that's interesting. He is not wrong in the sense that your pairing with RFK will hurt Biden. But its a fair competition, its the right way to compete so that the people will pick the best. If anything, you'll should be good enough to hurt Trump too. But he is wrong in wanting political strategies for the democrats, because this is how true democracy gets tarnished.
In the 70s and 80s, the Appalachian people had stronger ties with the democratic side not for environmental reasons or abortion or anything that makes headline news, but simple because they listened to the people. After that they swapped sides and remained with the conservatives because the working class could not relate to the democrats (JD Vance wrote about this in his book Hillbilly Elegy)
At the end of the day, its about the people. That's all it should be about.
I also read Ro Khanna's book on entrepreneurial nation, in advocating manufacturing, it was a good book, he was transparent on a lot of political activities that went behind the scene. I hope his passion in advocating for the people remains.