They spent some time talking about the coronavirus, including on what might have been different if Democrats had led the response instead of Donald Trump.
It's not even about a Democratic alternative. If the COVID response had actually even just followed any type of scientific recommendations you would see a much better response and fewer death rates and spread of the virus than it had under President Trump.
But, she added, it's more than that.
I've watched Republican administrations respond to pandemics, specifically as President Bush did. So I would think it's not just about Democrats or Republicans, it's about president Trump's failures.
About the president's own bout of COVID, and his suggestion that he caught the virus from Gold Star families, Duckworth's comments were pretty forceful.
...I think it's shameful again that he'd blame others for catching this virus when we know he's been the one modelling very bad behavior, going to rallies not wearing masks. He's told people not to wear masks. And even now during a time when we know he's still contagious, he's still not wearing masks and subjecting those around him to this pandemic. Earlier he blamed military men and women and police officers for exposing Hope Hicks. He keeps trying to put the blame on others but he's the one not wearing a mask and prevents other people from wearing masks.
She was equally clear-headed on House Speaker Pelosi's talk about the 25th Amendment, saying she thinks it's not appropriate and that "we should be talking about the election," since people have already started voting.
On stimulus talks, she prefers a single comprehensive bill vs. standalone bills, saying that the former "is the art of compromise. Everyone gets a little something you want and there are things you don't want."
I want protections for families and workers. I want another round of stimulus payments. I want money in there for municipalities who lost tax revenue and are right now facing severe financial distress. For me, compromise means coming together and putting something together. The president wants to cherry pick and I don't know that cherry-picking is good for our country as a whole... I think we could put something together. I'm not saying I would be opposed to doing something important (as a) standalone, but I think it's better to put it all together.
The second classroom I visited was CNN's State of the Union, where Jake Tapper talked with Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI); she's a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and starting tomorrow will be participating in the hearings on the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett.
Tapper noted that Hirono has said the Rs have the votes, and he wondered what Hirono would be asking about. She said she'd be focusing on the Affordable Care Act and on a woman's right to choose. And, she added,
This nominee poses a clear and present danger. The immediate danger is to the health care of over 20 million Americans who have health care thanks to the Affordable Care Act, the over 100 million Americans who are protected under the Affordable Care Act because they have preexisting conditions, not to mention the seven million who have tested positive for COVID, who will be put into the category of those with preexisting conditions.
Tapper asked whether there's anything the Ds can do to stop the nomination from moving forward.
Well, if we can get two more brave Republicans to face up to the fact that they are going to be voting on -- for somebody who's going to take away the health care of hundreds of thousands of their constituents, if we can get two more Republicans to have that courage, we can stop her.
She also said that Barrett's religion is "immaterial, irrelevant," and that she's not going to be asking questions about that.
Tapper moved on to the lack of a mandatory testing protocol on Capitol Hill, and whether she felt comfortable, as someone diagnosis with cancer, going to the Senate.
Well, the fact that Mitch McConnell and the chairman of the Judiciary Committee have not put in place appropriate protocols, that tells you the seriousness with which they regard this virus and its spread. So, for my own protection and that of everyone that I come in contact with, I will get a test after I do this interview with you.
Last question? Tapper wondered about Hirono's reaction to Trump referring to Sen. Kamala Harris as "a monster," noting that she and Harris are two of the four women of color in the Senate.
It's typical Trump that he will attack anybody. He calls people names. So, when he can't come up with anything more substantive, he will just call somebody a name. And he's called me names. So, that's the president.
And then -- and there's a clear choice, by the way, in this election. Are we going to vote for this unhinged person of -- who is running around in super-spreader events, by the way?
The irony of a president who's going to spread the virus, and Republicans who want to put on the court a person who is going to knock out the Affordable Care Act in the middle of a pandemic, and Joe Biden, who actually wants to get control over the virus and move us forward, the -- people are already voting. I hope they made the right choice, based on the fact that this nominee is a threat to their health care, which is, by the way, the number one concern of Americans right now.
It's going to be an interesting week, for sure. And if you want to do some light reading, there's Barrett's statement to the Judiciary Committee.
See you around the virtual campus.
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