Meet the Press - January 28, 2024 Nikki Haley (R) Presidential Candidate, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D), Cornell Belcher, Matt Gorman and Carol Lee
Interview
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Thank you for having me.
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Well, you know, I think we can take a look at the overall landscape here. It's not just what we're talking about with President Biden, but former President Trump also has extraordinary vulnerabilities. We saw that in New Hampshire. The fact that he is a former sitting president, head of his party, virtually everyone else has dropped out and endorsed him, and still, as we just saw, Nikki Haley came – you know, she cleared about 43% in New Hampshire, bodes very not well for Donald Trump and his ability to win a general election.
When it comes to President Biden, you know, I think we need to really focus and understand that young people are a very strong part of this electorate. We have a diverse coalition in the Democratic Party that has its own concerns, whether it is what's happening in Gaza or – or any other number of issues. But right now, I think November's going to be about the coalition we can put together and the policy progress we can make between now and then.
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I think what we have right now, what we've seen in New Hampshire, he is virtually the nominee of the party. His turnout in New Hampshire is actually not something to ignore. We saw, from a write-in campaign, remember, President Biden wasn't even on the ballot in New Hampshire, he won overwhelmingly with turnout that even exceeded Obama 2012 turnout when Obama was on the ballot. And so, there are quite a few indicators in his strength in New Hampshire. We will see what happens in South Carolina and, of course, when we get to important primaries like Michigan.
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Yes. And, I mean, especially when we look at this field. We have, you know, Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson. President Biden, I think, without question, among that field, is the strongest nominee.
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I think we can certainly do more to be advancing our vision. And I believe that we have a strong vision that we can run on. You know I think – and – and for what it's worth, the president has said, "If you give me the House, and if you give me the Senate and reelect me to the presidency, we will codify abortion rights and the right to choose in this country. We'll codify reproductive rights." I think we can do more. I think we – I think we need to be talking more about health care. Of course, me as a progressive, I want to see the age of Medicare drop, whether it's to 50, as the president has discussed earlier, or to zero, as is my preference, to extend Medicare to all people in the United States of America.
But I believe that we can be doing more. We can talk even more about the fact that public colleges and universities should be tuition free or reduced. The president has advanced student loan forgiveness just this month for people who have taken out SAVE loans under $12,000. They will see their loans wiped out. But I do believe that advancing that affirmative vision is going to be very, very important as – as well as really laying out and showing, between now and November, through our governing decisions, our governing decisions, when we have that power in the White House, what we are willing to do with it.
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I see my role overall as – as really trying to expand the power of movements –
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– in the United States of America and people's – we’ve been in contact – we've – we’ve been in contact with the Biden administration throughout my term and throughout his term, as well. And I know that he has been in contact, you know, with many members of Congress. But, you know, I think what is most important is that, and in terms of my role, I think my role is in allegiance to people's movements across this country: in the labor movement that had extraordinary gains last year, whether it was the Teamsters, whether it was UAW's historic contract, whether it is the – the bubbling labor fights that we are seeing across the country. I think we have – and our responsibility is to make sure that those fights are protected.
A climate movement that has built such extraordinary power that just this past week, the Biden administration actually announced a pause on all liquefied natural gas export facilities, additional ones, moving forward. And that is not just because of the Biden administration, and I want to be very clear about that. That is because of absolute organized and committed organizing by activists and communities that are being impacted on the ground, whether you're a unionized labor worker or whether you're a frontline climate activist. And having and ensuring that we are protecting an environment where those movements have the ability and the right to organize is what I am committed to. And that is why I am committed to ensuring that they are not stamped out with a Trump presidency.
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I do not. We have seen – we know that Hamas as an organization, it does not have any regard for human life. I think that, in Hamas' attack on October 7th, they knew what they were bringing on to – they knew the violence that they were bringing on. And we have seen that. They understood the asymmetric attack that – that Israel will put out. Israel has been indiscriminately attacking Gazans. And we have seen over 25,000 Palestinians have been killed, over 70% of whom are women and children. This – using 25,000 lives as leverage, and the idea that that is going to pressure Hamas, they are accountable to very little. But I think what is most important is saving these lives, ensuring the release of hostages, and, in my view, negotiating a ceasefire.
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I think what we are seeing right now throughout the country is that young people are appalled at the violence and the indiscriminate loss of life. We are not just seeing 25,000 people that have died in Gaza. We are seeing the starvation of – of millions of people, the displacement of over 2 million Gazans. We have South Africa that has mounted a court in the ICJ. The ICJ ruled this week that Israel has a grave responsibility to prevent genocide.
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And I think that the fact that –
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They are still determining it.
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I believe that – they're still determining it, but in the interim ruling, the fact that they said there's a responsibility to prevent it, the fact that this word is even in play, the fact that this word is even in our discourse I think demonstrates the mass inhumanity that Gazans are facing. And so, whether you are an individual that believes this is a genocide, which, by the way, in our polling, we are seeing large amounts of Americans concerned specifically with that word. So, I don't think that it is something to completely toss someone out of our public discourse for using. But I think what we are seeing here is that the Netanyahu government has lost public support and that we have a responsibility to protect the human rights and the humanity of Gazans and hostages alike in the area.
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