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Democratic California Rep. Ro Khanna criticized his party for not having a plan against Republicans beyond winning "by default" if they "self-destruct."
Khanna joined "The Young Turks" on Monday to discuss Democratic plans to reach out to people who voted for President Donald Trump beyond what co-host Cenk Uyger called, "just yell at them more."
This led to Uyger asking Khanna whether the Democratic Party had any real plans to counter the Trump administration in general. Khanna said the party's plan appears to be simply waiting for Trump’s agenda to fail and hopefully gain back congressional control as a result.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., discussed Democratic strategies for reaching out to Trump voters on "The Young Turks." ("The Young Turks" screenshot)
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"I think their plan is the plan that Democrats have gone through time and again, which is to point out, which is true, that a lot of these cuts are going to deeply hurt people, the Medicaid cuts, the cuts in people who keep our planes safe and prevent bird flu and keep our nuclear secrets safe, fund cancer research," Khanna said. "Here’s my problem with that. I actually think it’ll work for 2026… fine, so we get back the House, maybe we even win the presidency by default. What is our vision?"
He continued, "Is our vision to just to continue to try to win by default because they go too far and then not have a governing majority in the House or the Senate where we actually are able to address the legitimate anger of working-class Americans of all races? Or are we going to try to do something meaningful with the power we will be handed? And that to me is the failure of leadership in the Democratic Party. We are just being tactical. We’re hoping that they self-destruct."
Khanna has expressed openness to working with Republicans on common goals. (ALLISON BAILEY/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
"Fortunately, they’re self-destructing, but there’s not enough focus, as Bernie Sanders says, on a concrete vision going forward to solve the massive inequality and to understand that many people who voted for Trump were not just angry, they were justifiably angry," Khanna added.
Khanna has been more open than some of his fellow Democrats to working with people across the aisle to achieve the same goals. In December, he described meeting with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to discuss ways to cut back on federal spending while preserving government power.
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Khanna spoke about meeting with Elon Musk to discuss cutting government spending on ABC's "The Week" in December. (ABC screenshot)
"Well, we’ve talked about that. And I made the case to him that Tesla and SpaceX have been funded by the Obama government and let’s have a role for government. But let’s look at what you did with Space X. Why can’t we do that with other parts of the five primes to reduce costs? I think when it comes to defense, getting better defense for value and cutting costs, there can be huge bipartisan cooperation," Khanna said on ABC’s "This Week."
