Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Pete Buttigieg Talks U.S. Economic Crisis; Leadership, AI Regulation, Reforming Government + More

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INTERVIEW: Pete Buttigieg Talks U.S. Economic Crisis; Leadership, AI Regulation, Reforming Government + More · The Breakfast Club

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hold up. Every day I wake up. Wake your ass up.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: The Breakfast Club. You all finished or you all done?
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy, Just Hilarious, Charlamagne Tha Guy.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: We are The Breakfast Club. We got a special guest.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: He's back in the building, ladies and gentlemen.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Yes, indeed.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Pete Buttigieg, welcome back. How you feeling?
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Morning. Feeling good. Thanks for having me back.
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: Pete, you're a politician I never mind seeing because, like
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: I always tell you, you come all the time, not
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: just when it's like, you know, midterm elections or something.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: So I appreciate that. How are you?
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: How you feeling this morning?
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: I'm feeling good. You know, we've been going all over
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: the country, uh, been to, I think 35 States since
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: I left the cabinet. And I think Democrats are going
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: to win some big races because people, a lot of
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: people who believe this administration, when they said they were
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: going to cut costs, drain the swamp, uh, uh, you know,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: improve everyday life. Obviously the opposite has happened. So this
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: is this opening, uh, for us to talk to voters
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: who maybe weren't listening to us before. So politically, uh,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: I'm really excited about that. Personally, uh, things are great.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Kids are back in school. Um, And, uh, yeah, obviously,
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: you know, there's a lot that keeps me up at night,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: but I'm feeling good. You held onto the facial hair too,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: I see. Yeah. You know, Chastain been wanting me to
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: do that for a while. And, uh, after I left
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: the cabinet, you know, finally had a few weeks in
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: a row where I didn't have to shave and, uh,
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: I think it's here to stay.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: So now America seems like it's pretty, pretty, pretty effed up, right?
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: You talk about interest rates just raised, uh, gas prices
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: are through the roof. Diesel fuel is, is over $ 6, uh,
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: Eggs prices are still expensive. Groceries are expensive. Healthcare is expensive.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: What the hell is going on?
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Well, we've got bad leadership, right? They came in. They
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: had one job. I mean, they gave themselves one job,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: and it was to make life in this country more affordable.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: And you go down the list, and it's not just
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: that they're trying to make life more affordable and failing.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: It's that they are taking direct actions that make life
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: more expensive. They said groceries would get cheaper. Then they
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: put in the tariffs on average. That's about $ 1, 000 per
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: household more that we're paying.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: That's great.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Some of them got struck down because they were illegal,
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: but many of those tariffs are still there. They said
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: they were going to make gas cheaper, right? Like you said, diesel,
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: highest level ever in American history. Gas, way up there, right?
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: And that is a direct consequence of a war on
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Iran that, you know, part of how Trump got elected
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: was he said, I'm a different kind of Republican. I'm
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: not going to get us into a war in the
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: Middle East. And here we are in a war in
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: the Middle East. interest rates higher. Part of why interest
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: rates are higher is because you got this enormous deficit.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: Not because we didn't have a choice, but because they decided,
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: even after you have all the money they saved by
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: kicking people off of Medicaid and SNAP, that they were
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: going to give an even bigger tax cut than that
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: paid for to the richest people in the country and
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: the biggest corporations in the country. So you got the
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: debt now of $ 40 trillion, so the interest rates are
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: going up. So everything in life is more expensive. And
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: everywhere I go, people are seeing that, they're feeling that,
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: they're experiencing that. My point is it doesn't have to
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: be this way. This is not just some cosmic effect
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: from market forces that nobody can do anything about. This
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: is a direct consequence of the choices that are being
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: made in Washington. And we can change that. And part
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: of how we change that, obviously, is in less than
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: seven weeks, there's an election coming up where we can
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: change the leadership that is creating the conditions that makes
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: everything more expensive in this country.
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: Do Democrats understand working class people anymore? Because I ask
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: that because I don't understand why it feels like they're fighting.
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: The establishment Democrats are fighting the progressives so hard. when
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: all they are talking about is working class affordability, whether
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: you call them DSA or socialists or whatever you call them.
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: It just feels like the establishment Democrats are fighting that
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: messaging of affordability coming from those working class people.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Well, part of why I was saying I feel encouraged
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: about what's going on around the country politically is that
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: I see us getting back to that. I see a
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: lot of candidates stepping forward. And it's not so much
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: a left versus center thing. I mean, this is as
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: much the more moderate candidates running in more conservative districts. Mm-hmm.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: as it is those running in more liberal districts. But
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: what I see is a lot of candidates who, when
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: they're talking about what the working class is going through,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: they're not just using their imagination. It's their lives. And
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: I think when you have candidates who are rooted in
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: that experience, and again, sticking to the policies that are
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: going to make the biggest difference for the working class,
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: doing something about the tariffs, bringing back the extended child
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: tax credit, which helped so many low-income families in this country.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: And by the way, cut child poverty in half, and
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: then we couldn't get it renewed because no Republican would
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: vote for it, and one Democrat voted against it during
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: the last administration. These are issues that people feel they understand,
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: and so when I'm campaigning with folks around the country,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: I'm seeking out the people who have that kind of
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: connection and that story. Last night we did a rally
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: with a candidate in the Hudson Valley, West Point graduate. She,
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: a son, a daughter of, I think, a teacher, kind
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: of grew up in that community. Um, and, and has
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: a story to tell about that. And, and the candidates
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: were backing around the country. Uh, I think we're a
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: little more in touch maybe than the way people think
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: about democratic leadership.
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah. I've seen you out with, uh, Dr. Abdul Syed,
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: who we like a lot. You know, he was up here.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: What do you like about him? Well, uh, you know,
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: as soon as he won the primary, I thought it
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: was very important to pull the ticket together and make
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: sure that we're, we're standing up largely because, uh, You know,
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: you got a guy, Mike Rogers, he tried to run
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: for Senate last time around, lost to Alyssa Slotkin, trying
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: to run again. And I think he's disqualified himself with
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: his votes against health care, against the Affordable Care Act,
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: and also welcoming more money in politics at a time
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: when I think most Americans see that money in politics
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: is a huge problem that is corrupting the entire political system.
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: Speaking of money and politics, Israel, you know, that policy
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: is producing visible disagreements among Democrats. Does Israel in AIPAC
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: and just pro-Israel lobbies have too much influence on American politics?
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: Well, I think right now you see a lot of
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: groups and voters who are stepping up who have different views. So,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: for example, you know, you got a group like J
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: Street that is they care about Israel. They care about
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: Israeli security. about the Israeli people being safe and also
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: don't think that means you just have a blank check
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: for the Netanyahu government to do absolutely anything, including war crimes,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: without that affecting the relationship. And I think that, you know,
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: this is obviously a very painful issue and one where
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: we need to be very clear about safety and freedom
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: of Israelis, safety and freedom of Palestinians, and then something
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: different But obviously, it's gotten connected with all of this,
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: which is an explosion of anti-Semitism on American soil that
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: we have to contend with in a way that I
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: don't think gets any better when you have these huge
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: dark money streams going around behind these campaigns, whether it's
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: connected to the Middle East or, frankly, whether it's on
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: issues around crypto or around AI or around taxes, where,
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: you know, ever since Citizens United— We can't even see
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: where contributions are coming from. And it's, you know, I
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: was just out in Montana a couple months ago. They
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: have an initiative called the Montana Plan. And it's a
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: very clever way to get around Citizens United by requiring
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: that if you have a corporation, one of the things
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: a corporation is not allowed to do under state law,
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: if this passes, is use your money as a corporation
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: to manipulate the outcomes of an election. It's something that
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: is super bipartisan. One of the people involved is a
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: former Republican national committee chair. And it's going out on
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: a referendum. It's going out to a ballot that everybody
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: in Montana will be able to vote on. I think
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: it's going to send a message that this is not
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: just some liberal or progressive concern that Americans across the
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: board are fed up with money in politics.
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: You're one of the smartest, you know, I guess I
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: guess I'd call you a politician out here. Right.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Probably, probably the smartest. Right.
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: How do you think Democrats should address this younger generation
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: in regards to what is happening with Israel? Because I
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: think it's unfair to just, you know, criticize Israel. I
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: think you should criticize the Israeli government.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: Right. Like you should criticize people in Yahoo.
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: You should be specific about it.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: How would you address it? Yeah, I think that's exactly right.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: Israel has an election coming up. We'll see what happens
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: over there. But I think you can care about the safety,
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: security and freedoms. of Israeli people and Palestinian people and
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: also be fiercely against the conduct of the Netanyahu government.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: And as a matter of fact, I think that's how
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: most people feel. And it is fair to question where
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: our tax dollars are going, right? Because the U.S. is involved.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: The U.S. is implicated in all of this. And you
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: see a lot of young people asking those questions. And
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: that makes all sense in the world to be asking
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: those questions. I think what we've got to do is
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: as we handle those questions, draw some pretty clear lines.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: between how we feel about the conduct of a foreign
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: government that the U.S. has historically supported and how people
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: feel at home. Because I do know a lot of
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: people who are staying up at night worried about their kids'
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: safety on college campuses because of something that is going
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: on with this is the backdrop, right? And sometimes invoked
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: as an excuse. What's going on with anti-Semitism and hate
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: crimes on American soil, as well as around the world. Again,
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: those two things should be separate, right? One of those
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: things is a racial hatred. And the other conversation we're
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: talking about is a policy question about what is happening
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: with war and peace and the choices made by governments.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: But often those two things have been traveling together. And
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: that's a problem.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: One question about that. So how much of the stuff
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: do we hear or see in the press? Do you
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: feel it's real? And how much do you feel like
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: it's done because election time is coming up and people–
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: they want people to be fearful. They want people to
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: be scared. How much of that do you think is
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: actually true and how much do you think a lot
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: of it is capital fake?
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: Well, there's no question that when you have people stirred up,
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: there's some political benefit for somebody, right? And I think
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: when you see any controversial or painful issue– I mean
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: this is how it's been with immigration, right? The crazy
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: thing with immigration and its politics– is that most Americans
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: actually agree on what to do. The kind of grand bargain,
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: if you want to call it that, that America needs
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: to do on immigration has been clear for a very
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: long time. We need a secure border. We need to
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: update immigration levels that were set up in the 1980s
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: so that the process for lawful immigration is more straightforward
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: and clear. And we need to do something, create some
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: pathway to citizenship for people who are already here who
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: other than not having their documentation, other than that, haven't
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: had so much as a speeding ticket. Some of them
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: are kids, were kids when they were brought here. There
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: has to be some pathway to citizenship for them that's
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: still fair to everybody who's coming in the regular way, right?
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: This is what most Americans have agreed on the whole time.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: We agree on that mostly. We mostly agree immigration on
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: balance is a good thing for this country. And yet
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: it has been used as the most divisive wedge issue.
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: Why?
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: Well, the congressional GOP and this president found that they
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: could get ahead pitting a lot of American voters against
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: each other, including voters who have shared economic interest, including
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: a multiracial coalition of working class voters who have shared
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: economic interests, and could kind of split people off against
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: each other. So there will always be some controversy or
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: another that is being whipped up or that some scab
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: that is being picked at by some politicians who view
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: that as a way to get ahead.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: What's your thoughts on... the AI conversation, right? So recently,
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: you mentioned AI a second ago. The conversation has been
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: that AI is getting out of control. Allegedly, they said,
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: I guess, an AI device broke into somebody's computer and
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: broke into the password. And Trump said, pretty much, F it.
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: We got to beat China. It's all propaganda. What are
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: your thoughts on AI and how far it's going? And
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: do you feel that we're safe with the AI barriers?
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: No, I don't feel that we're safe. I think this
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: is a real problem. And Even the people running it
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: and controlling it say, this is a real problem. We
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: are worried that we are losing control of our creation. Now,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: a pretty fair question to ask in that context is, okay,
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: then why do you keep doing it? But remember, I mean,
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: part of it is financial, right? I mean, these have
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: become some of the most valuable companies in history. But also,
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: they're all looking at each other. Every one of these
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: companies that we hope would do the right thing and
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: tap the brakes if one of their models is getting
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: out of control is in a fierce neck and neck
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: competition with three or four other companies doing the same thing.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: This is exactly what government is for. These situations where
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: you can't just expect one company on its own to
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: put itself at a disadvantage. Even if that's the right
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: thing to do, you can't assume that they will. You
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: make them. You create a set of rules. I always
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: think about the comparison to aviation safety because that's what
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: I was responsible for. We had more than 3 billion
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: people get on and off of airplanes when I was
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: secretary with zero fatalities. That didn't just happen. A big
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: part of how that happens is that the airline manufacturers,
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: the contractors, the airlines themselves all know they're being held
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: to an extremely high standard by the FAA. And so
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: anytime there's any kind of pressure to cut corners, which
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: there would be if there wasn't this... very high enforced
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: standard of rules, right? You don't face that kind of pressure.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: And so I think about that in the AI space
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: where obviously this is part of government's job to set
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: those guardrails, set that standard. And even the companies now
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: are saying, hey, we need to be regulated here, right?
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: Even the companies are saying, and you've got the White
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: House saying, just do whatever. I'm sure it'll be fine.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: You know what really got my spidey sense going? was
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: when the president called AI problems a hoax. Because you
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: know what else he said was a hoax? COVID. There's
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: no sure sign that something is a real problem than
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: when this president of the United States calls it a hoax.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: So yeah, it's a huge problem. And the fact that
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: Speaker Johnson just sent Congress home, they won't come back
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: until November. They are home until after the election, at
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: a moment when a whole bunch of the leaders, in
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: the AI field are saying this has become the most
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: important problem in the world. And the biggest problem around
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: that problem is that the government won't do anything. Not
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: to mention what's going on with diesel prices and the
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: fact that the nation is at war. You would expect
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: Congress to be working overtime right now. And instead they
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: packed up and went home.
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: Don't you think they did that because, you know, if
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: they're there, then all of the glaring things that they
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: haven't done for the American people will constantly be put
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: on display right in time for the midterms? Yeah.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: I mean, look at the thing they were most directly
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: trying to avoid, which was an impeachment vote on Pete Hegseth, right?
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Worst Secretary Pete ever. And not all Secretary Petes are equal.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: And they didn't even want to have to face a
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: vote to say up or down whether they supported the
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: current Secretary of Defense or Secretary of War, he calls himself,
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: or the current President of the United States. So yeah,
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: I think it's true. The more this Congress does... the
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: less popular they get. And they're already pretty unpopular. But
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: they have a job to do. And if I were
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: in leadership in an unpopular government body at a moment
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: of crisis when everybody was mad at us, I would think, great,
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: we have six or seven weeks to actually put some
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: points on the board. We have six or seven weeks
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: to actually get some results, do something different, improve people's
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: lives before they throw us all out.
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: That's the funniest thing in the world. I'm actually giving J.D.
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: Vance donkey of the day this morning because he's saying, hey,
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: You know, give us another chance. My question is, what's
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: up with the chance you have right now? You're the
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: vice president. You know, y'all have Congress. Y'all can actually
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: govern and do things now. Right.
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: But they always say, like, well, later on. It's like
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: the $ 5, 000, right? You'll get $ 5, 000 after the election. But
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: they're in power now.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: If they want to give everybody $ 5, 000, they would do it.
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: That's right.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: By the way, one thing I keep thinking about with this,
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: obviously the $ 5, 000 is never going to happen. But part
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: of what I was thinking about was I think there's
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: a lot of families where even if it did, I'm
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: not sure it would make them whole with everything that's
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: gone on in the last two years. You're too deep
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: in a hole. Yeah. I mean, just the child tax
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: credit thing alone, not extending that. The Republicans stopped that
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: from being fully renewed. You could imagine a family making
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: about $ 60, 000 with two or three kids where they might
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: be out more than $ 1, 000 just because of that. Then
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: you've got, like I said, tariffs. A family's paying about
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: $ 1, 000 for that. You got a lot of people whose
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: health care premiums went up by $ 1, 000 or more. The
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: price of gas and diesel, if you use a lot
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: of gas, you're out hundreds of dollars a year on that.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: Pretty soon, it's starting to look like even the $ 5, 000
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: wouldn't make up for how much more expensive your life
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: got in the two years that this Republican government has
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: been in charge of the House, the Senate, and the presidency.
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: I wanted to go back to something you said about
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: the airports, and I just wanted your opinion on it.
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: So now they're thinking about passing a new rule, a
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: new law, where people who don't necessarily have to take
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: a flight can go through TSA, right? We all know
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: that TSA lines are long. We all know that they
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: have a heavy load on them already. Do you think
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: that's good? Do you think it's bad? And why?
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: You know, I hadn't seen that. But, you know, I
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: remember when, you know, a loved one could come with
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: you to the gate.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: Not before 9-11, though.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yes.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: I don't remember that.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: I mean, how many movies are there in the 90s where, like,
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: the plot turns on that moment where the boyfriend is
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: at the gate or, you know? And I remember, you know,
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: grandma coming to see us off when we were visiting
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: her in Texas.
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, seeing my mom off and all that. Yeah.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: So, you know, the reason that all that changed, like
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: you said, after 9-11 was it became important to establish
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: that anybody going to the gate was who they said
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: they were. But, you know, scanning technology has improved. There
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: are ways of verifying people's identity. I think, like you're saying,
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: the main thing is do you have enough resources to
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: make sure that doesn't add up to very long lines.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: I mean, we expect a lot from TSA workers, right?
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: And we'll go on break and then they won't get
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: paid for six months. And we still expect them to
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: handle not only the people that have to fly, but
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: people that just want to walk a loved one to
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: the gate. It just seems like a heavy load for
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: all workers.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think if we want to do it, we
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: have to put the resources into that. But, you know,
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: there is a way to do it. And yeah, these
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: TSA workers, you know, we live in a pretty small
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: town in Michigan, so it's a small enough airport that,
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: you know, and I fly so much that I'm getting
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: to know these These guys and, you know, every time
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: I see them, they're they're keeping an eye on politics
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: because they're wondering if they're going to get paid. And
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: they're kind of relieved that it looks like they're going
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: to get paid through November. Then we'll see. There's no
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: way to treat people who are tasked with something as
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: important as keeping our skies safe from terrorism.
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: I want to go back to the money and politics question,
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: because I remember when you were here years ago and
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: you said something that I thought was, powerful. You said
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: just because you take corporate PAC dollars, it doesn't mean
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: you have to be beholden to them. Do you still
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: think that's possible?
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, look, I haven't taken corporate PAC dollars,
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: but you need to be willing to accept somebody's help,
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: somebody's vote, And somebody's contribution, and then turn around and
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: upset or disappoint them with a decision. If you're not
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: prepared to do that, you should not be in government.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: Because the whole process of decisions, especially the hard decisions
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: that wind up on the desk of somebody in authority,
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: is that you are going to have to upset somebody
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: or disappoint somebody who has a point. Right? If these
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: were easy calls, they wouldn't get there.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: And so, but look, the cleaner way to deal with
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: this is to just not have this much corporate money
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: flowing in the first place. You know, the Citizens United decision,
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: this came down in 2010 from the Supreme Court, basically
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: established that corporations have the same rights as people politically
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: and had this kind of doctrine that basically spending money
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: to change how a campaign turns out is the same
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: protected speech as giving a speech or writing a letter
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: to the editor or holding a sign at a protest.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: And that is unacceptable. And if it takes a constitutional
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: amendment to clear that up, then we should do that.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: This happened in 2010. People say, oh, a constitutional amendment,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: that would take 20 years. Well, if we'd started on
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: that in 2010, and it really is something that takes
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: 20 years, we'd almost be there.
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: It's true.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: Right? So to me, for every big problem we have
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: in our politics, there is a base hit and there
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: is a big swing. And we need to do more
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: of the big swings. We can go after the base
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: hits too. So, again, with the money in politics, I
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: mentioned this project in Montana that I supported. Hawaii passed
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: a law at the state level that I think will
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: make a difference. But meanwhile, if the bigger swing is
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: a constitutional amendment, let's do it. And I've noticed this
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: across every policy that I care about, actually. You look
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: at the minimum wage. It hasn't been raised since 2009.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: If you raise the minimum wage, millions of workers would benefit.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: Most Americans think we should do it. Even most Republicans do.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: Republican voters, not Washington Republicans, right? The Republican voters think
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: at least past $ 12 we should raise it. And it
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: hasn't happened. So from time to time, you finally get
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: Congress to raise the wage. But what we really ought
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: to do is index it so it goes up with inflation.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: So you don't have to go back to Congress every
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: time the minimum wage is falling behind. That's a bigger
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: swing we should take the next time we go to
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: do the routine thing, which is to raise the minimum wage.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: And just across the health care, right? There's all kinds
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: of adjustments we can make, improvements we can make. letting
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: Medicare negotiate drug prices. But, you know, the big swing
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: is to have universal health care, which is a thing that,
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: you know, I ran on that eight years ago when
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: I was running for president. I still think it's the
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: right thing to do.
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: Well, we know you're going to run for president in 2028, right?
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: So when you hear voters saying things like, you know,
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: I would not vote for someone who takes AIPAC money,
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: would you take money from AIPAC or pro-Israel lobbyists if
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: you ran for president? And if you did, how would
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: you justify that to voters?
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't think any money is coming my way
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: from AIPAC. What I would say is that... Would you
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: take it if you did? What's that? I wouldn't be
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: comfortable with that. We don't take that kind of PAC
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: money directly anyway. What's happening usually is this is individuals.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: And I do have a problem, by the way, with
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: some of these accounts and websites that go around trying
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: to identify anybody who gave to any group that cares
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: about Israel, even if they're criticizing the Netanyahu government. And
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: treats them all as the same. We see a lot
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: of that. And that's not right. But what I would
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: say is at the end of the day, we should
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: evaluate politicians on what they do and on what their
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: positions are. If they've never held office, then all you
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: have is their positions. And then when they win, you
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: see if they make good on those positions. But all
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: of this is about what are these leaders actually going
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: to do? And we have a clear track record now.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: to judge these leaders or would-be leaders on. We definitely
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: know how to judge the people running for Congress, running
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: for re-election right now, because we've seen what they've done.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: And what they've done is they've made life more expensive.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: They've cut taxes for the richest people in the country.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: They've cut benefits for the poorest people in the country.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: And they've made everything they touch worse. So we know
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: that it's time for a change. And by the way,
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: none of this will get better. I know the conversation
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: always focuses on the presidency. But the best thing we
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: can do to have the executive branch actually contained instead
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: of the out-of-control abuses of power we have right now
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: is to fix what's going on in the legislative branch.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: Congress has authority to contain a runaway presidency. By the way,
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: Congress could actually do something about the courts. It all
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: comes back to Congress, and Congress is on the ballot
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: in less than seven weeks.
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: This is my last question because I know you got
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: to go. You said America is ready for a gay president.
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: What makes you so sure?
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I ran for president almost eight years ago, believing that.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: Partly because of my experience back home in South Bend, Indiana.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: Not exactly the most socially liberal place. And I was
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: already mayor when I decided to come out, and I did.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: And I got reelected with more votes than I got
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: the first time around.
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: Hmm.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: And that was a reminder to me. And I didn't
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: know that was going to happen. I didn't know if
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: it was going to be career-ending when I came out.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: But what actually happened was I had a conversation with
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: voters that was much more about their life than about
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: my life. I was transparent about my life, but it
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: was really about how were we doing at picking up
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: the trash and filling in potholes and growing the economy
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: and taking care of the neighborhoods. And voters felt we
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: were doing a good job. And I think that you've
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: got to give voters... a chance to evaluate you based
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: on what you have to offer. Um, but I wouldn't
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: have run if I didn't believe that. And, uh, and
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: I still believe that.
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: I don't know how it makes me feel as a
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: human when I'm having conversations with people and we're talking
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: about people like yourself. I mean, great humans, right? That
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: we know like people just be like, yeah, yeah. Pete's great,
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: but he's gay. I'd be like, Josh Shapiro. Josh Shapiro's great,
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: but he's Jewish. John Ossoff, he's great, but he's Jewish.
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: Kamala Harris, she's great, but she's a woman. These are
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: people from all walks of life having these conversations.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: And the bigger issue here is, I think that kind
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: of phrase you're describing is always from somebody who says,
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: that's not a problem for me, but I'm afraid it's
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: a problem for somebody else. Yes, exactly. And I think
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: that Democrats in particular have a history of outsmarting ourselves
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: a little bit with that thinking. In other words, instead
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: of saying, OK, here's a leader I believe in. I'm
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: going to support them. And I think for the same
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: reasons they speak to me, they're going to speak to others. Instead,
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: I say, well, I think this is the right person,
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: but I feel like some other voter that's not me
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: who has different values than me is going to view
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: it differently. Like basically trying to put yourself in the
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: head of somebody else and not giving that somebody else
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: a lot of credit. The leaders who have done the
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: best politically in the long run in the history of
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: this country have been the most inspiring leaders. And some
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: of them have broken barriers. Some of them have been first.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: But for the very same reason they might inspire somebody
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: inside the party, they're also going to inspire somebody outside
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: the party. And it's when we try to be like
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: a little too clever that we wind up outsmarting ourselves,
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: I think, and getting in our own way. Each of
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: the leaders that you mentioned and all of our other
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: leaders deserve to be evaluated for what they're actually for,
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: what they've actually done. And it's also just less work
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: to think about it that way than to tie yourself
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: up and not saying like, okay, I think this is
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: the best person, but I don't think somebody else would
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: think that they're the best person. And so I'm going
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: to have some other person that I didn't even think
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: was that great. But that's just, that rarely gets us
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: to a good place. Well, let us pray.
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much. How have you been improving on
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: doing your daughter's hair? I gave you some products, some
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: products last time.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: Did you get them? We are getting better at this. Okay.
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: That means no.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: He's struggling still.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: I understand. No, no, no. We're making progress. Okay. I mean,
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: the thing you can't escape is just the time that's
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: got to go into it, right? Because it turns out, like,
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: if her hair isn't wet enough, then the product's not
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: going to go in the right way.
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: And then just because the product's in there, if you're
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: not getting some oil on there to make sure that
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: it stays in there, that moisture's coming out in an
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: hour and we've got to pick her up.
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: So I'm learning. Yeah, I see. Okay. Chastin's better at
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: this than I am, but he's taught me a lot. Yeah,
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: I think I've gone from remedial to intermediate on this.
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: But it's still progressive. Yeah, she is beautiful. Like, both
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: of them are just the most amazing, amazing kids. I
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: can't believe they're five years old.
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: Call Jess next time.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: Amazing. All right. Yeah, I'll get you on speed dial
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: because I still need help some of these days.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: That's right. Well, it's Pete Buttigieg. It's The Breakfast Club.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: Good morning. Hold up. Every day I wake up. Wake
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: your ass up. The Breakfast Club. Y'all finished or y'all done?