Thank you. Mayor, welcome back. You were here in february before you became an official candidate. I see you are playing now do you ever stop and say to yourself how did this happen . Every now and then. Go from here today are . At that time, you were essentially and times. [laughter] maybe a little more than that. You were asterryas k plus. You are one of the flock of smalltown mayor young guys and now you are a contender. What have you learned about the country . What have you learned about yourself, the journey from there to here . The biggest thing i learned is you arrive sensing Something Different if you are not like the others, you get your ideas across that anything can happen. I believe the but didnt actually have any way of knowing as of january or february, that we could build a following, that we could attract a movement. That has proved out from the south bend, april through the debates, we have been able to advance past the first 20 or so, my competitors. The biggest hills to climb, what it tells you is for all the problems and there are many in our system, there is still some level the system makes possible for people to break through. The idea that a thirtysomething gay south bend, indiana, mayor would even be taken seriously was a bit of a leap. And also think it tells us about the moment we are in because somebody like me doing Something Like this probably would not have given this far at any other moment in history of the republic. Describe the moment you think makes it possible. I think it is a moment when a lot of our assumptions and orthodoxies have been shattered or called into question by the emergence of donald trump. A lot of them are going to have to reassert themselves. The idea is not that there are no rules but some rules have been broken and others are going to reassert themselves. We dont know which. We are also at a moment where there is a desire for something that is new and different and yet not new and different the way the current presidency is new and different. But rather a response to the fact we are in between moment in american history. We are in one of those moments that is hard to read precisely because it falls between chapters. I would date the current end to the election of ronald reagan, roughly the time i was born. That has gone on for 40 years. Democratic and republican behavior has played within certain boundaries, the reagan era, the neoliberal area, whatever you want to call it, now blown up under trump who is a symptomatic cause of this unraveling. Now we have to figure out what is coming next. That means if you arrive with an account of where america is people will hear you out even if you dont have traditional credentials of the mainstream president ial candidate. Trump obviously looms large over all of this. What do you think his affect is . When you talk to people there is this big debate about is this a time as Elizabeth Warren says, she has done very well with it, bold structural change, or is it a time to heal the country and restore some sense of called and common purpose and some of the things that have been shattered . What do you hear when you are out there . I hear both. You are a politician. [laughter] this is important, this is why i am running. We have to have bold change because the failure of our political and Economic System is what got us here. A a guy like donald trump should not have come within cheating distance of the oval office, should not have been able to take over either one of americas two Major Political parties. The fact that that was even possible, i believe, reflects the failure of our system to keep up and deliver for people. The failure of our system to make everyday life better in america which is why we need real change. It is also the case that we need to heal. I am thinking a lot about not just the need to end the Trump Presidency but what it is going to be like the first day after the Trump Presidency. I asked voters to really picture this and not just enjoy and savor the idea thank god hes no longer in office. Not even for a day . Maybe for half of the day but then really think about what were up against. None of these problems will have gone away. The problems he exploited in order to become president , they are not taking a break for impeachment or the Trump Presidency or anything else. Meanwhile, we are going to be more torn up by politics then than we are now. Thanksgiving dinners will be a minefield. Our communities will be that much more frayed and pitted against each other. A big part of the job of the presidency is to get people together across all that. I am not saying this is some mealymouthed lets forget our differences and we are going to get along now but we have got to at least agree that we are part of the same country and the president often through the least welldocumented functions of the presidency, the symbolic parts of the presidency, can uniquely help make that possible. The premise of my campaign is we can enact very bold reforms and do it in a way that can unify an american majority which contrary to a lot of the assumptions that i think democrats have had over time, and american majority that is with us on issue after issue and engage to get things done. If we have to choose one or another you talk about where we will be the day after assuming he is not president , and he could be president. But if he is not, there is this theory that, sort of basting experience that he might not go quietly, and that he will, that he will raise doubts about the process and stirs base to question the legitimacy of an election. Lets imagine you are the president. How do you deal with that . Healing is a word but one of the things that has to be done to reassure people about the responsiveness of our institutions and to reinvest people with a sense of common purpose even as we have differences. The work that has to go on right away is to make sure our institutions reflect us. Not that we have majority popular rule on every decision but there should be some resemblance between the decisions being made and what the American People want. You can see this across various issues but the issue behind every issue is democracy, the fact that districts are drawn where politicians choose their voters, the role of money in politics. I would argue the existence of the Electoral College itself. All of these antidemocratic qualities, some that have been there all along that have been used to grind our systems responsiveness to a halt. These work right away and it has to be it is never the process is not sexy but that has to be done alongside climate and wages and racial iniquity and healthcare if we want to advance this country in our lifetime. Host you think you would restore unity by moving to aluminate the Electoral College . Guest it is one example this is important. If we had a National Popular vote we would all be participating in the same election for president. Which is actually not true right now. We need to stitch together the way our communities problemsolving process worked all the way through to the national level. I am not under no illusion we would get a National Popular vote overnight but part of what i do is elevate our ambition a little bit about democratic structure. So clear our democratic structures dont work and perversely even though he is making them worse i think trumps arrival largely reflects the sense of frustration about those structures. In his campaign he said the elections are rigged. In one sense that was a lie, saying it was undocumented immigrants by the busloads showing up in precincts and i never found anybody who think that happened at their precinct but another sense, if the outcome of a congressional race is predetermined by gerrymandering coming in a certain transparent and naked real way that is true. I really think no matter how clever the policies we come up with our health care, climate, wages or whatever we will see this disconnect that will empower whoever is the loudest and promises most convincingly they are going to burn the houston. Im interested in what you hear when youre out campaigning. He do townhall meetings, meet with people all over the country, spend a lot of time in iowa. How often does Electoral College reform and redistricting and those things come up as opposed to health care, job security . Its much more likely to be about that, health care for sure. Its not just the things that are debated constantly, but also things that havent made as much in the debates like the simple fact of affordability. How Prescription Drugs are paid for, the cost side of things. So thats clearly a a big issu. Theres a sense that even though the economy is being described as good, it is harder and harder not just to get ahead but hold onto what weve got. A lot of folks are finding their pay is level, maybe up a little bit, but no one knew the growth in cost of retirement, health and education. There is this desire to know that housing will work on that, certainly housing. So these are the things i hear about, although the more things like an impeachment. I was going to ask but how much you hear obviously there such a focus a lot of the News Coverage, but its not the focus of the interactions you are having with voters by and large. I used to hear on a day full of Campaign Events, maybe once across the day. Now i hear it maybe once present. If youre trying to figure out bless you. [laughing] if try to figure out, to me politics is about how the decisions made in washington that was a staffer planted there. [laughing] i know these tricks. Thats a good one. [laughing] politics is about whether your life will go different if im president versus someone else. I think that will be true of democratic reforms i am pursuing. For example, your lives would be very different if we had a National Popular vote in the sense you would have had a clinton instead of Trump Presidency and an al gore v. Bush presidency. More to whats on voters minds now, your health care, your wages, your belief to get a good job, housing, retirement, these are the things that will propel some decisions be made. When i was in the white house and the economy was recovering from this awful crash, we always struggle because there were signs of progress in the Macro Economy but people were not feeling it in their lives. The president touts, as you would advise perhaps he should, that unemployment is at a 50 year low and some of these other macroeconomic signs, but people are not feeling it. Sometimes when you push too hard on that it actually creates a backlash where people say maybe its good somewhere but i dont feel it. Think about it this way. Life expectancy in the United States is going down. How is it even possible to have gdp going up and Life Expectancy going down at the same time . It tells you something about where that Economic Growth is going and whether its making us better off. I dont want to leave your own experience as a candidate. You were talking to some students earlier and you asked most surprise you about this . You talked about the physical toll of campaigning. You seem reasonably fit. Thank you. Its physical demand and what i didnt understand getting into it. As somebody watching News Coverage of candidates i never knew bullied someone when he said its a grueling process. But now i get it. Its to explain exactly why. But something about the constancy of the motion and just the sheer number of places you go and things you do in a day. It demands a lot of you. Just by the way this is also the answer to the question on page that has been surfaced. Sometimes its in some kind of indecent ways what you think is, obviously i think theres value in a new generation as the youngest candidate. If you can survive a president ial election, then you have the energy i think required. I think thats right. I think its a gauntlet. I think campaigns are actually auditions for the role and part of it is can you want all the events, can you meet the physical demands of it . And part of it is, the better you do you are doing better now and now the things you say and do actually get a lot more attention which creates more pressure. Yes. And people are quicker to point out anything that they think you did wrong. Its only going to get worse, brother. Im just telling you. [laughing] a precious healthy, right . As you say, first of all it emulates the pressure that at aa different scale the president will experience. It allows you to demonstrate what youre made of. Im partly dating myself there, but the scene in officer and a gentleman when they put him in an auction in fiber, training to be naval aviators. They have to do the simple task involving playing cards. You have to put them in order something entity, giddy and stupid because theyre not getting oxygen. I think thats kind of how the president ial campaign process is. [laughing] encouraging for the public. Just in the sense when you see somebody, for example, i can do to and say that was really down, i could have known better than to say or do that. And thats probably true but the question is, if that were the 17th time in it when our space that you had to do some kind of task of that complexity, could you still have done it . Thats why think candidates get tired or reveal their weaknesses is just because its not any one of the things youre doing thats hard. Its doing all of them at once every day for two years. I have to laugh if you think thats how you were dating yourself. What i say im dating myself i mention casablanca. [laughing] you see how few heads nodded. I had to explain seinfeld to someone. I want to ask you, may be their best moment the debate came in your discussion from the perspective of someone who has worn the uniform of the country, your reaction to whats taken place in syria since that time. Your old friend, Vice President pence from indiana, was dispatched to turkey and an agreement was reached that really seemed like a kind of capitulation. Evaluate what you think we are at and what the ramifications of it are. Its incredibly disturbing because, first of all, the outcomes on the ground are troubling. It was essentially turkey getting its way. We have very little indications of what the longterm implications will be when it comes to ethnic cleansing of the kurds and potential reemergence of isis, but also beyond all of the things happening on the ground, there is permanent damage to american credibility. The thing that hurts so much as a pattern is to think about all of the people who, around the world, as we speak, are putting their lives on the line because they think online themselves with america is a good idea. That often requires a lot of courage. I remember being deployed, not only the Afghan National army folks you would see, but just everyday workers. There was a guy who i would swap stories with about, i was trying to learn his language and he would teach me afghan speedy because you dont speak in enoh languages . Its useful out there. Norwegian doesnt work there . [laughing] not very useful. Actually not useful at all because most norwegians speak better english than we do. [laughing] so his job basically was to clean up this building are some american and allied elements worked. I got to know him and we bonded by discussing corn because he was part of the province where they grew corn and im from indiana with agoa a lot of corn. Give us something to relate over. It was also explained how sammy was vulnerable to kidnap threats and would be much more so if anybody in his the ticket at what his day job was. Just not even a fighter, just a guy going about his life, mopping the floor and is risking his life by working with american troops. If i were over there now i dont know how i could looking in the eye after what we just did. That is going to cost us in so many ways that we havent even seen yet. Because there will be allies who could be doing things precisely so that we dont have to send troops and somewhere who now wont even want to talk with us. If we are not a credible partner, credible ally, weve also stripped the own Service Members of their honor. A lot of the comments coming back from unities with special operators, soldiers and marines who are out there about the level of shame that they feel. And if you take away the honor of the Service Members, there was very little left i think. Thats why this is so disturbing. Its not just that its a terrible policy decision in the middle east for this moment. Its that it could take decades to recover the credibility that was blown up, for no really good strategic reason. Its not like the the presidens faced with this anguishing choice, where there is no way to honor one value without betraying and other. No way to live up to a promise to one ally without undercutting another or no way to save american lives here without endangering there. You dont think he went through that process . [laughing] i dont even know the word process doesnt seem like it could apply here. [laughing] and for so long a special with my more conservative friends, is the debate over whether his president is a good guy or a wise thinker or honest man, ended a long time ago. The debate, maybe youve had this experience if youre on our side of the aisle and debating some on the other side, making excuses for the president. Somewhere along the way the debate shifted whether he was a good leader to whether it mattered. Maybe you got this kind of rhetorical yeah, hes crazy or hes loose with the truth as focal sometimes very gently put it, but how much is heavily going to matter in washington . Theres all these people, now we know. Now we know the deadly consequences of a president who doesnt know what hes doing, doesnt keep his word. And as far as i can tell doesnt care. People die when that happens and people are dying right now. At me just ask you a political question. As someone who is out there in the country, and you yourself have talked, as some of his stripped for the need to end endless wars. That is the argument he is made. This is their problem, not our problem, its 7000 miles away. He will find an audience for that, will he not, with some members of americans . That its a perverse argument because the extraordinary thing that was happening in northern siri was a tiny number of u. S. Troops, were talking a few dozen were able to stand between that region and the things were seeing now, beginnings of a genocide and the reemergence of isis. Just by having a few people there, whats ironic is for those of us who think weve got to get out of afghanistan, this is what getting out of afghanistan are to look like is you have skeletal presence of special operators and intelligence gathering capability, just enough to keep america safe and to stand between that place and the worst possible outcome, not an open ended and large number of ground troops. This is exactly what we have in syria which is why we didnt have to have a large mobilization of troops in syria. He took it away. You can see the consequences of taking the tiny number, far fewer the number of people in the film and taking them out, he is unleashed something that we may begin with for years. I want to go back to the station of bold structural change. Senator warren has an array of proposals that are largescale proposals to deal with inequality and some of the other issues that people, i think people in this room probably care deeply about. You challenge her in the debate over actually one wishes borrowed a proposal from senator sanders, but talk about that and why it was important to you to challenge her on that, what you think you learn or what we learned and what we should think about. The reason i think this is important is rooted in my experience as a mayor where you say things in a campaign and then they put you in charge and actually have to deliver them. Anybody who allows the phrase medicare for all to escape their lives in Campaign Season has responsibility to explain what it would actually take to get there. Its striking that only, on the highest visibility domestic issue in the democratic primary, the current Democratic Front runner has not detailed how we t would work, other than to speak to senator sanders plan. The concern there is that it effectively means within four years, we are throwing a switch, everybody on private plan loses them. Theres a big coal and how its supposed to be paid for. The reason i think its so important to illustrate this difference is, im convinced we can get that same goal of getting everybody delivered. Its not like im proposing some little technical week. Im proposing the biggest reform healthcare in this country in 50 or 60 years. Medicare for all who want it is what i call if its the idea is you take a version of that, but anybody get in on it if they want, and if you want to keep her private plan thats okay. A lot of people tell pollsters speedy how much would that cost or how would you find is that . The great thing about doing it in this way versus having all of the growth of the treasury right away is you can do this without tax increases on the middle class. You will have to roll back the trump tax cuts. We will have to close loopholes on corporate taxes, but these are things we should think about anyway because i dont think those tax cut should have in the first place. The 1 will have to pay more, for sure. Both in terms of income and in terms of wealth tax. But dont worry, they will still be very, very rich. [laughing] so im not saying we dont have to come up with a revenue. But im also committed to making sure everything we propose in my campaign we explain what the revenue is going to be because i think deficits matter. Republicans said they cared about deficits, especially when youre trying to stop us from investing in anything. And then they took power and it turns out they dont care. They blew up at and that mediate democrats dont get into business of worrying about these fiscal question, and nobody cares about it. Maybe its a generational thing but the longer youre planning to be a, more likely these fiscal timebombs could go off on your watch. The other thing is just but you could hand me a piece of paper and say, heres what it would cost, and heres have would be paid for . Yes dear i dont have it on me. But no, we are continuing to keep score for every promise that they make so we can show theres a pay for so its at least budget control we think a Prescription Drug plan for the budget positive because it will be a savings to the treasury when we are negotiating with Pharma Companies on the price of drugs. The important thing is this is what americans actually want. Here you have a majority of americans backing an extremely bold progressive reform, only present from my competitors to say that weve got to do something further that most americans dont want. Do you think that could cause the election . It certainly wont help because again a lot of the people including democrats who would tell upholsterer they are from medicare for all, what they mean is actually what im proposing. They are from medicare for all or they can keep the plane if you want which is why, some along the course of this year it became the case of lease in the commentary that medicare for all has to mean their version, which is medicare for all whether you like it or not which is why i started calling mine medicare for all who wanted. Just to clear fight. For the weighty and the healthcare is one that still does now she kept private lands if you want. The more people discover that her vision and syndicate standers vision take that away from you, the more travel were going to have. Are the other issues that could create those problems . Again, the remarkable thing about the moment we are in is theres a big american majority for a lot of major progressive reforms. But there is a point where think its too far for a lot of folks. I come at this in terms of what the right policy is but i also think politics will follow that. Think about college is another area. We should actually make college free for low and middle income students. By the way, what you call the bay ridge we call trustees. [laughing] and again i promise you they will be just fine. But those trustees children, should they go to college, i think they can pay their own tuition. We dont need to make it free for absolutely everybody. We should make a fee for anybody who would face this as as a barrier. I just think thats better policy. I also think it speaks to an allergy among just a lot of americans to the sense that were going to four and the direction of free things. Of course nothing is free for its question of whos paying for what for whom. There is a resistance to this word of free. I just this is my clinical analysis based on some years in this work, is that there is a sense that people should have skin and again. Its sort of interesting. I was talking to governor raimondo from rhode island about this, and she had a branding issue because she wanted to make Community College free, but the word free she said was offensive to some. Let me ask you about your own progress here. You are making obvious progress in iowa which is where this whole process begins. What do you have to do there by the way, do you think, to keep the momentum going . I think three things matter. One is worthy of the resources to just go the distance. Because these operations are expensive. Weve got that. And next thing is do you have a message that is resonating . We feel we do but theres still a lot of iowans who dont really have an opinion of me or some of the other candidates because maybe they are living their lives. Right. They are not following the blowbyblow process because that stuff going on. And the third thats important is the ground game. When the iowa press said we won the steak fry, im sure speedy which is a big event in iowa, the cattle call of and theres no objective measurement for how you win the steak fry. One were issued by a love tickets and get on supporters which you guys did. Right. So what it really means, it sounds like this very superficial thing but the reason it matters is the organization you are test driving to get people out to cheer for you at the steak fry is the same organization that will be turning out on caucus night and i will. Putting that organization to its paces, another big event, i did in a couple weeks thats the island date democratic dinner, a key moment for obama as a candidate. Ill be giving the speech along with the others. That will be very important for us. We just had to keep returning and showing up and cultivating that support at some of the other candidates maybe follow fall away. Voters who are keeping their powder dry make up their mind. That being said, i believe that a series share possibly even a majority of voters will not really make of the month until the last ten days, which is not unusual in the iowa caucuses. If you get past that, go to new hampshire, you seem wellpositioned to do well there if you do well in iowa. Once you get past that, now youre getting to states with large numbers of African American voters, South Carolina looms forth in the sequence. You are not doing well with africanamerican voters. You are negligible, asterisk would be close to the way to describe your support there. Why do you think that is, and well, why do you think that is . Voters need to feel like they know you. One of the things thats clear, we get a Quick Response whenever im addressing majority black audiences about our agenda. That there are also a lot of folks especially a place like South Carolina who want to feel like they really understand you and know you. Our challenge and our task is to build that familiarity very quickly. Right now the former Vice President has an overwhelming advantage, among these voters, but i think one of two things is true. Either its because he has the best answers on the subject of race or because that trust and similarly is playing a big role. And his partnership with president obama. Which is part of that. If the letter which i think of the candidates can build the trust by making clear what we stand for. Thats our pathway for. Its whats allowed us to win over audiences one at a time and thats the other thing is you have to show you can win. This is especially important for voters who are skeptical of newcomers. In many ways more than the commentary is probably has assessed up to now and big part of how you can be viable in as e to learn is to prove in a in ae like iowa you can win. Let me ask you two elements of this. The first is, you had significant turbulence in your campaign earlier in the year because of the Police Involved shooting in south bend. How much do you think that retards durability to grow . And you had an unwelcome story today that the former Corporation Counsel for the city was a cosponsor of an event and against your speaking at, a fundraising event, had given you the max and help raise money for this event. You had to return that money. Should that have happened . It should not come and assumes i found out about it, so this morning just be clear, the reason this is such a concern, some whos involved in speedy im sorry, i shouldve filledn the blank. He was the Corporation Counsel in the city was withholding the tape of the Quan Mcdonald shooting. A special as a of the city has had a lot of anguish over please community relations, i believe strongly that transparency and justice for laQuan Mcdonald is a lot more important than campaign contribution. I learned about this morning and within about an hour of that he still longer involved in event or the campaign. But this is also, this reflects one of the things about raising money is you then have to create an infrastructure to evaluate potential donors to avoid stories like this. So this is a growing pains stor story. Thats not an unfair way to put it. We started this campaign with four people in january as an exploratory committee. How many do you have now . At least 100 times that. I would hire one more and put them on vetting. [laughing] noted. Look, this is important, youre right this is important because it reflects on the campaign. We have roughly 600,000 people who have contributed to the campaign, and would somebody contributes especially to the substantial level, you need to make sure you have gone through the steps to make sure theres no concern that would make you regret they were associate with the Campaign Even if its not somebody you have interacted with directly. Getting back to the main issue though, you had an event in bronzeville here which is predominately Africanamerican Community. The audience was predominately white. You just havent broken through. I want to ask you a really sensitive question, which is i remember from the Marriage Equality debate when i was working with the president and so on, the most resistance that we faced was among democratic coalitions, was among older africanamerican voters. You are the first openly gay candidate for president , and how much of a barrier is that for you and how do you overcome that . Its there. I think theres a process going on in the black community in general, the africanamerican churches in particular, around this. But i cant think about it in terms of its effects on me as much as i think about in terms of its effect on lgbtq youth of color who often really rely on their churches as a place to go for help in difficult times. I think that it is in the name of compassion toward youth who really need their churches to be there for them that about a lof progress is currently happening on this issue. One of the concerns i hear, because i think you took a big step forward in that debate, and people are beginning to look at you and say, maybe this is possible but the concern that you hear from people is, knowing the way the trump operation works, that he will weaponized this and try to turnout in particularly and Africanamerican Community in races that could be marginal. Look, they will find something to weaponized against everybody. If it isnt something there they will make something up and use that. Thats what theyre going to do. But its also the case that if we have the right message and built by coalition, this race should not be close. They should not be within cheating distance. Theyre going to do all kinds of nefarious things. Of course they are. Cheating distance is an interesting choice of words. I want to go to questions in one second. There are microphones, one in the balcony and there are microphones or the will be here comes a microphone. One down the main aisle. Why dont you begin lining up . Is a one in the balcony . And one of the site over here. Whatever your closest, lineup. Did you see saturday night live last saturday . I know you are busy. [laughing] isac. It was not fair because i have a feeling he must know you, right . You guys must have been speedy im doing. I think when its in the same door. I didnt know very well but i knew them a little bit in college so that one of the strange speedy what did you do to him that made them so that . It all in good fun. If youre being played on snl, something in your life is probably going the right way. Exactly. I didnt see Steve Bullock on that skit. Or other. I like Steve Bullock by the way. Before i get in trouble. Go ahead. Im a secondyear medical student here at chicago. My question is, the racial wealth gap is due to hundreds of years of slavery followed by hundreds of years of discrimination. What are you going to do specifically to close that racial gap . First of all we have to recognize if you take a legacy of racist policies and structures and you replace them with neutral ones, it does not lead to quality. We learned that the hard way. On some level i have learned that the hard way. If you stop and think about it, its very clear why. Think about in terms of competent interesting you save a dollar, it turns into two, four, eight. Over 100 years, it becomes 1000. True of a dollar stolen. When people not just a doll or a of dollars but the entire Economic Life of people has been stolen in generational theft going back to 1619, this is not something that would just correct itself. It compounds and in many ways the fact that some of these harms happened hundreds of years ago doesnt make it better. It makes it worse. Add to that the fact some of these harms did not happen hundreds of years ago. The exclusion, the de facto exclusion from the g. I. Bill, the fact its more difficult for black americans to access social good benefits. Housing policies, within the lifetime of my parents, segregated neighborhoods that started out in a great beginning of the century. Hes intentionally and through the company on behalf of the American People compounded inequities and led to the racial wealth gap and racial income gap. What do we do about it . First of all im a support of h. R. 42 to investigate reparations. That conversation needs to happen. I dont think we should wait to take certain steps that ive proposed that douglas plan. The idea is, its named after Frederick Douglass he demanded our country be closer to the cup to its professed ideals. I think we should call the plant and him after person to remind people that it could be as impatient ambitious as the Marshall Plan except this time lets invested like it at home one of the reasons why in addition to things like it often the most discussion what comes to problems of a racial inequity like an equity in our criminal justice system. Im really focus on solution side. Solutions come in from within the black community and entrepreneurship i proposing the federal government have 25 goal for business led by people have been historically excluded. Its why were proposing a walk of this initiative that would provide what we call a debt for jobs guarantee to remove the debt from pell eligible students who start small business. People face whats informally called a black tax can basically the fact and entrepreneur of compass more likely to be inspected to find relatives and support family members because of that same wealth gap you are talking about. Whether were talking entrepreneurship, access to greatness and that that the peace that needs be reformed. Whether were talking a criminal justice because having a parent incarcerated is something that makes them less likely to meet their potential later on. In addition to health and a new Voting Rights act and home ownership, all of pace things are tied together and because the disparity is systemic, the solution has to be systemic. I dont want to be too longwinded but theres a lot more on the website. Use some of the measures we need to undertake. The last thing i would add is there is a conversation that needs to happen among white americans. This cant be something that is only raised as a sort of specialty topic for black audiences. And, frankly, its important not to hear about this from candidates of color because theres got to be away without arousing some of the defense of this that of people have to talk about how everybody is implicated in this problem and everybody can be part of a reparative or restorative process to make it better in our lifetime. Thank you. Yes. Up here. Okay. My name is devin wenzel and of a secondyear english major, and as such i just like asking people what their favorite novels are. Its not political but if you want to give me some book recommendations. All right. First of all i am proof you can study literature and then have a job. [laughing] good on you for being an english major. Ive talked elsewhere what i think ulysses is the ultimate personal and political novel that explains a lot. It was about the everyday, people think of it being about complicated things. I just read jewel bonnies room by james baldwin, very timely novel. Giovanni i just giving into the history of rome about how republics die. [laughing] one of the things in there is when the consensus building institutions of a cynic, for example, our ground to a halt for obstructions purposes, thats one of the symptoms of a republic sortie to die. Also time the book, i its called mortal republic. I think its called mortal republic. This book called finish nightmares which is basically, its these cartoons, kind of evoking nordic social anxiety that a fight for some reason i can relate to. [laughing] i dont know if they have that at the Center Street books but those would be my pick for the moment. Thank you. Yes, over here. Perhaps you want to ask about film. [laughing] i made Public Policy major. Hello. My name is jason. Im a secondyear student at the college, mr. Mayor. My question is related to the Police Tensions with the city of south bend, im not like they gatekeeper for all black relations between like white people and like black people bt do think it is like a legitimate claim for black people to be hesitant to give their advocacy guide you especially with your chief of police and comets about all police matter. I would like you to speak of those just a bit more. I know mr. Axelrod touched on it a bit but id like for you to touch on that a bit more if you could. I i am a of a diverse communy that has a past and a complex relationship between communities of color, especially black community, and officers sworn to keep it safe. One of the toughest moments in that relationship came early in my tenure. I interviewed three candidates to be my police chief and bound up selecting an africanamerican chief would serve under my predecessor. Because he was strong in the community of policing. Later on we got a visit from federal investigators about an investigation going into some of his actions and things that were going on in the Police Department relator to wiretapping of other officers. I reached the conclusion, parts of this are still being adjudicated in court, but i reached the conclusion i couldnt have him continue to serve and the role if i found up not from him but from federal investigators that he was the subject of an investigation like that. It was a trust issue and our relationship. The concern that followed from that, and a lot of pain in the community, really demonstrated to me in ways i think before i only understood in theory, some of the things that are at stake in the relationship between black residents and the police. While theres been a lot of good work done in terms of making sure that we for example, empower residents and citizens to weigh in on policies, we built a transparently portal so you can look up whats going on with cases of use of force or complaints just alongside whats going on the day to prevent crimes so people understand whats happening under the hood of our leasing. Efforts that some of which are still a struggle especially around recruiting, post ferguson, recruiting minority officers has become even harder in some of our numbers have moved in the wrong direction. Some things have worked well. The level of accountability has really risen on my watch when it comes to expectations for officers. I think that demonstrates it hasnt been perfect but every step we take and weve done together. At its helps me to understand whats at stake having a white house and the department of justice that is serious about Racial Equity and pleasing. As we are through these painful steps in our city, during the Obama Administration i could reach up to the white house or doj for help. Right now we have doj that is made it abundantly clear that civil rights is not its priority, and it changes a lot of things both for departments that frankly need to be enforced on when it comes to civil rights. Fast that happened to us but it hasnt of the cities, and departments trying to do the right thing that need help and on their own, to the point we have been, we are moving to engage people at work in that Previous Department of justice and are still working these issues to help us because we know were not going to get help from washington today. Those are some of the steps weve taken and they motivate the policing talbot to to one f the is an important point in the douglass plan. These issues are going to be with us for a long time. They didnt start on my watch and they will not end when i leave but if i cant promise weve been perfect on the species, i can promise i have walked through the community and understand whats at stake in getting it right. Im now going to go back up the other way, so go ahead. My name is isabel and i my first year in college, poly side major poly. Im really interested in terms of campaigning and issues that straddle political reality an actual reality. So, for example, someone who lives by the Mexican Border who is a bluecollar worker might feel that immigrants are taking the jobs even though we know thats not a factor even though we know thats not true, where someone in new york city is a lawyer might think, be very welcoming to immigrants. So what [inaudible] i think the best thing we can do is connect it to reality on the ground. The great example for this in my view is the political trajectory of the Affordable Care act in 2010 it was a dead issue of democrats. We got killed over it because it was all in theory. These stories about death panels and all these things, people believed it. By 2018 2018 it was the winnine for democrats for the reason it actually happen if people realize they were better off and were not going to allow their members of congress to take it away from the. Even on the toughest social issues i find they get a lot better when its connected some of with live expense. Immigration is a great example. In south bend we had an undocumented immigrant who was a Business Owner get deported. People were furious that he had been deported. By the way, he was from a very conservative part of her county and all the people demanding that he do something to stop this, which of course i really couldnt as a mayor, where conservative republicans. His own wife voted for donald trump because they really didnt see it as something is going to affect somebody like you. You could say, what did you expect . Remember if you on a diet foxnews being in a community republicans is where to being respectful, you didnt see this coming. But the more were talking terms of actual lived experiences, the stronger we get. This example about election rigging. I know plenty of people think there was a bus load of undocumented immigrants voting summer but ive never met one person who thinks it happened at their polling place. The more we can make it about the realities that we live and breathe and see, the better off we going to be. Its for exactly this reason the president wants is thinking about things that are far off and strange, like whether we should by queensland, right . The big problem in your life, if youre sitting at home can figure out to pay the bills is probably your not getting paid enough for health care is too, not that we are not hot greenland. We need to make sure that tether allows us to build the Common Ground that only exist on issue after issue, even issues were democrats have been in a defensive crouch like guns. Overwhelming consensus we should at least do background checks. Because while most people thankfully the president expense of gun violence at least have the experience about being worried about the kid going to school. So the dicks. I think is attached on the get us out of this if our nominee have enough discipline to keep the experience at the center of the message, even at all of these dazzling and horrifying things happen around a. Do you have any idea who could get . Ive got a thought. [laughing] my name is daniel. Im an american jew and its very important to me that israels occupation of the palestinian territories and. Not in spite of my judaism but because of the. We have 4. 8 million palestinians are living living under the authority of military over whom they can exes in a accountability and to me this is despicable in terms of the jewish principles of love and humanism that i was raised on. You said in the past you believe the occupation must and, and im glad we agree but the United States gets over 3 billion in militarymilitary aid to issue each year, much of which funds the occupation. Theres a deep complicity in this nation. Id ask you to get to the question. So its clear we need real action. My question is, as president when you make a to issue contingent upon and into the occupation completely . What ill say is i think that the aid is leveraged to guide israel in the right direction. And if, for example, there is follow through on these threats of annexation, i committed to ensuring that the u. S. Is not footing the bill for that. One of the shocking things to me about the absence American Leadership under the Trump Administration is not just what is happening among our adversaries or competitors, whats happening with china or russia throwing their weight around in the way did you come by our allies. After all, turkey behaving the way our right now is also a nato ally. Saudi arabia is doing things that it dont think wouldve been permitted before. I think partly because were not using our marriage as an ally within. The same is true with israel. I believe in the relationship and reliance. I also believe it is in the American Interest as well as the palestinian and ultimately Israeli Jewish interest that israel not reach the point where they will have to be a choice between either being a jewish state or being a democracy. There is a trajectory toward that goal unwitnessed. Im not going to commit right now to all the ways to leverage can should be used but but i wl say our policy goal will be do what you do when a friend is moving in a way of moving that which is put your arm around your friend and guide them somewhere better. You will not condition a complete . I will not put that string on a today. I just have with bunch of other people here. Take one more from there and going back to the balcony. Go ahead. My name is lexi in the mid40 in the college, also one of less than one dozen native American Students in the universe. Giving specific plans plans for native americans considering one of the most marginalized and least represented if ever represented minority groups in the United States . Yes, and i thank you for speaking to this. One thing im very proud of is the first time federally recognized Indian Country came to the state of indiana was in south bend. It was in the context of a 30 you struggle on their part but also a Longtime Partnership we formed with a first nation in our area. I learned a lot about tribal sovereignty and the struggles that exist now. First of all a lot of tribal sitters the fall out of the protection of tribal sovereignty which is why we need a fix to the decision pictures also chronic underfunding of the Indian Health service. Theres been a failure of to recognize free prior and informed consent on some things that impact tribal lands which is i got things like the saint iraq situation. I will also say when i visited the Obama White House as mayor, it was very clear that there was a relationship with mayors and cities, our relationship with e and relationship with tribes. This was considered a very natural part of intragovernment relations. We need a white house that recognizes in its structure and practices as well as to our policies those relationships because they are extremely important for tribal citizens were also american citizens. We have a lot of obligations built up over a long time that we will honor when i am president. Thank you. Going to grab two more questions. Start up, up your. Thank you so much for coming. Im a fourth year studying Public Policy and statistics. I wanted to ask what differentiates your medicare for all who want a policy from the of the public option healthcare policies the Democratic Candidates are proposing, and why do you think it is a better policy . There are a number of features, you can read faster than i can talk secant see more of it online but i will mention a few things that a think are important. When is our approach on affordability. We make sure there is a cap on how much of your income can go towards premiums, 8. 5 of them also have subsidies to make it possible for anybody to afford coverage. Another thing is important is philosophically, i would like for this to guide his toward medicare for all or singlepayer environment. Its just we need a little bit of humility to discover by doing whether thats going to be the right answer for everybody instead of assuming it will be and an requiring ability to embrace of your in other words, if progressive like me are right that the public alternative is going to be better, then everybody will opt in. It becomes a singlepayer. But i dont want to risk other Peoples Health care on as having got that right in washington nor dont want to risk of the Peoples Health care on us having to quit the guest a number of years it would take to get there in washington. Its what i think its important to create this alternative and then if the private sector comes up with Better Things than they have now, fine. The important principle to me is not that the government be your payer, your insurer. The important principle to me is you get good coverage one way or the other. But he do think that is a philosophical difference from folksy feel they are just adding features onto the framework of the aca. Hello. My name is marissa and a student in the law school, so because of that i had a question about the Supreme Court and i thought some of your ideas are pretty interesting. Im concerned any new Supreme Court scheme could threaten the independence of the court and maybe open the door for even more person ship, maybe the republicans will come up with the own Court Packing scheme. I just want you to maybe elaborate on some of your Creative Ideas you floated and any concerns that it could open the door for more partisanship in the court, and how serious you are about them. Yes. This is really important. The idea of reforming the Supreme Court is not to make it more liberal. I will make it more liberal with the people point to it, but thats not what structural reform should be about. On the contrary, the purpose of structural reform should be to make it less politicized, and thats got to be the core of any reform we undertake. Thats what if were going to expand the number of members of the court the idea that i float is one where a third of the court can only be seated by unanimous consensus of the other twothirds. In other words, your 15 justices, ten of them can be pointed through the traditional methods and the other five can only be seated by unanimous agreement by the other team. Im not smart enough to thought of this on my own. For folks are interested theres an article in the yale law journal about to come up that explains why this might be something that could be achieved without a constitutional amendment. Thats a law school in east, correct . So im told. Thats by the most ambitious report. Of this event that doesnt dial down the politics that much. Another is to rotate people of the appellate bench. Im not going to be doctrinaire about the idea itself. I do think we need a sense of urgency around reform. And when you get might ourselves the report is an object or Supreme Court has been adjusted many, many times over our history. I would argue the Republican Senate change the number of justices to eight until he took power again. Its also been before the much healthier waster in the 1973 constitution amendments happening all the time to improve our government, the 25th amendment changing the voting age to 18 and even amendments that didnt make it like the era, the fact that fight happen is very good consequences in terms of legal to things like title ix. So this is a moment where obviously our political structures have not kept up with the times. And that means calling into question whether the United States has a right number of states, whether the trend Supreme Court as a right number of justices. Maybe even whether the use house has the right number of representatives. Not in order to make government more liberal. Thats the job of liberals to go out in political space and argue for, but to make it more responsive before its unresponsiveness leads to pathologies even more disturbing than the Trump Presidency. Did you say whether the United States has the right number of states . Yes. Look, this isnt just some cheap way for indiana to merge with illinois, is it . [laughing] no, i think were all set on our side of the state line. No, but the idea if youre living in d. C. And you are a dishwasher and you dont have representation it would not be the smallest date if it became a state but would it what would be his most africanamerican state in union, so thats an example. Puerto rico people puerto rico decide to be a state we should welcome that. I dont think we should wait on that the electoral votes for puerto rico because of a did it would be less likely the disgrace of Hurricane Maria aven. The some basic things we need to revisit from time to time and we just lost the muscle memory to do it over the last 40 years or so. Its time for a new season of structural reform to our democracy itself. Let me just say before we let you go how much we appreciate you being here. And i want to say to all of you how much i appreciate you all being here. This is going to be an enormously consequential election, and we have to the institute of politics and now a campuswide effort, our hope is going on this campus registers and votes and participates because the decisions youre going to make or the decision that would be made this year is going to impact dramatically on the quality of life and the future of our country that you are going to live as mayor pete likes to speak about watch your line about when youre as old as the current president is . 2055. The thought is when i reached that current age of the current resident of what to look back in 2020 2020 say thats when things started getting better. I think it really will be decided in these years coming up right now whether our climate is going to be one that can sustain us, whether systemic racism will either finally be rankled out or whether it will finally drag down the entire american project, whether we can build an economy especially in this new machine age where works for everybody are whether numbers on a page go up. These things are about to get worked out for us, and this will go down as one of the most consequential times in history of the public. Thats why we need imagination and a spirit of boldness coupled with unity. I just refuse to accept that boldness has to mean beating everybody else overhead and crushing them into submission. I think boldness means having answers that are going to work and gathering that majority to get it done. This is our chance. This might be our last chance and its why im running. Et al. Up to you, no pressure. [laughing] thank you very much. [applause] [applause] cspans campaign 2020 coverage continues live today with president ial candidates in iowa and mississippi. Starting at 7 30 p. M. Eastern on cspan the democratic president ial contenders speak at the liberty and justice celebration in des moines. Featured speakers include senator michael bennet, former Vice President joe biden, senator cory booker, governor Steve Bullock, a Pete Buttigieg come secretary wholly and castro, representative john delaney, senator kamala harri, senator amy klobuchar, beto orourke, senator bernie sanders, tom styler, senator Elizabeth Warren and andrew yang. Then at 8 p. M. Eastern on cspan2 President Trump holds a Campaign Rally with supporters in tupelo mississippi. Watch cspans campaign 2020 coverage life today at 7 30 p. M. Eastern on cspan and at 8 p. M. Eastern on cspan2. Watch anytime on cspan. Org and listen on the go with the free cspan radio app. Live at noon eastern on in depth. Princeton University Professor joins us. Jim crow alabama. My mother lived her youth through a White Nationalist society. Openly, officially. It has reared its head again. The most recent book is breve a letter to my son. Profits of the hood and maybe forever stand. Join me interactive conversation with your phone calls, tweets and facebook messages. 9 00 p. M. Eastern, author of it should not be this hard to serve your country. The Trump Administration. Interviewed by iraq and afghanistan veterans ceo jeremy butler. The government involvement is the most effective way of honoring our nations commitment to our veterans. That does not mean they should not have the ability to go into the private sector or when it is in their best interest. When specialized care is available. We all believe that that should be. Watch book tv every weekend on cspan two. Now boeing president and ceo testifies about the safety of the 737 max airplane. Through the senate commerce. Owing airplane chief engineer john hamilton. Other witnesses include current and former safety board chairs that provide recommendations concerning the 737 max aircraft. Just over three hours 10 minutes will come to order. Thank you all for being here today. One year ago today, ryanair flight