Rep. Ro Khanna compares Vance to Stalin as he stakes out space in Democrats' 2028 field

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., unleashed an early 2028 attack on Vice President JD Vance at Yale on Tuesday, attempting to frame him as a threat to the Constitution.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., unleashed an early 2028 attack on Vice President JD Vance here Tuesday, attempting to frame President Donald Trump’s heir apparent as a threat to the Constitution while comparing him to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. 

“Vance,” Khanna said in a speech at Yale Law School, “has not only declared war on the courts, but on the universities. And it is no accident. As Stephen Kotkin observed in his study of Stalin, strongmen do not fear recessions or even failed wars as much as they fear the university.”

Khanna’s remarks called back to Vance’s history of criticizing what he has described as inexcusably liberal policies and teachings in higher education. The speech came a day after the federal government froze more than $2 billion in grants to Harvard University, which has rejected demands the Trump administration has issued to address antisemitism on campus.