Latest / Drawn of History / Ro Khanna on Why People are Disillusioned with Politics(M4A_128K)

Transcript

Ro Khanna on Why People are Disillusioned with Politics(M4A_128K) · Drawn of History

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  Speaker 1: I think part of the challenge in politics is you
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  Speaker 1: get surrounded with so many of these interest groups. You
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: get surrounded by how you're going to raise money. You
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  Speaker 1: get surrounded by all these foreign policy thinkers.
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  Speaker 2: Dude, we're working together. I didn't even realize it. Ro,
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  Speaker 2: I hate to interrupt you, but right now, my question is, Ro,
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  Speaker 2: one thing I like about you is I feel like
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  Speaker 2: you're a black sheep. You take a lot of unpopular stances.
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  Speaker 2: That's something I really admire. One of those is not
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  Speaker 2: accepting lobby from PACs or PACs. We hear about them
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  Speaker 2: a lot of times. Some of my listeners, you hear
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  Speaker 2: about these PACs. It means political action committee, right? And
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  Speaker 2: I'm reading this. Just give me a break, guys, real quick.
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  Speaker 2: We are at a point, I believe, where a lot
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  Speaker 2: of people are starting to see that neither party really
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  Speaker 2: represents the people. That's the feeling that I'm hearing people say.
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  Speaker 2: I've heard Candace Owen say it, and she's very much
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  Speaker 2: been a kind of Republican role model, I feel like,
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  Speaker 2: or at least have some influence of that. I feel
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  Speaker 2: like she's also kind of in a lane of her own.
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  Speaker 2: Parties have been unable to keep businesses and lobbyists away
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  Speaker 2: from politics. In 2025, lobbying was at an all-time high
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  Speaker 2: of $ 4. 4 billion. I believe that's a couple sites said
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  Speaker 2: that online, the sites could be lying. How can we
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  Speaker 2: know who is accepting lobby money? First of all, how
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  Speaker 2: do we know that?
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  Speaker 1: So first of all, take a guess how many lobbyists
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  Speaker 1: there are in Washington right now, ballpark.
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  Speaker 2: 12,000.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: 10,000. That's pretty good.
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  Speaker 4: 10,000.
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  Speaker 2: They're hiding a couple thousand, you know it.
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  Speaker 3: 10,000.
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  Speaker 1: Think, there are 500 members of Congress. That's 535, right?
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  Speaker 1: Members of Congress. That's 20 to one, right? You play football,
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  Speaker 1: like imagine you got 20 people, your wide receiver, you
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: got 20 people covering you. And so it, let me
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  Speaker 1: ask you the thing I wanted to ask you actually
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  Speaker 1: the most in this conversation, do you know people who
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  Speaker 1: are just like, yeah, I'm done with politics.
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  Speaker 3: Cause I don't think I can make a difference. You know,
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  Speaker 3: it's just, Oh yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I'm saying that's what I'm telling. That's what I've noticed
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  Speaker 2: in the past few months on some of my favorite
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  Speaker 2: shows that I listened to and watch people are like, Oh,
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  Speaker 2: I see now neither. Nobody has our side, neither one
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  Speaker 2: of these groups. It feels like have our side. You
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  Speaker 2: feel like it's just all these articles. It's like, well,
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  Speaker 2: here's an article about this is going to happen. And
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  Speaker 2: then people get in an uproar about it, but nobody,
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  Speaker 2: it's almost like it's all algorithm perfectly to the amount
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  Speaker 2: of our attention span where it just fades out of, uh,
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  Speaker 2: like the, the zeitgeist of discussion and zeitgeist just means, uh,
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  Speaker 2: like the circle of discussion at the moment, I think. Um,
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  Speaker 2: But so it's just like, it just fades. And then
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  Speaker 2: the next ball hits the air. You're like, oh, look
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  Speaker 2: at that one. That's it. Transgender something, you know?
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  Speaker 4: Right, right.
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  Speaker 2: That one, then it's like, oh, racism again.
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  Speaker 3: Here I am, you know? Forget about me.
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  Speaker 2: And then it, but it's the same. After a while,
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  Speaker 2: you're just like, I've seen this show so many times.
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  Speaker 2: I think even our DNA is sick. So I think
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  Speaker 2: you're having newborn children that are like, this is fucking bullshit.
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  Speaker 2: Because even, I think it's in our DNA now how
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  Speaker 2: long the charade has been going on. And that's where
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  Speaker 2: I see people are like, At a point where they're
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  Speaker 2: just at a loss. How can that be stopped? How
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  Speaker 2: can that sort of thing actually be stopped? Can we
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  Speaker 2: do anything or does it have to fall on our representatives?
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  Speaker 3: The representatives aren't going to change things.
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  Speaker 1: And this is my biggest concern for the country, that
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  Speaker 1: people keep getting disillusioned. They're like, I can't change anything.
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  Speaker 1: I'm just going to focus on my own life. Every
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  Speaker 1: two years, every four years, you get congresspeople, presidents saying
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  Speaker 1: they're going to do something. They do some executive order.
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  Speaker 1: It gets tied up in courts. Big Pharma blocks any reform.
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  Speaker 1: And what's the point?
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  Speaker 2: Right.
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  Speaker 3: And then the problem is that the less people.
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  Speaker 1: Get engaged, the more power these lobbyists and moneyed interests
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  Speaker 1: have because they don't want the engagement.
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  Speaker 3: No.
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  Speaker 1: They're perfectly fine with the system. And they're like, OK,
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  Speaker 1: we we we will keep supporting our members of Congress
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  Speaker 1: and presidents every four years. They'll run on change. Nothing
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  Speaker 1: actually changes and let people get more and more involved.
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  Speaker 3: Dissolution. That's what's going on.
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  Speaker 2: In this country. I believe that we've entered a privatized communism.
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  Speaker 2: That's what I say a lot. That's exactly what it
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  Speaker 2: seems like we're in. And you're sitting here telling me
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  Speaker 2: that our vote doesn't even really matter. So yeah, people
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  Speaker 2: are getting dissolution. But what do we do?
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  Speaker 1: But that's why I gave that example of tobacco and DDT.
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  Speaker 1: When the country actually mobilizes. When they're like, we're done
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  Speaker 1: with this.
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  Speaker 2: What do we need to do? Buy a Jeep or whatever?
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  Speaker 3: I think one of the things you do is look at.
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  Speaker 1: Who's taking money from these interest groups, right?
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  Speaker 2: Okay. Is there a site that we can look at
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  Speaker 2: that's reported?
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  Speaker 3: OpenSecrets.org. OpenSecrets.org.
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  Speaker 2: Crack that big open, kid. I know Chuck Schumer's on it.
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  Speaker 3: And everyone is.
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  Speaker 2: Is that slander or not?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you're pretty, you're well, not even close
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  Speaker 3: to the line of slander.
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  Speaker 2: We're not?
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  Speaker 4: No, we're not.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, good. Oh, yeah. That little money monkey's taking something.
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  Speaker 2: But you can find it on OpenSecret.com or you can
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  Speaker 2: find out how much each person gets and from where?
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  Speaker 1: You can find out how much each, so I don't
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  Speaker 1: take any PAC money, right? I don't take any lobbyist money,
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  Speaker 1: but you can even find out individuals aggregated, how much
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  Speaker 1: they're getting. And then, If they're getting money, fine, but
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  Speaker 1: then look at their voting record.
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  Speaker 4: Are they.
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  Speaker 1: Voting against big pharma? Are they voting against the big
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  Speaker 1: insurance companies? So first is just being aware. And you
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  Speaker 1: know what will happen if there's one time we take
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  Speaker 1: on one of these lobbying groups, whether it's big pharma.
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  Speaker 2: The rest will get scared.
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  Speaker 1: Big insurance, big. The rest get scared. And it's going
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  Speaker 1: to give hope to this country. Yeah, my voice matters. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I can get involved. Yeah, I can bring change. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: we have been voting for change in this country since
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  Speaker 1: Barack Obama. Every four years, every two years, like kick
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  Speaker 1: him out.
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  Speaker 3: Let's try someone else. And no one.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we put in a mixed guy. You know, it's like, damn,
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  Speaker 2: we got an Indian guy showing up. They're trying everything.
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  Speaker 3: They're even trying the Indian guy.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, you know, the country is like, who do
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  Speaker 4: we need? They don't care about Indian black woman. They're
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  Speaker 4: just like, get me someone who's going to actually bring change.
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  Speaker 2: Give me, it's like, give me somebody with some balls.
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  Speaker 2: That's one reason why I support a lot of trans stuff.
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  Speaker 2: Cause I'm like, and maybe one of these women will
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  Speaker 2: have enough balls on them to fucking get us to
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  Speaker 2: where we need to be. Like if, if that's where
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  Speaker 2: we're at, where we have to attach balls to an
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  Speaker 2: emotional sense of empathy that a lot of times in
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  Speaker 2: a woman, and that's who we need to get us
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  Speaker 2: over this hill of bullshit that we keep climbing up.
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  Speaker 2: then maybe that's what we need.
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  Speaker 1: I think the test in politics is pretty simple. There
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  Speaker 1: are two basic tests to politics. Do you believe that
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  Speaker 1: the American people are smarter and wiser and have good values?
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  Speaker 1: Or do you believe in a bunch of experts and elites?
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  Speaker 1: I fundamentally believe if we just allowed and listened to people,
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  Speaker 1: normal people, we'd be much better off in this country.
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  Speaker 1: And the second is, do you love and believe in
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  Speaker 1: this country?
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  Speaker 3: And I do.
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  Speaker 1: I think we're a good country. I think we're the
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  Speaker 1: good guys. Most Americans want to be the good guys.
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  Speaker 1: And like, we've gotten away from that.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Because we've got so many intermediate moneyed interests, lobbying interests,
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  Speaker 1: PhD foreign policy experts who are corrupting the process.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
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  Speaker 2: They're corrupting, man. They're bought and paid for. They're spies.
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  Speaker 2: They're spies. And the sick part is, to me, they're
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  Speaker 2: just killing themselves. They're killing the future of their children's imagination.
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  Speaker 2: Think of all the little things that you are hampering.
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  Speaker 2: But then I guess, you know, Money, you know, when
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  Speaker 2: you see things happen with money and it's hard to prevent.
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  Speaker 2: So like you said, don't point at the person. Try
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  Speaker 2: and point at the overall issue. But I love that opensecret.org
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  Speaker 2: or come.
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  Speaker 3: OpenSecrets.org. They can do an analysis on everyone. They can
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  Speaker 3: do it on me. They can do it.
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  Speaker 1: And, you know, it's not like people– there's no one
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  Speaker 1: who's perfect in American politics.
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  Speaker 2: Let's look at Mike Johnson.
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  Speaker 3: All right.
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  Speaker 2: I'll look at him right now. He's not going to
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  Speaker 2: be happy about it. I'm sorry, Mike. He's a good man.
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  Speaker 3: He's a man of faith.
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  Speaker 1: But like the whole point is like maybe he ends
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  Speaker 1: up– actually putting this for a vote.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, that would be, say, but like all these packs.
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  Speaker 2: Imagine being fucking Paul Revere. You know what I'm saying?
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  Speaker 2: That's what he has a chance to be because then
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  Speaker 2: we could all hold these people like you, you fucking
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  Speaker 2: vote for this or you will never be back in
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  Speaker 2: this thing again.
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  Speaker 3: Seriously.
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  Speaker 2: I think that's what people can do. Why doesn't open
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  Speaker 2: secrets have an app that makes it really easy? Is
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  Speaker 2: it very easy? The interface for people to be able
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  Speaker 2: to navigate the, How to find out who gets what
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  Speaker 2: and whatever?
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  Speaker 3: It's pretty easy.
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  Speaker 1: You can do it like that. I would look at
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  Speaker 1: two things. One, how much money do they get from PACs?
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  Speaker 1: Which are the PACs? How much money do they get
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  Speaker 1: from lobbyists? And what are the industry groups? Now, if
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  Speaker 1: they're taking money and they're still voting against those groups, fine.
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  Speaker 1: But what raises red flags is when they're taking money
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  Speaker 1: and they're not bringing something for a vote. Or they're
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  Speaker 1: voting with those industry groups.
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  Speaker 4: Right.
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  Speaker 2: This says top contributors for 2022-23 for Mr. Johnson, American-Israel
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  Speaker 2: Public Affairs Committee.
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  Speaker 3: And that gets to the vote on Iran, right?
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  Speaker 2: That's AIPAC, right?
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  Speaker 3: That's AIPAC.
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  Speaker 1: And like Massey and I have shown independence on that. So, OK,
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  Speaker 1: bring this vote so we don't get into war again.
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  Speaker 1: on Iran or, uh, and don't be beholden to groups
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  Speaker 1: who are telling you, no, no, no, let's just go
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  Speaker 1: along with Netanyahu and strike Iran.
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  Speaker 2: Like it's fucking, it's absolutely crazy. Uh, and you know
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  Speaker 2: what the craziest thing is, is that we've had Thomas
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  Speaker 2: Massey's schedule to come in for like a month, right?
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  Speaker 3: He's great.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Well, he's one of the smartest members of Congress.
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  Speaker 2: He's a maverick. That's what I like. I think you
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  Speaker 2: and him both are mavericks. That's one thing that I
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  Speaker 2: admire about you is that you make choices that feel
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  Speaker 2: like your own, right? Um, and the odds that you
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: guys have a build together, and then you're here today
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  Speaker 2: and he's coming tomorrow.
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  Speaker 3: So, I know.
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  Speaker 2: I wanted to put you on the same day so
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  Speaker 2: you at least get to say hey, but maybe maybe
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  Speaker 2: in the future.
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  Speaker 1: We've done stuff we've done a lot of stuff together
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  Speaker 1: we both have like people in our own parties who
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: get upset because we take stances that are independent we
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  Speaker 1: work across y'all but isn't that what congress is supposed
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  Speaker 1: to be like i mean when you have a conversation
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  Speaker 1: with your buddies do you always agree with like three
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  Speaker 1: of them and then have three of the others always
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  Speaker 1: disagree it's like so irrational usually like you'll agree with
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  Speaker 1: someone on one thing and you'll disagree on something else.
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  Speaker 1: And yet in Congress, it's like, you got these two
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  Speaker 1: teams and they're always supposed to be with their own parties.
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  Speaker 1: And that's not how people actually are in real life.
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  Speaker 1: They want people to just think for themselves.
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  Speaker 2: I agree. And the craziest part is they're on two teams,
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  Speaker 2: but they should be playing for the same group, right?
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  Speaker 3: Team America.
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  Speaker 2: Yes. And the fact that there it's like, it always
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  Speaker 2: feels the craziest part is it feels like it's you
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  Speaker 2: as a citizen against your own party. That's what it
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  Speaker 2: feels like now. It doesn't feel like this person. It
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: feels like that in the voting. And then it feels
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  Speaker 2: like it just changes. Once they get over that hill,
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  Speaker 2: you never see them again.