The Silicon Valley progressive talks about the short-term and long-term strategies for defeating Trump and Trumpism.
Ro Khanna represents Silicon Valley in the House, where he’s a member of the Progressive Caucus. He’s a key strategist for the Democrats. We asked him about the immediate task of protecting democracy, and then the longer-term project of winning back working-class voters who have abandoned the Democratic Party and helped make Trump president.
This interview has been edited and condensed—you can listen to the full interview here.
Jon Wiener: Last week the House narrowly passed a preliminary budget. What’s in this bill?
Ro Khanna: Well, look, the Republican budget is a cruel, atrocious budget—$2 trillion of Medicaid cuts. They’re basically going to put a per capita cap on every state. What does that mean? If you live in California, my state, or you live in Ohio, your state’s going to get less money for Medicaid. That means millions of people will not be covered who were covered, particularly under the Affordable Care Act that expanded coverage. It means rural hospitals will shut down. It means outpatient services for mental health, behavioral therapy will shut down…
… continued at The Nation, HERE 3-3-2025