ANDREW LIMBONG, HOST:
At the end of the day, I'm just a guy in my mid-30s. And like millions of other guys out there, I spend my free time listening to other men chat about whatever for hours on end on various podcasts on YouTube. And lately, one guy has been showing up all over my feed...
(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE)
UNIDENTIFIED PODCASTER #1: We are being joined by Congressman Ro Khanna.
UNIDENTIFIED PODCASTER #2: I get a DM from Ro Khanna's team. I think...
UNIDENTIFIED PODCASTER #3: We are fortunate to be joined this morning by Congressman Ro Khanna here in the studio.
UNIDENTIFIED PODCASTER #4: Today's episode features a return appearance by Representative Ro Khanna, and...
LIMBONG: ...Congressman Ro Khanna. Now, since the election, there's been all this discourse about whether or not the Democrats did enough to appeal to this world, the world of podcast men, right? Like, how many times have you been in a conversation about whether or not Vice President Harris should have gone on "Rogan"? But it's been Congressman Khanna that's been out here in these podcast streets, and he joins us now to talk about his new media strategy. Congressman Khanna, hey, what's up, man?
RO KHANNA: Hey, I - this feels like a play that's talking about writing a play, you know, where I - you get to talk about the media...
LIMBONG: (Laughter) I know, I know, but bear with us, bear with us. But, you know, this YouTube/podcast ecosystem isn't totally new for you. You know, I've seen you show up on politics-related podcasts before. But now you're hitting up, like, non-newsy, nonpolitical podcasts, right? I saw some reporting that said that you're set to appear on "The Adam Friedland Show," which is a comedy podcast. Talk to me a little bit about your thinking around your media strategy and how that's evolved.
KHANNA: Well, the lesson that a lot of people drew from the last campaign was, oh, Vice President Harris should go on "Joe Rogan." But I think that's too simplistic. Of course she should have gone on "Joe Rogan," but the point is that there are all these podcasts reaching people that we need to be on, and that should be regardless of ideology. Go on conservative podcasts, liberal podcasts. Also it should be podcasts where people may not be talking about politics. And, you know, the amazing thing is - and I've told this to my colleagues is - a lot of these podcasts will be perfectly happy to have you on because for them, it's a novelty to have a politician actually mixing it up. And so I hope more of my colleagues will reach out and realize that this is the way to get to so many voters.
LIMBONG: Yeah. Why haven't more of them joined you in this sphere? I mean, a few of them have here and there, but you're - you seem to be the most aggressive one. Where is everyone else at?
KHANNA: Well, it's a risk, right? The more you talk, the more you can misspeak, the more gaffes you can make. And if you're going to be speaking for hours on end with especially a comedian who may make jokes that are offensive or may poke fun at you - that you may embarrass yourself. And my view is that the media environment has changed, that even if you do make a gaffe, it probably has a shelf life of 24 hours, and it's more important to be out there, to have people get a sense of who you are.
LIMBONG: I'm curious, how much of these appearances - is it style over substance? And I don't mean that dismissively, right? Like, you know, you hit your talking points and the things you want to argue for. But is this also an attempt to show that Democrats, as a whole, can play ball, can take a joke and aren't, like, weird, annoying scolds?
KHANNA: Yeah, I think a lot of it is just showing up, and it's being yourself, saying, hey, yeah, this is something I did wrong, or this is something I would have done differently. Being willing to defend your view - I mean, if you go on some of these podcasts and pretend to be something you're not, it won't be authentic. One of the best ones I did actually was with Megyn Kelly, where I was defending transgender rights and - for 30 minutes. I mean, it was a heated conversation - simple, but she was pushing back on me. All of the comments were basically negative. But at the end, Megyn Kelly said, well, why don't you come back on my show? Now I know where you're coming from. We can discuss the economy. So I think it's just showing that you're not afraid to mix it up.
LIMBONG: You represent Silicon Valley, and I'm curious, does the nature of your constituency allow you more leeway from the people you represent to show up on all these pods, right? Like, if someone from my district kept showing up on my YouTube feed, a part of me would think, like, we've got, like, potholes and other problems in your home district, dude, to worry about. And so, yeah, how - does that, like, offer you some freedom there?
KHANNA: That's a great point. Two reasons it offers freedom - one, Silicon Valley and my district is a very risk-taking place. And so they don't mind if I'm out there and mixing it up and doing things that are a bit on the edge. The second thing is that, yeah, they want me to show up obviously on cultural events and town halls and in the district, but they like the fact that I'm on podcasts and I get the online world and I'm engaging in the online world because many of them or their kids are doing that. And so for me, that actually is a positive given where I represent.
The thing - what I would say to someone who may not have the same kind of district is that it doesn't have to be national. You can - there are a lot of influencers, there are a lot of podcasts that are very local to communities, and someone could make the decision, I just want to do them in my community and my district and my state, and it still would be beneficial.
LIMBONG: As you've been doing this, as you've been talking to, quote-unquote, "the other side," have you learned anything about that group of people that you didn't know before?
KHANNA: One of the things going onto these podcasts - the approach I take is looking much more for actual dialogue and common ground. Now people say, well, what's the point of that, because a lot of the people - 95% of people listening to Tim Pool are never going to vote for me and probably won't vote for a Democrat? First of all, there is the 5- or 10% that may. But secondly, it's just showing that Democrats are unafraid, that we're willing to mix it up, that we're not afraid to have a debate about ideas, and I think that's so important for our party.
LIMBONG: That was Congressman Ro Khanna. Thank you so much.
KHANNA: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
