Tangled Up in Blue with Rep. Ro Khanna: Tariffs, Trump, and Progressive Capitalism

GoodFellows: Conversations from the Hoover Institution

Hoover Institution

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4.8 • 658 Ratings

🗓️ 29 April 2025

⏱️ 63 minutes

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Summary

Rejected by voters last November, the Democratic Party is perhaps afforded new life given President Trump’s decline in popularity and economic uncertainty ahead. What is the party’s message? Rep. Ro Khanna, a prominent progressive voice whose California district includes parts of Silicon Valley, joins Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, John Cochrane, and H.R. McMaster to discuss tariffs and the use of executive power, “blue state” mismanagement, the feasibility of a “Marshall Plan” for economically downtrodden parts of America, plus the chances of Democrats parting ways with their “old guard.” After that: the three fellows weigh in on the Trump presidency at the 100-day mark, the future of Catholicism after the death of Pope Francis, tax exemption for universities, their go-to takeout food (pizza yes; haggis, no), plus two April landmarks—the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon. Recorded on April 28, 2025.

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's Monday, April 28, 2025, and welcome back to Goodfellows, a Hoover Institution broadcast,
0:13.7	examining social, economic, political, and geopolitical concerns. I'm Bill Whalen. I'm a Hoover
0:18.6	Distinguished Policy Fellow slash moderator. Looking forward to a conversation featuring three of the brightest minds I know, the good fellows, as we call them.
0:25.6	I'm referring, of course, to the historian, Sir Neil Ferguson, the economist John Cochran, and former Presidential National Security Advisor, Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, Neil and HR are all Hoover Senior Fellows.
0:38.1	A gentleman, a two-part show today, and the second part, we're going to look at the Trump
0:41.4	Administration at Day 100, hand out grades, assess progress. But first, we're going to talk to a
0:46.6	neighbor of ours. And I'm referring to Congressman Roe Kata. He is our neighbor because he represents
0:51.5	the 17th Congressional district here in California,
0:58.2	which spans the southern portion of Silicon Valley, which is just south of the Hoover Institution in Stanford University.
1:00.0	Congressman Kana serves on the House Armed Services Committee and the Select Committee on the
1:03.9	Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.
1:07.8	Rokana is one of Congress's leading progressive voices, which raises a question, sir.
1:12.3	You graduated with an economics degree from the University of Chicago, home to such economic luminaries as Milton Friedman, Gary Becker, and of course our own John Cochran, all Hoover Fellows.
1:21.8	My question to you, sir, how does someone with all that economic wisdom in his disposal somehow end up in California as a very
1:28.0	outspoken progressive.
1:29.0	I had Gary Vecor for Price Theory, a brilliant buying, and I have a great fondness for my
1:39.3	education at University of Chicago, not just the education on economics,
1:44.5	but more importantly, the education on philosophy and humanities
1:50.0	and really the tradition of philosophic thought
1:54.0	that gives rise to the American Republic.
1:56.0	I call myself a progressive capitalist.
1:59.0	I mean, even Milton Friedman and people like Robert Lucas or Becker would have acknowledged
	...

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