00:04:18.000We are watching the Democratic Debate right now, live on CNN.
00:04:23.000And I guess we'll just dive right into it.
00:04:26.000I'll unmute the stream here so we can begin watching.
00:04:30.000Not really much to say other than let's get right into it.
00:04:33.000And let me know about the audio levels.
00:04:40.000Let me know if the audio levels are okay or not.
00:04:45.000And I not only voted against the war, I helped lead the effort against that war.
00:04:51.000Just last year, I helped for the first time in the modern history of this country pass a War Powers Act resolution working with a conservative Republican, Mike Lee of Utah, which said that the war in Yemen led by Saudi Arabia was unconstitutional because Congress had not authorized it.
00:05:13.000We got a majority vote in the Senate, we got a majority vote in the House.
00:05:24.000I am able to bring people together to try to create a world where we solve conflicts over the negotiating table, not through military efforts.
00:05:35.000Vice President Biden, you talk a lot about your experience, but some of your competitors have taken issue with that experience, questioning your judgment in voting to authorize the Iraq war.
00:05:47.000Why are you the best prepared person on this stage to be commander in chief?
00:05:52.000I said 13 years ago it was a mistake to give the president the authority to go to war if, in fact, he couldn't get inspectors into Iraq to stop what was thought to be the attempt to get a nuclear weapon.
00:06:07.000It was a mistake, and I acknowledge that.
00:06:09.000But right out of the man who also argued against that war, Barack Obama, picked me to be his vice president.
00:06:16.000Once we were elected president and vice president, he turned to me and asked me to end that war.
00:06:22.000I know what it's like to send a son or daughter, like our colleague has gone to war in Afghanistan, my son for a year in Iraq, and that's why I do it very, very reluctantly.
00:06:33.000That's why I led the effort, as you know, Wolf, against surging tens of thousands of troops into Afghanistan.
00:06:39.000We should not send anyone anywhere when those overwhelming vital interests of the United States are at stake.
00:06:44.000They were not at stake there, they were not at stake in Iraq, and it was a mistaken vote, but I think my record overall on every everything we've done has been.
00:06:54.000I'm prepared to compare it to anybody's on this stage.
00:06:57.000Senator Sanders, you have been attacking Vice President Biden's vote on the Iraq War, but you recently acknowledged that your vote to authorize the war in Afghanistan was also a mistake.
00:07:24.000But what I understood right away in terms of the war in Iraq, the difference here is that the war in Iraq turned out to be the worst foreign policy blunder in the modern history of this country.
00:07:37.000As Joe well knows, we lost 4,500 brave troops.
00:07:44.000We have spent trillions of dollars on that endless war, money which should go into health care and education and infrastructure in this country.
00:07:54.000Joe and I listened to what Dick Cheney and George Bush and Rumsfeld had to say.
00:09:03.000I've been in the U.S. Senate for over 12 years.
00:09:06.000And I think what you want in a president is someone who has dealt with these life and death issues and who has made decisions.
00:09:14.000I will look at my position on the Iraq War first.
00:09:17.000I wasn't in the Senate for that vote, but I opposed that war from the very beginning.
00:09:23.000In my first campaign for Senate, I ran against a Republican who ran ads against me on it, but I stood my ground.
00:09:29.000When I got to the Senate, I pushed to bring our troops home.
00:09:33.000Then I have dealt with every issue from Afghanistan to keeping our troops with good health care after what we saw with Walter Reed and being part of an effort to improve the situation for our troops in a very big way with our education.
00:09:48.000And with their jobs and also with their health care.
00:09:52.000I think right now what we should be talking about, though, Wolf, is what is happening right now with Donald Trump.
00:09:58.000Donald Trump is taking us pell mell toward another war.
00:10:04.000We just found out today that four Republicans are joining Democrats to go to him and say you must have an authorization of military force if you're going to go to war with Iran.
00:10:15.000That is so important because we have a situation where he got us out of the Iranian nuclear agreement, something I worked on.
00:10:53.000Old enough to enlist who were not alive for some of those debates.
00:10:57.000The next president is going to be a leader with national security challenges different in scope and in kind from anything we've seen in the hair.
00:11:07.000Not just conventional military challenges, strangest, stateless terrorism, but cyber security challenges.
00:12:01.000I've been to Afghanistan, to Iraq, to Jordan, to South Korea, been to lots of places to talk with our troops.
00:12:08.000And I fight for our troops to make sure that they get their pay, that they get the housing and medical benefits that they've been promised, that they don't get cheated by giant financial institutions.
00:12:19.000You know, I have three brothers who are in the military, and I know how much our military families sacrifice.
00:12:24.000But I also know that we have to think about our defense in very different ways.
00:12:29.000We have to think about cyber, we have to think about climate, we also have to think about how we spend money.
00:12:35.000We have a problem with a revolving door in Washington between the defense industry and the Department of Defense.
00:13:16.000I traveled, I met with governments, I met with businesses, and I understand how America interacts with other countries.
00:13:24.000And you asked what is the reason that the experience really counts.
00:13:28.000And to me, I believe that Senator Warren made a great point.
00:13:32.000It isn't so much about experience, it's about judgment.
00:13:35.000If you've been listening to this, what we are hearing is 20 years of mistakes by the American government in the Middle East, of failure of mistakes.
00:13:47.000And if you look who had the judgment, It was a state senator from Illinois with no experience named Barack Obama who opposed the war.
00:13:56.000It is a Congresswoman, Barbara Lee from Oakland, California, who stood up against the original vote, who is the only person in Congress.
00:14:04.000So I would say to you this an outside perspective looking at this and actually dealing with the problems as they are is what we're looking for now.
00:14:15.000We are spending dramatically too much money on defense.
00:14:19.000The money that we're spending there, we could spend in the other parts of the budget.
00:14:23.000And it's time for someone from the outside to have a strategic view about what we're trying to do and how to do it.
00:14:29.000Senator Sanders, in the wake of the Iran crisis, Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei has again called for all U.S. troops to be pulled out of the Middle East, something you've called for as well.
00:14:41.000Yet when American troops last left Iraq, ISIS emerged and spread terror across the Middle East and indeed around the world.
00:14:49.000How would you prevent that from happening again?
00:14:51.000Let me tell you, but before I tell you that, let me tell you something else.
00:14:57.000And that is, and I don't know if my colleagues here will agree with me on that.
00:15:02.000But what we have to face as a nation is that the two great foreign policy disasters of our lifetimes were the war in Vietnam and the war in Iraq.
00:15:13.000Both of those wars were based on lies.
00:15:20.000And right now, what I fear very much is we have a president who is lying again.
00:15:26.000And could drag us into a war that is even worse.
00:15:58.000I was part of that deal to get the nuclear agreement with Iran, bringing together the rest of the world, including some of the folks who aren't friendly to us, and it was working.
00:16:17.000He went ahead and it was predicted that they would keep punching at us.
00:16:21.000But exactly what happened, we're now isolated.
00:16:24.000We're in a situation where our allies in Europe are making a comparison between the United States and Iran saying both ought to stand down, making a moral equivalence.
00:16:35.000We have lost our standing in the region.
00:16:38.000We have lost the support of our allies.
00:16:40.000The next president has to be able to pull those folks back together, reestablish our alliances, and insist that Iran go back into the agreement, which I believe with the pressure applied as we put on before, we can get done.
00:16:53.000So just to be clear, Vice President Biden, would you leave troops in the Middle East or would you pull them out?
00:17:00.000I would leave troops in the Middle East in terms of patrolling the Gulf.
00:17:03.000Where we have to, where we are now, small numbers of choices.
00:17:21.000ISIS is going to reconstitute itself in a position where we have to pull our forces out.
00:17:25.000Americans have to leave the entire region.
00:17:28.000And quite frankly, I think he's flat out lied about saying the reason he went after, the reason he made the strike was because our embassies were about to be bombed.
00:17:37.000Senator Klobuchar, what's your response?
00:20:32.000What's going on right now is the president's actually sending more.
00:20:35.000The very president who said he was going to end endless war, who pretended to have been against the war in Iraq all along, but we know that's not true, now has more troops going to the Middle East.
00:20:46.000And whenever I see that happen, I think about the day we shipped out and the time that was set aside for saying goodbye to family members.
00:20:53.000I remember walking with a friend of mine, another lieutenant I trained with, as we walked away and his one and a half year old boy was toddling after him, not understanding why his father.
00:22:04.000Diplomatically and stop the endless wars that we have experienced.
00:22:08.000Not against everyone who just wakes up in the middle of the night.
00:22:11.000President Trump's decision to kill the Iranian General Soleimani without first going to Congress.
00:22:17.000Are there any circumstances other than a direct attack on the United States where you would take military action without congressional approval?
00:22:26.000I ran the first time as a 29 year old kid against the war in Vietnam on the grounds that only way to take a nation to war is with the informed consent of the American people.
00:22:36.000The informed consent of the American people.
00:22:39.000And with regard to this idea that we can walk away and not have any troops anywhere, including special forces.
00:22:45.000We, there's no way you negotiate or have been able to negotiate with terrorists.
00:22:50.000You have to be able to form coalitions to be able to defeat them or contain them.
00:22:55.000If you don't, we end up being the world's policemen again.
00:23:02.000So it's a fundamental difference than negotiating with other countries.
00:23:05.000It's fundamental to the requirement that we use our special forces in small amounts and coordinate it together.
00:23:13.000Mr. Vice President, just to be clear, The Obama Biden administration did not ask Congress for permission multiple times when it took military action.
00:23:23.000So, would the Biden doctrine be different?
00:23:26.000No, there was the authorization for the use of military force that was passed by the United States Congress, House and Senate, and signed by the President.
00:24:26.000Any time, which I hope will never happen, but any time I'm compelled to use force and seek that authorization, we will have a three year sunset so that the American people are included not only in the decision about whether to send troops, but whether to continue.
00:24:40.000Senator Warren, we're going to get to everyone, but Senator Warren, what about you?
00:24:44.000Are there any circumstances other than a direct attack on the United States where you would take military action without congressional approval?
00:24:52.000Well, imminent threat, but we need an authorization for the use of military force.
00:24:57.000Before we take this nation into combat, that is what the Constitution provides us.
00:25:03.000That's what Commander in Chief I will do.
00:25:05.000But I just want to be clear, everyone on this stage knows what a stupid idea that is.
00:25:12.000CF says, Special Forces, says the boomer American, yeah, kind of funny guy, Nathan Njagini, in Afghanistan, who comes in and says, You know, we've just.
00:25:22.000Imagine, you know, being a general or a sergeant, Madam President.
00:26:03.000But what we can see in the Middle East and what this conversation shows is that there is no real strategy that we're trying to accomplish in what we're doing in the Middle East.
00:26:21.000But if you look further over the last 20 years, including in the war in Afghanistan, we know from the Washington Post that, in fact, there was no strategy.
00:26:30.000There was just a series of tactical decisions that made no sense.
00:27:06.000For us to prosper more, and every single thing we do should follow into that strategy, and it's just not happening in Washington, D.C. Mayor Buttigieg, another critical issue you'd face as a president is the threat of nuclear weapons.
00:27:21.000Last week, President Trump said, As long as I was supposed to get my coffee with two creams, and that is not happening, I don't get it.
00:27:40.000But unfortunately, President Trump has made it much harder for the next president to achieve that goal by gutting the Iran nuclear deal.
00:27:48.000One that, by the way, the Trump administration itself admitted was working, certified that it was preventing progress toward a nuclear deal.
00:28:21.000We can't do this alone, even less so if we're going to make this happen.
00:28:25.000Which is why it will be so critically important to engage leaders, including a lot of new leaders emerging around the world, and ensure that we have the alliances we need to meet what I believe is not just an American goal, but a widely shared goal around the world to ensure that Iran does not become a nuclear armed country.
00:28:46.000Mayor Buteridge, to be clear, would you allow Iran to become a nuclear power, yes or no?
00:28:52.000Our security depends on ensuring that Iran does not become nuclear.
00:28:57.000And by the way, we've got a lot of other challenges with nuclear proliferation around the world.
00:29:02.000Despite this president's coziness with Vladimir Putin, we actually seem to be further away from being able to work with Russia on things like the renewal of START.
00:29:12.000We've got to move toward less, not more, nuclear danger, whether it is from states.
00:29:17.000From stateless potential terrorist actors or anywhere else around the world.
00:29:33.000We're going to start negotiations again, and I won't take that as a given, given that our European partners are still trying to hold the agreement together.
00:29:42.000My issue is that because of the actions of Donald Trump, we are in a situation where they are now starting to.
00:29:48.000I'm reminded of what I was called a hateful gremlin by Iran.
00:29:52.000In violation of the original agreement.
00:29:58.000I would bring people together, just as President Obama did years ago, and I think that we can get this done.
00:30:06.000But you have to have a president that sees this as a number one goal, and in answer to the original question you asked the mayor, I would not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.
00:30:17.000I think there are changes you can make to the agreement that are sunset, some changes to the inspections.
00:30:24.000But overall, that is the cafeteria knife.
00:30:27.000And I am the one person on this debate stage on the first night of the very first debate.
00:30:32.000Bro, you got the whole squad last night.
00:30:33.000Bro, you got the whole squad last night.
00:30:34.000I said what we saw as the biggest threat to our world.
00:30:37.000I said China on the economy, but I said Iran because of Donald Trump, because I feared that exactly what happened would happen enrichment of uranium, escalation of tensions, leaving frayed relations with our allies.
00:30:51.000We can bring them back, understanding this is a terrorist regime that we cannot allow to have a nuclear weapon.
00:30:58.000Vice President Biden, I want to ask you about North Korea.
00:31:24.000I would be putting what I did as vice president.
00:31:26.000I met with Xi Jinping more than anyone else.
00:31:29.000I would be putting pressure on China to put pressure on.
00:31:33.000To cease and desist from their nuclear power, make their efforts to deal with nuclear weapons.
00:31:39.000I would move forward as we did before, and you reported it extensively, Wolf, about moving forward the whole notion of defense against nuclear weapons.
00:31:48.000That we would, and when China said to me, when Xi Jinping said to me, that's a threat to us, I said, we're going to move and protect our interests unless you get involved and protect it.
00:31:57.000I would reunite the relationship between Japan and South Korea, and I would put enormous pressure, enormous pressure on China because that's also in their interest for their interests.
00:33:35.000We're going to talk about the theme of America's role in the world and talk about trade.
00:33:38.000Tomorrow, President Trump is expected to sign phase one of a trade agreement with China, and the Senate will likely soon approve a new trade deal with Mexico and Canada, Iowa's largest trading partners.
00:33:51.000You have said that new deal, the USMCA, quote, makes some modest improvements, yet you're going to vote against it.
00:33:59.000Aren't modest improvements better than no improvements for the farmers and manufacturers who have been devastated here in Iowa?
00:34:05.000The answer is we could do much better than a Trump led trade deal.
00:34:11.000This deal, and I think the proponents of it acknowledge, will result in the continuation of the loss of hundreds of thousands of good paying jobs as a result of outsourcing.
00:34:22.000The heart and soul of our disaster trade agreements.
00:34:25.000And I'm the guy who voted against NAFTA and against permanent normal trade relations with China.
00:34:31.000Is that we have forced American workers to compete against people in Mexico, in China, elsewhere, who earn starvation wages, a dollar or two dollars an hour.
00:34:41.000Second of all, every major environmental organization has said no to this new trade agreement because it does not even have the phrase climate change in it.
00:34:54.000And given the fact that climate change is right now the greatest threat facing this planet.
00:35:00.000I will not vote for a trade agreement that does not incorporate very, very strong.
00:35:35.000If we do not get our act together in terms of climate change, the planet that we're going to be leaving our kids and our children and our grandchildren will be increasingly unlivable and unnecessary.
00:35:46.000We're going to get to climate change, but I'd like to stay on trade.
00:35:49.000Well, they are the same in this issue.
00:35:57.000I've been in Congress long enough to advance NAFTA, but I led the fight against the trade deal with Asia and the trade deal with Europe because I didn't think it was in the interest of the American people.
00:37:43.000I was a little kid going to Crawfordsville here in Iowa, and thank you for bringing up Iowa, Brianne, since that is where we are.
00:37:49.000And I went to this plant, and there was one worker left in that plant.
00:37:53.000That plant had been shut down because of Donald Trump's trade policies and because of what he had done to those workers with giving secret waivers to oil companies and ruining the renewable fuel standard.
00:38:04.000That worker brought out a coat rack of uniforms, and he said, These are my friends.
00:38:22.000So, what we should do, and I support the USMCA, I am glad that these improvements were made that are supported by people like Richard Trumka and Jared Brown on labor and environment, on On Pharma, the sweetheart deal, because I think we need a big trading block with North America to take on China.
00:39:41.000That is why there is such frustration.
00:39:43.000The sense that these decisions in boardrooms and in committee rooms in Washington are being made not based on what's best for them, but based on their own game.
00:39:53.000Vice President Biden, Senator Sanders has said Donald Trump will quote, eat your lunch for voting yes on what he calls terrible trade agreements.
00:40:01.000When it comes to trade, why are you the best candidate to take on President Trump?
00:40:06.000There will be no trade agreement signed in my administration without environmentalists and labor at the table.
00:40:39.000And also, not even use economic pressure.
00:40:42.000We're just going to negotiate a deal that is perfect and has climate and labor regulations, and it's going to help our workers, and it's going to be better than NAFTA and USMCA, and we don't need sanctions to achieve it.
00:40:57.000And that is NAFTA, PNTR with China, other trade agreements were written for one reason alone, and that is to increase the profits of large multinational companies.
00:41:10.000And the end result of those two, just PNTR with China, Joe, and NAFTA, cost us some 4 million jobs as part of the race to the bottom.
00:41:21.000I am sick and tired and will not tolerate.
00:41:23.000And we will use the power of the federal contracting system.
00:41:27.000If a corporation in America wants to shut down in Iowa or Vermont or any place else, and then they think they're going to get online for a generous federal contract, they've got another thing going.
00:41:38.000We need some corporate responsibility here.
00:41:41.000And we need to protect good paying jobs in America, not see them go to China, Mexico, Vietnam, and the United States.
00:41:46.000Mr. Vice President, what's your response?
00:41:49.000We need corporate responsibility, and I agree with that completely.
00:41:52.000But we also need to have enforcement mechanisms in the agreements we make, enforceable agreements.
00:41:58.000That's one of the things that has been improved with the trade agreement with Mexico, and that's what we should be doing in any agreement we have.
00:42:06.000But let's get back to the basics here.
00:42:09.000If we don't set the rules of the road by going out to our partners instead of poking our eye, And poking our finger in the eye of all our friends and allies, we make up 25% of the world's economy.
00:42:20.000We've got to bring the other 25% of our allies along with us to set the rules of the road so China cannot continue to abuse their power by stealing our intellectual property and doing all the other things using their corporate state system.
00:42:35.000Yeah, quote, they're not going to go along with it.
00:43:12.000We need a different approach to trade, and it starts by calling out the corruption of these giant corporations that have cut our trade deals.
00:43:21.000Everybody wants to get to the American market, and we need to put some standards in place.
00:43:27.000You want to be able to sell your goods here, then you've got to meet some environmental standards.
00:43:35.000Mr. Steyer, even though farmers and manufacturers here in Iowa and around the country could see some relief from the China deal, they've been crushed by the current administration's trade war.
00:43:46.000What will you do as president to help them get back on their feet?
00:43:50.000Look, on the first day, I would undo Mr. Trump's tariffs.
00:43:55.000On the first day, I would get rid of his waivers.
00:43:58.000That Senator Klobuchar was referring to oil refiners, so not having to use corn based ethanol.
00:44:06.000In fact, these trade deals have been exactly what Senator Sanders and Warren have been saying, which is that they've been designed to grow the American GDP for the corporations of America, not for the working people of America, and not to protect the climate.
00:44:22.000So let me say this I'm the only person on this stage who says climate's my number one priority.
00:44:30.000Because if climate's your number one priority, you can't sign a deal, even if it's marginally better for working people, until climate is also taken into consideration.
00:45:18.000It's why we're going to tackle climate from day one.
00:45:22.000It's why we've got to make sure that we have better answers than we do today.
00:45:26.000Now, what I've noticed is pretty much all of us propose that we move on from fossil fuels by the middle of the century, starting with actions that we take right now.
00:45:34.000The question is, how are we going to make sure any of this actually gets done?
00:45:38.000Because people have been saying the right things in these debates for literally decades.
00:45:45.000The other day in Winterset, there was a kid at one of my events who raised his hand and he pointed out that he expects to be here in his 90s in the year 2100.
00:45:54.000He will sit in judgment over what we do, not just what we on this stage do, anyone old enough to vote right now, whether we actually put together the national project it will require.
00:46:07.000Imagine a Zoomer going to repeat boogey aggressively.
00:46:15.000Esoteric fiddlers, which is nobody wants to admit Obama's failed trade policy.
00:46:21.000Let's now turn to an issue that's come up in the last 48 hours.
00:46:24.000Senator Sanders, CNN reported yesterday that, and Senator Warren confirmed in a statement, that in 2018 you told her that a woman could win the election.
00:47:41.000But if they do, I will do everything in my power to make sure that they are elected in order to defeat the most dangerous president in the history of our country.
00:53:26.000Women can win, and I've been in a campaign for 27 of them, this last in 2018.
00:53:31.000The best group I've ever campaigned for in terms of competence.
00:53:34.000But the real issue is who can bring the whole party together, represents all elements of the party African Americans, brown, black, women, men, gay, straight.
00:53:45.000The fact of the matter is that I would argue that in terms of endorsements around the country, endorsements wherever we go, I am the one who has the broadest coalition of anyone running up here in this race.
00:54:33.000And we were about to go down that path of, you know, Warren and Klobuchar are going to say, Girl power, you know, bitchy moderator.
00:54:41.000So, Warren, how did you react when Bernie Sanders said the thing that he, like, just denied saying?
00:54:48.000And all the girls are going to say, Well, we keep winning and winning and we're competent and we're winners and we're better than the men on the stage.
00:54:56.000And, you know, then Bernie just totally blew her out like that.
00:55:00.000And she didn't even take it right away.
00:56:25.000You know, I think like 10 candidates have dropped out.
00:56:28.000They've narrowed the field down to seven candidates on the stage.
00:56:32.000Tulsi Gabbard, Andrew Yang, and Michael Bloomberg, who are all still in the race, did not qualify.
00:56:39.000Obviously, so many people have dropped out at this point Beta O'Rourke, Julian Castro, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker.
00:56:47.000You know, a lot of people have ducked out.
00:56:49.000And what happens in Iowa on February 3rd.
00:56:52.000Will kind of determine who will stay in, who will stay out, and give you an idea of what the prospects are looking like.
00:56:58.000You know, right now there really is like no clear frontrunner in the race.
00:57:02.000Well, there's a clear frontrunner, but there isn't a clear winner of the entire primary.
00:57:07.000You know, Joe Biden's been in first in the polls forever, uncontested, but Bernie Sanders and Warren are about tied and they're right on his heels, especially in Iowa.
00:57:17.000So, depending on how it ranks in Iowa, you know, that is what will determine what will happen in New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina.
00:57:26.000And these four primary contests will give us an idea of the rest of the race, how it'll unfold in all the other states.
00:57:34.000And, you know, to me, there's still a big question mark.
00:57:38.000I really don't know what's going to happen in this one in Iowa.
00:57:43.000I think probably Joe Biden's going to come out on top.
00:57:55.000So it's still a big question mark as to.
00:57:57.000How it'll pan out there and then how it pans out in Iowa will then affect all the other races.
00:58:03.000You know, I think, for example, if Andrew Yang doesn't do very well, he'll probably drop out.
00:58:08.000Tulsi Gabbard may drop out before the Iowa caucus.
00:58:11.000Michael Bloomberg, depending on who he does in Iowa, he might drop out afterward, you know, and that will shape how the rest of the race pans out, the dynamics between the candidates.
00:58:24.000And I will say this is how it should have been like.
00:58:27.000From the start, you know, they should have had from the start like a top tier and a bottom tier, and they should have organized it by polling.
00:58:35.000Like, if you poll high, you're in the prime time.
00:58:37.000If you poll low, you're in the so called JV debate or whatever, the kids' table, as what they were calling it in 16.
00:58:45.000Because these are all the people that have a chance of winning.
00:58:49.000For how many months did we have to sit and listen to like, who is that idiot from Colorado, Michael Bennett, and all these other people?
00:58:57.000You know, so finally we've distilled it down to the seven people who can.
00:59:13.000So, anyway, aside from that, it's more of the same.
00:59:16.000At this point, they should have done that from the start, but now at this point it's too late.
00:59:20.000There's been like 10 of them, and we've already heard everything there is for people to say on the stage.
00:59:26.000We've heard about all the issues, we've heard all the takes, we've heard all the different combinations, all the different, you know, he said, she said, and attacks and whatever.
00:59:37.000Okay, it looks like what's going on here?
00:59:39.000I think I have to refresh the page here.
01:00:23.000We save money, comprehensive health care, because we take on the greed and the profiteering and the administrative nightmare that currently exists in our dysfunctional system.
01:00:34.000Vice President Biden, does Senator Sanders owe voters a price tag on his health care plan?
01:00:38.000I think we need to be candid with voters.
01:00:40.000I think we have to tell them what we're going to do and what it's going to cost.
01:00:43.000And a 4% tax on income over $24,000 doesn't even come close to paying for between 30 and some estimates as high as $40 trillion over 10 years.
01:00:58.000The way to do that is to take Obamacare, reinstate, rebuild it, provide a public option without Medicare for those folks who want it, and in fact, make sure that we, in the process, reduce the cost of drug prices, reduce the cost of being able to buy into the subsidizes further, and make it everybody available to everyone.
01:01:28.000Well, first of all, what Joe forgets to say is when you leave the current system as it is, what you are talking about are workers paying, on average, 20% of their incomes for health care.
01:01:44.000You've got 500,000 people going bankrupt because they cannot pay their medical bills.
01:01:50.000We're spending twice as much per capita on health care as do the people of any other country.
01:01:54.000Look, we've talked about health care for all in this country for over 100 years.
01:02:00.000Now is the time to take on the greed and corruption of the health care industry, of the drug companies, and finally provide health care to all through a Medicare for all single payer program.
01:02:13.000It won't be easy, but that is what we have to do.
01:04:04.000And they couldn't afford to have the prescription filled.
01:04:06.000They looked at it and said it's either groceries or this prescription.
01:04:10.000My approach to this is we've got to get as much help to as many people as quickly as possible.
01:04:16.000I have worked out a plan where we can do that without raising taxes on middle class families by one thin dime.
01:04:23.000What I can do as president on the first day, we can cut the cost of prescription drugs.
01:04:29.000I'll use the power that's already given to the president to reduce the cost of insulin and EpiPens and HIV AIDS drugs.
01:04:38.000Let's get some relief to those families, and I will defend the Affordable Care Act.
01:04:44.000I've got a plan to expand the health care, but let's keep in mind when we come to the general election, We Democrats may argue among each other about the best way to do health care, but we're going to be up against a Republican incumbent who has cut health care for millions of people and is still trying to do that.
01:05:01.000I'll take our side of the argument any day.
01:07:08.000It takes on the pharmaceutical industry, which in some cases charges us 10 times more for the same prescription drugs sold abroad as sold here.
01:07:18.000What we will do through a Medicare for All single payer program is substantially lower the cost of health care for employers and workers because we end the $100 billion a year that the health care industry makes and the $500 billion a year.
01:07:35.000We spend the administrative nightmare of dealing with thousands of separate insurance plans.
01:07:58.000And if you want to be practical and progressive at the same time and have a plan and not a pipe dream, you have to show how you are going to pay for it.
01:08:05.000And I would also note that the Affordable Care Act is a very important thing.
01:08:08.000Care Act right now is 10 points more popular than the President of the United States.
01:08:13.000So I think the answer is to build on it.
01:08:16.000And yes, I think you should show how you're going to pay for things, Bernie.
01:08:56.000Senator Buttigieg, you're selling your plan as Medicare for all who want it, yet your plan would automatically enroll uninsured Americans into a public option, even if they don't want it, and force them to pay for it.
01:09:46.000We've got a dramatically better track record on it than Republicans do.
01:09:49.000In my lifetime, it's almost invariably Republican presidents who have added to the deficit a trillion dollars under this president.
01:09:57.000And it's why everything I put forward from Medicare for all who are going to be the investments we're going to make who has had a penis in his mouth is fully paid.
01:11:41.000It's just not true that the plan I'm proposing is small.
01:11:46.000We've got to move past a Washington mentality that suggests that the bigness of plans only consists of how many trillions of dollars they put through the Treasury, that the boldness of a plan only consists of how many Americans it can alienate.
01:12:01.000This would be the biggest thing we've done to American healthcare in a half century.
01:12:06.000Let's measure the effects of our plans based on what they would do in our everyday lives.
01:12:11.000And yes, we're taking on cost on prescription drugs.
01:12:14.000We'll have an out of pocket cap, even if you don't get the subsidies that would make it free, a $250 monthly cap.
01:12:21.000And here's why it's got to be monthly.
01:12:22.000You ever been in that situation or known somebody who finds that they've got to defer a procedure or delay filling a prescription to try to have it happen in the right month?
01:12:30.000Because when your out of pocket cap hits, it makes no sense medically.
01:12:34.000Because most of us don't experience the economy on an annual basis.
01:12:38.000Our bills don't come in every year, they come in every month.
01:12:41.000Same with our paychecks, bi weekly or monthly.
01:12:43.000That's why we set this up in a way to solve the problem without running up $20, $30, $40 trillion.
01:12:50.000Look, the numbers that the Mayor is offering just don't add up.
01:12:53.000The average family in America last year paid $12,000 in some combination of deductibles and co pays and uncovered expenses and fees.
01:13:02.000You can't cover that with the kind of money that the Mayor is talking about.
01:13:07.000The way we have to approach this is we've got to build this and we've got to build the alliances to make this happen.
01:13:13.000I can bring down the cost of prescription drugs like insulin and take hundreds of millions of dollars out of the system immediately in cost.
01:13:21.000We can get help to families, but we have to be willing to work together.
01:13:26.000We can let people experience what healthcare is like when it's you and your doctor, your mental health professional, your nurse practitioner with no insurance company standing in the middle.
01:13:38.000When people said, I want to know what Senator Club is talking about.
01:13:41.000Senator Warren, you acknowledged that Medicare for All, that you couldn't get there right away.
01:13:45.000You got on the bill that said on page eight, which is why I didn't get on it, that you would kick 149 million Americans off their current health insurance.
01:13:55.000Then, a few months ago, you said, no, you're going to wait a while to get there.
01:14:00.000And I think that was some acknowledgement that maybe what we're talking about is true.
01:14:04.000And I don't buy that it's not enough, it is a big, big step.
01:14:09.000To say to people making $100,000 a year that your premiums will be cut in half, which is what the nonprofit public option will do.
01:14:17.000And if you talk, Mayor Buttigieg, about Medicare and having negotiation, I actually have led that bill for years.
01:14:29.000That would allow Medicare to finally negotiate and lift the ban that Big Pharma got into law that says they can't negotiate for better prices for our seniors.
01:16:59.000I would argue that the biggest breakthrough in recent time was us being able to do in our administration what five Democratic presidents couldn't get done, and that is pass Obamacare.
01:18:29.000What I also have said is I'm just going to use the power that is available, and I will do what a president can do all by herself on the very first day, and that is lower the prices of certain prescription drugs.
01:19:23.000Put the contracts out so that we can put more generic drugs out there and drive down those prices.
01:19:31.000This is a way to make markets work, not to try to move away from the market.
01:19:36.000You don't have to even use the pricing rules.
01:19:38.000The whole idea behind it is to get some competition out there so the price of these drugs that are no longer under patent drops where it should.
01:19:47.000Senator Klobuchar, do you believe the government should be manufacturing drugs?
01:19:52.000I am open to looking at it, but I would try these things first.
01:20:24.000I now have an actual bill with Senator Grassley that does that.
01:20:27.000And I have a bill to get at what Elizabeth was talking about, which is to stop generics from taking money from big pharmaceuticals to keep their products off the market.
01:20:38.000The issue here is that there are two pharma lobbyists for every member of Congress.
01:21:37.000And zero for those families who are living in poverty.
01:21:41.000But this is happening to folks at every level of the income spectrum.
01:21:45.000Meet professionals who sometimes say that they're working in order to be able to afford childcare in order to be able to be working.
01:21:53.000It makes no sense and it must change, and we shouldn't be afraid to put federal dollars into making that a reality.
01:22:00.000Subsidizing childcare and making sure that we are building up a workforce of people who are paid at a decent level to offer early childhood education as well as childcare.
01:22:13.000And until we do, this will be one of the biggest drivers of the gender pay gap.
01:22:17.000Because when somebody, like the voter asking the question, has to step out of the workforce because of that reason, she is at a disadvantage when she comes back in, and that can affect her pay for the rest of her career.
01:22:30.000Senator Warren, your education plan includes tuition free public college for all, but you impose an income limit for free child care.
01:22:38.000Why do your plans cover everyone for public college but not child?
01:23:03.000I was excited, but it was childcare that nearly brought me down.
01:23:07.000We went through one childcare after another, and it just didn't work.
01:23:11.000If I hadn't been saved by my Aunt B, I was ready to quit my job.
01:23:15.000And I think about how many women of my generation just got knocked off the track and never got back on.
01:23:20.000How many of my daughter's generation get knocked off the track and don't get back on.
01:23:24.000How many mamas and daddies today are getting knocked off the track and never get back on?
01:23:30.000I have a two cent wealth tax so that we can cover child care for all of our children and provide universal pre K for every three year old and four year old in America and stop exploiting the people who do this valuable work largely black and brown women.
01:23:48.000We can raise the wages of every child care worker and preschool teacher in America.
01:24:39.000Fundamentally change the priorities, yeah, correct.
01:24:41.000Not the government, stay at home and raise their own kids instead of daycare.
01:24:45.000We should not be spending 10 more than the 10 next countries on the military, hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies for the fossil fuel industry, tax breaks for billionaires, and then tell the moms and dads in this country.
01:25:29.000I commuted every single solitary year.
01:25:32.000Imagine being a mother and To one person over 500 miles a day.
01:25:36.000Excuse me, 250 miles a day, because I could not afford, but for my family, childcare.
01:25:43.000It was beyond my reach to be able to do it.
01:25:45.000And that's why there are several things we do.
01:25:47.000When I triple the amount of money for Title I schools, every child, three, four, and five years old, will in fact have full schooling.
01:25:56.000They'll go to school and after school programs, which will release some of the burden.
01:26:00.000Secondly, I think we should have an $8,000 tax credit, which would put 7 million women back to work.
01:26:06.000they could afford to go to work and still care for their children as an $8,000 tax credit.
01:26:12.000I also believe that we should, in fact, for people who, in fact, are not able to afford any of the infant care to be able to get that care.
01:27:22.000That tuition, because we could be using those dollars for something else.
01:27:26.000There is a very real choice about what we do with every single taxpayer dollar that we raise.
01:27:33.000And we need to be using that to support everybody, whether you go to college or not, making sure that Americans can thrive, investing in infrastructure, and something that hasn't come up very much tonight but deserves a lot of attention poverty.
01:27:47.000You know, the Poor People's Campaign is marching on Iowa right now, calling on us to talk about this issue more.
01:27:55.000I think because even though in politics we're supposed to talk middle class, they know there's no scripture that says, as you've done unto the middle class, so you've done unto me.
01:28:03.000We've got to be making sure that we target our tax dollars where they will make the biggest difference.
01:28:08.000And I don't think subsidizing the children of millionaires and billionaires to pay absolutely zero in tuition at public colleges is the best use of those scarce taxpayer dollars.
01:28:18.000So look, the way I think we need to do this is we need a wealth tax in America.
01:28:23.000We need to ask people with fortunes above $50 million to pay more.
01:28:26.000And that means that the lowliest millionaire that I would tax under this wealth tax would be paying about $19 million in the first year in taxes.
01:28:36.000If he wants to send his kid to public university, then I'm okay with that.
01:28:40.000Because what we really need to talk about is the bigger economic picture here.
01:28:45.000We need to be willing to put a wealth tax in place, to ask those giant corporations that are not paying to pay, because that's how we build an economy and, for those who want to talk about it, bring down the national debt.
01:28:59.000You do universal child care, and you've got a lot of mamas who can go to work, a lot of mamas who can finish their education.
01:29:04.000We make that transition to the future of college.
01:30:18.000And let me say this I was one of the people who talked about a wealth tax almost a year and a half ago.
01:30:24.000I believe that the income inequality in this country is unbearable, unjust, and unsupportable.
01:30:31.000As he says, Fuentes 2036 should be appointed one of the richest Americans from everyone else, has to end.
01:30:37.000And I proposed the wealth tax almost a year and a half ago to start to address it and to raise some of the money that we need.
01:30:43.000But I want to go beyond this and go back to this question about education.
01:30:47.000Because we're talking a lot about college.
01:30:49.000But in fact, if you talk about the Poor People's Campaign, you have to realize that for the youngest kids, they are getting an education that's relevant to their neighborhoods.
01:31:00.000We need to redistribute money so every kid has a chance, so we're not legislating inequality for the next generation, and so we actually invest in every single kid, specifically poor kids, specifically black kids, specifically brown kids.
01:31:14.000We need to start using the money dramatically more.
01:31:17.000In other words, fuck white kids, right?
01:32:56.000There's really not even a point to it anymore.
01:32:59.000You know, what I've been saying about the debates from the start is it really only changes the dynamic insofar as somebody shits the bed, right?
01:33:10.000If you don't mess up, if you don't get embarrassed or humiliated or say the wrong thing, it really doesn't matter.
01:33:17.000Even if you say the right thing, it really doesn't matter.
01:33:21.000You know, let me pull up the most recent polls.
01:35:26.000Buttigieg, you know, consistent but relatively muted and subdued performances in the debates, and he's number three.
01:35:33.000Warren, who has maybe had the best average debate performances, you know, she has had, I think, pretty high quality debate performances on average from the beginning.
01:35:45.000So, all of this is to say what we're watching is kind of useless, kind of a useless exercise, obligatory and perfunctory and necessary, but ultimately not something that is changing the race.
01:36:02.000You know, what really matters is fundraising, what really matters is television, advertisements, things like that.
01:36:10.000Welcome back to CNN's Democratic presidential debate.
01:36:13.000We're live in Des Moines, Otchel Debate.
01:36:26.000Launching the third trial of a U.S. president.
01:36:28.000The Republican led Senate has signaled that it is likely to acquit him.
01:36:33.000Nominee, is it going to be harder to run against President Trump if he's been acquitted and able to claim vindication, especially after what he said about your family?
01:36:46.000There's no choice but for Nancy Pelosi in the House to move.
01:36:50.000He has, in fact, committed impeachable offenses.
01:36:53.000Whether the Senate makes that judgment or not, it's for them to decide.
01:36:57.000And by the way, I'm told that I say we have to unite the country.
01:37:06.000It's going to be harder after this trial.
01:37:08.000It may be, though these guys are, this Republican Party.
01:37:11.000They've gone after Savage, my surviving son, gone after me, told lies that your networks and others won't even carry on television because they're flat-out lies.
01:37:35.000I have to be able to not only fight, but also heal.
01:37:38.000And as President of the United States, that's what I will attempt to do, notwithstanding that there are going to be more division after he's defeated.
01:37:45.000There are going to be more division after he's defeated.
01:38:40.000And he was the one that went to the Joseph McCarthy hearings.
01:38:44.000And when McCarthy was blacklisting people and going after people who were trying to defend their supposed political beliefs, there was only one man.
01:38:53.000Everyone that was afraid, they're afraid of being blacklisted Joseph Welch.
01:38:57.000He stood up and looked at McCarthy and said, Have you no sense of decency, sir?
01:39:49.000And those eight and a half million people have called their Congress people, have emailed their Congress people, and have actually dragged Washington, D.C. to see that, in fact, this is a question of right and wrong and not of political expediency.
01:40:03.000So if you ask me whether standing up for what's right in America, standing up for the American people and our safety, standing up for the Constitution, whether doing that And trying to bring the truth in front of the American people in televised hearings so we can decide what the truth is for ourselves.
01:40:21.000If you think that that isn't worth it, then you don't share the idea that I do about what America is about.
01:40:27.000Standing up for what's right is always worth it, Wolf, and I will never back down from that.
01:40:33.000Senator Warren, a Senate trial is expected to keep you in Washington in the weeks leading up to the Iowa caucuses here.
01:40:41.000How big of a problem is that for you as you're making your closing pitch to voters here?
01:40:47.000Look, some things are more important than politics.
01:40:50.000I took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America.
01:40:55.000It says that no one is above the law, that includes the President of the United States.
01:41:00.000If we have an impeachment trial, I will be there because it is my responsibility.
01:41:05.000But understand this what that impeachment trial is going to show, once again, to the American people, and something we should all be talking about, is the corruption of this administration.
01:41:18.000It is about Donald Trump putting Donald Trump first, not the American people, not the interests of the United States of America, not even in terms of helping Ukraine defend against Russia.
01:41:32.000That is what we need to do to win this election.
01:41:36.000We need to draw that distinction and show that as Democrats, we're not going to be the people who are just out for the big corporations, people who want to help themselves, that we are going to be the party that is willing to fight on the side of the people.
01:42:26.000We've seen it in historic floods in my community.
01:42:29.000I had to activate our emergency operations center for a once in a millennium flood.
01:42:33.000Then, two years later, we had to do the same thing.
01:42:36.000In Australia, there are literally tornadoes made of fire taking place.
01:42:43.000This is no longer theoretical, this is no longer off in the future.
01:42:47.000We have got to act, yes, to adapt, to make sure our communities are more resilient, to make sure our economy is ready for the consequences that are going to happen.
01:42:55.000I don't care, but we also have to ensure that we don't allow this to get any worse.
01:43:01.000And if we get it right, socks will be a huge part of the solution.
01:43:05.000We need to reach out to the very people who have sometimes been made to feel that accepting climate science would be a defeat for them, whether we're talking about farmers or industrial workers in my community, and make clear that we need to enlist them in a national project to do something about this.
01:43:22.000To clarify, what do you do about farms and factories that cannot be relocated?
01:43:26.000We are going to have to use federal funds to make sure that we're supporting those whose lives will inevitably be impacted further by the increased severity and the increased frequency.
01:43:38.000And by the way, That is happening to farms, that is happening to factories, and that disproportionately happens to black and brown Americans, which is why equity and environmental justice have to be at the core of the economy.
01:45:05.000Look, we invested in every part of the economy, and over 10 years ago, I realized that there was something going on that had to do with fossil fuels that we had to change.
01:45:33.000I have a history of over a decade of leading the climate fight successfully.
01:45:39.000So, actually, yes, I am the person here who has the chops and the history that says I'll make it priority one because I've been doing it for a long time.
01:45:46.000Senator Warren, President Trump is rolling back major environmental rules to allow pipelines and other major infrastructure projects to be built.
01:45:54.000Without strict environmental review, will you restore those protections and in a way that the next president can't overturn?
01:47:23.000Well, first of all, I would note that I have a 100% rating from the League of Conservation Voters, and that is because I have stood tall on Every issue that we have talked about up here when it comes to this administration, this Trump administration, trying to reverse environmental protections.
01:47:43.000I think it is going to lead to so many problems, and one thing that hasn't been raised, by the way, is the rules on methane, which is actually one of the most environmentally dangerous hazards that they have recently embarked on.
01:47:56.000And I would bring those rules back as well as a number of other ones.
01:47:59.000When it comes to the issue of fracking, I actually see natural gas as a transition fuel.
01:48:07.000It is a transition fuel to where we get to carbon neutral.
01:48:11.000Nearly every one of us has a plan that is very similar, and that is to get to carbon neutral by 2045 to 2050, to get to by 2030 to a 45 percent reduction.
01:48:23.000And I want to add one thing that no one has really answered.
01:48:26.000When we do this, we have to make sure that we make people whole.
01:48:31.000And when we put a tax on carbon, which we will do either through Cap and trade, or through a renewable electricity standard, or through a fee on carbon, then we have to make sure the money goes back to the people that will be hurt by it to help them with their energy bills and to bring jobs to areas that will lose jobs.
01:48:56.000If we as a nation do not transform our energy system away from fossil fuel, not by 2050, not by 2040, But unless we lead the world right now, not easy stuff.
01:50:13.000And wind energy than ever has occurred in the history of America.
01:50:16.000Look, what we have to do is we have to act right away.
01:50:18.000And the way we act right away is immediately, if I'm elected president, I'll reinstate all the mileage standards that existed in our administration, which were taken down.
01:50:27.000That's 12 billion gallons of gasoline, barrels of gasoline, to be saved immediately.
01:50:32.000And with regard to those folks who, in fact, are going to be victimized by what's already happened, we should be investing in infrastructure that raises roads, make sure that we're in a position where every new highway built is a green highway, having 550,000 charging stations.
01:50:49.000We can create, and this is where I agree with Tom, we can create millions of good paying jobs.
01:50:55.000We're the only country in the world that's ever taken great crisis.
01:51:00.000And one of the ways to do it is with farmers here in Iowa by making them the first group in the world to get to net zero emissions by paying them for planting and absorbing carbon in their fields right away.
01:51:13.000There's more to say, but I know it's true.
01:51:15.000A key part of your mission in this primary is going to be to prove to Democratic voters that you're strong enough to take on Donald Trump.
01:51:23.000Each of you face unique challenges in doing that.
01:51:25.000Mayor Buttigieg, you say you've had trouble earning the support of black voters because you're unknown.
01:51:30.000But you've been campaigning for a year now, and polling shows you with next to no black support, support that you'll need in order to beat Donald Trump.
01:51:38.000Is it possible that black voters have gotten to know you and have simply decided to choose another candidate?
01:51:44.000The black voters who know me best are supporting me.
01:51:46.000It's why I have the most support in South Bend.
01:51:49.000It's why, among elected black officials in my community who have gotten into this race, by far most of them are supporting me.
01:51:57.000And now, nationally, I am proud that my campaign is co chaired by a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, and to have support.
01:52:04.000Right here in Iowa, from some of the most recognizable black elected leaders, from Mayor Hart of Waterloo to former Representative Barry in Black Hawk County.
01:52:13.000Now, the biggest mistake we could make is to take black votes for granted, and I never will.
01:52:19.000The reason I have the support I do is not because any voter thinks that I'm perfect, it's because of the work that we have done facing some of the toughest issues that communities can.
01:52:30.000Not from the luxury of a debate or a television panel or a committee room, but on the ground, issues from poverty.
01:52:39.000And I'm proud to say we've been nationally recognized for our work as a race informed city on delivering greater economic justice.
01:52:46.000That we have reduced use of force by leading the region in transparency around the use of force in policing.
01:52:53.000Of course, there is a much longer way to go in my community and around the country.
01:52:58.000But I will be a president whose personal commitment is to continue doing this work.
01:53:03.000Senator Sanders, you call yourself a Democratic socialist, but more than two thirds of voters say they are not enthusiastic about voting for a socialist.
01:53:12.000Doesn't that put your chances of beating Donald Trump at risk?
01:53:17.000And that is because the campaign that we are going to run will expose the fraudulence of who Donald Trump is.
01:53:28.000Donald Trump is corrupt, he is a pathological liar, and he is a fraud.
01:53:34.000Now, when Trump talks about socialism, what he talks about is giving hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks and subsidies to the fossil fuel industry.
01:53:44.000Donald Trump is a businessman, received $800 million in tax breaks and subsidies to build luxury housing.
01:53:54.000My democratic socialism says health care is a human right.
01:53:59.000We're going to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
01:54:02.000We're going to make public colleges and universities tuition free.
01:54:06.000We're going to have a Green New Deal and create up to $20 million, saving the planet for our children and our grandchildren.
01:54:14.000We are going to take on the greed and corruption.
01:54:17.000Of the pharmaceutical industry and the insurance company.
01:54:21.000That is what democratic socialism is about, and that will win this election.
01:54:26.000Mr. Steyer, you've spent more than 100 million of your own dollars on television ads.
01:55:00.000I started a business by myself in one room.
01:55:04.000I didn't inherit a penny from my parents.
01:55:06.000I spent 30 years building that business into a multi billion dollar international business.
01:55:12.000Then I walked away from it and took the giving pledge and started organizing coalitions of ordinary Americans to take on unchecked corporate power.
01:55:20.000But whoever is going to beat Mr. Trump is going to have to beat him on the economy.
01:55:24.000And I have the experience and the expertise.
01:55:50.000It was not the biggest part of my career.
01:55:53.000But I am ready to take on this president on the economy because I am from the exact kind of industrial Midwestern community that he pretends to speak to.
01:56:02.000And has proven to turn his back on, and guided that community through a historic transformation when, at the beginning of the decade I took office, we were described as a dying city.
01:56:13.000I'm ready to take on Donald Trump because when he gets to the tough talk and the chest thumping, he'll have to stand next to an American war veteran and explain how he pretended bone spurs made him ineligible to serve.
01:56:25.000And if he keeps trying to use religion, if a guy like Donald Trump keeps trying to use religion to somehow recruit Christianity into the GOP.
01:56:38.000I will be standing there not afraid to talk about a different way to answer the call of faith and insist that God does not belong to a political party.
01:56:47.000I am ready to take on this president on every side.
01:56:50.000Senator Klobuchar, you're pitching yourself as a practical candidate who can get things done.
01:56:57.000And even tonight, you've dismissed some of the ideas that are offered in this primary as pipe dreams.
01:57:03.000How are you going to inspire Democratic voters with a message of pragmatism?
01:57:10.000Our voters, actually all Americans, have seen now.
01:57:13.000I'm so tired of hearing that guy talk about the guy that's had a.
01:57:16.000Somebody like Donald Trump, somebody like you, really?
01:58:00.000And what I'm going to say is this my grandpa worked 1,500 feet underground in the iron ore mine, saved money in a coffee can in the basement to send my dad to a two year community college.
01:58:12.000And when you have been given an opportunity like that, you go into the world not with a sense of entitlement, Donald Trump, but with a sense of obligation.
01:58:24.000Senator Warren, what do you say to voters who like your policies, but they're worried they will scare away swing voters you need to win this race in November?
01:58:35.000I have three older brothers who are all retired, who are all back there still.
01:58:40.000And two of my three brothers are Republicans.
01:58:43.000And sure, There are a lot of things we disagree on, and we can take to our corners and do the Democratic talking points.
01:58:50.000But the truth is, there's a whole lot we agree on.
01:58:52.000You know, my brothers are just furious over Chevron and Eli Lilly and Amazon that our giant corporations make billions of dollars in taxes, make billions of dollars in profits, and pay nothing in taxes.
01:59:16.000That we have an America right now that's working great for those at the top.
01:59:22.000It's just not working for anyone else.
01:59:25.000We have a chance to unite, unite as Democrats, but also with independents and Republicans who are sick of living in a country that's working great for the politicians that are taking the money.
01:59:39.000It's working great for the corporate executives.
01:59:42.000It's just not working for everyone else.
01:59:44.000I'm building the grassroots movement, leading the fight.
01:59:47.000We're going to make this America work for everyone else.
01:59:50.000That is how we're going to beat Donald Trump.
01:59:52.000Vice President Biden, the eventual nominee will face President Trump, who has no problem mocking people, using insulting nicknames, slinging mud, and telling lies.
02:00:01.000The debate against him will make tonight's debate look like child's play.
02:00:07.000Look, I've been the object of his affection now more than anybody else in this state.
02:00:12.000I've taken all the hits he can deliver, and I'm getting better in the polls, my going up.
02:00:17.000And by the way, I have overwhelming support from the African-American community, overwhelming, more than everybody else in this operation, number one.
02:00:24.000Number two, working class people, where I come from in Pennsylvania and the places I come from in Delaware, I have great support.
02:00:31.000I have support across the board, and I'm not worried about taking on Donald Trump at all.
02:00:36.000And with regard to the economy, I can hardly wait to have that debate with him.
02:00:39.000Where I come from, the neighborhoods I come from, they're in real trouble.
02:00:43.000Working class people and middle class people.
02:00:45.000When the middle class does well, working class has a way up, and the wealthy do well.
02:00:53.000They now have a situation where if they the vast majority believe their children will never reach the stage that they read they've reached in economic security.
02:01:03.000I love that debate because the American public is getting clobbered.
02:01:07.000The wealthy are the only ones doing well, period.
02:01:10.000I'm looking forward to the economic debate.
02:01:13.000We'll be right back with more from CNN's Democratic Party.
02:01:49.000You know, even down to the same catchphrases, jokes, policy platforms, even the interactions between the candidates are the same on health care, on climate.
02:05:08.000Not in his actions, not in who he is and what he's about, but hearing him talk.
02:05:13.000But Tom Steyer is probably the last one on the stage who is just completely unlikable, irredeemable, even if you're being objective, even forgetting the.
02:05:23.000The policy positions, you know, their politics.
02:05:28.000People are saying they don't like Klobuchar.
02:05:30.000Even Klobuchar, I honestly don't even really mind Klobuchar.
02:05:33.000I think she's actually kind of likable in a way.
02:05:36.000I think she's actually more likable than the others, at least to me.
02:05:39.000Because at least Klobuchar, I feel like she has a much more authentic, sort of folksy vibe than Warren.
02:06:37.000It is about your lives and your future.
02:06:39.000So, if you want to do something about racial justice and immigration reform and climate change and gun safety, we need a candidate who is actually going to bring people with her.
02:06:51.000I have won every race, every place, every time.
02:06:55.000I have gotten the highest voter turnout in the country when I've led the ticket.
02:06:59.000I have passed more bills as the lead Democrat than anyone who's in Congress that's running for president.
02:08:14.000I've seen these Republicans led by Mr. Trump basically kicking the American people in the face.
02:08:20.000I am prepared to take on Mr. Trump on the debate stage and take him down on the economy.
02:08:25.000But I am asking for your support because I know that if I'm going to be a good teammate to you and give you absolutely everything without any compromise, I need the support of you on caucus night so I can turn around and together we can take back this country.
02:08:48.000This is our one shot to defeat Donald Trump.
02:08:52.000And to do it by such a big margin that we send Trumpism into the dustbin of history, too.
02:08:59.000But we cannot take the risk with so much on the line of trying to confront this president with the same Washington mindset and political warfare that led us to this point.
02:09:12.000If you were watching this at home and you were exhausted, By the spectacle of division and dysfunction, I'm asking you to join me to help turn the page on our politics.
02:09:23.000If you're seeing the president boast about the Dow Jones, wondering whether any of that will ever get to your kitchen table, join me.
02:09:31.000If you're a voter of color, feeling taken for granted by politics as usual, join me.
02:09:37.000If you're used to voting for the other party, but right now cannot look your kids in the eye and explain this president to them, join me.
02:09:44.000We have a chance to change all of this if we can summon the courage to break from the past.
02:09:50.000That is why I am running for president.
02:09:52.000It is why I am asking you to caucus for me on February 3rd, and I hope that you will go to peteforamerica.com and join me in this effort.
02:10:06.000I sat here in the break and just made notes about many of the things we didn't get to talk about tonight how the disability community is struggling for truth, how gun violence and active shooter drills worry every mother in this country, how children are living in poverty and sickness.
02:10:32.000Climate change that particularly hits black and brown communities, people who are being crushed by student loan debt, farmers who are barely holding on, people struggling with mental illness.
02:10:42.000And yet, I come here tonight with a heart filled with hope.
02:10:46.000And it's filled with hope because I see this as our moment in history, our moment when no one is left on the sidelines, our moment when we understand that it comes to us.
02:11:21.000It's been a good debate, but we haven't asked the major question.
02:11:26.000The major question is how does it happen in the richest country in the history of the world that half of our people?
02:11:33.000Are living paycheck to paycheck, trying to get by nine, ten bucks an hour?
02:11:37.000How does it happen that when the top 1% owns more wealth than the bottom 92%, half a million people are sleeping out on the streets tonight?
02:11:46.000How does it happen in this great country we are the only major nation not to guarantee health care to all?
02:11:53.000How does it happen that we have a child care system which is dysfunctional, a criminal justice system which is broken and racist, an immigration system that needs reform?
02:12:03.000This is the moment when we have got to think big, not small.
02:12:08.000This is the moment where we have got to have the courage to take on the 1%, take on the greed and corruption of the corporate elite, and create an economy and create a government that works for all of us, not just the 1%.
02:12:44.000Everyone in this country is entitled to be treated with respect and dignity.
02:12:48.000Every single solitary person has to have in a position that way, in fact, we treat them with decency.
02:12:55.000It's about fundamental, basic decency.
02:12:57.000We in the United States of America can put up with, we can overcome four years of Donald Trump, but eight years of Donald Trump will be an absolute disaster and fundamentally change this nation.
02:13:08.000We have to restore America's soul, as I've said from the moment I announced.
02:14:54.000Start to see where the voters are at because we have polls and we have fundraising and we have all kinds of other metrics, but it doesn't really matter until we start to see what the voters are going to select.
02:15:05.000And, you know, as I said, the question with this one is the question is difficult because there is no clear winner like there was in the Republican primary in 2016.
02:15:17.000You know, in 2016, Donald Trump, like, crushed every single primary.
02:15:21.000He didn't win the Iowa caucus, Ted Cruz won the Iowa caucus, but.
02:15:26.000You know, he was by far and away number one in the polls.
02:15:29.000The only time I think he ever got overtaken was like one week in December or November by Ben Carson 2015.
02:15:37.000But aside from that, he was clearly the decisive winner.
02:15:42.000That doesn't exist right now in this primary.
02:15:44.000It really is like a four person race between Biden, Sanders, Buttigieg, and Warren.
02:15:50.000So we have to see how they perform against each other.
02:15:52.000Joe Biden's going to win number one, of course.
02:15:55.000The question is who's going to come in second and third?
02:15:58.000I think whoever comes in fourth is going to have a hard time.
02:16:00.000But second and third, you could probably swing.
02:16:02.000And then, of course, we see what happens in New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina.
02:16:07.000And the four primary contests, the four initial ones in February, will determine how the rest of the season goes and will ultimately determine the nominee.
02:16:15.000So we'll have to really be watching on election nights.
02:16:18.000The next big night is February 3rd that we'll be watching.
02:16:22.000By the end of that, we should have a pretty good idea of the direction of the race.
02:16:26.000But, you know, I didn't hear anything really groundbreaking tonight.
02:16:29.000There were exactly zero memorable moments.
02:16:34.000I don't remember a single statement that was, as I said, exceptionally inspiring and nothing that was really a gaffe.
02:16:42.000So I think the situation in Iowa and nationally will remain unchanged after the debate.
02:16:47.000I think the coverage will be the same.
02:16:49.000You know, the only major thing about this debate was not even what happened and who was on the stage, but what did not happen and who was not on the stage, which is to say that Andrew Yang was not on the stage because he did not qualify, Chelsea Gabbard was not on the stage because she did not qualify.
02:17:05.000Normally, I would say that that doesn't matter, but it does matter because they didn't qualify because they didn't get enough donors.
02:17:13.000I think they did have enough donors, but they didn't reach a high enough percentage in the polling, which shows that the field is winnowing.
02:17:19.000It's narrowing to a few serious candidates, and Yang not being in the debates does not mean his campaign is over.
02:17:26.000Him not qualifying because he's not polling high means his campaign is probably almost over.
02:17:31.000It's January now, so if you're not making it, it means you're not going to make it.
02:17:36.000We're probably going to see over the next two months the field, I believe, will narrow to these seven and possibly less than that.
02:17:44.000Michael Bloomberg will probably have some staying power, even though he didn't qualify, because he got into the race like last month.
02:18:19.000And he's polling the best against Trump.
02:18:21.000So, you know, to me, it's kind of like case closed at this point.
02:18:24.000And we're really seeing competition between Sanders, Warren, and Buttigieg for who might be able to take a shot, you know, once the field narrows to like one or two or one or three or something like that.
02:18:37.000You know, the field narrows rather to two or three candidates.
02:18:39.000The fight is between, you know, who might be that candidate that could challenge him for the top spot.
02:18:45.000Or conversely, another way to think of it is, Who will then be his vice president?
02:18:48.000You know, whoever comes in second place will probably end up vice president.
02:18:56.000But to me, that's how I see the race going down.
02:18:58.000I think we've seen that this race has gone on for a year, and nobody's been able to unseat him or seriously challenge him.
02:19:05.000Nobody's had like a week where they're number one nationally, nobody's had a month where they're number one in any of these early primary states.
02:19:25.000The only thing that he has going for him is demographics.
02:19:28.000You know, that in 2020, you're going to have a lot more Generation Z and millennial voters.
02:19:35.000I think it's mostly Generation Z are contributing to the Democratic base.
02:19:40.000And you're going to have a lot less silent generation voters.
02:19:44.000So that age demographic shift is happening.
02:19:48.000There's also a racial demographic shift happening.
02:19:51.000If you see, for example, Puerto Rican refugees, and you see this with prisoners, felons that are voting in Kentucky and Florida, the First Step Act has released a lot of Democrats, I'm sure.
02:20:05.000So, you know, the demographic, and then, of course, immigration.
02:20:09.000So, all these different demographic trends favor Democrats, making it such that even if they have a bad candidate, they still are in it.
02:20:17.000You know, they still are competitive, and it'll still be tough for Trump.
02:20:21.000The states to watch are going to be Wisconsin.
02:20:56.000Thing in itself, which we'll have to wait and see how that plays out.
02:20:58.000But that's how I predict the next six months are going to go, you know, between now and the conventions in the summer, as I think Joe Biden's probably going to come away with it, unless a serious challenger arises towards the end of the primary season.
02:21:14.000You know, maybe one candidate consolidates the opposition against Joe Biden.