the same opportunities?

[Benny Johnson]

Yeah, you really got to work on the racism in your district, Congressman, because what you're talking about is your district there. You know, you really got to work on that. Those racist Silicon Valley companies that won't hire black people. Congressman, you told on yourself. Oh boy, it looks like you're going home with some real troubles. You're going to have to really lecture those big tech companies about their racism.

[Ro Khanna]

Not saying that they're racist. I'm saying that they're, they're, they're networks that we have to work to make more inclusive. Look, that's, that's, and that's the American problem.

[Benny Johnson]

Where you're born is where you're born. You know, it's like, and, and there's going to be benefits and downsides to everywhere that you're born. You're right.

[Ro Khanna]

Like Iowa. We've got to do that, right? I mean, part of the story in this country. I mean, have you ever thought like people who built America, right? The scale, the cliffs of Normandy, they, they, they won the Civil War, won the Revolutionary War, built the steel, built the coal De industrialized jobs left rural towns hollowed out. Like, all the wealth is piling up in districts like mine. We got billionaires, trillionaires. Have you ever said, like, yeah, we need to do more for rural America? I don't view that as affirmative action. I view that as, like, how do we get economic activity there? Factory towns? And I view the same thing with the Southwest or the black South. But my point is there, there's probably a place where we can come to some, even if we disagree, a way of understanding where we're coming from. And me not saying, you know what, Benny disagrees with me on this, and so he's a racist, or he disagrees with me on this and he doesn't like Indian people. Right. And we can come at this with a conversation like we have. That doesn't mean I have to come up and be like, oh, Benny's the greatest on every view. You can hold your own, but we've got to find a way to. To disagree more. More respectfully. And if there's one critique I have on my party, and I'm going to ask you what your critique is of yours. Oh, but one critique of mine is sometimes we came off too much scolding that we come off as. You know, I think of the kids I grew up with who watch Rocky movies and went to Philly's games, and I was like, you know, I'm no better than them just because I have a fancy title as a congressman or a. In Silicon Valley. Like, they have a lot to teach me. Not just now, but when I was terrible at, like, Little League. And they used to say, watch the bunt, right? And I think about them all the time and. And how I'm still one of those kids who grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. And I think our party sometimes comes off as it can be preachy. You tell me, honest, honest reflection. Where do you think your party could do better?

[Benny Johnson]

Your party comes off as preachy. And I feel like my party doesn't preach enough. I feel like there's a huge messaging problem with the Republicans and that. That we need to get a lot sharper with our ideas for saving America. Kids can't afford a home. Like, we need to actually talk about that. Like, kids can't buy homes. Well, what the hell is going to happen in 10 years and 20 years? Kids don't have enough money to buy a home. What's the average price of a home in your district was a million dollars for a starter home? Like, for something that is no bigger than the studio is $1 million. How is that possible? You know, and kids are working at Starbucks for minimum wage. The same minimum wage approximately is when I was a kid.

[Ro Khanna]

Yeah. So it's like, you know what's so sad? I like to interrupt. How do you see, the Maxwell House has become Maxwell Apartments. The coffee that, you know, they like Folgers coffee. They had Maxwell House.

[Benny Johnson]

Yeah.

[Ro Khanna]

And now they're like, well, we're changing our name to Maxwell Apartments because people don't buy houses anymore.

[Benny Johnson]

That sucks. Is that true?

[Ro Khanna]

That is true.

[Benny Johnson]

Is that a meme or is that true?

[Ro Khanna]

It should be a meme.

[Benny Johnson]

It was like saying, this is like.

[Ro Khanna]

The commentary on the American dream.

[Benny Johnson]

That's insane. We have to care about these things. We have to like, actually, like, it feels, it feels like, oh, you know, another social program. No, like, no, it's not a social program. It's like the future of our nation. Young men and women must be able to afford homes. Right. Like, you have to fix this. They shouldn't be burdened with trillions of dollars of debt in pointless wars for forever wars. And pharmaceutical costs are obscene and so are healthcare costs. And so no kids can afford health care. That's like a joke. No one will ever own a home. And you're gonna have like an entire nation of nihilistic renters. That's an awful future. Right. In a dollar.

[Ro Khanna]

That's insurance getting, you know.

[Benny Johnson]

That's exactly right.

[Ro Khanna]

$71 billion of profits and no more small businesses.

[Benny Johnson]

No more small businesses in total corporatist control of everything.

[Ro Khanna]

You know who's been saying some of this stuff is Marjorie Taylor Green.

[Benny Johnson]

Yeah, that's a terrible. That's a terrible future.

[Ro Khanna]

Well, look, that was an honest answer.

[Benny Johnson]

See, that's a terrible future. And we need to talk about that. Like, I agree with that. Yeah. For like the. More from a moral perspective, like that's. It's an immoral thing to do to your children.

[Ro Khanna]

From a patriotic.

[Benny Johnson]

Yes, it's an immoral thing to give them that as a future.

[Ro Khanna]

Isn't that the biggest issue in this country? That 70 of Americans believe that the American dream no longer exists?

[Benny Johnson]

Like, yeah, that sucks.

[Ro Khanna]

And my parents, when they came here. Right. Put aside what people think partisan wise. But John F. Kennedy was saying we were going to go to the moon. The country was on the march. We were like, we were the place to be in the world. And they never had a doubt that I or my brother would have a better life. That this was the greatest country in the world. They, you know, I still Believe that. But to see 70% of Americans lose that sense of chutzpah, that sense of building things, that we're the greatest nation, your kids are going to have a better life. That's, that's what our political class should be talking about. That's what we should be trying to figure out, a common ground. And, you know, I don't care if Donald Trump were to get the credit. I gave him credit. I was very, very critical of Netanyahu, but I was one of the few people, you know, he's not Voldemort. I mentioned his name. President Trump. Yeah, good. Release the hostages. You know, it's not that hard to do.

[Benny Johnson]

Yeah. Did you call Obama on that? You call your boy Obama? Did you say, hey, hey, Obama. Say, say Trump.

[Ro Khanna]

President Obama.

[Benny Johnson]

Why didn't he say Trump?

[Ro Khanna]

Look, he's, Obama has one of the great American stories.

[Benny Johnson]

Clint Clinton and Biden said Trump. I think even Pelosi and Schumer were all like, good job, Trump. The point is not interesting.

[Ro Khanna]

You know what I, I wish for the, because I actually want my American president to succeed. Like, I, whoever it is, you fight hard. You have the president. I wish after the next few years he, he has as president. I don't believe this whole 2028, that's going to be Ruby.

[Benny Johnson]

Gavin does. Your boy Gavin does. Gavin. Gavin is scared shitless of Trump 2028.

[Ro Khanna]

He talked about Marjorie Taylor Green, who know.

[Benny Johnson]

Did you send him the Trump 2028 ad? Can you admit, are you the one who sent Gavin that?

[Ro Khanna]

You know, they haven't sent it to me yet, so.

[Benny Johnson]

Okay.

[Ro Khanna]

Yeah. You know, but the point is I want him to, to see, focus on just like if he can bring, he's trying to bring people together in the Middle East. How about trying to bring people together in this country, right? Like he's, he's, this is it. Like he's not going to run again.

[Benny Johnson]

I'm ending wars, man. That's how you do it.

[Ro Khanna]

Yeah.

[Benny Johnson]

Listen, dude, if like Trump's Trump, you will be wearing that Trump 2028 hat. If he lowers all the prescription drug prices by 90%, if he ends these wars, Ukraine and Gaza, like he's already got one down, right?

[Ro Khanna]

And then look, he's, let's not, let's.

[Benny Johnson]

These are things, these are things that a lot of people care about and, and really, like, you know, these are big time policy.

[Ro Khanna]

I totally, totally give him and his team credit on the release of the hostages and telling Bibi to stop the bombing. Now, I, I, I, I, he's got to make sure that it continues. Right. These, these fires continue. But also, you know, the bloated defense budget going to. You can't say I'm totally against endless wars. And then I like a trillion plus on the totally offensive.

[Benny Johnson]

Totally. See, look at this. Like, I think there, I've seen it in your eyes. There's been like, oh, wow. Oh, cool. Like we actually agree on a lot of this stuff. Like.

[Ro Khanna]

Yeah.

[Benny Johnson]

But we never have enough. You know, it's like you get caught in like the DEI trap, right. Where everyone's like screaming, but the herd of my ancestor. You know, like you get caught in like the emotional argument, right. Instead of the, the human argument about like the future of our children and like what kind of country, the big things. Right. And I'd rather there's like an old John Adams quote about like how I must study war. I don't know exactly how it goes, but he's like, I gotta study exactly.

[Ro Khanna]

Philosophy, art.

[Benny Johnson]

And I feel like we're back there. I feel like, like this is the generation. You're relatively young, especially for Congress. For Congress you're a spring chicken.

[Ro Khanna]

So I said, yeah, we need a new generation. They said, Bro, you're 49. Only in Washington is that considered the dude.

[Benny Johnson]

Yeah, that's right. Yeah, exactly right.

[Ro Khanna]

Yeah. Firefighters are like retiring at 50 or something. That's exactly right.

[Benny Johnson]

It's just like, it's like it. You know, I have young kids.

[Ro Khanna]

Yeah.

[Benny Johnson]

And it's like that's my motivation. And I just, I can tell, I just don't care. I want to leave them a functional country. And like these little, these little things, these little.

[Ro Khanna]

I used to think money in politics was the biggest problem. I think extremism and hate in politics right now is our biggest problem.

[Benny Johnson]

For real? Yeah, totally. Totally. And I think there, there would be like, if we had this conversation with the stadium of people, there would have been multiple applause lines where both sides were all of your supporters and all the people that are there on the right would have stood up and applauded.

[Ro Khanna]

When you talked about housing. I mean, that's.

[Benny Johnson]

Yeah. For real. That's. I mean, you don't want to talk about real things. Gas price, food price, housing price.

[Ro Khanna]

Totally right.

[Benny Johnson]

And that's not a one party thing. That is like a general. In health care. That is a generational. That's like, that's like our political system uniting to f Americans for decades. Like that's both sides uniting to screw over Americans for generations. Like that, that happened a long time ago.

[Ro Khanna]

Where Are you on taxing like Bannon says? Which I agree with on, on him. He says tax more of the billionaires in Rose District. Put, put a, put up some, well, wealth tax. You know, I said to Elon, someone asked me, can you become a trillionaire? I said, fine, but tax him at 5% on the trillion dollars so we can fund some of this stuff.

[Benny Johnson]

Yeah, I mean, you know, do we even have. Is he a trillionaire yet? Is he not a trillionaire?

[Ro Khanna]

Not yet.

[Benny Johnson]

Does he live in your district? Is he your taxpayer?

[Ro Khanna]

He's, he's peripatetic or whatever. You know, he's, he doesn't have any house. He just kind of.

[Benny Johnson]

Yeah, it's the craziest thing.

[Ro Khanna]

There's.

[Benny Johnson]

He crashed at your house?

[Ro Khanna]

Yeah, no, my house doesn't kind of make it, make it okay.

[Benny Johnson]

All right, all right, all right. What does Elon say about that? Does Elon like the trillion dollar tax?

[Ro Khanna]

I, I'm sure I, you know, I think he's so focused right now becoming a trillionaire. But think about, look at all the billionaires and trillionaires that we have in my district and just, and, and if you just tax them, you can help at least solve some of these issues for the 70% of Americans who have the American dream slipping away. Like, we could build new.

[Benny Johnson]

Yeah, man. I mean, if you're looking for, if you're looking for consensus here, I'm no tax expert. I'm not going to be able to like jump in. I haven't like, I'm not going to be able to jump into the margins there. But what I am is an expert on like pattern recognition. And clearly there, the middle class is getting destroyed in this country.

[Ro Khanna]

And the working class.

[Benny Johnson]

Yeah, and the working class, hard working. That sucks. And that's terrible. And you'll lose again. You'll lose a country there. You'll turn into a total kleptocracy. It'll be serfdom. Right. It'll be just serfdom in slavery.

[Ro Khanna]

Yeah. You'll have a ton of streets buying up some of these houses.

[Benny Johnson]

Yeah. A ton of super poor people. The majority of the country is so poor they can barely afford their next meal.

[Ro Khanna]

Right.

[Benny Johnson]

And then like uber wealthy. And that's a horrible. Nobody wants to live in a con in a place like, nobody wants to live in feudalism. Nobody wants to go back to like 16, you know, the 600 Europe, you know, like, nobody wants to do that.

[Ro Khanna]

Benny for Bernie Sanders and then.

[Benny Johnson]

No, nobody wants to live like that. No, it's Benny For Trump. These are Trump policies. That's right. Bernie. Bernie just got. Bernie sold out. Bernie said, no, I'll get a new house. Oh, you'll. Oh, you'll get. You'll give me a new house on the lake, then I will drop out of the race.

[Ro Khanna]

Oh, please.

[Benny Johnson]

That's right, Hillary, I do. It was a joint endorsement.

[Ro Khanna]

Please, please buy my book.

[Benny Johnson]

I would love to have Bernie on the show. I'm not a Bernie hater. You know, I'd love to talk with him.

[Ro Khanna]

Him.

[Benny Johnson]

You know, I'd love to talk to him.

[Ro Khanna]

His whole thing is this.

[Benny Johnson]

He was like Trump before Trump.

[Ro Khanna]

Yeah, there you go on some leave on something.

[Benny Johnson]

Yeah.

[Ro Khanna]

And the question I will just disagree with this on, you know, I just don't think Trump's policies actually are solving the, the income divide. I agree with you on the diagnosis. This is, this should be 2026, 2028. If we were a rational country, what you said would be the debate. And instead of like memeing, just memeing each other, we'd be like, okay, here's what we. Here's how we think young kids can buy a house.

[Benny Johnson]

Yeah.

[Ro Khanna]

Here's how we think you aren't going to go into debt. Here's how we think that you could actually have health care so that you don't have to be paying more for your premiums and that. And this would be the. This would be the debate in this country. And I'm not saying I have all the answers, and I'm not saying that I shouldn't be challenged and people can say, I wrote those programs are going to be a waste. But this should be the defining debate in this country, and you should host something. You should call it revitalizing the American Dream. You get someone from the right, you get something from the left, you get.

[Benny Johnson]

The gladiator, maybe get like a moderator from the left. You know, get some left wing, like, you know, Internet personality too, you know, to balance everything out and then. And then do it. Yeah. And then, like, have these, like, moments of great consensus where you're like, wait a second. Cheap gas, cheap food, Good, solid health care. Cheap, affordable, like, affordable homes for young people. We agree on all those things. Like a functional. A safe, functional country. A safe, functional country. Right.

[Ro Khanna]

Let's see how we started down and where we ended. I'm not saying that's awesome. The Jones tweets aren't worth talking about and they should be condemned. But we started out, and we'll see if people make it this far. We started out with like what everyone asks on cable news. And then by the end of this, we're like, you know what? We got bigger issues. Like, how are we going to be the greatest country?

[Benny Johnson]

Well, you got to stop killing. Yeah. I mean, yeah, yeah. Make sure that we can have the debates without dying. Right, like that. Okay. So that's like step one. And if you can get past that step, then. Yes. These are the, these are the, these are the debates that the country needs. And then you save the country by having them. Yeah. Awesome. Well, maybe, maybe we did our part today, Congressman.

[Ro Khanna]

See the reaction. Well, we'll see how much of your base likes you after this.

[Benny Johnson]

We'll see how many Silicon Valley tech heads call you. I'm not racist. I will hire black people. I'm sorry, why did you say that?

[Ro Khanna]

All right.

[Benny Johnson]

You lost your speaking slot at Stanford. It's an honor, Congressman. Thank you.

[Ro Khanna]

My pleasure.

[Benny Johnson]

Seriously? Yeah, let's do that. We'll do the first one in downtown San Francisco in the Tenderloin. Yeah.

[Ro Khanna]

With an in and out burger.

[Benny Johnson]

Okay. Yes, that's right.

[Ro Khanna]

All right.

[Benny Johnson]

Well, cool, cool. Great. That's right.

[Ro Khanna]

Whoa, that's a wrap. That was great.

[Benny Johnson]

That was a little longer than, than 30 minutes, but you want to play a stinger. Going on, guys. We are back here in Washington D.C. after an epic date yesterday. Charlie Kirk Medal of Freedom ceremony at the White House. Today is Wednesday, October 15, 2025. We're going to do something different on the show today. We are going to be speaking with a congressional Democrat, pretty well known guy named Ro Khanna. He is from California. He is somebody who has never been on the show before but who reached out to me after Charlie Kirk's assassination and said I'd like to have a conversation. I'd like to like start bridging the gap here. And so we're very excited to have that conversation and we don't want to miss it. And we're obviously on a different schedule today. But it's something that I think is going to be the work of us continuing the legacy of our friend. Charlie's just my friend, man. Like, I just love that guy. And he was constantly reaching out to the individuals on the left, people who are lost clearly. And he made his career goal the ability to bridge those gaps. And he was bringing people together constantly, whether it's RFK and Trump, JD Vance and Trump, or whether it's him bridging the gaps on college campuses with pink haired lesbians. Right. Like that he would speak with on college campuses. It was what his life's work was and he stood up for his principles and he didn't out but he made a clear and honest and moral case and he did so in good faith. And so that's what we're going to do today. Ladies and gentlemen on the program, as we honor Charlie like we did at the White House yesterday, Ro Khanna will be joining the show. My name is Benny Johnson and this is the Benny Show. As we are on the road, it is good to make sure that my blood pressure remains low. It's stressful when we're traveling, we're moving all over the place. We have a rip roaring day to day. 120 Life is how I do that. 120 Life is a blend of five all natural ingredients that are proven to lower your blood pressure. About half of America has high blood pressure and so make sure that you are locking in the way that I do. Thousands of doctors support this product. It provides measurable, visible lower blood pressure. It's simple to monitor and track at home. I do it every single day for a limited time. Try 120Life and save 20%. Just use the code BENNY at checkout120life.com 120Life offers a risk free trial and a full refund if you don't see lower numbers in two weeks. 120 l I f e.com let's Rock and roll, ladies and gentlemen. Code Benny will save you 20%. Everyone knows the legend of D.B. cooper, but what if I told you there's an even better story out there, One with multiple aircraft hijackings, prison escapes, and so many twists and turns. I'm talking about the hit podcast American Skyjacker, which is now an action packed documentary coming to theaters and streaming this fall. Find out more at www.americanskyjacker.com and listen to our bonus episode of the podcast coming coming soon. American Skyjacker. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Erica Kirk fights back tears as Trump presents her with Charlie's Medal of Freedom. A beautiful moment at the White House yesterday. I want to just jump in and share with you what this Medal of Freedom looked like. This is the cross that was engraved on the back of it. I know that we made a lot of news yesterday talking about this, but Erica showed me and she wanted me to show you this. Crossed this is the first time that a Christian crucifix has ever been engraved in the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor. A beautiful, beautiful work from the Trump administration. And I hear little birdies inside the Trump administration tell me, well, this was actually very hard to do, and they had to push for it very, very mightily in order to get it done. It's a beautiful thing. Ladies and gentlemen, an incredible ceremony. Obviously, President Trump sounding off on his dear friend Charlie Kirk. Here we go.

[Ro Khanna]

One month after Charlie's death, we still feel the terrible shock and the pain of his loss. Like just about nobody I can think of, Charlie Kirk was one of a kind. He was unstoppable, and he really was. Boy, when he had an idea in his head, oh, he was, he would call me, sir, please. You haven't done it yet, said Charlie. Relax. Just relax. He didn't relax. He called me the next day again, got it done. But he was, like, indomitable and always will be. He's really irreplaceable. Nobody can replace him, but they're going to do great. But you can't replace that kind of person and that kind of talent. Frankly, the word talent is an important word, but that kind of talent. So we hold his memory in our heart, hearts forever. Every single day of this administration. We will continue to carry out the mission for which he lived, and he really did. He lived for this country. He lived for his wife and his family, but he lived for this country, too. In Charlie's honor, we will continue like we have been, to fight, fight, fight. And to win, win, win. We're going to win so much.

[Benny Johnson]

Just a completely beautiful thing. It was amazing to see Erica and so many friends at this event. It was the most beautiful day I've ever seen at the White House. I've lived in D.C. for 15 years. I've never seen the White House. So gorgeous. Was like the heavens just opened up and revealed this Don Jr. Walking down the hallway of presidents. The only other video I really want to show you is Don Jr. Let's go ahead and listen to this.

[Ro Khanna]

So we have a new great wall of presidents.

[Benny Johnson]

This is me filming Don't. But it gets really good towards the end. Guys, I think you want to probably see this.

[Ro Khanna]

Grant, Cleveland, McKinley, Roosevelt, you know, in order. Eisenhower, Kennedy, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, other Bush.

[Benny Johnson]

Obama, Trump, and the auto pen.

[Ro Khanna]

Because in all fairness, the auto pen was running things for the last four years prior to Trump, too. There you go.

[Benny Johnson]

So many good people. So many people there. Good people there yesterday. I know we have a couple photos. Again, I don't want to belabor this. We obviously shared a lot of this yesterday, but here's some of the crew, obviously, that defended Charlie with every. Every inch of their lives and every single day went into Battle with Charlie. You know, many of the faces there, Blake Neff, Jack Pacific, Tyler Boyer and Andrew Colvette. Also some legends in the audience. This is a really neat lineup of, well, the Fox News power lineup here. Bill O'Reilly, Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Jesse Waters, Laura Ingram. Geez, an incredible lineup. Do we have the photo of me and Megyn Kelly and Jesse Waters is cool. We got some great quality time with Megyn Kelly yesterday. And everyone knows we're just really neat too. Roll and hang out. And Jesse had me on the show last night and yeah, it's just an honor to. It's just an honor to see so many. It's just neat to see so many people showing up to honor Charlie. It was truly like the, it was a true and proper powerhouse in Washington, D.C. there's also a massive statue of George Washington that has been applied to the Rose Garden that I thought was cool. Look at the size of that thing. And yeah, this is. There it is right there. Megyn Kelly, God gave us beautiful, sunny, perfect afternoon to celebrate Charlie and his presidential medal of Freedom and what would have been his 32nd birthday. It's good to spend it with some old friends at the White House. Benny, button your jacket. Stop eating so many cinnamon rolls. That's the message right there, ladies and gentlemen. We also, one final thing. We also got to see the Donald Trump brand new flagpole. And you can see it in that photo. But also as you, as you walk by it, you just realize how majestic this thing is. It's freaking awesome. Flagpole have not seen in person and I'm seeing it for the first time are these massive flagpoles that President Trump installed at his own expense. It cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. It's hard to really describe. Yeah, this was an amazing day. It wasn't. It was just an honor to be invited and an important moment to sort of crystallize, like what we're doing here. We're going to continue the work of Charlie. We're going to continue the work of Charlie today. We're gonna have a Democrat on the show in a second. All right. And so there is one other takeaway that there's a lot of gold at the White House. Like there's a. Alx and I were both there. There's so much gold now at the White House, it's crazy. Advantage gold, ladies and gentlemen, will help make sure that you can be as golden as Trump's White House. I don't know, dude. Trump has like probably tens of millions of dollars of gold leaf all over the White House now. It's freaking awesome. It is austere, it's beautiful. The Feds have cut rates again making precious metals potentially spike even higher. You should make sure that you are investing in your future right now in a fantastic performing asset class. It's done great for me, it could do great for you. Advantage Gold can set you up with a brand new gold IRA guide for 2025. This guide shows you a step by step way to protect your retirement by legally moving your IRA or 401k or TSP into physical gold and silver real assets that you can hold in your hands. Text Benny to 85545 right now and get your free Gold IRA guide. Plus Advantage Gold is offering up to $10,000 in free silver with a qualifying purchase. This is your chance to safeguard your future and savings, help protect your family and secure your future. Don't let the Fed gamble your life away. Text Benny to 85545 today. That's Benny to 85545 and one more partner. Since we are on the road, ladies and gentlemen Patriot Mobile of course as you know keeps us locked and loaded on the road. We are here at the Conservative Partnership Institute today in Washington D.C. i just want to shout out like the people who are keeping us connected here, like why not just join the team, okay? Patriot Mobile everywhere we're going at the White House yesterday, CPI helping us do our broadcast today from their studios. Ladies and gentlemen, these are incredible conservative companies. The only conservative Christian wireless provider is Patriot Mobile in this country. They believe in truth, they believe in justice, they believe in the American way and they believe in free speech. I know this is a matter of fact they help us speak freely from the road every single time we are hitting the road and we're doing more today as well. Ladies and gentlemen, Patriot Mobile with us all the way. The backbone of this company, the backbone of our connectivity to you. Take a stand today and go to patriotmobile.com Benny call 972 Patriot and use a promo code Benny for a free month of service. That's patriotmobile.com Benny Call 972 Patriot to make the switch today ladies and gentlemen with the moment that we had yesterday at the White House. I want a moment of, I want a moment of peace. I also want a moment of us people stopping dying. I don't want people, I don't want to political violence. So let's see if we can like have that moment with Rokana. Rokana give us like a second to switch up the Studio is going to be an in person guest here. And let's rock and roll with the. Well, the highest profile Democrat who is, who has yet to be on the show and hopefully not the last. Right. Because we need to have these conversations. So let's rock and roll with Ro Khan, a congressman from California right now. Well, ladies and gentlemen, that was an interesting conversation.

[Ro Khanna]

Whoa.

[Benny Johnson]

I don't really know. I'm gonna have to process that. Luckily, I have a little bit of a. A trip today. I'm taking a train actually to New York. So like so hopefully to do some more, more meetings, more content, be fun. So I guess I will have some time to process that. Fascinating. I like that we were able to roast him a little bit. I hope that I, I don't think that we cucked out on anything. I'm not here to like try and make nice. I believe what I believe. I'm not going to compromise that for anything. However, I do actually know, as a matter of fact we. This company is a company made up of young people. Prices and costs are extremely out of control. I read your comments. I want young people to be able to afford houses, food, gas and health care. I mean, obviously like these, these shouldn't be things that we even debate. How we get there I think is part of the debate. But then roasting Rokhanna about Silicon Valley and the capitalization of his firms got him. That's cool, man. I hope that we are able to do more of it and I hope that. Yeah, I hope that we made you proud. Ladies and gentlemen, talking about capitalization, Alio Capital is the company that helps make sure that while we're doing these interviews that my capital is being managed correctly. Alio Capital is an investment app that is probably based actually in Rokhana's district. So we'll see if he gets a call there. The point is, is that it is an AI investor. It keeps my money working and moving for me, especially in dodgy times and times when there are major things happening. And that I guess is always right. Now, ladies and gentlemen, Alio Capital is changing the game and making sure that when you invest with them that your portfolio is managed from either a micro or macro level that you're taking care of. And man, I just, I'm telling you, I use it myself and it's great, especially when we're on the road. Here, download their app today. The average score for their app right now is a 4.8 out of 5 stars in the app store Google Play. It's beautiful, easy to use app text my name Benny to 511-511. That's a L L I O capital. Text Benny to 511511 today in order to start investing and know, ladies and gentlemen, that the future is golden. And how can the future be golden without our verse of the day, let's make sure that we lock it in peace. I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give you as the world gives. I do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14:27. Oh, it's an awesome verse. Just read the last line again. Do not. I do not give to you as the world gives. Because like these are profound and spiritual and eternal gifts. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Do not be afraid. The most commonly used verse quote in the Bible, those commonly used phrase in the Bible is do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. Fear not. That is how we are going to carry on today. We are not going to live in fear. And that is exactly what we said actually on Jesse Waters last night. So why not just end with that, right? I wanted to play this clip. We just didn't have time before the Congressman got here. So on Jesse Waters last night, this is what we were able to talk about along with Charlie's cross. It's been a remarkable couple of days. Thank you so much for sticking with our program. And remember, in the end, we win. It's boy Benny. See ya.

[Ro Khanna]

This afternoon, Erica Kirk told us about how Charlie prayed for everyone, including his enemies. Watch.

[Benny Johnson]

Surprisingly enough, he did pray for his enemies, which is very hard, but he did. He did.

[Ro Khanna]

He did.

[Benny Johnson]

No one else. I mean, I saw him do it. No, he never did it in front of anyone else, but I can attest to that. But he also loved people when it was inconvenient, and he ran his race.

[Ro Khanna]

With endurance and he kept the faith. Host of the Benny Show, Benny Johnson, that was a throwback to Arizona when she forgave everybody.

[Benny Johnson]

And Trump said, I'm sorry, I do.

[Ro Khanna]

Not wish my enemies were.

[Benny Johnson]

I don't forgive my enemies. And he's gone through the entire Middle east carpet bombing Hillary every step of the way. It's been remarkable. However, Donald Trump clearly understands Christendom and understands Christian doctrine and the power that Charlie Kirk brought to the advancement of the kingdom of Christ. Because Erica Kirk showed me something remarkable at the White House right before coming over here to do your show. Jesse, if you don't mind, I'd like to share it with your audience. She opened up the medal of freedom, as you can see there, that very few Americans get there have only a few hundred given out the highest civilian honor. And then she turned it around back, and what you can see here on the back is the first Christian cross, the first crucifix ever engraved onto a medal of freedom given by the President. This is a historic moment. It's the first time that religious iconography has ever made it onto this award. And it is done in honor of Charlie Kirk. And what Erica told me, Jesse, was that this is for the advancement of Charlie Kirk and his work for the Kingdom of Christ. And the president understood that so profoundly that he gave him this great honor.

[Ro Khanna]

What a wonderful and blessed symbol. And like you said, one of a kind. Isn't it interesting how Donald Trump almost died? And then when Charlie died, the presidents talked more about heaven than he ever has.

[Benny Johnson]

Have you noticed that? Jesse, I've seen you cover thousands of Donald Trump speeches and many Don Jr. Speeches. When was the last time you had Donald Trump And Donald Trump Jr. Talking about Christ and their faith in God live on stage together? It was a remarkable moment. Don Jr. Of course, had to make jokes about Kamala and Hillary while he was doing it, but still, it was profound and it was beautiful. And there is something that I'd like to say as we move forward from today, which is the most common phrase in all of the scriptures is fear not. Do not be afraid. This is a moment where people have a profound sense of purpose in life. And you can see it. You can feel that spiritual energy. People are no longer afraid. The intention of that assassin's bullet with Trump and with Charlie was to make us fear, to make us put our heads down and to not speak anymore. And now people are speaking up louder than ever. Fear not.

[Ro Khanna]

I felt the same thing. Fear leaving your body after the 10th. And it's contagious. And I hope everybody feels it, too. Benny Johnson, great to see you. Thank you so much.

[Benny Johnson]

Godspeed. Start your day with America in the morning. I'm John Trout, your host from breaking news, the U.S. supreme Court with rulings, shifting gears, Apple has released a new iPhone. Here's the Wednesday business report. Far from a seller's market to politics and entertainment, moving into scary movie season. So why not another conjuring movie? Shifting gears. Powerball Jackpot is now the third largest ever in history. Live long and prosper. America in the morning.

[Ro Khanna]

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