Sunday School 10/20/19

Chris Wallace had an exclusive interview with Mick Mulvaney today (you can read about that in our Extra Credit entry) as well as an interview with Pete Buttigieg, one of the top 2020 Dems.

Mayor Pete also talked with Jake Tapper on CNN's State of the Union, and with Chuck Todd on Meet the Press. I'm guessing he and Senator Amy Klobuchar, who also talked with Tapper, were attractive guests because of their performances in last Tuesday's debate. (Klobuchar's interview will also be recapped in the Extra Credit post).

So, for the Buttigieg interviews, I'm going to try and highlight the different topics that were discussed in the three sets of discussions, starting with Fox News.

Chris Wallace wondered if Butigieg needed to finish in the top two or three in Iowa in order to remain in the race, as a candidate from the Midwest and one who seems sort of stuck in fourth place in most polls.  Buttigieg agreed that a strong performance in Iowa is necessary, and that he's got around two dozen field offices and lots of organizers.  And, he said,

You know, Democrats there...want to know that we can defeat and replace president Trump, also want to know how the policies we're putting forward are going to impact their lives.... we've got our work cut out for us to close the deal between now and the caucuses. 

Wallace wondered if his more aggressive stance in the debate was a "conscious effort to jump start (his) campaign?"

This is the season for us to lay out what we care about, what we're passionate about, and what's different among each of the candidates. And I want to make sure there's no question in any voter's mind how their life would be different under my presidency than if any of the others were to be elected. 

Buttigieg also reminded everyone watching that, while the Dems have a chance to "build an American majority around bold action" they "could wreck that majority through purity tests" (such as the M4A and gun conversations during the debates which Wallace highlighted in video clips).

The good news is, we can govern in a very bold and forward-leaning direction but we've got to make sure we do it in a way that moves toward unifying rather than further polarizing by the American people. 

They talked about campaign contributions, grassroots donors, and not taking corporate money, which is another one of those purity tests.  Regarding comments from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (who seems to have a larger-than-life role in the 2020 election), he said

What I'm trying to say is that we can't go into this fight against Donald Trump with one hand tied behind our back. Look, the president and his allies just raised $125 million. They will pull out all of the stops to stay in power. And I think we have a responsibility to the country to make sure we go into this fight, as Democrats, with everything that we've got, and not unilaterally disarming. We indeed need to end the era of big money in politics.. and it will never happen as long as the folks currently in charge stay there.

On his lack of support from African-Americans (most of whom are solidly behind Joe Biden, it seems from recent polls), he said he's focusing on the substance of what he has to offer that community, what his agenda is for them. He said it's comprehensive,

it's everything from empowering black entrepreneurs and fueling business development, to making sure we deal with discrimination in housing and in health, to cutting incarceration in this country by 50%... we need to continue making the case... and our job is to do that in a very short period of time.

In his discussion with Jake Tapper, they talked about Trump's use of language like "ultimate solution and the Turks having to "have it cleaned out" referencing the Kurds.  He asked Buttigieg for his reaction.

My reaction is that those kinds of phrases have the darkest rhymes in world history. We don't talk about cleaning out people, especially when there is an ethnic minority that has faced atrocities and appears to be facing crimes against humanity and atrocities, perhaps beginning right now.

And he talked about the consequences here in America too, not just in Syria to the Kurds.

...when an American president talks like that, when an American president pulls the rug out from under people who trusted us with their lives, that's going to have implications for American interests all over the world. Any place in the world where we need someone to trust us, to go out on a limb, to fight alongside our troops, it's going to be harder. And that could last for decades and will make America less safe.

The also talked about M4A, Warren's plan, and Hillary Clinton's attack on Tulsi Gabbard, which was also addressed in his interview with Chuck Todd. First, though, what would Buttigieg do as president with Turkey, Northern Syria, the Kurds.

We know that we need to promote stability, that we need to stand by our allies and that there will be legitimate Turkish security concerns that will also be part of the equation. But right now what's happening is the future over there is being decided by everybody but the United States... because American leadership has been withdrawn.

Todd wondered if Turkey belongs in NATO. Buttigieg suggested there'd need to be consequences if Turkey continued to act badly, but that we have to engage them as an ally.

I served alongside Turkish troops in Afghanistan. That alliance is important. And it's leverage for us to make sure we use our influence to prevent bad outcomes like the one Donald Trump just green lighted that they're doing right now. If they don't act like an ally in the long run, that's going to have consequences.

There was also talk about Afghanistan, and what we do with our troops there. An article accused Buttigieg and other Dems of pushing a "unilateral, non-negotiated withdrawal" from that country, and Todd wondered what the lesson was from Syria and how that impacts what we do in Afghanistan. Buttigieg said what he's proposing in Afghanistan does have negotiations, the article's statement was not correct.

What we need to do in Afghanistan is get to where we have a light footprint presence of counter-terrorism, specialized, special operations troops and whatever intelligence capabilities we need to protect the homeland, and no more.

So no, we would not be pulling out all of our people, and yes, we would maintain a small force for the foreseeable future, "making it possible to prevent the descent into chaos we're seeing now."

They also discussed the debate, M4A and how to pay for it, and so on, before turning to the Clinton-Gabbard fight. Todd was curious about Buttigieg's reaction, if any, to Clinton saying Gabbard might be a Russian asset.

Buttigieg tried to stay above the fray, saying he wasn't going to get in their dispute, and as to whether it was appropriate for Clinton to have said it,

Well, I suppose when you become a private citizen you can say whatever you want, but... I certainly honor her service. As we saw in the debate I also have strong disagreements with her on topics like Syria. But the bigger issue here is Russia is working to interfere in our elections right now. And we know a big part of how they're going to do it is exploiting divisions among the American people... We've got to become a harder target... 

Todd pressed him on the having an accusation thrown out there like Clinton did, calling it a "Trumpian move." Again, Buttigieg said focus has to be on what's important, which is ending the Trump presidency. So Todd pushed - again - asking, "so, you're comfortable with Hillary Clinton's critique of Tulsi Gabbard and how she went about it?"

No, I'm not. I'm also not going to get in the middle of it because, we, as a party, and as a country, have to focus on the future. 

Of all the topics they covered, I think Mayor Pete handled this the worst. The immediate answer should have been, No, I don't think what Secretary Clinton said was appropriate in the least, and I wish she hadn't said it - and then gone into his 'focus on the future' aspects.  That it took comparing it to stuff Trump says (Chris Wallace also went in that direction, although not quite as bluntly) for him to say he wasn't comfortable, hurt him in my opinion.  Your thoughts?

See you around campus.