Ro Khanna: Trump Is in Denial
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hello and welcome to the Bulldog Podcast. I'm your host, Tim Miller. Delighted to welcome to the show a California congressman representing much of Silicon Valley. He serves on the House Armed Services Committee and on the Oversight and Accountability Committee. It's Ro Khanna. Welcome to the show. Great to be back. Man, good to have you. I guess my first question for you, is there anybody else in Congress besides you and Thomas Massey? Are you the only people actually... You know, that's not fair to all my colleagues, but we have been coincidentally at the center of the two most consequential issues, the Epstein files and the war in Iran. And I think what we show with our work is that the coalitions are scrambling in American politics.
and that it's actually possible to find issues with disaffected MAGA voters. I mean, I would argue that the Epstein files is the first time since Donald Trump came down the escalator that we actually said, hey, Trump voters, What do you think? And can we work with you on an issue? And it turns out a lot of them thought that government had been corrupted, that powerful people were using connections to evade the law. In this case, in the most horrific way, trafficking underage girls and raping underage girls. And we built the coalition on that. Similarly, a lot of them don't want us getting into war in the Middle East, don't want gas prices going up, don't want service members dying for another Middle East war.
The boats on that one haven't quite materialized like the boats have on Epstein. But Epstein was an uphill fight as well. And I believe we can get to the same coalition on the war. Do you think the MAGA voters are coming? How does your man Thomas Massey feel about his primary coming up? Obviously, Donald Trump was down there with Jake Paul in his district making the contrary case. What's his sense for how things are going? It's going to be a close race. He's of the view that Epstein, of course, his district supports him and they support him standing up to the president, standing up for survivors. Iran is a tougher case. He would be candid about it. And there is a rally around the flag among some Trump voters.
And it hasn't fully penetrated yet the arguments that he and others in MAGA are making, that American service members are dying, that we don't need to be in another Middle East war. But the primary is still 50, 60 days away.
How does Ro Khanna view the coalition building around the Epstein files?
And I think a lot depends on the events in the Middle East. Let's do Epstein first, then we'll get to the war and some of the other topics I want to pick your brain on. We're glazing you at the top because I've got some bones to pick with you at the bottom. Does that work? I've been around long enough that I know how this stuff works. Just Take us back to the beginning of the Epstein effort when you and Massey are getting together on this. Because a lot of times in politics, things, once they've happened, feel inevitable. It feels like, well, obviously that was going to happen in retrospect. But when you guys started this... There wasn't a ton of, I think, conventional wisdom that you would end up getting the Epstein files released by an almost unanimous vote.
Only one Louisiana congressman down here opposing you and getting it so overwhelming. The vote that Donald Trump couldn't couldn't veto it, couldn't bully anybody. I mean, he tried to bully Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene and others and wasn't effective at the beginning of that. I mean, did you have a sense that this was going to have the success that it has had just as far as these first steps towards transparency? No. I mean, look, Massey and I are known to be the mavericks. We're not supposed to be. Gadflies. Mavericks is a positive word, so I'm going to give you gadfly. We weren't supposed to be at the center of the activity of the house. It was dismissed initially. On our side, by some, is why are we engaging in conspiracy theories?
Why are we engaging in something that is adjacent to QAnon? This isn't serious, Roe. I had a senior person sit down with me saying, Roe, you're supposed to be the future economy guy.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:12–2:44
2
How does Ro Khanna view the coalition building around the Epstein files?
2:44–6:52
3
What insights does Ro Khanna share about MAGA voters and their concerns?
6:52–9:47
4
How does Ro Khanna address the political implications of the Iran war?
9:47–13:18
5
What challenges does Ro Khanna identify in the current political landscape?
13:18–19:11
6
What is Ro Khanna's perspective on the future of the Democratic Party?
19:11–19:52
7
How does Ro Khanna propose to navigate the impact of AI on jobs?
19:52–20:31
8
What strategies does Ro Khanna suggest for addressing economic inequality?
20:31–49:51
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