Congressman Ro Khanna
Appearances
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
Oh, I'm honored to be on.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
Well, the movie tariffs are to hurt Hollywood. I mean, Trump knows that we export far more movies than we import and that the only thing this is going to do is hurt Hollywood, which he has been waging a cultural war on. So I stand very strongly with the American film industry to say that we don't want to kneecap one of our great exports to the world.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
On Alcatraz, I mean, that's just like employment taking over Greenland or Canada. I mean, this is his distraction because he knows that he's losing on the economy. He knows that people are upset that he's violating the Constitution and he keeps throwing things out there to try to change the subject.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
Well, it is devastating, these Medicaid cuts. And I have been doing town halls across the country. We've done five already, red districts, talking about $880 billion of Medicaid cuts to give tax breaks to the billionaires. I mean, it's ridiculous. It makes no sense. And two town halls coming up in competitive red districts in Pennsylvania, in Allentown and in in Bucks County.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
And people are outraged about it. A thousand people showing up at these town halls. So I am convinced that you now have Republicans having second thoughts. We'll see what they do, whether they're going to vote for these draconian budget cuts or not in a couple months. But right now, the Republican budget guts public education.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
Well, they are destroying the economy. I mean, they are using 19th century ideas, blanket high tariffs by McKinley, a sense that of James Polk-like expansionism, without understanding the 21st century world. And the consequence has been the lowest consumer confidence in years, the bond yields going up, a really dangerous situation where you've got both Mark Carney, who was the bank of
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
cuts medical research for Alzheimer's, for Parkinson's, for cancer, cuts Medicaid funding, all to finance more tax breaks for billionaires.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
Well, look, I've been candid that Senator Schumer has embers into the mullet, and I've worked with him to do the chipset. He was very effective during President Biden's years in the White House. But he needs to be stronger in standing up to these draconian cuts. And I don't know why he didn't try to get a better deal when he negotiated and just capitulated to Trump and Musk.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
On Leader Jeffries, I think he has the strong support of his caucus. He will be speaker. He has a clear strategy of targeting of these 30 red districts. We're being very aggressive in organizing their phone banks, their town halls, their advertising there. And I'm confident that he's going to be the next speaker.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
Fear. Two places of fear. Immigrants who show up say, I'm concerned for my family, for people who may get a knock on the door and be deported without any due process, deported to a dictatorship. It's a scary place in America if you are an immigrant who has not been naturalized as a citizen. People feel very, very vulnerable.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
And then I have people coming to me and saying, cutting the cancer trials was a death sentence for someone I know. What am I going to do when mom came to me in tears? What am I going to do with my two-year-old? He was in NICU. He survived. He had health issues. He is a full-time nurse. with him and he's finally going to get to go to preschool. He needs this nurse and Medicaid gets cut.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
I'm not going to have this person nurse to be able to take him to school. These are real stories, real people who rely on basic government services, not because they're looking for a handout, but because they need the health care and education to be able to lead meaningful lives, to be able to work, to be able to support families.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
And they're fearful that this is going to be snatched away from them.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
They feel that they can't be heard. That's the biggest source of anger. The Republicans have said they don't do a town hall. And so they're inviting in people like me to do town halls. A thousand people show up and they just want to shake my hand. They just want to have a question. They don't even know if I can do anything, but at least I'm listening. At least I'm listening.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
Now, in some cases, these town halls have worked. Republicans have flipped their vote. David Valdale said he was going to cut Medicaid, voted to cut Medicaid. We did our town hall a few weeks later. He said now he's against the cut. So people are seeing that their speaking up is working. And that's what gives me hope in this country. I mean, we are seeing citizens.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
mobilized, showing up to town halls, showing up to protests. There's an Harvard professor who said that in societies moving towards authoritarianism, if 3.5% of a population get active, that is the best safeguard against a move towards authoritarianism. That's about 10 million people or so in the United States, and we're seeing that kind of mobilization.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
I do. And I was so moved by that story where it was MAGA supporters, it was Trump supporters saying, you can't be deporting kids in this country. That's not who we are as Americans. And I have seen a rejuvenation of the American spirit of democratic participation and where I I haven't witnessed my whole life. People are reclaiming their rights as citizens.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
They find it offensive that the world's wealthiest person is determining how our country should be run. They find it offensive that any person, even if they're president, can get to defy the courts or the Constitution. They find it offensive that people are threatening the services that they've relied on since the New Deal, since FDR. And they are speaking out.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
Canada's governor, Bank of England governor, threatening to be selling bonds. And now you've got Japan threatening to be selling bonds. I mean, they're upsetting our allies, really. And if the bond yields go up, as you know, that means that the debt is going to be a huge burden.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
And immobilized citizenry is unstoppable in this country. Abraham Lincoln said, public sentiment is everything. And so I appreciate the people who are spending hours standing in line, going to these town halls, standing in line, going to rallies, writing to their members of Congress. It all matters. Don't let people tell you it doesn't matter. It matters.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
It's why the president's approval ratings are coming down. It's why members of Congress are suddenly... flipping their votes. It's why, in certain cases, the media is highlighting unjust deportations, and some of them are being stopped. It's not Congress. It's not the Senate. Other than the bond market that's been the biggest check on Donald Trump, the other check has been the American citizens.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
I'm very optimistic. It's always darkest before the dawn. In American history, after the Civil War, we had the 13th, 14th, 15th Amendment. After the Robert Barron era, we had the progressive era that outlawed child labor and had some sense of the work week, hours of the work week. After the Hoover crash of the economy, we had FDR and the New Deal. And then after George W. Bush, we had Obama.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
I think Trumpism is going to give rise to a new progressive era.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
What makes me rage is the attacks on universities in this country, calling them the enemy, threatening to defund them. The universities, it's not just that they have been the leaders of medical research in this country. It's not just that they've been the leaders of technology research that gave the world the Internet, that gave the world the GPU, that gave the world robotics and A.I.,
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
It's that they are the place for thought in the questioning of people in power, that they are the foundation of a liberal democracy where we have speech and ideas that challenge power. And the attack on them out of a false populism by the same people who went to those universities, who want their kids to go to those universities, is rank hypocrisy and is really degrading democracy.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
So they've destabilized consumer confidence, destabilized the bond market, created volatility in the stock market and people's retirement. And small businesses and manufacturers are having a hard time getting parts. So my biggest concern with them is what they've done to the economy. The second thing is the disregard for the Constitution.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
I mean, you know, John F. Kennedy said there are a few earthly things more beautiful than a university. And from that pinnacle of America is a light of hope for civilization. This is how far we've fallen. What gives me hope in this country is the decency and resilience of the American people.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
There was anger in this country because places like Lorain, Ohio and Johnstown, Pennsylvania and Galesburg, Illinois had been dealt a raw deal. The factories had shut down, the communities had closed, and they wanted the system changed. But that doesn't mean they wanted America burned out. And so I believe that people will correct the leadership.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
And it's for Democrats to say we aren't just going to go back to a status quo that has failed people. We're going to offer a more hopeful vision, the kind of vision Hamilton had, Lincoln had, FDR had, to rebuild this country for the 21st century. Rebuild it not just in Silicon Valley or Seattle, but rebuild it everywhere.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
Thank you, Jessie. Appreciate it.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
I saw Karl Rove on the other day, and he said, I don't understand it. Just bring the Brego back, give him a trial. If he's guilty, then you can deport him.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
But the idea that they've let this drag on for weeks and that they have created fear in this country that any person who's here, even if they're on a legal immigration status, could get a knock on the door and be deported is a violation of rights. really is upsetting people's patriotism. In America, patriotism first and foremost means an allegiance to the Constitution.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
I will answer the question economic patriotism. I just do want to say that J.D. Vance is a lawyer. We both went to Yale Law School and I gave a major speech at Yale Law School just a week ago.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
I hope some folks will check out calling him out or basically telling the country that there should be no due process for those who are not citizens, which is a violation of the 14th Amendment and for calling universities the enemy and calling for defying of the court. He knows better. But on economic patriotism, it's pretty simple.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
We need to say we understand the economic future and we want to make sure that every community in this country, particularly communities that were hollowed out and deindustrialized, that every community, every family, every child is going to have economic security and economic prosperity in the 21st century.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
And the way we're going to do this is to build things in this country, to build an economy in every part of this country by marrying
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
the technology of places like Silicon Valley, the AI, the robotics, with the work ethic, the industrial capability in other parts of the country to build advanced steel plants, to build biotechnology, to build a new industry, but also to have AI academies across this country that have manufacturing work pods across the country at universities. And then we can go into the specifics.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
I would just provide three simple ones. I have a White House Economic Development Council, like we have a White House National Security Council that has a Marshall Plan for America and the development of every community in this country. Make sure that we're financing the workforce and the new factories that we want.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
Let's also make sure we're financing technology and education and healthcare, recognizing that communities that have economic development are going to diversify. Yes, they need advanced manufacturing factories, but they also need other sectors. And let's build this in places like Lorain and Johnstown and Milwaukee across this country to help bring this country together.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
Well, Ludwig has got all the right buzzwords. He would say, oh, I agree with Raoul. We need to have manufacturing. We need to have steel. We need to have Neumann and aluminum. My question is how? How? How can you do it when you don't fund the workforce? How can you do it when you don't finance the factories? And you're competing with other countries.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
How can you do it when you don't have government be a source of procurement? How can you do it when you're defunding, not funding universities to build that technology hub? So all he's saying is, well, we're going to have tariffs. But tariffs, you can't protect industry until you build industry.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
And tariffs are hurting the manufacturers actually getting the supply parts before we built the supply chain here. So that is the fundamental challenge with... Let me give you one other point. I wish he had a few economists around him. He said in this speech that... If we lower the trade deficit by $300 billion, we're going to increase our GDP by $300 billion. I wish it was that simple.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
And so if we eliminate the trillion-dollar trade deficit, magically, we'd have 3% GDP growth overnight. The problem with that reasoning, if you increase domestic production by lowering the trade deficit, you also reduce capital inflows, and capital inflows go to lower treasury bond yields, which go to domestic manufacturing. I know it's a little bit wonky, but it's not a one-to-one relationship.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
Now, most people don't need to know that, but the Commerce Secretary does. He can't be spouting economic nonsense and expect to rebuild the country. I think Democrats need a greater fluency in the language of the economy. I think we need a greater sense of understanding that you have to not just have economic fairness, but economic growth. We need to be a party that stands for building things.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
We need to be a party that is not afraid to involve business leaders in the economic renewal of this country. We need to be a party that understands that we need technology as part of the economic renewal of this country. And I think there's going to be a clash of ideas for the democratic future.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
I have my ideas that I'd like to share and that I believe resonate in places like Lorain, Ohio and Johnstown, Pennsylvania and Orangeburg, South Carolina. But other people have different visions, and that's good. Let's just make sure it's not a top-down process and a stale process, that we really have a clash of ideas and think of what can move this country forward.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
Well, it could be either. I don't know. What I want to be is a strong economic voice in the country. I'd love for others to take my platform. I mean, it's out there. I write books. I write articles. One of the great things is Chris Deluzio liked it, and he created a whole group in Congress called Economic Patriots. And
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
There were some great members in there, Pat Ryan and Angie Craig and Chrissy Houlihan, all committed to this agenda of economic renewal, economic revitalization. And so I want to be a strong economic voice for the party. I want our party to—when people think of who's going to lead America into the economic future, who's going to grow America's economy—
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
Who's going to make sure that this country is wealthy, not from a 19th century perspective, but a 21st century perspective? Who's going to build economic security for families and communities in this time? I want people to think of the Democratic Party. And I want people to say Ro Khanna played a role in getting the Democratic Party to that.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
No, 25,000 at Tesla. But of course, they spend money and are supportive of the economy. And a lot of people in my district are employed. But I would speak out against vandalizing Tesla, cheering for Tesla stock to go down if they were any American company.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
Absolutely. I mean, look, we should be cheering for the success of American companies. We should be cheering for American companies to build wealth, but then to pay workers well, to give workers equity in there, to allow for labor neutrality and unionization, to invest across the country. But I am a believer in technology. I'm a believer in entrepreneurship.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
I'm a believer that you have to have the government investment to build the infrastructure. That's what DARPA did. That's what NSF did with the internet. But then you need private companies to help scale it and commercialize it. And why do you need private companies to do that as opposed to the government? Because it requires a lot of adjustments and testing and changes.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
And it has to be done very fast to be able to scale. And it is the collaboration. between that government investment in the private sector that has allowed for America to emerge as the greatest economy in the world. And that is what we need, not just in places like Silicon Valley, but around the country.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
No, I mean, I think that I call myself a progressive capitalist, a pro-business progressive. But there are definitely differences of opinion. I mean, I'm proud of the progressive views I have on politics. saying that we need Medicare for all, or saying that we need to have higher taxes on billionaires in my district, or saying that we need a living wage.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
But I also believe that you can have a belief in economic growth and innovation. I don't think that there are people who are centrists or moderates who may disagree with Medicare for all, or may agree that we need higher taxes on the wealthy. And that's fine. We shouldn't be afraid. In the Democratic Party, we sort of have this...
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
Fear of a clash of ideas and on the Republican side, they argue all the time that I don't I think our party has been too stale, has been too timid, has had the same sort of cast of characters around and we need to shake things up.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
So I've introduced a couple bills. The Drain the Swamp Act is the most obvious. President Biden left saying there should be a ban on White House officials getting gifts from lobbyists. That was the executive order Biden had and the rule in his administration. President Trump comes in and he takes that executive order away. And I said, how is that draining the swamp?
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
So now White House officials can get gifts from lobbyists? Why don't we have a Drain the Swamp Act that prohibits White House officials, not just during Trump, but for many future White House from getting gifts from lobbyists? We as Democrats need to take the mantle against political corruption. I mean, I was... flabbergasted yesterday.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
I read that there is a small business that is paying $20 million to Donald Trump's mean coin. They're buying $20 million. And the CEO is bragging that he's hoping that he's going to get exemptions for the trade negotiations with Mexico. How is this... happening in plain sight and we aren't railing against it. Our party should be the party that says, we don't take PAC money.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
We don't take lobbyist money. We should be against super PACs. Abolish them. No one should be allowed to give millions of dollars to a super PAC when they can only give $3,500 to a candidate. That's only in my bill to do that. And Maine passed that by 70%. We should be, of course, against stock trading. We should be the party that says, we're not for members of Congress becoming lobbyists.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
that lobbyists shouldn't be able to give members money or gifts or White House officials gifts, that no elected official should be able to trade in meme coins. Let's become the party that says, let's clean up the mess.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
Thank you for having me.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
You know, I think we can advocate to the legislation, first of all, to stop it before, you know, voluntarily complying. Where I do think we should voluntarily comply is in Democratic primaries. I mean, look, if the Republican nominee is Donald Trump in the past, I had no problem that Kamala Harris had to match the spending. But we don't need to do that in a Democratic primary.
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
How to Actually Drain the Swamp (feat. Rep. Ro Khanna)
We can say there can't be unilateral disarmament against a Republican, but that shouldn't apply to a Democratic primary.