Rep. Ro Khanna (D., Calif.) has emerged as a potential contender for the Democratic presidential nomination while denouncing the ultra-rich who “hoard wealth and engage in financial speculation.” But the progressive, Silicon Valley congressman and his family live a life of staggering luxury, fueled by dynastic wealth they did not earn and protected by the same thicket of trusts, anonymous corporations, and foundations that Khanna condemns.
Khanna lives in a $6 million, 8,000-square-foot luxury home with a four-story elevator and so much premium marble that even the two laundry rooms have marble counters. The Northwest Washington, D.C., home is now for sale, as the Khanna family prepares to move to an even larger, more expensive house a few miles away in the Northern Virginia suburbs. Khanna’s two children, who are minors, have large ownership shares in three private golf clubs, a significant stake in a $65 billion wealth management firm, and investments in hedge funds that focus on distressed debt, of which Khanna has been critical. Khanna’s wife drives a $190,000 Range Rover she was so displeased with that she sued the dealer.
A Washington Free Beacon investigation into Khanna’s finances finds that the progressive truthteller’s lifestyle is funded by his wife, Ritu Ahuja Khanna, an heiress to her father’s Cleveland auto parts fortune. An analysis of Khanna’s financial disclosures reveals his gilded life is enriched by the same sort of investment vehicles that Khanna has said he has a “moral” duty to oppose and that Khanna’s family is a beneficiary of the “New Gilded Age” he condemns.
In his Commentary newsletter yesterday, Abe Greenwald wrote:
I could fill up half a newsletter—at least—with nothing but the names of candidates and elected officials who overtly detest America and the Jews and unapologetically embrace the enemies of both.
But for my money, Ro Khanna, the U.S. representative from California’s 17th district, is worse. My reasoning is related to a famous line of Martin Luther King Jr.’s. “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people,” he said, “but the silence over that by the good people.” Don’t worry, I know the idea needs some tinkering in this case because Khanna is neither silent nor good. He facilitates the oppression and cruelty by translating the florid war cries of radicals into establishment shorthand. Here’s what he posted on X in response to the trans activists who ganged up on Scott Wiener on Friday for being a Jew:
There is no place for harrasment or physical violence in our democracy. I am a strong supporter of protest, dissent, & free expression. But not of intimidation. What happened to @Scott_Wiener was simply wrong. Let’s focus on passing @RepThomasMassie amendment to zero aid to Israel. Hold elected officials accountable. But do so in the spirit of building a politics of conviction and dignity, not insult and aggression.
In other words, if you want to go after the Jews, don’t waste your time with a bunch of ranting freaks. Invest in me. I may not know how to spell harassment, but I know how to take down the Jews using the power of the federal government.
“Khanna is no socialist—he’s worth hundreds of millions of dollars. And there was a time, not long ago, when he claimed to support Zionism,” Greenwald concludes. “I don’t know whether he’s been asked about that lately, but he should be. Because once it became clear that anti-Semitism was gaining unprecedented traction in our politics, he decided to go all in—shamelessly. He now rushes to support Jew-haters left and right.”