- A prime Democrat urged fellow liberals to stay on Elon Musk’s X platform.
- This month, hundreds of thousands of customers have joined Bluesky, which payments itself as a liberal various to X.
- Khanna advised Politico that his relationship with Elon Musk is an instance of discovering frequent floor.
Rep. Ro Khanna, a number one progressive lawmaker representing the center of Silicon Valley, stated liberals should not flee Elon Musk’s X, as an alternative urging his fellow Democrats to have interaction with those that share opposing beliefs.
Khanna made the feedback on an episode of Politico’s Energy Play podcast this week amid an exodus of liberal customers from X to Bluesky.
The social networking platform, which has billed itself as a progressive various to Musk’s web site, surpassed 21 million customers this month, up from 13 million in October.
“I do not suppose the reply is for progressives to disengage,” Khanna advised Politico. “The thought is that in a market of concepts, over the long run, the reality emerges.”
The California lawmaker described himself as a “free speech particular person” who makes use of X “on a regular basis” and advised Democrats remaining on the platform is akin to liberal lawmakers showing on conservative information shops like Fox Information to share their message with as vast an viewers as doable.
Khanna, who has a longstanding relationship with Musk, cited his personal interactions with the billionaire on X as proof of the type of frequent floor folks can discover on-line.
On Monday, Khanna posted a clip of himself on CNN speaking concerning the Division of Authorities Effectivity, or DOGE, which President-elect Donald Trump has tasked Musk and fellow billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy with main.
“With regards to slicing waste, fraud, and abuse and opening the 5 primes to extra competitors, there are Democrats on HASC who will work with @elonmusk and @DOGE,” Khanna wrote on X.
Musk subsequently retweeted the publish, saying, “Cool!”
Khanna reiterated his willingness to work with Musk, who has turn into an advisor to Trump in current months, on Politico’s podcast this week. He stated he agreed with slicing prices, citing protection spending.
“That’s an space, being on the armed companies committee, the place I’ll work with somebody like Elon Musk or Vivek Ramaswamy if they’ll really assist break the monopolies of those protection contractors,” Khanna stated.
Final 12 months, Khanna praised Musk as an entrepreneurial “genius” however criticized the Tesla CEO’s controversial on-line conduct, together with his posting of edgy memes.
Khanna has described himself as a “know-how optimist” and stated he helps a steadiness of regulation and ethics within the digital house. The lawmaker launched an Web Invoice of Rights in 2018 centered on on-line privateness, however the laws has been stalled in Congress.
