Astead Herndon

Do you worry that that puts Democrats kind of outside of where the future is headed?

You know, you also call for reforming Section 230, which right now is the legal shield that lets platforms make their own moderation decisions without being sued for every cost.

But if you strip that protection, some have argued that they have two options.

They can either stop moderating altogether or, you know, let everything fly.

Or they over-moderate, maybe to avoid legal liabilities.

Is that a better world than we have now?

I guess I wanted to ask you, how is that not handling the government a backdoor into censorship?

You mentioned a kind of big moment for you this year when you backed California's proposed billionaire tax, a one-time 5% levy on people worth over a billion dollars.

Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom has said that this would drive wealthy earners from the state, that this would stifle innovation.

I wanted you to respond to that point.

The reaction, though, was swift and was intense.

I mean, not only a call to primary to try to get you out of office, but some folks who I think were former supporters of yours kind of seemed to be turning their back.

What does it say that a one-time 5% tax over five years was enough to break your relationship with some of these folks?

You know, the issues you talk about, specifically with the questions of like AI and tech, felt absent in the 2024 kind of presidential race.

I know that this has been a focus of yours, and I know that you've traveled across the country kind of making that message clear.

Should I see that as a soft launch for a presidential run?

Should I see that as you're trying to fix the fact that we weren't talking about this two years ago?

I really appreciate it.

Appreciate it.

That was California Congressman Ro Khanna.