President Donald Trump's supporters are a "force to be reckoned with," Hawaii Rep.-elect Kai Kahele, a progressive Democrat who supports both "Medicare for All" healthcare plans and the Green New Deal, says while acknowledging the country is still too divided to support many of the progressive plans he backs.
"Clearly, from looking at the map, there's a lot of work that still needs to be done," Kahele, the second native Hawaiian to ever be elected to Congress to represent Hawaii, told Fox News. He will succeed outgoing Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, in representing the state's 2nd Congressional District.
Kahele's congressional orientation took place while thousands of Trump's supporters were holding rallies in Washington, D.C., to protest the results of the presidential election, and the new lawmaker said the crowds showed how the president appeals to a large part of the country.
"I don't understand it, but I'm going to listen to it, make no mistake about it, because it's a force to be reckoned with," said Kahele. "As somebody who comes from a middle-class family who is a strong member of a union, I just don't think President Trump's policies help middle-class families in this country."
Kahele, a state senator, military pilot, and combat veteran, said he thinks Democrats need to work toward speaking with the president's supporters.
"It's going to take education. It's going to take relationships," he said. "Obviously, if we have slimmer majorities in the House, [if] we don't have the United States Senate, some of these big, bold ideas are probably not going to be able to happen."
Kahele does not support defunding police and says he only believes in socialism when it comes to government-funded healthcare, pointing to his experience with Veterans Affairs hospitals.
"I've benefited from a great example of socialized medicine in this country — the VA — and so has my family," Kahele said. "You have a military hospital. You have military doctors. You have military nurses, you have ... great care that they give. Why can't we extend that to all Americans? We already have Medicare — 65 years of age or older. Why can't we extend that to everyone?"
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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