Also served as California Attorney general. She is the first black woman and first woman of indian descent to run for the vice presidency and only the third female candidate as Vice President of a major party ticket. Harris will play a key role in the Democratic National convention with beat which begins next week in wisconsin. Joining me now is our politics and government correspondent marisa lagos and scott shafer. Thank you for joining us. Thanks for having us. We have all three known and covered Kamala Harris for many years. I remember covering her in 2005 when i first came to the bay area. Tell us about your Early Experiences with Kamala Harris, what she was like and how you have seen her change she was a political novice when she ran for District Attorney in 2003. She challenged an incumbent and i think something happened early that shaped the rest of her trajectory to where she is today. A San Francisco Police Officer was shot and killed and she promised in the campaign not to seek the Death Penalty and she didnt and that reaction from the police union and others really shook her and i think she spent in some ways the next 15 years trying to make amends with Law Enforcement groups. When she became attorney general she was more cautious and more political in some ways. She was slow to embrace legalizing medical marijuana. She was slow to embrace body cameras for police, automatic investigations and reviews of Deadly Police shootings. When she announced she was running for president as a progressive prosecutor she got pushed back from those on the left who thought she really wasnt as progressive as perhaps she portrayed herself to be or that they wished she had been. That may not hurt her now running in a National Campaign as vice presidet but we have seen her evolve from the early days when she ran for da expect i am sure some of those issues will come up in attacks against her. What is the analysis of why joe biden chose Kamala Harris . She brings the experience scotches mentioned. She has been a government over 15 years. She is Battle Tested and one of a very long list of democrats running for the president ial nomination last year and earlier this year. I think that ultimately i think it is a combination of is this someone i can govern with if i win and also is this someone i feel comfortable being with . Joe biden and barack obama were famously very close and Kamala Harris actually worked with joe bidens deceased son when they were both attorneys general and i think that personal relationship may have been one of the things that but this over the top. He adored his son and Kamala Harris by all accounts had a great relationship with him as well. Is there any electoral calculus that goes into this decision . Youre talking about the personal interactions got does joe biden hope she will bring more female votes . She already has strong support among africanamerican voters. We have never seen a Vice President ial candidate in recent memory change the dynamic. The two women you mentioned sarah palin you will recall was put on it in part because the Mccain Campaign was flailing. You cant blame them. California is a blue state but i think given joe bidens age and the fact that he is white in this moment of racial reckoning there is a hope she will not only bring along black voters and maybe Younger Voters but excite them and get people who may have sat this election out and come out. I think that is a calculation we will only know if it works after november. Scott Governor Newsom has said he will speak about who he might appoint to harrises senatorial seat until january 2021, but we can still speculate. What do you think . Who are the options who might fill in that seat . A lot of people are already reaching out to him and asking that they consider them. First of all lets see who he is replacing, he is replacing a woman of color so there will be pressure on him to pick at least a woman or maybe a latino or somebody who we have never had, somebody like the attorney general or state senator from los angeles. If he appoints someone who is already a set white officeholder like those two or somebody like the controller then it gets to a point someone to replace that job as well. There is going to be geographic considerations and age considerations. Dont forget Diane Feinstein is 86 years old and so there is a possibility she has long been rumored to be thinking of stepping down in the middle of her term, we will see if that happens but there is no shortage of candidates. California has a lot of people in that generation below where jerry brown was. People who like Kamala Harris an avenue somewhere just waiting for their chance to sort of step up and also people like adam schiff who is down in los angeles and would be a strong contender. I dont think it is the year of the white male that would be my guess. Marisa lagos i want to get into this discussion about the Postal Service. The latest that came out is that the Postal Service is a warning that 46 states could be negatively impacted in their mail in ballots and that they could be disenfranchised is the term being used. Talk to us about what they are seeing as a problem and what they are warning about and how it could impact the vote in november. As a lot of people have probably heard the president did appoint kind of a political appointee to have the post office and we have seen a slowdown in mail service and there was already concern in the year of a pandemic when so many voters have understandable concerns about going to the polls and that this would potentially overwhelm a service that has quite frankly been a political football in washington for a very long time. I think right now what we are seeing is on top of the kind of existing structural challenges, the governor called today the intentional sabotage by this administration taking away machines, cutting into staffing and other resources. Californians should not be as worried as i think 46 other states and dc which is what those letters really warned about. We have a very robust kind of system with a lot of checks and balances to make sure people can get their ballot to the elections officials. They have until i think november 20 for this to be counted so as long as they are postmarked by election day it should be fine. I think people should understand that the mail is not the only way to get a vote by mail ballots and you could drop it off at the Voting Center or polling place and there are options. I think people will have to be creative. It is important we keep talking about this so everyone understands when and where they need to get their ballots in. Coming up next week is the dnc and mostly virtual like it has never been before but like so much it is today, can you give us a preview of what we should be expecting out of the Convention Next week . Unit is based baseball games we have been seeing with those cardboard cutouts, it will be a little bit like that. The delegates arent going to milwaukee so just imagine having to give the speeches which are intended to be rousing with a lot of applause and there is no one applauding, is a little awkward. Four years ago maurice and i were in philadelphia for the Democratic Convention there and being there with all of those people, there was a lot of just stuff thats superfluous you get a sense of where the party is and where the divisions are. We arent going to get to see that this time around. It is going to be different. Scott shafer and marisa lagos thank you both so much. The drop in americas Gross Domestic Product last quarter was the worst on record. All the millions of americans have lost jobs and file for unemployment the federal government will remains at an impasse on providing more Financial Relief and despite the drastic contraction of the economy in most sectors Big Tech Companies like facebook and amazon are posting major profits. The former labor secretary says it is the latest example of the Enormous Economic gap between the haves and the havenots in america. Joining me now is former labor secretary robert reich and u. S. Labor secretary under president bill clinton. Tank you for joining us robert. Thank you. The big political news this week was the joe biden selecting of Kamala Harris as his running mate. As a progressive yourself what do you think of this pairing in their chances in november . I think their chances in november are very good. As a progressive i will tell you i think that anybody who is going to contribute to getting donald trump, the worst president in American History out of office got gets my vote. The country is in its worst financial states of the Great Depression and can you tell us why this is so much worse than say the recession in 2008 . The recession in 2008 was not nearly as bad in the sense that right now we have across the country about 30 Million People unemployed and that is about 15 workers. It is hard to imagine this degree of unemployment. A lot of people are on the verge of getting evict did, there are renters and many people cannot pay their mortgages and what worries me most is that the federal government is not stepping in as it did in the 1930s when we had that crisis of the Great Depression. The federal government right now is. There is no money going out anymore to people in extra unappointed benefits. I frankly am terrified about what is going to happen. With talk about that. What are some things you think the government should be doing right now . Right now extend the 600 per week extra federal unemployment benefits. It is outrageous that they stopped. People are worse off than they were before. The coronavirus is really behind all of this economic downturn. The virus is surging across america and that means a lot of the Economic Activity we began to see upturn in june has actually gone down again. This is intolerable and the government must act. The fact that the republicans went off for recess and did not come up with any agreement at all i think is frankly shameful. If the government does not act how much further do you expect the economy to tumble . I would expect because these 600 per week checks are now no longer being distributed people dont have money in their pockets. 30 Million People dont have money now. They cant turn around and buy things and if people cant buy things that means sellers, Small Businesses and companies will not be able to sell things which means more unemployment. Sadly i expect unemployment over the next month or two to go up much higher. Many more people will lose jobs. Because of this economic shutdown we have had a multitude of social problems arise. We are talking housing instability, food instability, Domestic Violence on the rise just to name a few. Do you see the u. S. Economy reopening the early 2021 when a vaccine is released or do you think it will be later than that . It is going to be dependent on a vaccine. The Trump Administration basically punted on the entire coronavirus relative to every other advanced nation in the world. We lost control. 166,000 americans have died since march, it is almost boggling of the mind and we are not going to be able to safely reopen the economy until we do get control. I dont think we will see it until march or maybe april. While the pandemic has had a net negative impact it has had a positive impact on some billionaires out there and you have spoken out strongly against this. What does this say about the structure of our economy in america . It says the structure really is topheavy in the sense that the typical american is making before the pandemic was barely holding on. Wages were almost the same if you adjust for inflation almost the same as they were 40 years ago for most americans. You have a small group at the top and they are getting richer and richer. The billionaires of america have never had it so good. Jeff bezos made 13 billion in one day two weeks ago and his fortune and the fortune of people who are well situated to have essentially monopolies, lets not mince words, these are monopolies. When people cant go out to shop then they have to rely on online shopping, how many online places are there that are wellestablished you essentially have amazon and maybe walmart and that is it. Robert you yourself are a person of privilege as a wealthy relatively speaking white male, why do you speak out against those privileges . Because it is unjust and unfair. My whole life i have been working, teaching, writing, fighting in the trenches sometimes for a society that is more socially just. We have to do this. When i was growing up my father had a Clothing Store in scranton pennsylvania on main street and he catered to and sold dresses to the wives of factory workers. My father was dependent on those factory workers getting enough money because his Small Business couldnt make it or pay his bills if those factory workers were not earning enough. He was in favor of unions and in favor of people being able to get ahead. We are all in this together. If the pandemic has not shown us anything it has shown us that even though people of color have taken a particular beating in this pandemic, everybody is in trouble and the entire economy is in trouble. A small sliver of very wealthy people are doing better and better they cant continue to do better if people dont have money to buy. Californias unappointed rate is about 50 which is higher than the National Average which is more like 10 . Are there specific factors about our state that could make recovery easier or harder than other states x one of the things about california is where one of the most unequal states in terms of earnings and wealth and that means when the state takes a dive with the National Economy takes a dive in the lower income people get hit they get really clobbered, which essentially means the entire state suffers because they dont have the wherewithal to buy and they wont will soon need social services. Due to the pandemic the state has a deficit, if we get money from the federal government wont that be adding to the National Debt and are we just robbing peter to pay paul as the old saying goes . The states cannot run deficits by state constitutions and the federal government can and it is precisely at times like this where you have mass unemployment and tremendous social needs that the federal government is going to step in. Thats what we learned in the Great Depression in the 1930s. It is what we have learned over and over again. The federal government is the spender of last resort when people need help and when weve got to stimulate the economy. Specifically the National Debt is that something we should not be concerned about . Right now that is the last thing we should be concerned about. As Franklin D Roosevelt understood youve got to spend in order to get people employed and to stimulate the economy. If you dont do that then that gets worse because there is no Economic Activity. Former labor secretary robert reich and professor at uc berkeley thank you for joining us. This week scientists at uc San Francisco announced at the early stage of what could become a promising new way to protect people from coronavirus infection. Until a vaccine is developed. In a lab he engineered a tiny antibody to act like a molecular mousetrap. It latches on to spikes the molecules used to invade cells in the airways and pump out copies of the virus. They call their discovery and unlike other treatments it could be administered with an inhaler or nasal spray at home instead of a hospital. We want to note this research has not been peer reviewed. Joining me by skype are the coinventors peter walter and assistant professor of pharmaceutical chemistry. Thank you both for joining us. Thank you for having us. As i mentioned this study has not been peer reviewed, why not . Why go ahead and publish before your peers have a chance to check out your work and raise any concerns with it . That is a great question. Typically the way we conduct Scientific Research and has it as it has been done for a long period of time is to submit a new finding to a journal and have it peered reviewed. In terms of the pandemic much of the Scientific Research around coronavirus is first being up to a server called bio archive where we can share our findings with the rest of the Scientific Community so they can start evaluating and Start Building upon it in real time. If we were to wait for a regular journal to peer review the work and publish it that could set us back by a couple of months, which in the current pandemic doesnt really meet the urgency of the situation. Peter can you tell us about the idea behind it and why you decided to pursue this approach to fighting the coronavirus . We were thinking that if we could develop this small molecule like aeronabs that would attach to the virus and it would be so robust it could deliver to the lung spaces and interfere with the virus by trapping it at a stage when it is trying to invade our bodies so before it has a chance of attaching to the human cells that it uses as its step in the innovation process. If we trap it early or even prophylactically these molecular mousetraps will be present in the airways and it could prevent the virus from ever developing a severe disease. And these nano bodies you will be using they come from camels and llamas . They are mimicked and inspired by antibodies that are naturally circulating in llamas so Aashish Manglik took the scaffolding and created a synthetic of these kind of nano bodies that we call aeronabs. Out of these 2 billion we selected some leads and optimized them to be incredibly tight binders for the virus and incredibly powerful. What have been some of the Biggest Challenges in doing this research . It is a general challenge in finding these nano bodies in the first place and it is that typically people have to immunize a llama or alpaca to find them and what peter just described with the technology we have been building to do this is completely in the lab. In some ways we had been Building Technology for other purposes to overcome the challenge of finding these nano bodies in the first place and with the pandemic we pivoted to basically use that approach to fight the virus. On a more practical level one of the big challenges has been that normally there is a rapid pace in the lab but to maintain the health and safety of everybody involved we had to come up with very unique approaches to be able to continue to work at a rapid pace but still be safe. They did a remarkable job working tirelessly essentially but again with Safety Measures in place. I understand you needed to take your time in the lab down to 25 of what you might have had in the past. Peter the ultimate goal of this product is to get it to the mass market and out to people through an inhaler or a nasal spray perhaps. What still needs to happen before it can get there . The molecule would have properties that would allow stabilization and it would be a powder and resist high temperatures. It is a very robust molecule that can be delivered in a format that can be formulated as a nasal spray or as an inhalable agent that penetrates deep in the lung spaces. What needs to happen right now we are looking actively for a partner to collaborate with us in this adventure. A Pharmaceutical Company . A Pharmaceutical Company to put it into the safety testing and efficacy testing and then formulation procedures so that it can be put on the market. What sort of timeline are we looking at there . So there is a number of activities that still have to be done as peter described. One of the things we have been inspired by with the pandemic and the response to it has been a creative approach as to go fast for new therapies but remain safe. We are not skipping critical steps that are required to bring new options to patients and we are seeing that really beautiful work in the vaccine space currently. It is hard to predict a specific timeline because we have to do this in the right manner but our hope is by early next year at the latest we could have molecules that are actively in human trials. That could be the same time as a vaccine starts to become available as well, is that also your understanding and if so what then is the relationship between this spray and the potential vaccine . Great question. We all hope for an amazing durable vaccine that provides longlasting immunity that can be widely deployable to the world. That is what we all hope for to get back to some sense of normalcy. Whether that will happen on the first go of the first vaccines that are being developed, i believe those vaccines will do provide durable immunity and whether those are truly deployable to a large enough segment of the population that they prevent transmission i think are all really open questions. We think that molecules like this would provide a bridge to a vaccine to an ideal vaccine and in the context of a vaccine there are likely segments of the population that may not get durable immunity through a vaccine or the vaccine may not be as effective where you really might want a secondary measure on top of a vaccine and we think this kind of approach would remain pretty useful in this context. Despite it being a difficult time to be a scientist in some ways are you also finding that there are new ways of working you would like to keep even after the pandemic crisis is over . One of the wonderful things that has happened under these working conditions has reduced time and support facilities. One thing we have been experiencing is people really came together and worked so much more as a team. I think this has brought out this incredibly collaborative environment in which people want to give their expertise and to help each other in ways that normally we havent seen all that mac often. It is also encouraging to hear so thank you. Peter walter and Aashish Manglik thank you. You can find more of our coverage at kqed. Org. You can reach me on twitter, facebook and instagram. From all of us here at kqed thank you for watching. Good night. Robert the virus surges. Congress stalls. And the election heats up. President trump theyre dying. Thats true. And it is what it is. Robert President Trump pushes ahead, clashing with experts as the white house is locked in a standoff over virus relief. The republicans and the president do not understand the gravity of the situation and every time we meet with them, it is reinforced. Robert and the Campaign Turns vicious. On her. And the Postal Service. President trump mailin voting will be the greatest fraud in th history of elections. Robert next. Announcer this is washington week
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