0:01

You're listening to Comedy Central. Mr

0:05

Vice Presidents, Welcome to the Daily Social

0:07

Distancing Show. It's good to be with you. And

0:09

it's a big distance now,

0:12

it definitely has a big distance. Um

0:14

you. You have been making news over the past

0:16

few weeks, responding to what's happening in

0:19

America, responding to what can easily

0:21

be described as one of the most tumultuous

0:23

times in not just American but world

0:25

history. I want to talk a little bit about the

0:28

up end that you put out today. Talk me through

0:30

how you would plan to undo systemic

0:33

oppression, how you would plan to undo systemic racism,

0:35

and and how you think you'll address the needs

0:37

of the African American community. Well, first

0:39

of all, it's gonna take time. Uh.

0:42

You know, Donald Trump didn't invent

0:44

racism, but he sure has promoted it.

0:47

And a systemic has been real. The disparities

0:49

of the country, especially in the economy right

0:51

now. The combination there's a there's

0:53

just an awful combination COVID nineteen,

0:56

unemployment, systemic racism.

0:59

And what's opinion in terms of the

1:01

way in which the the George

1:03

Floyd's uh death took place.

1:05

I mean, you know, I think about it

1:08

when I was a kid. What really

1:10

changed and sparked the civil rights movement as

1:13

a kid that I was just involved in it no

1:15

great shake just to high school college

1:17

student, was that television

1:20

was around, and television came along

1:22

when they saw what Bull Connor

1:24

was doing in Birmingham, Alabama's people

1:26

went, WHOA, I didn't know that really

1:28

happened in America. And

1:30

then now today everybody,

1:33

not only should cops be wearing bodycams,

1:36

everybody has a body cam, everybody has

1:38

a cell phone. And can you if

1:40

they the last words of George Floyd

1:42

I can't breathe, they would have been consequential.

1:45

But if they're not seen him

1:47

take his last breath, none of

1:49

this would have been nearly as consequential.

1:52

Because people are now saying, my God,

1:55

did you see that? And that's one of those inflection

1:57

points. It really does feel like an inflection

1:59

point, and it is a difficult

2:01

one for many Americans to navigate because

2:04

most Americans agree that there is a problem

2:07

in policing between police

2:09

and the black community and even many

2:11

poor white communities. This is something that

2:14

we know when we look at interactions between the police

2:16

and American people. You have

2:18

come out in favor of police reform.

2:21

You know, but what what does that actually

2:23

mean? Because some people think that you cannot reform

2:25

an institution that is fundamentally

2:28

rotten in the core. Well, I don't

2:30

think it's rotten in the core, and I don't

2:32

think all cops are bad cops. But

2:34

I think look of

2:37

all the funding place comes from local taxpayers.

2:39

So the federal government, our system cannot,

2:42

other than taking a civil rights action,

2:44

say they're doing a B, C and D. But

2:47

what we can do is we can make

2:49

sure that we insist on certain

2:51

fundamental changes take place now,

2:54

including giving making sure

2:56

their sensitivity training, making sure that

2:59

all of cops past

3:01

grievances excuse me, transgressions

3:04

are all made public because we

3:06

can say if you don't, we are not

3:08

going to provide the federal funding that

3:10

we provide for you through what they call burn

3:13

grants and cop grants. And so

3:15

we can, I think now impact

3:18

on significantly the desire of

3:20

many police departments as well to fundamentally

3:23

change the way the police. You know,

3:25

many activists and organizers have come out saying

3:27

there have been repeated attempts to reform

3:30

many police departments were not

3:32

for civilian cameras, we wouldn't know the truth

3:34

oftentimes. I mean, we've seen three instances

3:37

in the past few weeks of major police departments

3:40

being contradicted by video evidence that

3:42

comes out. So some would say

3:44

to you, Mr Vice Presidents,

3:46

if you were to become president, do

3:48

you think that there would be a world where defunding

3:51

the police would be the solution and getting

3:53

getting some of these responsibilities away

3:55

from police forces and you know, police in schools,

3:58

police handling mental illness, police homelessness,

4:00

etcetera. Well, I think there a lot of changes

4:03

they can take place period without having

4:05

to defund police completely. Here's

4:07

what I think has happened. You have well

4:09

over eight American people going, WHOA,

4:13

I didn't know this. I didn't know this was

4:15

happening. I don't believe peace should be

4:17

defunded, but I think the conditions should

4:20

be placed upon them or departments are

4:22

having to take significant reforms

4:25

relating that we should set up a national

4:27

use of force standard. If they don't sign

4:29

onto it, then in fact they don't get any

4:31

of the federal money. In addition

4:34

that they have to demonstrate that they

4:36

release all the data that relates

4:38

to misconduct by police, that

4:41

all has to be sent to the Justice Department.

4:43

If they don't send it to the Justice Department nationally,

4:46

they don't get funding. But and as

4:48

it relates to for example, um

4:51

mental illness and homelessness and drug

4:53

abuse and the life. Many changes we

4:55

can make. But the for example,

4:57

my daughter as a social workers, there's the masses

4:59

and social work. The idea that

5:01

she's going to respond by herself to

5:03

a nine one one call that says that

5:06

someone is overdosing or someone

5:08

as a mental problem and they're acting

5:10

out. The idea of going by themselves

5:13

is not rational. Expect Conversely,

5:16

the cops shouldn't go alone the shop cops

5:18

should go with with people

5:20

who are mental health experture. Do you don't think though,

5:22

there's an opportunity to have somebody that's not a policeman,

5:24

because you know that the old adage um if

5:26

you if you are a hammer, then everything is

5:28

a nail. And so you

5:31

don't think there's an opportunity to have people who are not

5:33

even police in these environments

5:35

who are trained and specialized I mean at mental

5:37

institutions for instance. You know it's not

5:39

police who are helping these people, it's people who

5:41

are trained in diffusing these situations know what

5:44

they are, though they also use force in those

5:46

mental institutions when someone's out

5:48

of hand, they put them in straight jackets.

5:50

They put them in circumstances where they have big guys

5:52

come in and hold somebody down. It's not

5:54

just someone walking in and saying, look

5:56

here, you've got to calm down. Now, I know how to deal

5:59

with you. This is It's not

6:01

that simple, but that should be

6:03

the objective. So we should put

6:05

the police second in those circumstances

6:07

and not first. For example, we should change

6:09

the way in which we deal with all drug abuse.

6:12

Nobody should be going to jail for the use of

6:14

drugs. They should be going to mandatory rehabilitation.

6:17

We should be building rehab centers, not more

6:19

prisons. You know, building trust

6:21

between law enforcement communities is and and

6:24

to increase safety is to

6:26

invest in in funding of community

6:29

policing. When we were funding community

6:31

policing, the crime rate went down, and

6:33

the visibility of the I mean and and

6:35

and the and the extent of brutality

6:38

went down too because people know who's

6:41

in the community. But it's it's much

6:43

bigger than that. It's complicated. And

6:45

but I think we should turn over as much

6:47

as we can to non

6:50

armed police officers to

6:52

to de escalate me things relating

6:55

to mental illness, homelessness, and drug abuse.

6:57

And one of one of the areas that almost every

7:00

synonymously agrees on is that police unions

7:03

have shown themselves to be extremely strong and

7:06

oftentimes have contracts that provide

7:08

impunency for the police. You know, it

7:10

is hard to to get the bad apples

7:13

out of police departments, you know. I mean, just

7:15

in the case of George Floyd, you had a police officer

7:17

where just from the record that people

7:19

could get access to, you saw somewhere

7:22

around twenty previous grievances

7:24

against the police officers. So what is

7:26

your plan to try and get police unions to sign

7:29

on And if they don't, is there a

7:31

plan to remove some of their power or to deal

7:33

with them differently? What the plan

7:35

would be that their departments don't get

7:37

funded if they don't do the things that have to

7:40

change. For example, there are

7:42

bad cops, there are bad senators, there

7:44

are bad docks, there are bad lawyers. There are

7:46

bad and they're all very

7:48

poor policing themselves. Every one of

7:50

these institutions and organizations. So

7:52

you gotta say, here's the deal. When a

7:54

police officers tried with a violent

7:57

crime or tried with violating the law and

7:59

should not be tried by the local prosecutor

8:02

has to be a prosecutor that doesn't handle

8:04

their cases. We're gonna make that a law

8:06

so there's more distance between the two,

8:09

making sure that cops can

8:11

be fired for cause.

8:14

Cops can be fired when in fact you can

8:16

make the case and bring a case, and

8:18

in the case they have violated

8:20

the law, they have violated common decency.

8:23

And when that happens, you're gonna see

8:25

police departments changing and police

8:27

unions changing. And by the way, not all

8:29

unions are taking the same positions. Some unions

8:32

are much more forward leaning than other unions

8:34

are. But the fact of the matter is there

8:37

has to be a fundamental change.

8:39

You've got to be able to root out bad cops

8:42

and the good cops, the majority of whom are

8:45

know how it makes them all

8:47

look they look bad,

8:49

It makes everyone look bad. So I think you're

8:51

gonna see a lot more movement in terms

8:54

of police unions as well. But if

8:56

it's not, they're gonna have to obey the law as

8:58

written. We're gonna change the way which

9:01

we hold police departments accountable.

9:03

One of the major things you would have

9:05

to do in order to create all of this change

9:07

is win an election. Yes, that's

9:11

true. I

9:13

think it's safe to say that America

9:16

is expecting a really

9:18

dirty election. We know

9:20

how Donald Trump plays in an election.

9:22

We've seen it up against Hillary Clinton

9:24

in You know that he holds

9:26

no punches. You know that he will punch

9:29

below the belt. You've often said that you

9:31

plan to be the president who brings America back together.

9:34

But how does that play into the way you'll run

9:36

your campaign. Well, first of all, you

9:39

know when the Carney Show comes through town

9:41

the first time, everybody finds out there's no p

9:43

N or any one of the three shelves. Well,

9:46

next time it comes around, people have a liver a

9:48

different view. The thing we're doing is

9:50

calling out every lie he

9:53

in fact is saying. We're calling

9:55

out and making a case that this

9:57

guy is not a good guy.

10:00

This is what he has done. What's happening

10:02

is the American public, overwhelmingly,

10:04

Now if you notice, two thirds of the American

10:07

public thinks that the people

10:09

who want to who are protesting are the

10:11

people who are right and not the president.

10:14

The president has been wrong, and so there's

10:16

a lot that's changed, a lot that's changed.

10:18

But it's gonna be hard, and he's going to get

10:20

very personal and say things about

10:22

me, my family and my children everything

10:25

that are simply not true. But the good news

10:28

is the bad news. The good news

10:30

is the people know me, and they know

10:32

me warts and all. The bad news is they know me,

10:35

and so he's not going to be able to make things

10:37

stick that aren't already real

10:40

weaknesses on my part, and I have weaknesses for

10:42

real. Those weaknesses are

10:44

well, I'm not gonna advertise no, but one of the weakness

10:46

are because I always say what I think. No

10:49

one ever, no one ever has suggested

10:51

that I don't mean what I say.

10:54

Sometimes I'll say all that I mean, and

10:56

that gets me in trouble, and sometimes

10:58

it does. I get it, and

11:01

my old stuttering day is the case. They come

11:03

back and I find myself just

11:05

to talk to tell, you know, talking

11:08

like that, and so you know, I sometimes

11:10

make political gas, but you know, the little

11:12

expression a gaff in Washington

11:15

is a politician telling the truth. The

11:17

America place in the world has

11:19

been damaged significantly. The

11:22

next president is going to inherit a world in disarray

11:25

Number one. Number two at

11:27

home, we are a divided

11:29

nation in a consequential way.

11:32

I've spent my whole career and the one

11:34

thing people give me credit and blamed for is

11:36

bringing the both sides together, coming

11:39

up with principal compromise. And

11:41

so the two things. The reason I'm running

11:43

both those thisteres tend to be in my wheelhouse.

11:45

Doesn't mean I'm gonna get them right. I'm gonna make

11:48

mistakes. I'm gonna make serious mistakes,

11:50

but the point is I take

11:52

responsibility for the mistakes. Let

11:54

me don't ask you this. How do you plan,

11:57

as Joe Biden, to speak to those voteses

11:59

who might say, you know what, I'm not

12:01

a fan of Trump, but I love

12:03

what he has done for the economy, and

12:05

I may be economically better off because

12:08

of him. How do you plan to win those people over?

12:10

Well, there's not nearly as many of those

12:12

people as everybody thinks. If you take

12:14

a look middle class people and people are

12:17

on hourly wages, and middle class folks,

12:19

you have over fifty of them six months

12:21

ago, and the poll saying they don't think

12:23

that their children are ever going to have the same standard

12:25

living they have he has really

12:28

damaged the economy for hard working and

12:30

middle class people. That's why I said

12:32

the second reason I'm running and restore the backbone

12:35

of this country, hard work and middle

12:37

class people. The president

12:39

has to be part of the solution, not the problem.

12:42

Ordinary people are getting crushed. And

12:44

guess what if you are Latino

12:46

or you're African American, you are

12:49

really getting crushed. The unemployment rate among

12:51

Black youth is up in the thirties seven

12:53

percent range, even higher for Latinos.

12:56

Everybody's beginning to understand the way

12:58

we treat people is simply not

13:01

right. As presidents, would

13:04

you then continue being the Biden who's not

13:06

afraid to tell it like it is and address

13:08

those issues specifically within those communities,

13:10

because oftentimes it feels like politicians run

13:12

on these ideas, but then when they get into power, they

13:14

say, oh, we're gonna fix things for everybody.

13:17

But the truth is America has a legacy

13:19

of oppressing certain people, specifically

13:21

Black people, and it feels like those issues

13:24

and those areas need to be addressed

13:26

in a very specific way as opposed to in a

13:28

general way. Are you going to be willing to do that? Some

13:31

of the backlash that comes with it, by the way,

13:33

Yes, And I tell you what. One of

13:35

the things I've done and I've been known for in my state

13:38

is I not only I don't address those issues

13:40

just to the African American community. I go to

13:42

the business community and make the case

13:44

to the business community. I think people,

13:47

you've got to make the case to

13:49

the people who, in fact, are they're reluctant

13:51

to pay their taxes to do these things, and say,

13:54

tell me, are you gonna be better off? And

13:56

I'm confident, I'm confident that

13:59

you have least of

14:01

that population, that is, the

14:03

folks who are in the upper income practice going

14:06

well, yeah, you know, I guess I'm

14:08

a little better off if there's more piece

14:11

and security. We we tend to be unwilling

14:14

to make the case to the people who

14:16

historically have said, okay, look,

14:18

this is all about my not paying taxes. You

14:21

can't build a wall high enough around

14:23

your home you keep pollution

14:25

out. You can't build a wall high

14:27

enough around your home to keep peace

14:29

in the neighborhood. You can't build a wall

14:32

high enough around your home to see to it

14:34

that you have a safe place

14:36

to move around the country. I mean, it's just and

14:39

I think we've got to make the case to the very people

14:41

who say they're opposed. And the last point I'll

14:43

make is, you know, the people who

14:45

voted for Trump out of frustration, high

14:48

school educated people who are busting

14:50

their necks. They're the neighborhoods I come from.

14:52

That's why I come from, as Grant in Pennsylvania and Claimant

14:55

Della were the people I grew up with. In

14:57

fact, they in fact understand

15:00

and I think they know. I think they know me.

15:02

That's why I think the polling data is demonstrating

15:04

that they know I will do what I say

15:07

and respect them. You may

15:09

have respect and you may have

15:12

people coming out in many places

15:14

to vote for you, but as we saw in

15:16

Georgia just yesterday, if those

15:18

people's votes are counted, and if those people

15:20

don't get the opportunity to vote, then

15:22

your entire campaign maybe

15:25

moot. So what is

15:27

the plan up until November to make

15:29

sure that people can vote, To make sure that everyone,

15:31

whether it's Republican or Democrat, black or white,

15:34

has the opportunity to vote without

15:36

being in a line that's six hours long. It's

15:38

my greatest concern, my single

15:41

greatest concern this president is going

15:43

to try to steal this election. This is the

15:45

guy who said that all mail in ballots

15:47

are fraudulent direct

15:50

voting by mail while he sits

15:52

behind the desk in noble office

15:54

and writes his mail in ballot to vote in the primary.

15:57

This is a guy you have twenty

16:00

three I believe the states have passed over

16:02

over eighty two

16:05

pieces of legislation making harder

16:07

for people to vote harder. That's

16:10

why we're putting together a major initiative

16:12

of lawyers to go out and make sure

16:14

that we're in every single district

16:17

in the country to patrol this we

16:19

need if I'm president, And this is

16:21

what they're worries. If I'm president, We're gonna

16:23

have same day registration. The report

16:26

was in Pennsylvania. There are still counting

16:28

votes. We may not know quote. This is the

16:31

sort of implicit threat. We might not know who

16:33

won Pennsylvania in a general

16:36

election until a month after the election.

16:39

What do you think that this is about? With

16:41

Trump? This? Do you do you worry?

16:43

Then? Let me let me ask you this. And I know this is a strange question

16:45

to ask an American politician may be easier

16:48

around the world, but have you ever considered

16:50

what would happen if the election result

16:52

came out as you being the winner and Trump refused

16:54

to leave. Yes, I have and

16:57

I was so damn proud. You have four chiefs

16:59

of staff coming out and

17:01

ripping the skin off of Trump, and

17:04

you have so many

17:06

rank and file military personnel

17:08

saying, WHOA, We're not a military

17:11

state. This is not who we are. I

17:13

promise you, I'm absolutely convinced they will

17:15

escort him from the White House in a

17:17

great dispatch. There are many

17:19

people who have taken to the streets. Now. There

17:21

are many black people, but there are many white

17:23

people watching with them. There are many young

17:26

people who say, we need

17:28

a revolution, we need to see a change

17:30

in this country. I know, as Joe Biden,

17:32

you've often pitched pitched yourself as the

17:35

person who is going to bring the people together

17:37

and the person who's going to transform things as opposed

17:39

to just a revolution. What

17:41

is your pitch to them? What is your pitch to that, to that

17:44

um Bernie Vosa, what is your pitch to that

17:46

voter who says, Joe Biden, I'm crushed

17:48

by college debts. I need to see the world change.

17:51

I haven't seen enough change, and I don't

17:53

understand why I should vote for you. When

17:55

announced, all of a sudden, I was the front runner,

17:58

and the expectation was Joe and

18:00

former vice president feels like he's entitled.

18:02

He's the front runner, let's take him down.

18:05

And so we spent a better part of a year

18:07

with a target on my back. And now

18:09

it worked out and people are now going, oh,

18:12

I've had actually people say to me, I

18:14

didn't know that was your position in the environment. I didn't

18:16

know you were the guy that rose to wrote the first

18:18

climate change bill back in I

18:21

didn't know, et cetera. I didn't

18:23

know you were the guy that took on a parteight. I

18:25

didn't know you were the guy that did that. I didn't

18:27

know. Well, you know, so things are

18:29

beginning to change and people are realizing and

18:32

I have changed. I have changed.

18:34

I believe there has to be more more

18:37

debt forgiveness for college loans.

18:39

I think that has tould be more opportunity

18:41

to go to college for free,

18:44

for free. But we have to change

18:46

corporate policy too, and the tax

18:48

Imagine just concluding, I know you've

18:51

got to go, but imagine if

18:53

we had that two trillion

18:55

dollar tax cut and

18:57

we hadn't wasted it on the wealthy

19:00

that generated virtually no growth

19:02

at all, no growth at all according

19:05

to most of the conservative thinking. Imagine

19:07

if we had that two trillion dollars

19:10

back when we were calling for it and say we're going

19:12

to use that to educate people, We're gonna

19:14

use that to reduce student debt, We're gonna would

19:16

be a different country. Leadership

19:18

matters. Leadership matters.

19:21

My final question to you pertains to

19:24

the race. You've

19:26

been really tight lipped and you've played

19:28

your cards close to your chest about who you're running

19:31

mates could be. People have thrown

19:33

out names, Stacy Abrahams, Kamala Harris,

19:35

you know, Elizabeth Warren, et cetera. I

19:39

I have a pitch for you lost

19:42

time. You teamed up with someone who was half

19:44

African, half white and things went

19:46

very well for you, Mr Vice President. And

19:49

I've looked at my contract and I've seen that nothing stops

19:51

me from being vice president of the

19:53

United States. We're born in America. I

19:57

don't think that's an issue to be honest for vice presidents,

20:00

it is, unfortunately, Mr

20:05

Vice President. Thank thank you so much for your time today,

20:07

um on the rest of

20:09

your journey, and please pass my regards

20:12

to the Dr Biden, well and thank you

20:14

very much for having me. I hope you have me on again

20:17

The Daily Show with Covernoah Here's edition.

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