House Democrats organize digital creators to counter Trump’s speech
By Max Tani
Other Democrats individually have taken engagement with left-leaning podcasters and posters a step further. Rep. Ro Khanna this week invited Carlos Eduardo Espina, a human rights advocate with over 13 million followers, to be his guest at Trump’s speech to Congress.
In an interview with Semafor on Tuesday, the California congressman said that Democrats need to view left-leaning creators like Espina as part of Democrats’ political movement, not simply as vehicles to get the party’s message out. He said that while he believed the recent initiatives are a step in the right direction, the relationship between the party and creators is still a one-way street. His decision to invite Espina to the speech on Tuesday was meant to signal to his followers that they are important parts of the political conversation.
“That’s what the right does better than us. We treat our podcasters, our influencers, as, ‘Oh, there’s an election coming up. We got to get to the young voters, let’s go schedule a bunch of interviews with them,’” he told Semafor, referring to content creators. “The right takes their podcasters, whether it’s Charlie Kirk or whether it’s Ben Shapiro or others, and says, ‘You’re part of our actual movement. You’re going to help determine who makes up our Cabinet, and take part in the governing of this country.’ And that’s what I think we need to do with our base of influencers.”