Democratic lawmaker calls on progressives to stop leaving X
'I don't think the answer for progressives is to disengage,' he told Politico
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said during a recent interview that progressives should remain on X as many have already deactivated their accounts amid President-elect Trump's victory.
"I think that everything he has said publicly is he believes in free and open speech, and we need to have more platforms. Now, I don’t think X should be the only platform," Khanna told Politico during a podcast interview.
Khanna spoke with Anne McElvoy during an interview on Politico's "Power Play" podcast. Several progressives have fled X, formerly known as Twitter, which is owned by billionaire Elon Musk.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Not only do I stay, I use it all the time … I don’t think that the answer for progressives is to disengage," Khanna added.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., is interviewed by CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images in his Cannon Building office on Friday, February 10, 2023. ((Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images))
Following the election results, liberal pundits in particular made a point to avoid X.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace told viewers that she deleted her X app in an "act of self-preservation."
"I deleted Twitter today as an act of self-preservation and because I was no longer able to find the things I was interested in. I was seeing a lot of things that I’m not," she said. Wallace's account remains active on the platform.
Ex-CNN host Don Lemon posted a statement announcing his departure from X on Wednesday, telling his 1.5M followers that "it's time for me to leave the platform."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California (right) speaks at a House committee hearing, on Feb. 28, 2023 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. (Office of Rep. Ro Khanna)
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Liberals have also generally turned away from the news amid Trump's win, according to reports.
"Now we have the distortion of the public sphere with moneyed interests and with digital spaces that aren’t equal for everyone to participate. And what we ought to be focused on is how do we create more town hall-like places for conversation online," Khanna told Politico.
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Fox News' Yael Halon contributed to this report.