I caught up w Khanna after this hit and he thinks the “just resist Trump” faction has been discredited, need a new strategy of daring Rs to pass the populist stuff he talked about - ThreadSky

daveweigel.bsky.social • 77 days ago

I caught up w Khanna after this hit and he thinks the “just resist Trump” faction has been discredited, need a new strategy of daring Rs to pass the populist stuff he talked about

Reposted from Your Internet Friend Tom Tomorrow

really starting to feel like nobody has been paying attention to anything for years

Comments

grudgie.bsky.social•77 days ago

“Has anyone considered fascist appeasement?”

garrettfesler.bsky.social•76 days ago

Appeasement to fascism did not work in the 1930s, and we believe it will not work against Trump/MAGA. The Biden-Harris Admin must act now to save democracy. Do not hand over 'the most lethal fighting force in human history' to fascists!

Our full statement is here:

https://www.change.org/WeThePeople-DemandActionNow

mattpb.bsky.social•77 days ago

Somebody should've told Tip O'Neill that!

chrisgbedford.bsky.social•77 days ago

"Bipartisanship in our time!"

rabinpw.bsky.social•77 days ago

His Silicon Valley brain rot gets the better of him quite often these days.

layth.am•77 days ago

Eh, maybe. I thought back in the halcyon days of the early 2000s that Dems should call the GOP's bluff on abortion laws to remove it as a wedge issue (eventually, all that talk led to actual anti-abortion absolutists taking over the GOP).

lynn101.bsky.social•77 days ago

You can't "just resist ". You have to take the MF'er out.

pyperkub.bsky.social•77 days ago

Uh, 2 things he ran on in 2016-infrastructure and cybersecurity.

Biden had to do both because they didn't get done.

jwmckenzie.bsky.social•77 days ago

I dunno. Just resist Obama worked pretty well for McConnell. Yes, Romney lost. But he won the Senate and parlayed that into Supreme Court dominance for a generation.

lovethispost.bsky.social•77 days ago

I’m starting to like Richard Blumenthal - he’s not holding back his criticism of the next administration and it’s hijinks

zen0effect.com•77 days ago

📌

aeolist.bsky.social•77 days ago

turns out that guy is pretty stupid i guess

bagfumbler.bsky.social•77 days ago

Let's circle back to this in about 6 to 8 months.

tawni.bsky.social•77 days ago

Proving once again that Ro Khanna is a fucking idiot.

daranglenn.bsky.social•77 days ago

Yeah, well that’s also remarkably stupid.

paultree10.bsky.social•77 days ago

Genuinely curious—given wins in 2018 and 2020 (when Trump was actually president), how does Khanna believe that resisting Trump has been discredited?

joelhanes.bsky.social•77 days ago

That's a bold strategy, Cotton.

Let's see if it pay s off for him (us).

klaridad.bsky.social•77 days ago

There has not been an audience for these “dares.” All you can do is put 100% responsibility on the party in power and bloody them for their stupidity, cruelty and mendacity. There IS and audience for that, it seems.

klaridad.bsky.social•77 days ago

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/being-a-real-opposition-party/sharetoken/929dd21b-d3ba-45bc-bf3f-77c8beb4c0f7

liberalrage.bsky.social•77 days ago

resist, then fight works for me.
Anything else is capitulation

peoriabummer.bsky.social•77 days ago

He will either flip R or join the Trump administration.

beverlymann19.bsky.social•77 days ago

I couldn't agree with him more.

strohs.bsky.social•77 days ago

Seems as if the entire country has been placed in a vat of sulfuric acid, accelerating a process that began with Newt Gingrich and his list of hot button words and phrases and furthered by 30 years of Rush Limbaugh's corrosive propaganda. There is no going back, but where does this lead?

skoryy.bsky.social•77 days ago

are these democrats in the room with you now, Ro

davidjohnurban.bsky.social•77 days ago

Yes, I remember so well in 2020 when MAGA said since Joe Biden won the election and Democrats have a majority in the house and senate, the people have spoken and we will cooperate with democrats for the good of the country. Oh wait, they did just the opposite and it resulted in 2024 MAGA victory.

thekilt.bsky.social•77 days ago

He hasn't even taken office and resistance has somehow already been discredited?

mattjohnston.bsky.social•77 days ago

I am so tired of being smarter and having better character than almost all of this country’s elected officials. It’s incredibly demoralizing.

harmonicalpha.bsky.social•77 days ago

Can't change the constitution .. so musk and trump will fall flat in several issues, that they don't understand .. but, a lot of this is to brainwash magas, then say : see , they didn't let us ..a lot of it, is just a front show , to fool the audience some more, since they can't figure it out..

harmonicalpha.bsky.social•77 days ago

Hayes recent interview w Raskin , hit it.. we have too many people talking, without offering action. Raskin expertise on the drill : Trump and his sycophants think they can do x y and z, but they have to respect rule of law, and due process. They don't seem to understand how democracy works ..

salvagni.org•77 days ago

jjo42069.bsky.social•77 days ago

Man I wish the Dems talked about popular positions like Medicare for all during a campaign or something. Might have helped

hrhraizen.bsky.social•77 days ago

The next thing @rokhanna.bsky.social will say is that Trump has always been an honest & misunderstood man who didn’t commit any crimes.

Come to find out, it ain’t just Republicans who will sell their souls for power & money. A number of Dems have already shown they will too.

America is screwed!

gm0rk.bsky.social•77 days ago

I mean, both are almost equally useless. Until they can solve for how to convey an accurate message to the people over the GOP misinformation environment, whatever message they make will be translated to, "I'm a pedophile who wants immigrants to kill your family."

whpshw.bsky.social•77 days ago

Ds won in 2022 bc their coalition is now college-ed resist-libs who are high propensity. They've been losing working-class voters since 2016. There's no future for a Dem Party w/o working class voters. Focusing on being 100% anti-Trump left Dems w/ an incoherent agenda. I think Khanna's right 🤷‍♂️

matthewjvallone.bsky.social•77 days ago

Did he offer any deeper explanation of what that looks like? Because I really don't understand how "telling Trump to pass things they aren't going to pass" is a viable strategy.

worldcitizen1994.bsky.social•77 days ago

There won't be any daring Republicans. Khanna is naive or very dishonest.

seannanigans.bsky.social•77 days ago

Let them pass it and own it. Then win the Presidency House and 61 Senate seats and fix things the way they need to be fixed. Yes it will be painful in the short term, hopefully only two years.

But my confidence in Dems sticking together is zilch.

ezra.im•77 days ago

I'd imagine the Bay's politics are doing some work here too—SF just elected a much more moderate set, Musk + David Sacks are in power. Feels like one version of a reaction—though it wouldn't be mine—is to position yourself as someone ready to solve problems (at least until he takes office).

curtkessler.bsky.social•76 days ago

FFS when will democrats stop punching themselves in the face? Ro is just getting played and too dumb to notice.

thewettanktops.bsky.social•77 days ago

It worked pretty damn good 2017-2020.

What a dumbass.

troopek.bsky.social•77 days ago

OH, you mean like a border bill? How'd that work out?

optimisticdoomer.bsky.social•77 days ago

Quisling Khanna justifies his collaboration.

badgrbas.bsky.social•77 days ago

Am I crazy I feel like we had this exact same debate in 2016

brokenelm.bsky.social•77 days ago

Like, do these people think the guy has changed in any way at all in the last 4 years? Do they assume he's no longer connected to the rabid influences of Miller and such. Fucking wild.

scottmccaskill.bsky.social•77 days ago

Can khanna tie his shoes? I’m not convinced he does that himself. Must be slip ons. Why did his minder let him in tv again?

carlpavlock.bsky.social•77 days ago

Absolutely hope he gets primaried

wonky-1138.bsky.social•77 days ago

Fucking cowards all the way down the line.

tombobryk.bsky.social•77 days ago

He should maybe try throwing a second handful of shit at the wall.

raincitywoman.bsky.social•77 days ago

How exactly have they been discredited?

insipidtwaddle.bsky.social•77 days ago

Reorienting to go after the votes of the five people that read Trump's books for the policy proposals is definitely a choice.

careycuprisin.bsky.social•77 days ago

That’s not the faction that I would say has been discredited

audionaught.bsky.social•77 days ago

Trump has promised his base too many incompatible outcomes and cosied up to people like EV magnate Elon who his base doesn't really like. Show them where they disagree. Feed them to themselves. Throw sand in the gears. Action delayed is action denied.

burtonad.bsky.social•77 days ago

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha [… pauses, breathes …] ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha no.

maledicta.bsky.social•77 days ago

Old enough to remember when Dems built their entire election strategy on immigration around trying to shame Republicans into passing that insane "border security" bill.

dbmichele.bsky.social•77 days ago

Can somebody primary him? He long ago lost the tech bros.

south-seas.bsky.social•77 days ago

Is he naive or clueless?

jasonmquist.bsky.social•77 days ago

Yeah maybe the electorate is dying to snap back to the pre-1994 standard of 'legislators are supposed to make laws and run the government'

graceschuss.bsky.social•77 days ago

Leopards. Faces.

katastrophe98.bsky.social•77 days ago

‘We tried nothing and we’re all out of ideas’ comes to life

stomachtax.bsky.social•77 days ago

Stupid man confirms he is stupid in follow up

swojack.bsky.social•77 days ago

Literally the only thing that has worked in national politics for anyone since 2006 is total resistance to the opposing party in Congress and the White House.

Working across the aisle for any reason is what's been discredited absolutely.

rivasad.bsky.social•77 days ago

Biden’s infrastructure bill was a great piece of bipartisan legislation! Agreed that this is the exception rather than the rule, though

swojack.bsky.social•77 days ago

And it was a net negative for him politically.

There are no political benefits to trying to get GOP votes or aiding the GOP on their own bills.

rivasad.bsky.social•77 days ago

This is a good point. But if we want things that are good for our country, we need politicians willing to take the electoral hit (the ACA was the same way when it was passed)

megpark.bsky.social•77 days ago

How did Biden get all his wins then?

swojack.bsky.social•77 days ago

An anti Trump majority gave Biden a trifecta and a mandate to punish Trump's regime and shore up democracy. He instead used that trifecta to pass a few okay economic bills and ignored Trump and our collapsing democracy..

Now he will go down as one of the most hated failures to ever hold the office.

megpark.bsky.social•77 days ago

Woj. You are not making sense.

thatlawguykev.bsky.social•77 days ago

We've seen the infrastructure bill, CHIPS Act, PACT Act and other major legislation passed under Biden with bipartisan support. The GOP hates it, but bipartisanship does still work.

katie3210.bsky.social•77 days ago

Yes!! Good times! But I doubt the Rs will introduce anything under a T administration that a Democrat could support.

thatlawguykev.bsky.social•77 days ago

I agree. I just think that the statement that opposition is the only thing that works for anyone is sort of both sides-ing the situation.

esp1371.bsky.social•77 days ago

Opposition does not work for the American people in a lot of cases. It does when it's opposing something really bad, but refusing to work with the other side on something that could help people is not actually helpful to people. It is, however, apparently the thing that lets you win at politics.

katie3210.bsky.social•77 days ago

I agree. As long as it is something that would help people, we should work together. I’m just not seeing that this new administration has ideas to help people that aren’t rich.

swojack.bsky.social•77 days ago

I think you're talking about whether we've been able to get any decent bills passed, but the original quote is about what wins political support and votes

I don't know whether having a few GOP votes hurt or helped those bills but I think it's conclusive that promoting the bipartisanship hurt us.

insipidtwaddle.bsky.social•77 days ago

Not just resistance: outright sabotage. If you're out of power, actively trying to make things worse for the body politic will be rewarded, even if you do so openly and gleefully. Which is a pretty horrifying incentive structure, but it's where things stand.

wshawnm.bsky.social•77 days ago

I’m writing my Dem Senators and Rep here in OR to tell them to do just that. Nothing remotely beneficial to the American public should receive their votes while Trump is in power. That includes disaster relief, govt shutdowns, economic stimulus after the inevitable Trump crash, etc.

ecstaticpixel.bsky.social•77 days ago

How do you work with people who set fires in the house while pretending to be firefighters? Can we not recognize mental illness?

The modern GOP are people we shouldn’t allow to operate motor vehicles snd yet somehow everybody is fine with handing them the nuclear codes.

Unchecked mass psychosis…

andrewt1985.bsky.social•77 days ago

I think that only applies to one party. If the Dems took this approach they would be pilloried for being uncooperative/not civil/whatever BS right wingers want to make up about them.

swojack.bsky.social•77 days ago

Not if they make it clear that they have no intention of being civil with bigots and criminals.

The problem right now is they keep claiming they have tons of good friends in the GOP so then when they utterly fail to win GOP votes, the media can run it as Dems betraying their promise to reach out.

benwasserman.bsky.social•77 days ago

No they’d still get pillared. Other non-Dem voters don’t like hearing that Republicans are bigots and criminals because they hold the WC credentials and that makes all their anger justified because reasons.

andrewt1985.bsky.social•77 days ago

Also the media landscape is skewed heavily to the right- fox et al are basically GOP propagandists and CNN et al are too worried about "fair and balanced" to actually hold GOP to account. Just look at how they covered Bidens pardons vs Trumps for the most recent example of this.

newswhore.bsky.social•77 days ago

Genuine follow-up: How does he square this with the fact that the GOP just won the trifecta by ... let's see ... just resisting everything the Dems did, not matter if it was good for the country or not? Does he think that only Dems have to play by certain rules?

pensandlighters.bsky.social•77 days ago

There’s a whole party of people that don’t resist Trump already.

They do fine on their own.

bskylife.bsky.social•77 days ago

The "just resist Trump" faction won a trifecta in 2020. The thing about "resisting" is that is works a hell of a lot more when the object is actually in office.

capopp.bsky.social•77 days ago

To be fair, the main criticism of Biden is that he decided to give Trump a pass for the first year+ of his presidency, instead of working overtime to run him to ground and put him in jail.

cellarette.bsky.social•77 days ago

Jared Moskowitz is doing the same, but has more credibility.

https://youtu.be/PpbWzi2OqeQ?si=JkBjY6140xnp_pIa

soapsscifi.bsky.social•77 days ago

Populism along the lines of lefter-than-thou figures who believed if they praised Trump and Matt Gaetz enough Trump and their great hero JD Vance would love Lina Khan.

(are Khanna and Gaetz still BFF?)

kenraining.bsky.social•77 days ago

This sounds very much like the plan of a man hell bent on outsmarting himself.

dameofdestiny.bsky.social•77 days ago

Yes. They need a strategy that requires balls. If there are no confrontations, they aren't doing it right. The MAGA GOP is where they are because they were louder. It's time to yell.

kittlieder.bsky.social•77 days ago

What? What does that look like?

toriglass.bsky.social•77 days ago

they hardly pass the stuff they want to pass (which, granted, isn’t much) why assume they have any interest in a populist moonshot?

ohcanadienne.bsky.social•77 days ago

https://wagingnonviolence.org/2024/11/10-things-to-do-if-trump-wins/

rimbrakemonkey.bsky.social•77 days ago

it would be worth asking what he means by "discredited" and how he thinks that has been achieved

rimbrakemonkey.bsky.social•77 days ago

if he thinks "lost the election" == discredited, then he needs to resign and let a rational adult serve in his place

blindbl.bsky.social•77 days ago

He didn't talk about single payer. Ever. Khanna is making zero sense in this case.

takethepith.bsky.social•77 days ago

Did you ask him if he thinks this will actually lead to Rs passing populist stuff? Given that they obviously won't, what is he hoping to accomplish? Catching Republicans in a lie? Does he think that will matter?

bklynmichael42.bsky.social•77 days ago

“I say, old chap, this constant throwing sand in my eyes and beating me with a chair is not exactly Marquess of Queensberry Rules! So let’s put the gloves back on and…OWWWWW!!! You just hit me with the chair again!”

kamalaharrisbirder.bsky.social•77 days ago

Damn, gotta block you here again too, Weigel?

tzipshmil.bsky.social•77 days ago

What “populist stuff”? What exactly did he actually promise other than deporting millions?

sikolnam.bsky.social•77 days ago

Wouldn’t it be helpful to position yourself as *opposed* to the colossally bad things if you in fact perceive said things as being colossally bad?

robpollard45.bsky.social•77 days ago

I mean...they already did that?

The whole "infrastructure week" was peppered with examples of Dems trying to goad Trump into actually doing something substantive. Eventually they "agreed" to vaporware, which did nothing for nobody.

https://www.npr.org/2019/04/30/718677236/trump-and-democrats-agree-on-2-trillion-for-infrastructure-but-not-on-how-to-pay

davidbreece.bsky.social•77 days ago

He's going to get his ass primaried, is what he's doing.

themetabaron.bsky.social•77 days ago

Ro is another Tulsi Gabbard

righteoushazard.bsky.social•77 days ago

"We shall surrender on the beaches, we shall surrender on the landing grounds, we shall surrender in the fields and in the streets, we shall surrender in the hills; we shall never fight."

zman1527.bsky.social•77 days ago

Nice, and too true.

alexb4u.bsky.social•77 days ago

Discredited or just ineffective?

adastra-peraspera.bsky.social•77 days ago

Appealing or challenging his ego down the road when he’s in single digit approvals might be worth a shot but he’s way too high on his “mandate” supply right now for this to work.

jljacobson.bsky.social•71 days ago

I would love an example of a single time the Democrats *actually* resisted Trump. They did nothing but normalize fascism. They are so dedicated to not seeing what’s right in front of them lest it bother their donors that lie through their teeth. @rokhanna.bsky.social leads the pack on self delusion

embermember.bsky.social•77 days ago

If there is one thing the past election showed us is that voters really care about Republican hypocrisy.

redmcwilliams.bsky.social•77 days ago

I mean, if dems were vocal about all the things Trump said he'd do but didn't, and then talked about how he was making everyone's life worse, and they did that every day for the next 4 years, it might make a difference.

thewettanktops.bsky.social•77 days ago

You can just starting saying what he’s fucking up right away. You don’t have to do the Ro “doydy doydy doy hope he duz good stuffs! boy I’m a smart political operator, all the tech CEOs even say so when I’m kissing their asses”

takethepith.bsky.social•77 days ago

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem Khanna is prepared to do that

adamiani.bsky.social•77 days ago

… but that’s… literally the opposite of what one should reasonably take away here? Horrible.

megabeth18.bsky.social•76 days ago

He is saying whatever his new large donors are telling today. Citizens United is killing both parties.

https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/ro-khanna/summary?cid=N00026427

spectreserf.bsky.social•77 days ago

Aaron screwed Ro pretty bad with the paraphrase. its kind of an awkward soundbite but “hope” is not at all the right word to use lol cmon
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3ld2nntf7h22q

spectreserf.bsky.social•77 days ago

idaf about Ro but you can't expect ppl to read in sarcasm or even a vaguely argumentative challenging the guy connotation without using a direct quote. not good on a writing level

davidrlurie.bsky.social•77 days ago

He's a font of the facile.

rimaregas.com•76 days ago

With maybe a couple of exceptions, Bernie's spawn have been a bitter, bitter disappointment, under the guise of pragmatism. What it really is, though, is a new iteration of triangulation. I saw it in 2017 and here we are again, with a vengeance.

crary.bsky.social•77 days ago

"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" seems like a dubious strategy for a partisan politician.

athx1138.bsky.social•77 days ago

He’s not wrong. The important is to push these populist ideas and make them reject them so people can see they have no interest in governing.

annecw.bsky.social•77 days ago

He is a fool.

allisongrace.bsky.social•77 days ago

I think this is right. Dems can’t be seen as the defenders of the system and norms when people clearly don’t like systems and norms. Being reactionaries discredits Dems - pointing to Trump’s broken promises to fix things will be a better strategy IMO

location3.bsky.social•77 days ago

The dude doesn’t want to piss off Elon cause he represents Fremont, Ca.

zathras5.bsky.social•77 days ago

Khanna is doing what other Democrats will be tempted to in the coming months: trying to expose Trump to his voters for doing less than he promised. It’s too clever by half — one of Khanna’s weaknesses — and will end with him supporting Trump’s priorities in change for scraps.

mistermagic.bsky.social•77 days ago

Populists of a feather fly together

cpo10za.bsky.social•77 days ago

Absolutely. Unless Khanna changes his stances & tactics again when the wind blows — as has frequently been his MO.

bradleyherring.bsky.social•77 days ago

lmao OK, sure Ro

johnpanzer.com•77 days ago

Dare away, just don't give them any votes.

wrongbottom.bsky.social•77 days ago

Tell the douche that he's a soulless macaroni.

jetblackbox.bsky.social•77 days ago

just let them blow it on their own. It's inevitable. I'm tired of all this soul-searching and thinking we need to change things. It's going to take stupid people realizing they did a stupid thing-- by all of us going down the tubes economically, unfortunately.

cpo10za.bsky.social•77 days ago

Ro Khanna must have no knowledge of how the other party has successfully operated, largely under Mitch McConnell’s obstruction tactics, for years & years.

parisdog.bsky.social•77 days ago

I mean, they will gladly do it

teleportnow.bsky.social•77 days ago

Just resist Trump brought us full circle to 4 more years of Trump. I really don’t want to see what comes after that if Dems can’t win more than a narrow margin and we spend another near decade with our crappy healthcare, insufficient housing and increasing economic insecurity.

xavkoenig.bsky.social•77 days ago

Good strat imo. Force conflict between populist and conservative factions over there.

justtaoit.bsky.social•77 days ago

Democrats are such wusses. We really, REALLY need to build a VIABLE third party. We might consider starting with Independents, since they are already a huge voting bloc.

tinavstammy.bsky.social•77 days ago

You told him that's an idiot's fantasyland, right?

swaffordaustin.bsky.social•77 days ago

I used to really like Ro Khanna. I don’t know if his money source changed or what but he has been absolutely humiliating himself with takes like this for months

brianhofer.bsky.social•77 days ago

He’s become a complete fraud. Elon is his daddy and he’s cool with that.

foxdm.bsky.social•77 days ago

Well Khanna wasn't with the resist libs in 2017-20 either. What he's doing now is in keeping with what he's been doing for the last 8 years or so. Also, the "just resist Trump" stuff worked pretty well last time! It hasn't been discredited.

capopp.bsky.social•77 days ago

Right? What exactly is the issue?

thewettanktops.bsky.social•77 days ago

What the hell has @rokhanna.bsky.social even accomplished to be such a self important gasbag? Getting your dumb face on as many TV hits as possible isn’t a resume.

foxdm.bsky.social•77 days ago

And the substance of what Khanna is arguing - that we should hold Trump to what he said 20 years ago - is ridiculous. Khanna invites Trump to support single payer healthcare based on a 20 year old statement. Trump doesn’t do this. Then what? What’s the point? Who’s even going to follow all this?

pwnedlib.bsky.social•77 days ago

Cool he’s wrong

benpiggot.bsky.social•77 days ago

just think its a bad misread of the situation. I do think the second part is correct, but I think a lot of Dems are vastly underrating how people will react when Trump admin/GOP try to implement policies they didn't vote for and will probably cause real harm to the economy or maybe even them

dennis-see-sea.bsky.social•77 days ago

I'll admit "capitulation & collaboration" IS a strategy, but it's hardly new. That dope imagines he's gonna play Br'er Rabbit or Tom Sawyer to Benito Mussolini. A true world class clown, as well as a disingenuous lapdog to the Silicon Valley Masters of the Universe.

trekologer.net•77 days ago

At some level, daring Republicans to pass an agenda that voters projected onto Trump might work.

carolynschuk.bsky.social•77 days ago

Ro Khanna is my representative and I've interviewed him for the community newspaper. Yes, he's an ambitious opportunist. He got elected by stabbing a sitting congressman in the back. However, much of his time in congress he's been in the minority — effectiveness means making allies where he can.

carolynschuk.bsky.social•77 days ago

Perhaps what we're really discussing is the morality of cooperation to serve constituents in a Trumpist state. Republicans clearly oppose cooperation regardless of the harm to their constituents. Then again, the constituents voted for them, so maybe they welcome opportunities to suffer.

charleslustig.bsky.social•77 days ago

Yeah that ought to convince Mike Johnson and Mitch McConnell to pass bills to shore up the health care system. Pangloss would be proud.

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