Ro Khanna Has Some Unbelievable Advice for All of Us on Platner, Compares Himself to Former President

The utter hubris of Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna (CA-17) has been hitting some real heights.

We saw him tell his tale of being "detained" in the West Bank after he and his group reportedly entered a restricted area. There just happened to be a New York Times photographer in the group, and the Times "broke" the story, mentioning how he was considering a 2028 run. That got a lot of attention.

Khanna is likely hoping that will give him renewed juice with the leftist base after he showed just how ridiculous he is with his over-the-top support of the former Democratic candidate for Senate in Maine, Graham Platner, even after the many, many red flags, from Nazi tattoo to alleged abuse of a former girlfriend.

Dems Crash Out Over Platner, As They Scramble Away From Him and Calls to Step Aside Begin

But he was asked about Platner on Meet the Press. This has to take the cake for one heck of a terrible, slippery Democratic response.

Ro Khanna—who did not pull his endorsement of Graham Platner after Reddit posts joking about rape were uncovered or after The New York Times reported domestic abuse allegations—says:

"We all need to see the signs earlier, of people who may engage in domestic violence." pic.twitter.com/QA0YJXZ3wp
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 12, 2026

"To me, the line always was sexual assault or sexual violence," Khanna said. "As soon as that came out, I was the first person to withdraw my endorsement. But I will say, I got that call wrong. And if there is some self-reflection, it is that we all need to see the signs earlier of people who may engage in domestic violence. I wasn't the only one: you had Planned Parenthood, you had Sen. Warren, you had the entire Democratic Party. But I did get that call wrong."

"We all need to see the signs?" Is he kidding? We all saw the signs, while he was not just ignoring them, but arguing why we should support Platner anyway, even with the Nazi tattoo and alleged abusive behavior.

He claims his red line was "sexual assault or sexual violence." Actually, he made a slight change there. No, what he had been saying was his line was "sexual assault or violence against women [not just sexual violence]." Of course, the problem with that was that he said he believed Platner's ex-girlfriend Lyndsey Fifield when she alleged Platner had engaged in abusive behavior toward her - yet he still supported Platner. And he didn't just support him, he rallied with him and even put out a video with him where he could talk about his "transformation." But yeah, "we" didn't get the signs.

I do think it's rather hilarious that he pulls in the entire Democratic Party as a blanket, trying to say they all were with him on this. Yes, that's the problem. They were all more interested in winning than in the problems with their candidate.

How delusional is Khanna? He posted this description of himself that was in Politico's Playbook D.C., calling him a "rising star on the left whose name constantly crops up in 2028 conversations," saying he downplayed the Platner implosion.

.@davidaxelrod gets it https://t.co/FOhfnlRfbQ pic.twitter.com/Z0BErJlPZJ
— Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) July 10, 2026

“The movement has always been bigger than any individual, including me," he said. He even compared himself to Teddy Roosevelt.

But he’s owning the Platner blunder. “I got the Platner call wrong, obviously,” Khanna told Playbook. “But it doesn’t negate from the progressive movement.”
The Oprah-style endorser (he cheerfully noted he “went 0-for-4 in Illinois”) reached back for a Teddy Roosevelt reference to square what happened in Maine, where he traveled to boost Platner’s campaign even after earlier allegations reported by The New York Times. “It’s always better to be the man in the arena,” Khanna said. “When you make as many endorsements and you’re in the fight and you’re not in the ivory tower, you’re going to get some calls wrong.”

You are no Teddy Roosevelt, Ro. That's frankly insulting to TR - he would have had more sense and not supported someone with a Nazi tattoo or abuse allegations. Again, Khanna acts like, "Oh, well, just a bad call."

“This will be a one-week news story,” Khanna predicted. He's already trying to move us past it.

Sorry, you can't dismiss how bad this makes you look, what terrible judgment you and the other Democrats have in this, and how you didn't care about the things that had already been on the table, if it meant Platner supported "the movement" or he could get you a Senate seat.

So Khanna can try to move past it, as can the other Democrats. But they fully own this mess, and they can't escape it that easily.

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