The Dude Who's Winning Men Over to the Left

About this episode

Saadia Khan interviews Charlie Goldensohn about his political journey and the challenges facing the Democratic Party.

His Instagram bio says it all: "Just a dude working on political stuff." Charlie Goldensohn grew up in San Francisco's Mission District with a Marxist activist father and a Planned Parenthood director for a mother. He went on to work for Senator Dianne Feinstein, became Dr. Jill Biden's digital director, served in the White House, and worked on the Kamala Harris 2024 campaign. Then Democrats lost, and something in him snapped. He pointed a camera at himself, started walking, and started talking. Within four months, 200,000 followers. Today, over 359,000. In this episode, Saadia Khan sits down with Charlie for an unfiltered conversation about politics, identity, and why the Democratic Party has completely lost the plot. They get into: Why calling himself "just a dude" is actually the whole strategy Growing up in a radically political household — and hating it, until he didn't The moral calculus of working for Dianne Feinstein as a Bernie Sanders progressive Why he said no to Biden, yes to Kamala, and what that cost him Harm reduction politics — and whether it's ever enough What Democrats got wrong about Joe Rogan, Zohran Mamdani, and coalition-building Why he's targeting the men…

People in this episode

Host: Saadia Khan

Guest: Charlie Goldensohn

Topics covered

• politics
• identity
• Democratic Party
• progressivism
• coalition-building
• male engagement

Keywords

• politics
• progressive
• Democrats
• identity
• coalition-building
• male engagement
• Dianne Feinstein
• Kamala Harris
• Joe Rogan

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Planned Parenthood

Places: San Francisco

More episodes of Immigrantly Podcast

• 9/11 at 25: A Firefighter's Daughter on the Mamdani Petition, Guantánamo, and the Script of Grief · September 8, 2026 · 1h 1m
• 9/11 at 25: Guantánamo Never Closed. Now It Holds Immigrants · September 3, 2026 · 1h 0m
• What Investors Say After Founders Leave the Room with Erika Lucas · August 25, 2026 · 51 min
• Feed Drop: Did You Know the Girl Scouts Was Led by a Pakistani American? Meet Noorain Khan (from Pehchaan) · August 18, 2026 · 1h 25m
• Solo Episode: I Memorized the Civil War. Gettysburg Made Me Feel It · August 11, 2026 · 21 min
• UNRWA USA CEO Mara Kronenfeld on Gaza, Genocide And Jewish Identity · August 4, 2026 · 1h 1m