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Jobs guarantees, single-payer health care and abolishing the agency in charge of border enforcement — ideas once confined to the fringes of the Democratic Party — are now being considered seriously by many in the party.
That’s good news for Democrats competing against the lofty promises of President Donald Trump, California Rep. Ro Khanna told Beyond the Bubble this week — even if actual implementation is still an uphill climb.
“We’re not going to beat [President Donald] Trump by being Trump lite,” said Khanna, who unseated an incumbent Democrat for his seat in 2016.
“I think the party is realizing that we are in transformative times that call for big ideas,” he added.
Khanna, who represents Silicon Valley, is traveling the country pitching a plan that would incentivize tech companies to move into areas where the leading sources of employment are failing.
He’s also defending a host of ideas, policies once considered radical even by his own party, as good politics in the age of Trump.
“You look at President Trump, and while I am appalled by his solutions, his diagnosis resonated,” said Khanna.
“The Democrats will win when we inspire,” he said. “That doesn’t mean that everyone needs to agree with my specific policies, but they need to have policies that are bold enough to meet the moment and our times.”
(Catch the last episode of Beyond the Bubble: GOP’s suburban playbook)
Khanna supports Medicare for all, as well as a massive expansion of the federal income tax credit.
He stops short of some Democrats’ calls to abolish the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, and says talk of impeaching Trump is premature.
Referring to his own proposals, Khanna said “I don’t think these policies are radical, I think they are what we need to adjust to a new economic age.”
Democrats need to flip 23 seats this take control of the House this fall. Flipping the Senate requires picking up two GOP-held seats, while defending 24 Democrats, including 10 running in states Trump won.
Asked whether Democrats could face voter fatigue from campaigning on lofty goals that aren’t likely to garner support from both parties, Khanna said his party “shouldn’t be Pollyannaish about how difficult these things will be to implement.”
However, “if the Republicans can pass a $1.6 trillion giveaway to investor and executives, I don’t see why we wouldn’t have the political will to give away $1.6 trillion of working class tax credits,” said Khanna. “If the Republicans are willing to increase by $80 billion the defense budget, I don’t understand why we can’t have tech institutes across America.”
McClatchy’s Beyond the Bubble show is produced by Jordan-Marie Smith and Davin Coburn. Alex Roarty, a national political correspondent for McClatchy, and Andrea Drusch, Washington correspondent for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, recorded this episode at McClatchy’s Washington Bureau, August 16 and 21, 2018.