MSNBC "All in with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Cory Booker

Interview

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HAYES:  The very first Democratic presidential debate was less than two months away right here on NBC.  And with the entry of Joe Biden, it is crazy considered as many as 20 candidates could be on stage over the course of those two nights vying for the party`s nomination.
 
Well, these debates will be the first big opportunity to really shape the race and move voters from one candidate to another.  Right now, the two people with the broadest name recognition are the frontrunners, but the majority of voters have not made up their minds yet.
 
One of the contenders we haven`t gotten a chance to speak to since announcing his candidacy back in February is Senator Cory Booker.  And Senator Booker joins me now.  Senator, it is great to have you.  You`ve spoken a lot about your sort of moral vision for America and faith as well, and I wonder when you look at what happened in San Diego, what happened in Christchurch, what happened to the Tree of Life Synagogue, how you think about the relationship between that and the way the president talks about Muslims and speaks more broadly.
 
SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE:  We know what we have in him now.  It`s no illusions.  From -- he`s a failure to condemn white Nazis marching in Virginia too even the way he seems to have different standards for different groups in America.  The way he talked about African- Americans, the way he talks about women, and clearly the language he`s had from shithole countries to you name it that has in many ways been contributing to what we see is a rise in hate crimes.
 
But I think there`s something even deeper going on than just about him.  And I worry about a Democratic Party that makes this all about one guy in one office when we don`t pay attention to the deeper tribalism in our country, the urgent needs for moral you know, grace and decency and a healing in our country because a lot of the problems I deal with in my -- you know I live in an inner-city neighborhood that`s at and below the poverty line, black and brown community, a lot of the challenges we have.
 
To me are a subject of a lack of empathy for the pain and struggling going on with so many -- I`ve said many times the opposite of justice is not only injustice, it`s also apathy, indifference, and inaction.  And we as a country need to have that revival of grace and empathy so that we could begin to come together and deal with persistent and justices that were existing even before Donald Trump.
 
HAYES:  What does that mean though as politics, right?  I mean, I -- as a sort of spiritual calling or community calling, I can hear that.  But what does that actually mean in politics given the structural realities of the way that American politics works at this moment?
 
BOOKER:  Well, to me -- to me it`s very clear.  Look, I always say patriotism is love of country and you can`t love your country unless you love your fellow country men and women.  And love is not a sentiment, it`s not a feeling, it`s sacrifice, its struggle.
 
And when your kids don`t have access to clean water, when someone else`s kids don`t have access to clean water, it`s a threat to your children.  Your children would be bereft of their genius, of their artistry of their successes, and so what I say is when a policy is creating that beloved community that we think that if you`re an American, we are invested in each other, therefore you have a right to clean water, a right to healthcare, then you should have jobs that pay a living wage so your parent -- family doesn`t get evicted every few months because you can`t meet basic rental payments.
 
And so you know, there`s a person I respect that once said, what does love look like in public, it`s justice.  And the fact that we have so many Americans struggling -- like I live in a community with two Superfund sites right around us as many low-income Americans do, as many African Americans do.
 
And the fact that we don`t have an urgency when we now have longitudinal data that shows that children born around Superfund sites have dramatically higher rates of birth defects, dramatically higher rates of autism.  And so for us to not have a sense of common purpose to deal with these and Justices, that is a tangible policy problem.
 
HAYES:  But it isn`t there -- I mean, but that analysis seems to ally a description of where power is, right.  I mean, there seems like two things happening in America.  One is that there`s certain people don`t want to be in community with you, Cory Booker or others right.  I mean, there`s some divide about what -- you know, who the country is for and who gets to call it.  But there`s also powerful interests that don`t necessarily want to have their Superfund site cleaned up.
 
BOOKER:  Yes, but look, I`ve seen throughout our history.  We cannot forget the instruction of history.  You know, we know that the power of the people is greater than the people in power WHEN we have leaders and I mean, lots of leaders that can expand the moral imagination of our country.
 
We`ve seen demagoguery, we`ve seen hate before.  How did we beat Bull Connor?  By bringing bigger fire hoses and bigger dogs or by doing the kind of protest, the kind of demand that expanded the moral imagination of the whole country, got people off their couch in in New Jersey, in New York, and Iowa, and got them to get on buses and do freedom rides or join marches.
 
We are at a moment right now with a poverty that really is the biggest threat to our country.  It`s not the material poverty which is a sin in society, but the poverty of compassion, the poverty of empathy.  And we need leadership that doesn`t just condemn the minority of our country that might be doing bad things, but awakens the consciousness of the majority of our country to get good things happening in our country when good people come together and act on behalf of the whole.
 
HAYES:  Is that your -- is that your theory of why Cory Booker should be the president of the United States at this moment?
 
BOOKER:  Look, I`m going to tell everybody that we cannot be in a moment where we`re looking for one savior to get rid of one guy from office.  This cannot be about one election, it`s got to be about a larger campaign because if we get rid of Donald Trump, and put a really great person in and then go back to what we were doing in the 2012, 13, 14, the problems of my inner-city neighborhood are still going to be there.
 
I`m running for president not just for an office in one election, but because I want to awaken a moral movement in this country again where we begin to see the suffering and the inadequacies of our country that`s hurting people in farm town, and factory towns, in inner cities, where we can be the nation who we say we are a nation of liberty and justice for all.
 
That`s the kind of leadership I`m interested in providing for America, not that everybody looks to me for leadership that ignites the leadership, the activism, and the engagement of the whole.
 
HAYES:  What is the proof of concept for that being successful?  Like what
* if someone -- if a cynic -- a cynic says to you, look, Mitch -- I have seen Mitch McConnell.  I know the way the polarized politics work.  I know there`s a filibuster, all that sounds nice but show me where that works.
 
BOOKER:  Well, look, I`m -- you know, I`m the guy that led with Dick Durbin on the Senate side, the criminal justice reform bill.  The only major bipartisan bill that got passed under this president that liberated people in communities like mine that have been waiting for criminal justice reform since 1980 when our prison population started going up about 500 percent.
 
I`m the guy in Newark, New Jersey that brought together unusual coalition to produce unusual results.  And now if you`re a black kid in Newark, your chances of going to a school that beats suburban schools went up 400 percent.  I`ve had a career of people telling me what we couldn`t -- what I couldn`t do in positions of leadership and my counter to them as well, watch what we do together to counter people`s cynical beliefs and really ignoring American history which is a perpetual testimony to the achievement of the impossible when good people come together and demand the consciousness of the whole.
 
HAYES:  What would be your first priority as president of the United States say you`re elected and let`s say that the Democrats were to take the House and the Senate so you have a teed up domestic policy legislative, you get to move one big bill first, what`s the first bill?
 
BOOKER:  Well, you say my first priority.  If I get elected in November, I`m not waiting until January to turn to the Democratic Party and say enough already.  We need to go back to being a 50-state party.  Texas is a blue state, Georgia is a blue state, and the next time minority communities Latino, Black, next time low-income communities should see people coming into their neighborhoods should not be when we`re next asking for a vote in 2022.
 
If I`m going to be elected, I`m going to be the bleeder of a party that`s not interested in defining itself as beating Republicans but it`s going to define itself by uniting Americans for the cause of justice and we`re going to start building in the grassroots because that`s how you win.
 
And so I understand that we`re going to -- I have a legislative agenda.  We`re going to start doing things from just common sense things, from raising the minimum wage, to rejoining the Paris climate accords.  I can give you a lot of things we can do, and many of them I can do with the stroke of a pen and not have to wait for even Congress.
 
But there`s got to -- this has got to be understanding this is a moral moment.  This next election is going to affect the next generation of Americans.  And we`ve lost something.  We`ve become a society where people mistake wealth for worth, celebrity for significance, where folks are struggling for a sense of meaning in their communities and fee like they`ve lost that sense of community.
 
And so this is a great country from our history and from the kind of things we`ve done to beat demagogues.  And look, there`s -- you know the history.  There`s an entire political party once.  It was about anti-immigration called the know-nothings.
 
And every time those demagogues fell, when we created larger more rainbow coalitions that have helped our country get back on track, to see each other, to see the vulnerable to see the left behind, to see the left out, and reaffirms our common bonds to each other.  Enough of this deep tribalism that`s getting worse and worse in our country.  We need leadership that`s going to start talking about our common bonds, our common pain and return us to a sense of common purpose.
 
HAYES:  I want to ask you a final question about a piece that was on today in New York Magazine.  It was called Wall Street Democrats are absolutely freaking out about their 2020 candidates that was expressing some consternation among folks on Wall Street.  They`re worried about Bernie Sanders, they`re worried about Elizabeth Warren.  Is it good or bad if Wall Street is freaking out about Democratic candidates?
 
BOOKER:  You know, look, again, I think the headlines like that are distractions.  They`re distractions from the purpose we need to do which is to have a tax code that reflects our values.  People who work for hedge funds have to pay less of a percentage of their income and taxes than people who teach our children in public schools.
 
I think when you step back and start talking about a moral economy, that a lot of the things that we have right now just don`t hold.  And by the way, when you start talking about a moral economy that empowers struggling families, empowers seniors who are trying to retire with security, I think those are actually unifying themes where you`re going to find folks who often get painted with broad brushes who buy into that.
 
You might be surprised when King talked with a moral voice, when Susan B.
Anthony talks the moral voice.  They created unusual coalitions and ultimately produce the unusual results.  We again need to be a party that states clearly what our values are and our standards are, and then calls the whole country together to support those values.
 
We are in the majority.  Those people who want an economy that is a moral economy.  We are in the majority those of us who believe in health care and great public education being in a right.  It`s about time we start talking and leading with our values and calling America to come together around them.  And those people left out on the margins, we will -- we will either leave them behind or they`ll eventually join us.
 
HAYES:  All right, Senator Cory Booker 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, Senator from New Jersey, thank you for making time.
 
BOOKER:  Thank you, sir.

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