Former Presidential candidate, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I. VT), sat down with The New Yorker this week. There was a great part of his interview about how much of a role him and his team are playing in helping draft policy with former Vice President and official Democratic nominee, Joe Biden and his team. I always like to highlight how both former primary opponents are good friends and have a great working relationship and Sanders really made a great point in this interview:
You’ll obviously be familiar with the argument that there was something more you could’ve done to help Hillary Clinton get elected in 2016. I know you don’t think that that’s fair, and, in fact, there’s some evidence that there were more Hillary Clinton primary voters in 2008 who ended up voting for John McCain, for example, than there were Bernie Sanders supporters in 2016 who voted for Trump. But will what you do to help Biden get elected be different in any substantial way from what you did to help Hillary Clinton in 2016?
There is a myth out there that all a candidate has to say, whether it’s Bernie Sanders or anybody else, to millions of people who voted for him or her, is, “I want you to do this,” and every single person is going to fall in line. That’s just not the way it works in a democracy. In fact, that’s not the way it should work. I did everything that I could in 2016 to move the Democratic Party in a more progressive way and to see that Hillary Clinton was elected. I worked very, very hard in trying to do that, so I reject any argument that I did not try to elect Hillary Clinton. I did. I think the difference now is that, between you and me, I have a better relationship with Joe Biden than I had with Hillary Clinton, and that Biden has been much more receptive to sitting down and talking with me and other progressives than we have seen in the past.
In 2016, in fact, we sat down with Hillary Clinton’s people, and we hammered out what turned out to be the most progressive Democratic platform in the history of the country. But I think it is fair to say that our relationship with Biden is a stronger relationship. I’ve known Biden for the last fourteen years, more or less, since I’ve been in the Senate, and worked with him a little bit when he was Vice-President. I think what you’re going to see is a closer relationship.
Does that mean that you can get on the phone with him these days and talk things out?
Absolutely. Yes.
And have you been doing that?
Yes. Not every day, but, if I call up Joe Biden, I will—all you have to do is say to his campaign, “I’d like to talk to him,” and, within a day or two, that call is arranged. So we are talking.
And you feel that he’s being receptive to your ideas?
You know, we will see. I don’t want to sugarcoat this. He has been open and personable and friendly, but his views and my views are very different, in some areas more than others. I think you’re going to see him being rather strong on the need for a new economy in America that does a lot better job in representing working families than we currently have. He has told me that he wants to be as strong as possible in terms of climate change, and I look forward to hearing his proposals. There are six task forces at work, literally, as we speak, between his people and people who supported me, hammering out, or trying to hammer out, agreements on the economy, health care, immigration reform, criminal-justice reform, education, and climate change, and we’ll see what the fruits of those discussions are. But Joe has been open to having his people sit down with some of the most progressive folks in America, and that’s a good sign.
Biden has been sounding exactly like the type of leader we need during this time. Here’s a quote from his recent op-ed in USA Today:
For too long, black Americans have lived with a knee on their neck — not only institutional violence but daily injustices like having the police called for sitting in a coffee shop or watching birds in the park.
I support the proposal pending in New York to enhance penalties for making a false 911 call based on race, gender or religion. No one should be subjected to that kind of discrimination, ever.
We should also be directing our resources to actively undo the negative effect systemic racism has had on opportunities for black Americans. For example, African American entrepreneurs are rejected for loans at a rate nearly 20 percentage points higher than white entrepreneurs, and when they do receive funding, it's far less. We should prioritize support for mission-driven lenders in low-income communities by doubling the State Small Business Credit Initiative. We should expand the New Markets Tax Credit Program to funnel billions in investments into communities that need it. And the Small Business Administration should expand its programs that are most effective at helping launch black-owned businesses.
For most Americans, home ownership is the key to financial stability and building generational wealth. Today, the gap between African American and white homeownership is larger than it was in the late 1960s. We have to give local officials the tools to combat gentrification, end discriminatory lending practices, and eliminate exclusionary zoning laws designed to keep low-income people and people of color out of certain communities.
President Trump has actively undermined progress on all these issues, including suspending the Obama-Biden administration’s rule on Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing, which required communities to proactively examine housing patterns and identify and address policies that have a discriminatory effect.
We should be working with state, local and tribal school leaders, as well as the presidents of historically black colleges and universities, tribal colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions to develop plans for improving teacher diversity, solving the student debt crisis, and investing in these historically underfunded institutions that are critical to our national success.
Across the board — from our classrooms to our courtrooms to the president’s Cabinet — we have to make sure that our leadership and our institutions actually look like America.
And we must urgently address the abuse of power in police departments. I commend the leaders in the Democratic Party in Congress for proposing legislation that includes vital reforms: banning chokeholds, ensuring prosecutors in police-involved killings are independent, collecting data regarding police use of force and violations of use of force standards, and requiring training for officers regarding racial and religious bias and their duty to intervene if another officer is abusing his or her power.
Give the whole piece a read. He’s also been making the rounds. Check him out The Daily Show with Trevor Noah:
Biden later focused on a related subject.
“We should change the way in which we deal with all drug abuse,” he said. “Nobody should be going to jail for the use of drugs, they should be going to mandatory rehabilitation. We should be building rehab centers, not more prisons. You know, building trust between law enforcement and communities and increased safety is to invest in the funding of community policing.”
He then expanded on that topic, and you can watch the full clip below:
Here’s another example of Biden being a true leader:
Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden struck a unifying tone with mourners during his virtual remarks at George Floyd's funeral in Houston on Tuesday as Floyd's death sparks calls for racial equality and police reform across the country.
"We can't turn away. We must not turn away," Biden said in a video address from his home in Delaware to the Fountain of Praise church in Houston.
“We cannot leave this moment thinking we can once again turn away from racism that stings at our very soul, from systemic abuse that still plagues American life," he continued.
Hundreds of mourners gathered at the Houston church on Tuesday to honor Floyd, who died last month after a police officer pinned him to the ground with his knee on Floyd’s neck. The officer and three others have been fired and face charges. Floyd will be buried next to his mother in Pearland, Texas.
Biden, who met privately with the Floyd family on Monday, cited his own experience with the loss of loved ones and having to grieve in front of the nation.
"As I have said to you privately, we know. We know you will never feel the same again," Biden said. "Unlike most, you must grieve in public. It is a burden. A burden that is now your purpose to change the world for the better in the name of George Floyd."
I have to admit this brought tears to my eyes:
Former vice president Joe Biden addressed George Floyd's daughter Gianna in a speech to his funeral in Houston, Texas, telling her "Daddy is so proud of you". He was speaking via video link as protests over the 46-year-old's killing at the hands of police continued to reverberate around the world.
"You're so brave. Daddy's looking down he's so proud of you. I know you miss that bear hug, riding on his shoulders so you could touch the sky," Mr Biden said.
"The countless hours he spent playing any game you wanted, because your smile, your laugh, your love, is the only thing that mattered at the moment."
Speaking to the six-year-old directly, Mr Biden said she shouldn't have to ask the questions that too many black children have to ask for generations, "why is daddy gone?"
"And looking through your eyes, we should also be asking ourselves why the answer is so often too cruel and painful," he said.
"Why, in this nation, do black Americans wake up knowing they can lose their life just for living their life?"
Here’s Biden meeting personally with George Floyd’s daughter:
It’s been proven that the latest protests are mobilizing voters to Biden:
Researchers studying the massive protests catalyzed by the brutal death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police uncovered surprising findings on the 2020 presidential race — unanimous support for former Vice President Joe Biden among protesters who responded when asked who they would vote for if the election were held tomorrow.
"I never have a survey question where every single person answers the same way," Dana Fisher, a University of Maryland sociologist who specializes in researching activism, told Insider. Fisher coordinated the study alongside University of Michigan political scientist Michael Heaney.
Respondents in the US (255 in total) were asked if they would vote for Biden, Trump, or neither of these candidates. Every person questioned said they would support Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee. These were people on the street, not necessarily registered voters, but the results — and the fact that none of those who responded cited a third-party candidate or said they wouldn't vote at all — still shocked Fisher.
"Of those who responded to this question, 100% reported that they would be supporting Joe Biden in the election. ZERO respondents said that they would support Donald Trump or opt not to vote in the election," the researchers said of their findings.
And Biden is warning voters that Trump will try to steal the election:
Joe Biden on Wednesday night had a blunt warning about President Trump and the potential for election interference in November, escalating his rhetoric about the lengths his Republican rival will go as voters head to the polls.
“This president is going to try to steal this election,” Biden said in an interview on “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.” The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said of ensuring that the voting process is fair: “It’s my greatest concern. My single greatest concern.”
Biden was also asked whether he has considered what would happen if he wins but Trump refuses to leave office.
“Yes I have,” he said quickly.
The interview appeared to be edited at that point, but Biden resumed by speaking about the number of high-ranking former military officers who spoke out over the past week about Trump’s response to the protests.
“I’m promise you, I’m absolutely convinced they will escort him from the White House with great dispatch,” Biden said.
The remarks are some of Biden’s most forceful and far-reaching to date about the anxieties many Democrats feel about the potential for interference in November’s election.
“Mark my words: I think he is gonna try to kick back the election somehow, come up with some rationale why it can’t be held,” Biden said in late April.