SUNDAY TALK ! abc

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

A second U.S. airmen has been rescued heroically by our special forces, and we of course continue to pray for the s safety, the health, the well-being of all of our men and women who are in uniform in a very dangerous theater of war. Of course, Donald Trump has gotten us involved in this reckless war of choice without any plan, any strategic objectives, and no clear exit strategy. Instead, billions of dollars are being spent every day to drop bombs in the Middle East when Donald Trump as a candidate promised to never get us involved in this type of conflict.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

So you've made it clear you're opposed to the war, but what should the exit strategy be right now?

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Well, that's the challenge that, of course, Donald Trump has gotten us into this reckless war of choice without ever clearly laying out the strategic objectives, the plan, how this is designed to actually make life better for the American people. We've seen the exact opposite, particularly as it relates to the dramatic increase in gas prices when we already are dealing with an affordability crisis here in the United States of America. Donald Trump purported to deliver a speech to lay out a case to the American people a few days ago, but he failed dramatically.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

He's threatening this morning to expand again. He says the Iranians are going to be living in hell if they don't if they don't open up the Strait of Hormoose by Tuesday.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

In this war of choice, when there's no clear evidence that it actually is designed to improve our national security interests. Instead, we see a war that continues to escalate. More than a dozen countries are involved, and billions of dollars of taxpayer money are being spent overseas when this administration refuses to actually spend a dime to make life more affordable for the American people.

SPEAKER_00 4:52

So does that moot your efforts?

SPEAKER_01 4:55

Well, the first thing that needs to happen is that the House of Representatives, under the leadership of Speaker Johnson and Republicans, need to bring us back into session so we can actually reopen the Department of Homeland Security, stop creating chaos at airports all across the country, and forcing people, including what happened to TSA agents for weeks, to work without pay. There is a bipartisan bill that has been sent over from the Senate. Not once, but twice. Every single Democrat, every single Republican in the Senate supports that legislation. House Democrats support that legislation. So we can reopen every other aspect of the Department of Homeland Security, including TSA, Coast Guard, FEMA, and our cybersecurity professionals while continuing to work on the effort to get ICE under control.

SPEAKER_00 5:42

Let's look ahead to the midterm elections. We saw the President sign that executive order this week on mail-in voting. I know you believe it's unconstitutional, but what is your message to Democrats or concerned that the President and his party are going to be able to find ways to subvert the elections?

SPEAKER_01 6:12

We've won victory after victory in terms of even this very conservative Supreme Court most recently, of course, in connection with the unlawful Trump tariffs. I expect that this executive order, which is designed to try to suppress the electorate, alter the landscape in order to artificially keep control of the House and the Senate, will be rejected. At the same time, George, we're going to continue to articulate an affirmative vision to the American people of what we as Democrats will do if they give us the opportunity to lead in the majority. We're going to fight hard to lower the high cost of living, to fix our broken health care system, to get ICE under control, to end this reckless war of choice in the Middle East, and to focus every single day, every single week, every single month on actually making life better and more affordable for hard-working American taxpayers.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Why isn't that breaking through? The Democrats in Congress are almost as unpopular as the president right now.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

Well, one of the things that I will say is breaking through is that consistently for the last 15 months, Democrats have been winning elections all across the country, up and down the ballot, including most recently in deep red states like Texas, like Louisiana, and of course a few weeks ago, in Florida, particularly in Mar-a-Lago. So at the end of the day, when the American people evaluate who's going to push back against Republican extremism, who is going to actually make life better for them and focus on the issues that matter, consistently they're choosing Democrats. Now, as it relates to the parties being perceived as unfavorable across the country, we understand that dynamic because the American people want to see action. Things haven't been working out for them over the last several decades. Far too many people are struggling to survive and certainly can't thrive, paycheck to paycheck in this country, which should not be happening in the wealthiest country in the history of the world. And so we're going to continue to forcefully push back against the extremism being unleashed on the American people, push back against the chaos, while at the same period of time convince every single American that it's us who are determined to do the things that are necessary, bring about the bold transformational changes necessary to support working class Americans, everyday Americans, and middle class Americans in a manner consistent with who we are when we are the best version of ourselves here in America.