democracynow--2020-02-27--"Pence Is Not a Medical Expert": Is the Trump Admin Ready to Stop a U.S. Coronavirus Pandemic?

This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : The coronavirus disease that was first diagnosed in China ’ s Hubei province has now spread to at least 47 countries and every continent except Antarctica .
The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak an international health emergency .
Nearly 3,000 people have died so far .
More than 81,000 have now been infected with the virus , that causes the respiratory disease COVID-19 .
To contain the spread of the coronavirus in Japan , where the number of cases has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Shinzo Abe called for schools to close .
AMY GOODMAN : Meanwhile , Japan says the 2020 Summer Olympics are still scheduled to take place in the capital Tokyo .
In South Korea , the number of coronavirus cases has passed 1,700 , making it the largest outbreak outside of China .
At least one U.S. soldier stationed at a base in the area has tested positive for the virus , and the U.S. and South Korea have called off joint military exercises .
This comes as the government of Iran says at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 26 have died , but experts say the toll is likely much higher .
Meanwhile , officials in Kuwait reported 43 new cases , and Saudi Arabia has taken the unprecedented step of barring Muslim pilgrims from entering the country to visit the holy cities of Mecca and Medina .
Here in the United States , President Trump downplayed the threat from coronavirus and announced Vice President Mike Pence would be his point person to coordinate government efforts to prevent a widespread outbreak .
AMY GOODMAN : As Trump spoke at his White @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the coronavirus outbreak was reported .
In a possible example of community spread , a person was diagnosed with the virus in Northern California who had not traveled to any of the affected regions of the world , nor had known contact with anyone else who did .
Officials say they don ’ t know how the person was exposed and have begun tracing the person ’ s contacts in order to determine how they got sick .
On Wednesday morning , Trump tweeted , quote , “ Low Ratings Fake News @ @ @ @ @ @ @ doing everything possible to make the Caronavirus look as bad as possible , including panicking markets , if possible .
Likewise their incompetent Do Nothing Democrat comrades are all talk , no action .
USA in great shape !
” President Trump tweeted , misspelling the word “ coronavirus.
” This is Democratic Congressmember Joe Kennedy of Massachusetts questioning Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar Wednesday .
AMY GOODMAN : Meanwhile , the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta is warning the true number of U.S. coronavirus cases might be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out nationwide earlier this month included a faulty component .
To break down the news on the outbreak worldwide and here in this country , we ’ re joined here in New York by Laurie Garrett , former senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations , Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer , author of several books , including Ebola : Story of an Outbreak , The Coming Plague : Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance and Betrayal of Trust : The Collapse of Global Public Health .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , she wrote , “ Trump Has Sabotaged America ’ s Coronavirus Response.
” And she has another piece , “ How China ’ s Incompetence Endangered the World.
” Laurie , welcome back to Democracy Now !
It ’ s great to have you with us .
AMY GOODMAN : So , talk about the first news conference President Trump has held at the White House as he appointed — he wouldn ’ t call him the czar , but as he appointed the vice president , Pence , as the person @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the coronavirus .
LAURIE GARRETT : Well , obviously Pence needed some job besides Space Force , so now he has something to do in the White House .
But all joking aside , Pence is not a medical expert , and he certainly is not someone who ’ s demonstrated particularly great amount of respect for science .
When he was governor of the state of Indiana , the opioid crisis started in southern Indiana .
And suddenly people were injecting opioids .
He went to his god and came back @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not believe that any human being should receive sterile syringes to assist them in being a drug addict .
His own Legislature countered him ; he vetoed .
Countered , vetoed .
Meanwhile , according to a study published by Yale University , at least 250 people got infected with HIV as a result of this crazy policy .
AMY GOODMAN : And he also , of course , defunded Planned Parenthood , leading the movement in Congress .
And they had the one HIV testing site in the area .
And it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cited in saying that he was qualified to lead this effort .
AMY GOODMAN : Now , let ’ s talk about what ’ s happening here .
While it is said that the U.S. has far fewer cases of coronavirus than anywhere else , in fact , there is almost no testing that ’ s being done .
LAURIE GARRETT : Well , you know , we can ’ t say that we don ’ t have a lot of cases .
And the last time I looked at the count , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ entire United States .
To put that in comparison , in Seoul , South Korea , alone , they ’ ve tested 35,000 .
Now , you ’ re not going to find cases if you ’ re testing 456 people out of 260 million Americans .
You ’ re going to miss quite a number .
What we should be doing right at this moment — the most urgent thing we should be doing — is testing every single pneumonia patient that is hospitalized , because if there ’ s likely to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it ’ s going to come through as a pneumonia patient .
It ’ s going to be diagnosed as flu or some other cause .
And it ’ s actually going to be this coronavirus , and COVID-19 will break out in the hospital ward .
This is what we ’ ve seen all over the world so far , is these outbreaks really explode when they hit one of two things : a religious site , where you have large concentrations of people coming in for a religious festival of some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if the index of suspicion isn ’ t very , very high among the healthcare workers — LAURIE GARRETT : Well , a cruise ship , that ’ s a whole — that ’ s just a Petri dish .
But if the rate is — if the healthcare workers aren ’ t really on their toes , really alert , thinking “ what if , ” and they don ’ t have the right protective gear , then as they examine that patient , they become infected .
And so , this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , this particular case in Northern California is very worrying , because the individual lived in a rural area , was not a traveler , didn ’ t know any travelers , was a local worker of some sort — we don ’ t know a lot of details — 61-year-old male , and was in various health facilities getting misdiagnosed .
And it was the health providers themselves who were saying to the Public Health of California , which was in turn saying it to CDC in Atlanta , “ We want @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We think that ’ s what this is.
” And the CDC said , “ No , it doesn ’ t look like it , ” and didn ’ t do a test .
AMY GOODMAN : On Capitol Hill , lawmakers grilled senior administration officials over their response to the crisis .
This is Louisiana Republican Senator John Kennedy , who on Tuesday blasted the acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf for struggling to produce basic facts about the coronavirus outbreak .
AMY GOODMAN : So , that was the Republican Louisiana @ @ @ @ @ @ @ homeland security , Chad Wolf .
Laurie Garrett ?
LAURIE GARRETT : Pretty abysmal situation .
Where we are right now is that everybody is recognizing , oops , it was a big mistake by the Trump administration to obliterate the entire infrastructure of pandemic response that the Obama administration had created .
Why did he do it ?
Well , it certainly wasn ’ t about the money , because it wasn ’ t a heavily funded program .
It was certainly because it was Obama ’ s program .
AMY GOODMAN @ @ @ @ @ @ @ talking about the unit within the Centers for Disease Control .
LAURIE GARRETT : No , we ’ re talking about something much vaster than that .
It was a special division inside the National Security Council , a special division inside of the Department of Homeland Security — that bozo was talking from — and collaborating centers in HHS , headquarters in Washington , the Office of Global Health Affairs , and the Commerce Department , Treasury Department .
But what Obama understood , dealing with Ebola in 2014 , is that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all-of-government response , that there were so many agencies overlapping , and they all had a little piece of the puzzle in the case of a pandemic .
Just do this mental exercise with me , Amy .
If we get to the situation where we ’ re anything like what ’ s going on in China right now , then our Department of Commerce , our Department of Transportation and our department of USDA would have to collaborate to get food deliveries all over America so that parts of America don ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in China convoys , hundreds of 18-wheeler vehicles completely full of food , coming into Wuhan every single day .
Do we have the capacity to coordinate that ?
What the Obama administration realized was that you can ’ t corral multiple agencies and things from private sector as well as public sector to come to the aid of America , unless you have some one person in charge who ’ s really the manager of it all .
And in his case , it was Ron Klain , who had worked under @ @ @ @ @ @ @ designated , with an office inside the White House , to give orders and coordinate all these various things .
Well , that was all eliminated .
It ’ s gone .
And now they ’ re hastily trying to recreate something .
And last night there were many names tossed around about who he was going to appoint as head of the response .
He had previously gone on the record , President Trump , saying , “ I have great faith in Secretary Azar , and my HHS secretary will be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ told , from multiple sources , that right up until they got on stage for that press briefing , Azar thought he was in charge .
And then the president says , “ And here ’ s my good friend Mike Pence , and he ’ s taking charge.
” AMY GOODMAN : Well , there are reports that Trump was very angry that Azar had even raised the concerns he did publicly , because Trump was majorly concerned about the markets , and that he had brought people into the United States @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : They were Americans .
And they were , as you were saying , sitting in a Petri dish , that cruise ship of thousands .
Hundreds of people got infected , even when they were in lockdown , which — LAURIE GARRETT : We ’ re approaching a thousand .
It may very well end up that half of the crew and passengers will be infected before that story finishes playing out .
AMY GOODMAN : I want to turn to President Trump addressing reporters Wednesday night at the White House press @ @ @ @ @ @ @ questioned Trump on his comments about how former President Obama handled the Ebola outbreak in 2014 .
AMY GOODMAN : So , that was President Trump .
Laurie Garrett , you wrote a book about Ebola .
You wrote Ebola : The Story of an Outbreak .
But also now they ’ re trying to take money from the Ebola budget , dealing with Ebola , not to mention slash the CDC budget .
His latest budget that went to Congress was cutting health services in this country .
LAURIE GARRETT : Yeah @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ ve gotten used to Trump being a pile of contradictions and misstatements .
But in the case of an epidemic , this is incredibly dangerous .
I think part of what Donald Trump ’ s been doing is he ’ s been playing to Rush Limbaugh and the far right , because they have started a narrative that says — well , they have two narratives .
One is there isn ’ t any epidemic , this is all fake news , exaggerating everything to undermine Trump ’ s bid for reelection @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that going on .
Rush Limbaugh is leading that charge .
Another narrative out there coming from the right is this was all made in a laboratory in China , and this is an evil bioterrorism something or other .
And our president has to show strength at this time .
Both are lies .
And both — people who play around a lot on social media , regardless of their political stance , are absorbing them , because they don ’ t understand where it ’ s coming from .
AMY GOODMAN @ @ @ @ @ @ @ CNN reporter , Marshall Cohen , tweeting , quote , “ Rush Limbaugh and right-wing fringe sites are attacking Dr. Nancy Messonnier , a top CDC official handling the coronavirus response , because she is Rod Rosenstein ’ s sister .
They ’ re spreading the lie that she ’ s part of the deep state and trying to tank the markets to weaken Trump , ” unquote .
This is a clip of Dr. Messonnier discussing the coronavirus crisis .
LAURIE GARRETT : Yeah .
Well , she ’ s right .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ready .
I mean , we don ’ t need to be distracted by this insane political situation .
We need to be focused on what we ’ re going to do when this virus sweeps across America .
And it ’ s no longer a , you know , distant , crazy idea , the kind of things I receive death threats .
Every time I ’ m on your show , somebody calls and tries to kill me .
And every time I ’ m on your show , I get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ secret cure .
You know , it ’ s this stuff you rub off a tree , or it ’ s this thing you put under your pillow or whatever .
And if I don ’ t show positive response and say , Oh , yay !
I ’ m going to tell America to use that junk you scraped off a tree , ” then they threaten me .
And , you know , it ’ s — there are people who want any epidemic situation to be something they can exploit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , or ideas .
But this is not the moment for that .
We have a very narrow window , America , to get our act together .
And getting our act together means at an individual level , at a community level , at a business level , at a school level .
And there — AMY GOODMAN : It even seems that President Trump doesn ’ t understand the deadly nature of this .
He was being questioned by Sanjay Gupta of CNN at that news conference , and he did @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is , what , 20 times more deadly than the flu .
LAURIE GARRETT : No , more like 2,000 times .
No , he completely got his numbers wrong , although numbers probably are not his forte to begin with .
He said — well , let ’ s say it correctly rather than misinform .
The coronavirus mortality rate is running somewhere between 2 to 4 % , and depending where you look and which population groups you ’ re in .
The 1918 flu , which was the most devastating @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , was less than 2 % .
So , this is already more lethal than the pandemic of 1918 .
Garden-variety , everyday flu , it ’ s about 0.1 to 0.01 % fatal .
AMY GOODMAN : Final comments , as we look at what ’ s happening in the world , every continent but Antarctica ?
What does it mean to have a unified response ?
LAURIE GARRETT : Well , we won ’ t have a unified response .
We don ’ t .
It ’ s fragmented .
It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it ’ s fragmented among countries .
Already everybody is sealing their borders .
Everybody starts saying , “ No , you can ’ t fly here .
You can ’ t. ” Well , we ’ re going to see , and what ’ s unfolding now , and the reason that the smart guys on the stock market are getting upset , is that the whole globalization system , the chain of supply and shipping , is fragmenting .
And it ’ s fragmenting amid fear and amid the false idea @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you could somehow stop a virus by just saying , “ No , no , no , you ’ re not allowed to land at that airport.
” Well , how did this fellow way up in Northern California in a rural area get infected ?
You know , we ’ ve been screening at the San Francisco airport since day one of this mess .
So , I think that the problem is we don ’ t have a solidified response .
And what you ’ re going to see , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is this NIMBY attitude .
You know , we already have states saying , “ We ’ re not going to allow you to put quarantined people in our state .
Ship them to another state , ” and “ Oh , my state has plenty of masks on supply .
We ’ re not sharing them with the bozos next door.
” In every tabletop exercise I ’ ve ever been in for the last 30 years role-playing what would happen in an outbreak , the solidarity between the states of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ put borders .
They won ’ t let you come on a highway .
And they block goods from leaving the state : “ No , that may be destined for Illinois , but we in Indiana want those supplies .
You can ’ t take them to Illinois.
” AMY GOODMAN : Well , we ’ re going to leave it there now , but of course we ’ ll continue to cover this .
Laurie Garrett , the former senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ books , Ebola : Story of an Outbreak , The Coming Plague : Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance and Betrayal of Trust : The Collapse of Global Public Health .
When we come back , is there a connection between the coronavirus and climate change ?
Stay with us .

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: The coronavirus disease that was first diagnosed in China’s Hubei province has now spread to at least 47 countries and every continent except Antarctica. The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak an international health emergency. Nearly 3,000 people have died so far. More than 81,000 have now been infected with the virus, that causes the respiratory disease COVID-19. To contain the spread of the coronavirus in Japan, where the number of cases has reached 200, today the Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for schools to close.
PRIME MINISTER SHINZO ABE: [translated] I request all elementary, middle and high schools and special needs schools to be temporarily closed from March 2nd until spring vacation.
AMY GOODMAN: Meanwhile, Japan says the 2020 Summer Olympics are still scheduled to take place in the capital Tokyo. In South Korea, the number of coronavirus cases has passed 1,700, making it the largest outbreak outside of China. At least one U.S. soldier stationed at a base in the area has tested positive for the virus, and the U.S. and South Korea have called off joint military exercises. This comes as the government of Iran says at least 245 people have been infected and 26 have died, but experts say the toll is likely much higher. Meanwhile, officials in Kuwait reported 43 new cases, and Saudi Arabia has taken the unprecedented step of barring Muslim pilgrims from entering the country to visit the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
Here in the United States, President Trump downplayed the threat from coronavirus and announced Vice President Mike Pence would be his point person to coordinate government efforts to prevent a widespread outbreak.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Because of all we’ve done, the risk to the American people remains very low. We have the greatest experts in the world, really in the world, right here. … We’re ready to adapt, and we’re ready to do whatever we have to, as the disease spreads, if it spreads.
AMY GOODMAN: As Trump spoke at his White House news conference, a new milestone in the coronavirus outbreak was reported. In a possible example of community spread, a person was diagnosed with the virus in Northern California who had not traveled to any of the affected regions of the world, nor had known contact with anyone else who did. Officials say they don’t know how the person was exposed and have begun tracing the person’s contacts in order to determine how they got sick. On Wednesday morning, Trump tweeted, quote, “Low Ratings Fake News MSDNC (Comcast) & CNN are doing everything possible to make the Caronavirus look as bad as possible, including panicking markets, if possible. Likewise their incompetent Do Nothing Democrat comrades are all talk, no action. USA in great shape!” President Trump tweeted, misspelling the word “coronavirus.”
This is Democratic Congressmember Joe Kennedy of Massachusetts questioning Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar Wednesday.
REP. JOE KENNEDY: Mr. Secretary, I don’t want to panic over this, either. The stock market’s crashing. He’s trying to stop a stock market. He’s not trying — he’s outright contradicting everything that you all have just said. Outright contradiction.
HHS SECRETARY ALEX AZAR: I think he’s expressing confidence in —
REP. JOE KENNEDY: With no medical basis for it. That’s what you’ve just explained to us. Come on, sir.
HHS Secretary Alex Azar: No, there’s — he’s expressing that there — he’s expressing that the American people need to take a breath here, that there’s no change to anyone’s daily life from this, that the country has a plan. We have pandemic plans.
AMY GOODMAN: Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta is warning the true number of U.S. coronavirus cases might be higher than reported because test kits sent out nationwide earlier this month included a faulty component.
To break down the news on the outbreak worldwide and here in this country, we’re joined here in New York by Laurie Garrett, former senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer, author of several books, including Ebola: Story of an Outbreak, The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance and Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health. In a recent piece for Foreign Policy, she wrote, “Trump Has Sabotaged America’s Coronavirus Response.” And she has another piece, “How China’s Incompetence Endangered the World.”
Laurie, welcome back to Democracy Now! It’s great to have you with us.
LAURIE GARRETT: Good morning.
AMY GOODMAN: So, talk about the first news conference President Trump has held at the White House as he appointed — he wouldn’t call him the czar, but as he appointed the vice president, Pence, as the person, the point person, on dealing with the coronavirus.
LAURIE GARRETT: Well, obviously Pence needed some job besides Space Force, so now he has something to do in the White House. But all joking aside, Pence is not a medical expert, and he certainly is not someone who’s demonstrated particularly great amount of respect for science. When he was governor of the state of Indiana, the opioid crisis started in southern Indiana. And suddenly people were injecting opioids. He went to his god and came back and told the Legislature that he did not believe that any human being should receive sterile syringes to assist them in being a drug addict. His own Legislature countered him; he vetoed. Countered, vetoed. Meanwhile, according to a study published by Yale University, at least 250 people got infected with HIV as a result of this crazy policy.
AMY GOODMAN: And he also, of course, defunded Planned Parenthood, leading the movement in Congress. And they had the one HIV testing site in the area. And it was the Indiana model that President Trump cited in saying that he was qualified to lead this effort.
LAURIE GARRETT: Exactly.
AMY GOODMAN: Now, let’s talk about what’s happening here. While it is said that the U.S. has far fewer cases of coronavirus than anywhere else, in fact, there is almost no testing that’s being done.
LAURIE GARRETT: Well, you know, we can’t say that we don’t have a lot of cases. And the last time I looked at the count, we had tested 456 people in the entire United States. To put that in comparison, in Seoul, South Korea, alone, they’ve tested 35,000. Now, you’re not going to find cases if you’re testing 456 people out of 260 million Americans. You’re going to miss quite a number.
What we should be doing right at this moment — the most urgent thing we should be doing — is testing every single pneumonia patient that is hospitalized, because if there’s likely to be a sneak-through of this epidemic, it’s going to come through as a pneumonia patient. It’s going to be diagnosed as flu or some other cause. And it’s actually going to be this coronavirus, and COVID-19 will break out in the hospital ward. This is what we’ve seen all over the world so far, is these outbreaks really explode when they hit one of two things: a religious site, where you have large concentrations of people coming in for a religious festival of some sort, or a hospital. And if the index of suspicion isn’t very, very high among the healthcare workers —
AMY GOODMAN: Or a cruise ship.
LAURIE GARRETT: Well, a cruise ship, that’s a whole — that’s just a Petri dish. But if the rate is — if the healthcare workers aren’t really on their toes, really alert, thinking “what if,” and they don’t have the right protective gear, then as they examine that patient, they become infected. And so, this is our problem right now.
Now, this particular case in Northern California is very worrying, because the individual lived in a rural area, was not a traveler, didn’t know any travelers, was a local worker of some sort — we don’t know a lot of details — 61-year-old male, and was in various health facilities getting misdiagnosed. And it was the health providers themselves who were saying to the Public Health of California, which was in turn saying it to CDC in Atlanta, “We want this person tested for the coronavirus. We think that’s what this is.” And the CDC said, “No, it doesn’t look like it,” and didn’t do a test.
AMY GOODMAN: On Capitol Hill, lawmakers grilled senior administration officials over their response to the crisis. This is Louisiana Republican Senator John Kennedy, who on Tuesday blasted the acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf for struggling to produce basic facts about the coronavirus outbreak.
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY: You’re supposed to keep us safe.
DHS SECRETARY CHAD WOLF: My budget supports the men and women of the Department of Homeland Security.
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY: You’re the secretary of homeland security.
DHS SECRETARY CHAD WOLF: Yes, sir.
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY: And you can’t tell me if we have enough respirators.
DHS SECRETARY CHAD WOLF: What I would tell you is that the budget, my budget, our operations are focused not only on the men and women of DHS, making sure they’re protected to do their jobs, to screen individuals coming in. We’re working with HHS, CDC —
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY: You don’t know.
DHS SECRETARY CHAD WOLF: — and their budgets —
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY: You don’t know the answer, do you?
DHS SECRETARY CHAD WOLF: — to ensure that they have enough medical equipment.
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY: Do we have enough face masks?
DHS SECRETARY CHAD WOLF: We — for the Department of Homeland Security, we do.
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY: I’m asking for the Department of Homeland Security.
DHS SECRETARY CHAD WOLF: Are you looking —
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY: I’m asking for the American people.
DHS SECRETARY CHAD WOLF: For the — for the entire American public?
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY: Yes.
DHS SECRETARY CHAD WOLF: No. I would say probably not.
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY: OK. How short are we?
DHS SECRETARY CHAD WOLF: I don’t have that number offhand, Senator. I will get that for you.
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY: OK. But I want to be sure I understand. Somebody —
DHS SECRETARY CHAD WOLF: Yes, sir.
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY: — is doing modeling —
DHS SECRETARY CHAD WOLF: Yes, sir.
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY: — on how many cases we’re anticipating.
DHS SECRETARY CHAD WOLF: Yes, sir.
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY: You’re just not aware of —
DHS SECRETARY CHAD WOLF: You’re asking me a number of medical questions —
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY: I’m asking you questions —
DHS SECRETARY CHAD WOLF: — that CDC and HHS are focusing on.
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY: — because you’re secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, and you’re supposed to keep us safe.
DHS SECRETARY CHAD WOLF: Yes, sir.
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY: And you need to know the answers to these questions.
DHS SECRETARY CHAD WOLF: And —
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY: How far away are we from getting a vaccine?
DHS SECRETARY CHAD WOLF: And — several months.
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY: Well, that’s not what we just heard testimony about.
DHS SECRETARY CHAD WOLF: OK.
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY: Who’s on first here?
AMY GOODMAN: So, that was the Republican Louisiana Senator John Kennedy questioning the head of homeland security, Chad Wolf. Laurie Garrett?
LAURIE GARRETT: Pretty abysmal situation. Where we are right now is that everybody is recognizing, oops, it was a big mistake by the Trump administration to obliterate the entire infrastructure of pandemic response that the Obama administration had created. Why did he do it? Well, it certainly wasn’t about the money, because it wasn’t a heavily funded program. It was certainly because it was Obama’s program.
AMY GOODMAN: And explain. You’re talking about the unit within the Centers for Disease Control.
LAURIE GARRETT: No, we’re talking about something much vaster than that. It was a special division inside the National Security Council, a special division inside of the Department of Homeland Security — that bozo was talking from — and collaborating centers in HHS, headquarters in Washington, the Office of Global Health Affairs, and the Commerce Department, Treasury Department. But what Obama understood, dealing with Ebola in 2014, is that any American response had to be an all-of-government response, that there were so many agencies overlapping, and they all had a little piece of the puzzle in the case of a pandemic.
Just do this mental exercise with me, Amy. If we get to the situation where we’re anything like what’s going on in China right now, then our Department of Commerce, our Department of Transportation and our department of USDA would have to collaborate to get food deliveries all over America so that parts of America don’t starve. And you could see in China convoys, hundreds of 18-wheeler vehicles completely full of food, coming into Wuhan every single day. Do we have the capacity to coordinate that?
What the Obama administration realized was that you can’t corral multiple agencies and things from private sector as well as public sector to come to the aid of America, unless you have some one person in charge who’s really the manager of it all. And in his case, it was Ron Klain, who had worked under Vice President Biden. And he was designated, with an office inside the White House, to give orders and coordinate all these various things.
Well, that was all eliminated. It’s gone. And now they’re hastily trying to recreate something. And last night there were many names tossed around about who he was going to appoint as head of the response. He had previously gone on the record, President Trump, saying, “I have great faith in Secretary Azar, and my HHS secretary will be in charge.” And we’re told, from multiple sources, that right up until they got on stage for that press briefing, Azar thought he was in charge. And then the president says, “And here’s my good friend Mike Pence, and he’s taking charge.”
AMY GOODMAN: Well, there are reports that Trump was very angry that Azar had even raised the concerns he did publicly, because Trump was majorly concerned about the markets, and that he had brought people into the United States from the cruise ship.
LAURIE GARRETT: Right.
AMY GOODMAN: They were Americans. And they were, as you were saying, sitting in a Petri dish, that cruise ship of thousands. Hundreds of people got infected, even when they were in lockdown, which —
LAURIE GARRETT: We’re approaching a thousand. It may very well end up that half of the crew and passengers will be infected before that story finishes playing out.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to turn to President Trump addressing reporters Wednesday night at the White House press briefing room. One of the reporters questioned Trump on his comments about how former President Obama handled the Ebola outbreak in 2014.
REPORTER: I want to talk to you about 2014. During the Ebola crisis, you said you wanted a, quote-unquote, “full travel ban.” You said Obama was a, quote-unquote, “stubborn dope” not for doing it. You said, “Just stop the flights dummies!” You also said it was a, quote-unquote, ”TOTAL JOKE” to appoint someone to lead the Ebola response with, quote, “zero experience in the medical field.” Now you’ve appointed Mike Pence.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They listened to a lot of what I had to say.
REPORTER: I did.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And they —
REPORTER: So, how does that square with what you’re doing now?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They listened to a lot — well, because this is a much different problem than Ebola. Ebola, you disintegrated, especially at the beginning. They’ve made a lot of progress now on Ebola. But with Ebola — we were talking about it before — you disintegrated. You got Ebola, that was it. This one is different, much different. This is a flu. This is like a flu. And this is a much different situation than Ebola. But — and we’re working on Ebola right now, by the way. We’re working on certain areas of the Congo. The Congo has Ebola, and caused largely by the fact that they have war and people can’t get there. We can now treat Ebola. In that — at that time, it was infectious, and you couldn’t treat it. Nobody knew anything about it. Nobody had ever heard of anything like this. So it’s a much different situation.
AMY GOODMAN: So, that was President Trump. Laurie Garrett, you wrote a book about Ebola. You wrote Ebola: The Story of an Outbreak. But also now they’re trying to take money from the Ebola budget, dealing with Ebola, not to mention slash the CDC budget. His latest budget that went to Congress was cutting health services in this country.
LAURIE GARRETT: Yeah. Well, you know, we’ve gotten used to Trump being a pile of contradictions and misstatements. But in the case of an epidemic, this is incredibly dangerous. I think part of what Donald Trump’s been doing is he’s been playing to Rush Limbaugh and the far right, because they have started a narrative that says — well, they have two narratives. One is there isn’t any epidemic, this is all fake news, exaggerating everything to undermine Trump’s bid for reelection. There’s a lot of that going on. Rush Limbaugh is leading that charge. Another narrative out there coming from the right is this was all made in a laboratory in China, and this is an evil bioterrorism something or other. And our president has to show strength at this time. Both are lies. And both — people who play around a lot on social media, regardless of their political stance, are absorbing them, because they don’t understand where it’s coming from.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to go to a CNN reporter, Marshall Cohen, tweeting, quote, “Rush Limbaugh and right-wing fringe sites are attacking Dr. Nancy Messonnier, a top CDC official handling the coronavirus response, because she is Rod Rosenstein’s sister. They’re spreading the lie that she’s part of the deep state and trying to tank the markets to weaken Trump,” unquote. This is a clip of Dr. Messonnier discussing the coronavirus crisis.
DR. NANCY MESSONNIER: Some community-level interventions that may be most effective in reducing the spread of a new virus, like school closures, are also the most likely to be associated with unwanted consequences and further disruptions. Secondary consequences of some of these measures might include missed work and loss of income. I understand this whole situation may seem overwhelming and that disruption to everyday life may be severe, but these are things that people need to start thinking about now.
AMY GOODMAN: So, that’s Dr. Nancy Messonier. Laurie Garrett?
LAURIE GARRETT: Yeah. Well, she’s right. And we all need to be getting ready. I mean, we don’t need to be distracted by this insane political situation. We need to be focused on what we’re going to do when this virus sweeps across America. And it’s no longer a, you know, distant, crazy idea, the kind of things I receive death threats. Every time I’m on your show, somebody calls and tries to kill me. And every time I’m on your show, I get loonies telling me they know of a secret cure. You know, it’s this stuff you rub off a tree, or it’s this thing you put under your pillow or whatever. And if I don’t show positive response and say, Oh, yay! I’m going to tell America to use that junk you scraped off a tree,” then they threaten me. And, you know, it’s — there are people who want any epidemic situation to be something they can exploit for a set of principles they have, or ideas. But this is not the moment for that. We have a very narrow window, America, to get our act together. And getting our act together means at an individual level, at a community level, at a business level, at a school level. And there —
AMY GOODMAN: It even seems that President Trump doesn’t understand the deadly nature of this. He was being questioned by Sanjay Gupta of CNN at that news conference, and he did not seem to understand that the coronavirus is, what, 20 times more deadly than the flu.
LAURIE GARRETT: No, more like 2,000 times. No, he completely got his numbers wrong, although numbers probably are not his forte to begin with. He said — well, let’s say it correctly rather than misinform. The coronavirus mortality rate is running somewhere between 2 to 4%, and depending where you look and which population groups you’re in. The 1918 flu, which was the most devastating influenza in the history of our species, was less than 2%. So, this is already more lethal than the pandemic of 1918. Garden-variety, everyday flu, it’s about 0.1 to 0.01% fatal.
AMY GOODMAN: Final comments, as we look at what’s happening in the world, every continent but Antarctica? What does it mean to have a unified response?
LAURIE GARRETT: Well, we won’t have a unified response. We don’t. It’s fragmented. It’s fragmented within countries, and it’s fragmented among countries. Already everybody is sealing their borders. Everybody starts saying, “No, you can’t fly here. You can’t.” Well, we’re going to see, and what’s unfolding now, and the reason that the smart guys on the stock market are getting upset, is that the whole globalization system, the chain of supply and shipping, is fragmenting. And it’s fragmenting amid fear and amid the false idea that in the age of air travel you could somehow stop a virus by just saying, “No, no, no, you’re not allowed to land at that airport.” Well, how did this fellow way up in Northern California in a rural area get infected? You know, we’ve been screening at the San Francisco airport since day one of this mess.
So, I think that the problem is we don’t have a solidified response. And what you’re going to see, and it’s already playing out, is this NIMBY attitude. You know, we already have states saying, “We’re not going to allow you to put quarantined people in our state. Ship them to another state,” and “Oh, my state has plenty of masks on supply. We’re not sharing them with the bozos next door.” In every tabletop exercise I’ve ever been in for the last 30 years role-playing what would happen in an outbreak, the solidarity between the states of the United States completely breaks down. States put borders. They won’t let you come on a highway. And they block goods from leaving the state: “No, that may be destined for Illinois, but we in Indiana want those supplies. You can’t take them to Illinois.”
AMY GOODMAN: Well, we’re going to leave it there now, but of course we’ll continue to cover this. Laurie Garrett, the former senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer. Among her books, Ebola: Story of an Outbreak, The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance and Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health. When we come back, is there a connection between the coronavirus and climate change? Stay with us.


democracynow--2020-02-27--Headlines for February 27, 2020

Headlines for February 27, 2020

In Philadelphia , seven Jewish activists were arrested Tuesday outside Joe Biden ’ s campaign headquarters , calling on the @ @ @ @ @ annual conference of AIPAC — the American Israel Public Affairs Committee .
Members of the @ @ @ @ @ Now are demanding Biden reverse decades of support for Israel ’ s occupation of the @ @ @ @ @ first as head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and later as vice president .
@ @ @ @ @ presidential campaigns of Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg said they would not attend this year @ @ @ @ @ following similar moves by Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders .
In a statement , @ @ @ @ @ Moscovitch wrote , “ Even moderates in the Democratic Party are now refusing to attend @ @ @ @ @ lobby that allies with bigots just to shield the Israeli government from any consequences for @ @ @ @ @ and dignity.
” Billionaire former New York City mayor and Democratic presidential hopeful Michael Bloomberg @ @ @ @ @ AIPAC conference in March as a keynote speaker .

In the U.S., President Trump has sought repeatedly to dismiss the threat of the coronavirus, tweeting on Wednesday morning, “Low Ratings Fake News MSDNC (Comcast) & CNN are doing everything possible to make the Caronavirus look as bad as possible, including panicking markets, if possible. Likewise their incompetent Do Nothing Democrat comrades are all talk, no action. USA in great shape!” President Trump tweeted, misspelling the word “coronavirus.”
Trump’s comments prompted alarm among lawmakers — both Democrats and Republicans. This is Democratic Congressmember Joe Kennedy of Massachusetts questioning Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on Wednesday.
Rep. Joe Kennedy: “Mr. Secretary, I don’t want to panic over this, either. The stock market’s crashing. He’s trying to stop a stock market. He’s not trying — he’s outright contradicting everything that you all have just said. Outright contradiction.”
HHS Secretary Alex Azar: “I think he’s expressing confidence in” —
Rep. Joe Kennedy: “With no medical basis for it. That’s what you’ve just explained to us. Come on, sir.”


democracynow--2020-02-26--Reporter: Billionaire Bloomberg Says He Released His Tax Returns as NYC Mayor. This Was a Lie.

This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : This is Democracy Now !
I ’ m Amy Goodman .
Our next guest says billionaire Michael Bloomberg lied during last night ’ s Democratic presidential debate in South Carolina when he claimed he released his taxes while he was mayor of New York City .
AMY GOODMAN : That was Michael Bloomberg speaking last night in Charleston .
He made the same claim during last week ’ s Democratic debate in Las Vegas , saying he had put out his tax @ @ @ @ @ @ @ City Hall .
Well , our next guest says he has the proverbial receipts to prove this is not true .
Bob Hennelly is an award-winning reporter for The Chief-Leader .
He covered billionaire Michael Bloomberg during his time as mayor , all three terms .
At that time , Bob Hennelly was a reporter for WNYC , New York ’ s main public radio station .
In 2012 , he had this exchange with Bloomberg after a press conference .
AMY GOODMAN : For more , we ’ re joined here in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ well , you heard in that clip .
What ’ s wrong here ?
BOB HENNELLY : Well , it ’ s absolutely not true .
And one of the things that , as a beat reporter — WNYC had been municipally owned , but we became a nonprofit .
And we , every year , there was — a farcical disclosure event would occur on Third Avenue at Geller & Co. , the accountant .
And we would go into a hermetically sealed room , and then a stool ogre would stand @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t actually make copies .
And we were handed the tablet , which was like the equivalent of a Midwestern phonebook for a small city .
And on each entry was not numbers , that you would assume with your tax form or my tax form , but letters in the alphabet , A through G. And G would symbolize more than $ 500,000 .
And everything was a G. Now , why Democracy Now !
is so essential is that this is the only place I can think of to come to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s really scary , Amy — we know each other a long time — other reporters were with me in the room .
This ritual was something we all groused about — New York Times , Wall Street Journal , Post , Daily News .
And we all said , “ There ’ s no disclosure here.
” In fact , during the period of time that he was mayor , I started focusing on the fact that he came in at $ 5 billion , and he wasn ’ t supposed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and strangely , automatically , it was over $ 20 billion by the time he left .
And so , I thought , particularly in the circumstance of Occupy Wall Street , we needed to focus on how his wealth was structured .
And what I noticed is that when he came in , there were like 40 offshore things — you know , Bloomberg Cayman Island LLC , those kinds of things , not necessarily something where he was a tax evasion , but just structuring of great wealth .
So I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , respected professor , and he said , “ Bob , this is a structure of great global wealth that is now beyond the ability of nation-states to hold accountable.
” And that was my aha moment to understand that human beings have a real problem with borders , right ?
You can be put in a cage .
You can be killed trying to cross one .
But wealth travels without a passport , without having making any apology , and the nations of the world now are begging and vying to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ anything just to have it parked for a while in their country .
That ’ s part of this great building of wealth inequality and wealth concentration .
AMY GOODMAN : So , what did Mayor Bloomberg say when you pressed him on his offshore investments ?
BOB HENNELLY : He was like , “ I have businesses all over the world , ” like it was such a nonstarter .
It was basically , you know , his attitude was , “ This isn ’ t tax avoidance .
This isn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a gimmick that ’ s used .
“ I do business around the world , and it ’ s required that you have licenses in those places to do business.
” But without the numbers , without the receipts , without the tax return , it ’ s impossible .
You know , and this was happening , by the way , when he was saying that we needed to repeal the Bush tax cuts and then everyone should pay more in taxes across the board in a sense of shared national sacrifice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ him , “ Well , what are you paying ?
” And he refused to do it .
He also said , and particularly his aides would say , “ We can ’ t release this because this would have a negative business consequence.
” And this will echo to people this thing we ’ ve lived through with Donald Trump , where “ Is it a private business ?
Is it a presidency ?
” because he put the business of preserving his confidentiality and the value of his assets for a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ value of civic disclosure .
And civic disclosure is really just about humbling yourself because you want to be a public servant .
AMY GOODMAN : So , Bob Hennelly , talk about how Michael Bloomberg made his billions .
He didn ’ t inherit this wealth .
BOB HENNELLY : No .
And that ’ s the most endearing part of the story , is , you know , he ’ s a self-made individual , parked cars to get through college , came to New York City , got a great @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Street firm , got laid off after several years there , got a $ 10 million parachute — which is nice .
And out of that he created the Bloomberg LP .
What is that , really ?
There ’ s these really smart machines , terminals , that you have to have for real-time pricing for assets .
So , if you want to move a bunch of foreclosed homes or mortgage-backed securities , or whatever you want to move through the Cayman Islands , you ’ ve got to have one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are all over the world .
And it provides real-time information for all these transactions .
So , indeed , the financialization of the planet , the proliferation of debt , all the things we ’ ve seen that are the engines of the concentration of wealth , the global wealth machine , were facilitated by Bloomberg terminals .
AMY GOODMAN : Before we go , I wanted to ask you about stop-and-frisk .
The operative word “ 5 million , ” that ’ s the number of stop-and-frisks that ’ s estimated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ HENNELLY : Right .
And it ’ s not individuals .
BOB HENNELLY : Right , right , right .
AMY GOODMAN : Right .
No , it ’ s not .
It ’ s the number — because many individuals stopped many times .
BOB HENNELLY : Right , exactly .
Exactly .
AMY GOODMAN : They grew up being stopped .
But we only have a minute , and I wanted to ask you about this .
Untold suffering of people , and they weren ’ t quiet .
AMY GOODMAN @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of people marched in the streets , right to — BOB HENNELLY : We were there .
AMY GOODMAN : — Mayor Bloomberg ’ s mansion .
We were covering it .
But what about the financial cost to the city ?
BOB HENNELLY : Right .
Well , one of the things that happened was the tort claims .
And that ’ s something where something happens to you , that you ’ re assaulted , the police have some kind of incident of misconduct .
The city of New York taxpayers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ years to satisfy bad police behavior claims .
AMY GOODMAN : You mean lawsuits because people were — BOB HENNELLY : And I have to also say , in terms of cost — BOB HENNELLY : — these were ruined lives , too .
These were lost scholarships , lost relationships , lives totally destroyed by this process .
AMY GOODMAN : And $ 1 billion in settlements that the city paid out ?
BOB HENNELLY : That ’ s right , not spent on the people , but on these claims .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ want to thank you for being with us .
We ’ re going to do Part 2 , and we ’ ll post it at democracynow.org .
Bob Hennelly is the award-winning reporter who ’ s now with The Chief-Leader .
Tune in Tuesday for our Super Tuesday live broadcast with The Intercept from 7:00 Eastern time in the evening to midnight .
And Democracy Now !
has a number of job openings here in our New York City offices , from our newsroom producer and fellow to our outreach and development teams @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I ’ m Amy Goodman .
This is Democracy Now !
Thanks so much for joining us .

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman. Our next guest says billionaire Michael Bloomberg lied during last night’s Democratic presidential debate in South Carolina when he claimed he released his taxes while he was mayor of New York City.
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG: I got into this race only 10 or 12 weeks ago. We’ve been working on our tax returns. I’ve said they’ll be out. We probably have another couple weeks left to go. We’re doing it as fast as we can. We’ve complied with every single requirement for disclosure. And when I was mayor of New York, we had our tax returns out 12 years in a row.
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN: No.
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG: And we will do that in the White House.
AMY GOODMAN: That was Michael Bloomberg speaking last night in Charleston. He made the same claim during last week’s Democratic debate in Las Vegas, saying he had put out his tax return every year for 12 years in City Hall. Well, our next guest says he has the proverbial receipts to prove this is not true. Bob Hennelly is an award-winning reporter for The Chief-Leader. He covered billionaire Michael Bloomberg during his time as mayor, all three terms. At that time, Bob Hennelly was a reporter for WNYC, New York’s main public radio station. In 2012, he had this exchange with Bloomberg after a press conference.
BOB HENNELLY: Why won’t you disclose what you actually physically pay in terms of federal taxes?
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG: There’s no reason to. We have categories, and I have a personal life. The accountants will tell you I pay 100% of my taxes. I don’t have tax shelters in the context that you would talk about it. I pay what I’m supposed to pay. And, you know, it’s — we earn money all around the world.
AMY GOODMAN: For more, we’re joined here in New York by reporter Bob Hennelly – well, you heard in that clip. What’s wrong here?
BOB HENNELLY: Well, it’s absolutely not true. And one of the things that, as a beat reporter — WNYC had been municipally owned, but we became a nonprofit. And we, every year, there was — a farcical disclosure event would occur on Third Avenue at Geller & Co., the accountant. And we would go into a hermetically sealed room, and then a stool ogre would stand over us, and we couldn’t actually make copies. And we were handed the tablet, which was like the equivalent of a Midwestern phonebook for a small city. And on each entry was not numbers, that you would assume with your tax form or my tax form, but letters in the alphabet, A through G. And G would symbolize more than $500,000. And everything was a G.
Now, why Democracy Now! is so essential is that this is the only place I can think of to come to actually play this tape, because what’s really scary, Amy — we know each other a long time — other reporters were with me in the room. This ritual was something we all groused about — New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Post, Daily News. And we all said, “There’s no disclosure here.”
In fact, during the period of time that he was mayor, I started focusing on the fact that he came in at $5 billion, and he wasn’t supposed to be active in Bloomberg LP, and strangely, automatically, it was over $20 billion by the time he left. And so, I thought, particularly in the circumstance of Occupy Wall Street, we needed to focus on how his wealth was structured. And what I noticed is that when he came in, there were like 40 offshore things — you know, Bloomberg Cayman Island LLC, those kinds of things, not necessarily something where he was a tax evasion, but just structuring of great wealth. So I took these conflict-of-interest forms to Jeffrey Sachs, respected professor, and he said, “Bob, this is a structure of great global wealth that is now beyond the ability of nation-states to hold accountable.”
And that was my aha moment to understand that human beings have a real problem with borders, right? You can be put in a cage. You can be killed trying to cross one. But wealth travels without a passport, without having making any apology, and the nations of the world now are begging and vying to draw that wealth, and will do anything just to have it parked for a while in their country. That’s part of this great building of wealth inequality and wealth concentration.
AMY GOODMAN: So, what did Mayor Bloomberg say when you pressed him on his offshore investments?
BOB HENNELLY: He was like, “I have businesses all over the world,” like it was such a nonstarter. It was basically, you know, his attitude was, “This isn’t tax avoidance. This isn’t transfer pricing,” which is a gimmick that’s used. “I do business around the world, and it’s required that you have licenses in those places to do business.” But without the numbers, without the receipts, without the tax return, it’s impossible. You know, and this was happening, by the way, when he was saying that we needed to repeal the Bush tax cuts and then everyone should pay more in taxes across the board in a sense of shared national sacrifice. So it seemed fair to ask him, “Well, what are you paying?” And he refused to do it.
He also said, and particularly his aides would say, “We can’t release this because this would have a negative business consequence.” And this will echo to people this thing we’ve lived through with Donald Trump, where “Is it a private business? Is it a presidency?” because he put the business of preserving his confidentiality and the value of his assets for a competitive advantage over the important, transcendent value of civic disclosure. And civic disclosure is really just about humbling yourself because you want to be a public servant.
AMY GOODMAN: So, Bob Hennelly, talk about how Michael Bloomberg made his billions. He didn’t inherit this wealth.
BOB HENNELLY: No. And that’s the most endearing part of the story, is, you know, he’s a self-made individual, parked cars to get through college, came to New York City, got a great job with Salomon Brothers, a Wall Street firm, got laid off after several years there, got a $10 million parachute — which is nice. And out of that he created the Bloomberg LP. What is that, really? There’s these really smart machines, terminals, that you have to have for real-time pricing for assets. So, if you want to move a bunch of foreclosed homes or mortgage-backed securities, or whatever you want to move through the Cayman Islands, you’ve got to have one of these terminals. So, these are all over the world. And it provides real-time information for all these transactions. So, indeed, the financialization of the planet, the proliferation of debt, all the things we’ve seen that are the engines of the concentration of wealth, the global wealth machine, were facilitated by Bloomberg terminals.
AMY GOODMAN: Before we go, I wanted to ask you about stop-and-frisk. The operative word “5 million,” that’s the number of stop-and-frisks that’s estimated during the Bloomberg three terms.
BOB HENNELLY: Right. And it’s not individuals.
AMY GOODMAN: Five million.
BOB HENNELLY: Right, right, right.
AMY GOODMAN: Right. No, it’s not. It’s the number — because many individuals stopped many times.
BOB HENNELLY: Right, exactly. Exactly.
AMY GOODMAN: They grew up being stopped. But we only have a minute, and I wanted to ask you about this. Untold suffering of people, and they weren’t quiet.
BOB HENNELLY: Right.
AMY GOODMAN: I mean, thousands and thousands of people marched in the streets, right to —
BOB HENNELLY: We were there.
AMY GOODMAN: — Mayor Bloomberg’s mansion. We were covering it. But what about the financial cost to the city?
BOB HENNELLY: Right. Well, one of the things that happened was the tort claims. And that’s something where something happens to you, that you’re assaulted, the police have some kind of incident of misconduct. The city of New York taxpayers paid a billion dollars over those 12 years to satisfy bad police behavior claims.
AMY GOODMAN: You mean lawsuits because people were —
BOB HENNELLY: Lawsuits, absolutely.
AMY GOODMAN: — stopped and frisked.
BOB HENNELLY: And I have to also say, in terms of cost —
AMY GOODMAN: We have 10 seconds.
BOB HENNELLY: — these were ruined lives, too. These were lost scholarships, lost relationships, lives totally destroyed by this process.
AMY GOODMAN: And $1 billion in settlements that the city paid out?
BOB HENNELLY: That’s right, not spent on the people, but on these claims.
AMY GOODMAN: Bob Hennelly, I want to thank you for being with us. We’re going to do Part 2, and we’ll post it at democracynow.org. Bob Hennelly is the award-winning reporter who’s now with The Chief-Leader.
Tune in Tuesday for our Super Tuesday live broadcast with The Intercept from 7:00 Eastern time in the evening to midnight.
And Democracy Now! has a number of job openings here in our New York City offices, from our newsroom producer and fellow to our outreach and development teams. Go to democracynow.org for information. I’m Amy Goodman. This is Democracy Now! Thanks so much for joining us.


democracynow--2020-02-26--Bernie Sanders Gains Support in South Carolina as Billionaire Tom Steyer Draws Votes from Joe Biden

This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : This is Democracy Now !
I ’ m Amy Goodman .
Tuesday night ’ s Democratic presidential debate comes just four days before South Carolina ’ s first-in-the-South primary , one week before more than a dozen states vote on Super Tuesday .
Billionaire Tom Steyer has poured money into outreach to African-American voters , who make up more than half of South Carolina ’ s Democratic electorate .
A new Reuters poll shows Senator Sanders has overtaken former Vice President Joe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ For more , we go to South Carolina , where we ’ re joined by three guests .
In Charleston , where the debate took place , we ’ re joined by Democratic state Representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter , president of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators , also a senior national adviser for Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer .
Adolph Reed Jr. is also with us .
He is professor emeritus of political science at University of Pennsylvania , columnist with The New Republic and an organizer for “ I ’ m @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” campaign in South Carolina .
In Columbia , we ’ re joined by Kevin Alexander Gray , longtime rights activist , community organizer , author of Waiting for Lightning to Strike : The Fundamentals of Black Politics .
He was Jesse Jackson ’ s South Carolina campaign manager in 1988 , past president of the ACLU of South Carolina .
We welcome you all to Democracy Now !
Kevin Alexander Gray , let ’ s go to you first , in South Carolina ’ s capital , in Columbia .
Respond to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ALEXANDER GRAY : First of all , I ’ d like to say hello to my two friends , Dr. Reed and Gilda Cobb-Hunter , two people that I respect wildly .
ADOLPH REED JR. : Hi , Kevin .
How are you doing , brother ?
KEVIN ALEXANDER GRAY : And , of course — I ’ m good , brother .
And Adolph and I worked with the Harkin campaign together , and Adolph was actually on my dissertation committee .
So I have something in common with everybody on your @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the debate last night , well , it wasn ’ t the Confederates firing on Fort Sumter , but it was fiery .
And I think that Senator Sanders showed himself well .
I think that looking at the race in South Carolina is going to line up with , I think , Senator Sanders doing well .
I think Tom Steyer is going to do well , because he has done outreach in the black community and has campaigned the old-fashioned way .
And the way I see the vote breaking down @ @ @ @ @ @ @ older Democratic Party establishment voters are going to vote with Biden .
Younger voters are going to vote with Sanders because of the institutional change and structural change that he represents , given college education cost and given the cost of healthcare .
And I think the folk that support Steyer are the people who — Steyer has put money in the black community .
He has invested in the black banks .
He ’ s hired black consultants .
He ’ s done something that hasn ’ t been done in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where usually the money goes to white consultants and advertising companies , and black folk are left out of the loop .
So , Steyer has benefited by that kind of outreach and a focus on economic development .
But last night , I think that Sanders did well .
And I think that , at times , Vice President Biden looked like General — Admiral Stockdale , with the where-am-I-and-what-am-I-doing-here kind of approach to campaigning in South Carolina .
AMY GOODMAN : I want to go to Democratic state Representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , South Carolina , at the Environmental Justice — REP. GILDA COBB-HUNTER : Yes .
How are you ?
AMY GOODMAN : — candidates ’ forum at South Carolina State .
You now are supporting Tom Steyer .
Why ?
REP. GILDA COBB-HUNTER : Amy , I have agreed to serve as the national senior adviser to Tom Steyer , mainly for the — one of the reasons is the point that Kevin just made .
Having been engaged in politics , presidential politics here for the last 20 years , Tom Steyer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who has made the time and invested in the black community in the manner that Kevin outlined .
In addition to that , you mentioned the Environmental Justice Forum in November .
Tom Steyer has specific plans tied to environmental justice , because we ’ ve got to go in and not just clean up communities , but we ’ ve got to have a plan to incentivize economic development in all of those , for those marginalized and undeserved communities .
The other part for me is his plan for HBCUs , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has committed , if elected president , to invest $ 150 billion — billion with a B , not million — in HBCUs .
He ’ s not just talked about investing the money .
He has a definite plan to spread this out over 10 years to create an infrastructure for HBCUs that will address one of the priority needs , which is infrastructure , meaning buildings that have just deteriorated , because state governments across the South , in particular , have not funded HBCUs like they should .
The other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ plan , that attracts me is the sustainability part of it .
He is calling for creation of an HBCU board of regents , which will help coordinate all of the federal funding that HBCUs receive .
Right now it ’ s a hodgepodge .
All of the universities , unless they have a lobbyist or a member of Congress who is going to help them navigate the process , that is not in place .
The endowment leads to the point of sustainability , because what we — I ’ m a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ M University .
And one of the things that all of our HBCUs have to do is build endowments .
A part of the Steyer plan will allow that .
And , of course , reparations , which is — as far as I ’ m aware of , Tom Steyer is the only one on the campaign trail who has called for reparations .
And tied into reparations is the whole conversation about race .
He has consistently , in every audience , talked about race , the connections that race have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have .
And quite frankly , I believe , when I ’ m looking at supporting a candidate , that it is important that you not just talk the talk , but you walk the walk .
Tom and his wife Kat , through her work with creating the Beneficial State Bank in Oakland , have proven that they are committed to communities of color , and they ’ ve shown that through their work .
AMY GOODMAN : I wanted to go now to Senator Amy Klobuchar , who I think echoed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , speaking last night about Medicare for All .
AMY GOODMAN : Professor Adolph Reed , you ’ re an organizer for “ I ’ m a Medicare Voter ” [ sic ] campaign in South Carolina .
Can you respond to what she said ?
ADOLPH REED JR. : Yeah .
Well , it ’ s actually an “ I ’ m a Medicare for All Voter ” in South Carolina .
Pardon me .
Yeah , that claim is one of the most frustratingly disingenuous comments that ’ s come out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ come out of the corporate media , because the fact of the matter is , is Medicare for All will not take coverage away from anyone .
What Medicare for All does is takes the profit-making middleman , the insurance companies , out of the healthcare system .
And one of the things that we ’ ve found as we ’ ve gone around in South Carolina and elsewhere , talking to working people of all sorts , is that people do understand that nobody loves their insurance company .
Right ?
Everybody @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in access to healthcare is denial .
Right ?
Or — pardon me , I ’ m getting over a bad cold .
But the denial comes in many forms .
Rationing — right ?
— access to healthcare on the basis of ability to pay is a form of denial — premiums , copays , deductibles , the constraint in networks , right ?
People who experience the healthcare industry on the ground understand these things , and they understand them much more clearly if the insurance industry is not putting money @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : Let me ask — ADOLPH REED JR. : So , the basic principle — sure .
ADOLPH REED JR. : Oh , yeah , well , I was just going to say , like , the basic principle of Medicare for All is everyone has access to healthcare , period .
Right ?
Without regard to ability to pay and without regard to age or where or if you work .
Right ?
I mean , it ’ s a very simple proposition that the private profit making is taken out of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And as you go around South Carolina , how much of that is understood ?
You have Bernie Sanders last night saying , “ A misconception is that the ideas I ’ m talking about are radical .
They ’ re not.
” He said , “ In one way or another , they exist in countries all over the world.
” ADOLPH REED JR. : Well , yeah , I mean , that ’ s absolutely the case .
But we can say that , as we ’ ve been working like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ months , we ’ ve had phenomenal response .
And I would suggest that people go to our website , DJDInstitute.org , and link to the “ I ’ m a Medicare for All Voter ” South Carolina campaign .
I mean , we ’ ve had more than 10,000 South Carolinians sign pledges since December indicating that they ’ ll vote only for candidates who support Medicare for All .
And I think that ’ s kind of saying something .
That ’ s black , white , across the board .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Kevin Alexander Gray .
You were a critic of Bernie Sanders in 2016 , but you ’ ve changed your view .
You have 10 seconds .
KEVIN ALEXANDER GRAY : Well , I haven ’ t decided who I ’ m going to vote for .
But if you look at the candidates who fall into the progressive camp or the progressive tradition , the tradition of the '88 campaign , and a broad coalition of people , opposition to the death penalty , support for free public education , rights @ @ @ @ @ @ @ movements around the world , and then we look at the healthcare issue , we look at economic development in the community in a structural way , then Bernie Sanders is obviously in that tradition .
And so , you know , we have to talk about what the word “ progressive ” means and what being a progressive means , and not let people who are using the word “ progressive ” as a substitute for “ liberal , ” because “ liberal ” has become a dirty word .
So , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But the other part of it is that Sanders did like Jesse Jackson did between '84 and ’ 88 : He 's been organizing around the country .
And a lot of the criticisms that I had in the beginning was , you know , you start out a campaign , start out with that coalition , you start out around that table with black people and people of color and women , and you build from there ; you just don ’ t to start out with a group of white @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that Senator Sanders has learned that lesson well , and if you look at his campaign .
That ’ s not an endorsement , but that ’ s to say that ’ s how he has conducted his campaign .
And his campaign is connected to a historic progressive movement , which is what frightens people .
And going back on what Dr. Reed said about Medicare , I ’ ve been spending a lot of time with friends in nursing homes .
Lately , I ’ ve been doing a lot of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people in those nursing homes who care for people .
A lot of the people who are working in those nursing homes , people don ’ t care for them .
They don ’ t care for them by not paying them a good wage , by not having neighborhoods that they can live in that are safe .
But there , a lot of them have to go care for people .
You ’ ve got people who are caring for people who people don ’ t care about .
And even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over anything that you would want to leave to your children to the government before you can get in a nursing home and get a Medicare bed .
Those issues are important to people — healthcare , the affordability of healthcare , a livable wage , safe communities , ending gentrification and being pushed out of the cities .
Those are the issues that progressives are taking on .
And to some extent , you know — and I ’ m not — because Gilda is a very good friend of mine , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Gilda ’ s right .
Steyer , in some respects , with his money , is paying attention to those communities .
Now , it ’ s not the structural , institutional money that the government ought to be providing to people , but it is an outreach to people that they haven ’ t seen in a while , in an era where black folk and poor people are being pushed out of the cities , being pushed out of their homes , or , if they live in poverty , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ poverty , the only thing that the government got for them are more and more police .
So , you know , yes , I ’ ve softened on Sanders .
I am a progressive .
I think that he ’ ll do well in South Carolina .
This idea that we have to nominate somebody that ’ s electable , like a Joe Biden , well , I keep telling everybody , “ Well , everybody thought that Hubert Humphrey was electable .
Everybody thought that Walter Mondale was electable .
Everybody @ @ @ @ @ @ @ They thought that Al Gore was electable .
They thought that John Kerry was electable .
They thought that Hillary Clinton was electable , because they ’ re moderates .
And now , for anybody to want to pin their hopes on Joe Biden , who , when you look at his race record , is horrible , and the only race record he got is being Barack Obama ’ s vice president and so-called vouching for him , I think if the Democrats nominate Joe Biden , they ’ re going to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : Well , I want to thank you all for being with us .
Kevin Alexander Gray , activist , community organizer , past president of the ACLU of South Carolina , Jesse Jackson ’ s South Carolina campaign manager in '88 , speaking to us from South Carolina 's capital , Columbia ; Adolph Reed , professor emeritus of political science at University of Pennsylvania , columnist with The New Republic , organizer with the “ I ’ m a Medicare for All Voter ” campaign in South Carolina ; and Democratic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ South Carolina , president of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators .
She is a senior national adviser for presidential candidate Tom Steyer .
We want to thank you all for being with us .
Just a little fact here : Something like 6,000 to 8,000 black voters in Nevada .
Of course , Iowa and New Hampshire , overwhelmingly white states .
In South Carolina , there are more than a quarter of a million African-American voters .
Sixty percent of the Democratic Party is African-American .
When we come back @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bob Hennelly , who covered Bloomberg ’ s three terms as mayor in New York City .
Stay with us .

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman. Tuesday night’s Democratic presidential debate comes just four days before South Carolina’s first-in-the-South primary, one week before more than a dozen states vote on Super Tuesday. Billionaire Tom Steyer has poured money into outreach to African-American voters, who make up more than half of South Carolina’s Democratic electorate. A new Reuters poll shows Senator Sanders has overtaken former Vice President Joe Biden in support among African Americans.
For more, we go to South Carolina, where we’re joined by three guests. In Charleston, where the debate took place, we’re joined by Democratic state Representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter, president of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, also a senior national adviser for Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer. Adolph Reed Jr. is also with us. He is professor emeritus of political science at University of Pennsylvania, columnist with The New Republic and an organizer for “I’m a Medicare [for All] Voter” campaign in South Carolina. In Columbia, we’re joined by Kevin Alexander Gray, longtime rights activist, community organizer, author of Waiting for Lightning to Strike: The Fundamentals of Black Politics. He was Jesse Jackson’s South Carolina campaign manager in 1988, past president of the ACLU of South Carolina.
We welcome you all to Democracy Now! Kevin Alexander Gray, let’s go to you first, in South Carolina’s capital, in Columbia. Respond to last night’s debate.
KEVIN ALEXANDER GRAY: First of all, I’d like to say hello to my two friends, Dr. Reed and Gilda Cobb-Hunter, two people that I respect wildly.
REP. GILDA COBB-HUNTER: Hey, Kevin.
ADOLPH REED JR.: Hi, Kevin. How are you doing, brother?
REP. GILDA COBB-HUNTER: Good to hear you.
KEVIN ALEXANDER GRAY: And, of course — I’m good, brother. And Adolph and I worked with the Harkin campaign together, and Adolph was actually on my dissertation committee. So I have something in common with everybody on your show today.
But now, watching the debate last night, well, it wasn’t the Confederates firing on Fort Sumter, but it was fiery. And I think that Senator Sanders showed himself well. I think that looking at the race in South Carolina is going to line up with, I think, Senator Sanders doing well. I think Tom Steyer is going to do well, because he has done outreach in the black community and has campaigned the old-fashioned way. And the way I see the vote breaking down, older voters are going to — older Democratic Party establishment voters are going to vote with Biden. Younger voters are going to vote with Sanders because of the institutional change and structural change that he represents, given college education cost and given the cost of healthcare. And I think the folk that support Steyer are the people who — Steyer has put money in the black community. He has invested in the black banks. He’s hired black consultants. He’s done something that hasn’t been done in a while in campaigns in South Carolina, where usually the money goes to white consultants and advertising companies, and black folk are left out of the loop. So, Steyer has benefited by that kind of outreach and a focus on economic development. But last night, I think that Sanders did well. And I think that, at times, Vice President Biden looked like General — Admiral Stockdale, with the where-am-I-and-what-am-I-doing-here kind of approach to campaigning in South Carolina.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to go to Democratic state Representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter. I last saw you in Orangeburg, South Carolina, at the Environmental Justice —
REP. GILDA COBB-HUNTER: Hey, Amy.
AMY GOODMAN: Hi.
REP. GILDA COBB-HUNTER: Yes. How are you?
AMY GOODMAN: — candidates’ forum at South Carolina State. You now are supporting Tom Steyer. Why?
REP. GILDA COBB-HUNTER: Amy, I have agreed to serve as the national senior adviser to Tom Steyer, mainly for the — one of the reasons is the point that Kevin just made. Having been engaged in politics, presidential politics here for the last 20 years, Tom Steyer is the only Democratic candidate I know who has made the time and invested in the black community in the manner that Kevin outlined. In addition to that, you mentioned the Environmental Justice Forum in November. Tom Steyer has specific plans tied to environmental justice, because we’ve got to go in and not just clean up communities, but we’ve got to have a plan to incentivize economic development in all of those, for those marginalized and undeserved communities.
The other part for me is his plan for HBCUs, historically black colleges and universities. Steyer has committed, if elected president, to invest $150 billion — billion with a B, not million — in HBCUs. He’s not just talked about investing the money. He has a definite plan to spread this out over 10 years to create an infrastructure for HBCUs that will address one of the priority needs, which is infrastructure, meaning buildings that have just deteriorated, because state governments across the South, in particular, have not funded HBCUs like they should. The other piece of that, of his HBCU plan, that attracts me is the sustainability part of it. He is calling for creation of an HBCU board of regents, which will help coordinate all of the federal funding that HBCUs receive. Right now it’s a hodgepodge. All of the universities, unless they have a lobbyist or a member of Congress who is going to help them navigate the process, that is not in place. The endowment leads to the point of sustainability, because what we — I’m a proud graduate of the Florida A&M University. And one of the things that all of our HBCUs have to do is build endowments. A part of the Steyer plan will allow that.
And, of course, reparations, which is — as far as I’m aware of, Tom Steyer is the only one on the campaign trail who has called for reparations. And tied into reparations is the whole conversation about race. He has consistently, in every audience, talked about race, the connections that race have with all of the systemic problems we have. And quite frankly, I believe, when I’m looking at supporting a candidate, that it is important that you not just talk the talk, but you walk the walk. Tom and his wife Kat, through her work with creating the Beneficial State Bank in Oakland, have proven that they are committed to communities of color, and they’ve shown that through their work.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to go now to Senator Amy Klobuchar, who I think echoed the views of some of the candidates, speaking last night about Medicare for All.
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR: No, the math does not add up. In fact, just on 60 Minutes this weekend, he said he wasn’t going to rattle through the nickels and the dimes. Well, let me tell you how many nickels and dimes we’re talking about: nearly $60 trillion.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: No.
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR: Do you know how much that is, for all of his programs?
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: Not true.
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR: That is three times the American economy — not the federal government, the entire American economy. The Medicare for All plan alone, page eight clearly says that it will kick 149 million Americans off their current health insurance.
AMY GOODMAN: Professor Adolph Reed, you’re an organizer for “I’m a Medicare Voter” [sic] campaign in South Carolina. Can you respond to what she said?
ADOLPH REED JR.: Yeah. Well, it’s actually an “I’m a Medicare for All Voter” in South Carolina. Pardon me. Yeah, that claim is one of the most frustratingly disingenuous comments that’s come out of the debates, that’s come out of the corporate media, because the fact of the matter is, is Medicare for All will not take coverage away from anyone. What Medicare for All does is takes the profit-making middleman, the insurance companies, out of the healthcare system. And one of the things that we’ve found as we’ve gone around in South Carolina and elsewhere, talking to working people of all sorts, is that people do understand that nobody loves their insurance company. Right? Everybody’s main experience of insurance companies in access to healthcare is denial. Right? Or — pardon me, I’m getting over a bad cold. But the denial comes in many forms. Rationing — right? — access to healthcare on the basis of ability to pay is a form of denial — premiums, copays, deductibles, the constraint in networks, right? People who experience the healthcare industry on the ground understand these things, and they understand them much more clearly if the insurance industry is not putting money in their political campaigns.
AMY GOODMAN: Let me ask —
ADOLPH REED JR.: So, the basic principle — sure.
AMY GOODMAN: Go ahead, Adolph Reed.
ADOLPH REED JR.: Oh, yeah, well, I was just going to say, like, the basic principle of Medicare for All is everyone has access to healthcare, period. Right? Without regard to ability to pay and without regard to age or where or if you work. Right? I mean, it’s a very simple proposition that the private profit making is taken out of the healthcare industry.
AMY GOODMAN: And as you go around South Carolina, how much of that is understood? You have Bernie Sanders last night saying, “A misconception is that the ideas I’m talking about are radical. They’re not.” He said, “In one way or another, they exist in countries all over the world.”
ADOLPH REED JR.: Well, yeah, I mean, that’s absolutely the case. But we can say that, as we’ve been working like in South Carolina for the last few months, we’ve had phenomenal response. And I would suggest that people go to our website, DJDInstitute.org, and link to the “I’m a Medicare for All Voter” South Carolina campaign. I mean, we’ve had more than 10,000 South Carolinians sign pledges since December indicating that they’ll vote only for candidates who support Medicare for All. And I think that’s kind of saying something. That’s black, white, across the board.
AMY GOODMAN: Let me go back to Kevin Alexander Gray. You were a critic of Bernie Sanders in 2016, but you’ve changed your view. You have 10 seconds.
KEVIN ALEXANDER GRAY: Well, I haven’t decided who I’m going to vote for. But if you look at the candidates who fall into the progressive camp or the progressive tradition, the tradition of the '88 campaign, and a broad coalition of people, opposition to the death penalty, support for free public education, rights for Palestinian people, support for freedom movements around the world, and then we look at the healthcare issue, we look at economic development in the community in a structural way, then Bernie Sanders is obviously in that tradition. And so, you know, we have to talk about what the word “progressive” means and what being a progressive means, and not let people who are using the word “progressive” as a substitute for “liberal,” because “liberal” has become a dirty word. So, yeah, I've softened on Sanders.
But the other part of it is that Sanders did like Jesse Jackson did between '84 and ’88: He's been organizing around the country. And a lot of the criticisms that I had in the beginning was, you know, you start out a campaign, start out with that coalition, you start out around that table with black people and people of color and women, and you build from there; you just don’t to start out with a group of white folk around the table. I think that Senator Sanders has learned that lesson well, and if you look at his campaign. That’s not an endorsement, but that’s to say that’s how he has conducted his campaign. And his campaign is connected to a historic progressive movement, which is what frightens people.
And going back on what Dr. Reed said about Medicare, I’ve been spending a lot of time with friends in nursing homes. Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of eulogies for friends and looking at the people in those nursing homes who care for people. A lot of the people who are working in those nursing homes, people don’t care for them. They don’t care for them by not paying them a good wage, by not having neighborhoods that they can live in that are safe. But there, a lot of them have to go care for people. You’ve got people who are caring for people who people don’t care about. And even the idea that you have to sign over anything that you would want to leave to your children to the government before you can get in a nursing home and get a Medicare bed. Those issues are important to people — healthcare, the affordability of healthcare, a livable wage, safe communities, ending gentrification and being pushed out of the cities. Those are the issues that progressives are taking on. And to some extent, you know — and I’m not — because Gilda is a very good friend of mine, and I respect her a lot — Gilda’s right. Steyer, in some respects, with his money, is paying attention to those communities. Now, it’s not the structural, institutional money that the government ought to be providing to people, but it is an outreach to people that they haven’t seen in a while, in an era where black folk and poor people are being pushed out of the cities, being pushed out of their homes, or, if they live in poverty, the only — in a community mired in poverty, the only thing that the government got for them are more and more police.
So, you know, yes, I’ve softened on Sanders. I am a progressive. I think that he’ll do well in South Carolina. This idea that we have to nominate somebody that’s electable, like a Joe Biden, well, I keep telling everybody, “Well, everybody thought that Hubert Humphrey was electable. Everybody thought that Walter Mondale was electable. Everybody thought that Mike Dukakis was electable. They thought that Al Gore was electable. They thought that John Kerry was electable. They thought that Hillary Clinton was electable, because they’re moderates. And now, for anybody to want to pin their hopes on Joe Biden, who, when you look at his race record, is horrible, and the only race record he got is being Barack Obama’s vice president and so-called vouching for him, I think if the Democrats nominate Joe Biden, they’re going to go down in defeat.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, I want to thank you all for being with us. Kevin Alexander Gray, activist, community organizer, past president of the ACLU of South Carolina, Jesse Jackson’s South Carolina campaign manager in '88, speaking to us from South Carolina's capital, Columbia; Adolph Reed, professor emeritus of political science at University of Pennsylvania, columnist with The New Republic, organizer with the “I’m a Medicare for All Voter” campaign in South Carolina; and Democratic state Representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter of Orangeburg, South Carolina, president of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators. She is a senior national adviser for presidential candidate Tom Steyer. We want to thank you all for being with us.
Just a little fact here: Something like 6,000 to 8,000 black voters in Nevada. Of course, Iowa and New Hampshire, overwhelmingly white states. In South Carolina, there are more than a quarter of a million African-American voters. Sixty percent of the Democratic Party is African-American.
When we come back, we’ll speak with reporter Bob Hennelly, who covered Bloomberg’s three terms as mayor in New York City. Stay with us.