Ro Khanna represents the Silicon Valley home of a Progressive Caucus member. He is an important democrat strategist. We asked him about the immediate challenge of protecting democracy, and the long-term project of reclaiming the working-class voters who helped abandon the Democrats and create President Trump.
This interview was compiled and condensed. You can hear the full interview here.
John Wiener: Last week, the House passed a small reserve budget. What is in this bill?
Ro Khanna: Well, look, the Republican budget is a cruel and vicious budget, a $2 trillion Medicaid cut. They are basically going to put per caps in every state. What does that mean? If you live in California, my state, or Ohio, your state will get less money for Medicaid. This means that millions of people covered will not be covered, especially under the Affordable Care Act, which has expanded coverage. This means that rural hospitals will be closed. This means that outpatient services for mental health, behavioral therapy, will be shut down.
And why are they doing all this? Fund billionaires’ tax credits because they believe that the billionaires class is what drives civilization forward. They are somehow the eubermen of society, and the rest of us really don’t matter. I voted “No.”
JW: Many of our friends said, “It’s great that Democrats united by voting “No.” thank you. But voting isn’t enough “no” Right now. You need to do everything you can to stop this. ” I know you feel the same way. What do you do when you vote “No”?
RK: Besides voting for “No,” I’ll tell you what I did today. It called a press conference on Zoom with 15 fired federal workers. Many of them were Trump voters. They said they voted for Trump just a few months ago, but now they no longer support him as their work has been eliminated. These were veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, those who helped other veterans with mental health, those who helped veterans receive banking services, and those who helped national parks.
I think our biggest job is to elevate the narrative of ordinary Americans who are being hurt by the cruel and irrational policies of this administration. Trump is creating a federal government like a private equity company: cut, cut, cut, question later. It hollows out the middle class and middle class that work. When 99% of Americans work to earn a living, you become a “first in America” with a pro-America and you can’t hate workers.
In my view, it is the most effective form of pushing back. And it’s working. Donald Trump’s numbers fell for the first time in less than 50% of the economy. Even when Biden beat him in his first term, he was never less than 50%, so we need to do it more.
JW: Turn to the long-term project of regaining the working class: you like to make American manufacturing renewal your number one priority. And you wrote recently in a New York Times Open, “Economic empowerment for workers should be a decisive cause for us, not just one of the many issues that Democrats are concerned about.” Explain what that means.
RK: I call it “new economic patriotism.” It’s very easy. First, we — to those who act like Saviors — “We’ve ruined it. We’re people who have a policy that shafts the middle class and middle class in the work.”
Of course, it began with Republicans under Reagan, very wealthy and with enormous tax cuts for trickle-down economics. But it was also a Democrat who supported bad trade deals, the NAFTA, the World Trade Organization, and China’s ascension. Democrats were helping to settle industries with freebies for private equity and saw the greedy industry of businesses. And there was no strategy for those who were hurt by globalization and digitalization. So we need to say that we intend to make the economic success of all American communities and the economic prosperity of all families our number one priority.
JW: What steps, what policies, what new laws are needed to achieve it?
RK: We have established the National Economic Development Council, focusing on industrialized locations, to become a manufacturing superpower again, whether it is a new manufacturing plant, a new steel plant, a new shipbuilding plant, a new shipbuilding plant. However, it’s not just about manufacturing. We see: What new service jobs can we have there? What new technology jobs can we have there? How do they create economic vitality in places that do not thrive today, as they have been ignored and abandoned? And how do you make sure that all Americans have health care, that they are child-rearing and uneducated? Living in America is too expensive and difficult, and I can tax billionaires in my district to do something about it.
JW: We consider Silicon Valley to be a base for Trump, but in reality, Democrats carry Silicon Valley with a huge margin every time.
RK: I say this over and over again. If I survived a nine-year election in the world’s richest districts to tax billionaires, I don’t understand how the other 434 people in Congress wouldn’t be that. If you can win the election with 35 points in Silicon Valley, you can win in any district on a platform that taxes the rich to pay for all American healthcare, education and childcare.
JW: And you were Bernie Sanders’ supporters.
RK: When I was a co-chair of the Bernie Sanders campaign in the 2020 primary, I delivered the district for Bernie Sanders. There are many people supporting Bernie Sanders, a very progressive district. But I think the novelty in my case is that I support Sanders’ policies, Medicare for everyone, and free public universities, living wages, and unions. Income inequality is a huge issue, but if we can get a billionaire district in Silicon Valley that supports progressive policies, this could be a majority coalition.
And that’s what we need after Trump: economic change is not a return to the status quo, a return to a Democratic administration that failed to deliver childcare policies, but a truly progressive, transformative, new administration.
JW: This is the agenda for the 2028 election. Sometimes, what are your priorities?
RK: Well, one thing, I’m going to go to the Red District of California and then go beyond that. I was really moved by what Sanders did. [a speaking tour of swing districts that elected Republicans to the House in 2024—ed.]. Again, Sanders appears in Omaha last week, in Iowa City and in other red districts, claiming the cruelty of these cuts.
It also continues to highlight the stories of people who were injured by mass shootings. I call it the “Valentine’s Day Massacre.” Because all these people were notified on Valentine’s Day. It shows the cruelty and indifference of this administration.
And I’m going to introduce strategic laws to invoke Trump’s hypocrisy. For example, today I introduced the “no gift for lobbyists” bill. Trump said he was going to drain the swamp, but the first thing he did was reverse Biden’s executive order by saying that White House officials could give gifts from lobbyists. They need to be an anti-corruption party.
JW: Finlly, what is the whole picture of where we stand now?
RK: Look, this is a dark chapter, but I want people to be optimistic about this country’s renewal and what’s going on. When we had that dark chapter in Great Repression and American history, it was followed by the FDR. A progressive era followed when there was a robber baron from the 1870 to the 1900s, with a red that undermined the reconstruction and led by Jim Crow. When we played the Civil War, it was followed by reconstruction and 13th, 14th, and 15th revisions. In America, in an age of deep despair and darkness, we are blessed with reappearing in a transformative, positive vision. And that’s what we have to focus on as progressive. The end of the Trump administration will mark the beginning of a modern-day progressive era.
