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Sanders Makes Case For Democratic Socialism. F-35s Flying Over The White House To Mark This Deal That President Duda And President Trump Just Inked. Aired 2-2:30p ET
Aired June 12, 2019 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:00:00] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Slide into socialism, this was his latest jab while in Iowa.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: More than 100 Democrats in Congress have signed up for the Bernie Sanders' government takeover of healthcare. Democrats also support the $100 trillion Green New Deal -- how about that beauty, the Green New Deal. The Democrat Party is really now the Socialist Party.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: And any minute now, the man President Trump name-checked, Vermont Senator, Bernie Sanders, is set to push back on the President and define Democratic socialism all on his own terms to give a preview to CNN's Dana Bash just this past weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I think it's important for the American people to understand what my definition is of Democratic socialism. It's certainly not how Donald Trump defines it.
But what I believe when we talk about Democratic socialism is number one, we have to deal with the massive levels of income and wealth inequality in this country. What I mean by Democratic socialism is creating a government that works for everybody, not controlled either legislatively or politically by a handful of very wealthy people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Senator Sanders' speech comes as President Trump hosts his Polish counterpart at the White House. The two leaders will hold a news conference in just a couple minutes from the Rose Garden, much more on that in just a moment but let's go straight to Senator Sanders setting -- about to speak there -- let's dip in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: Thank you all very much for being here. And let me begin by saying, my friends, we are in the midst of a defining and pivotal moment for our country and our planet. And, with so many crises converging upon us simultaneously, it is easy for us to become overwhelmed or depressed -- or to even throw up our hands in resignation.
But my message to you today is that if there was ever a moment in the history of our country where despair was not an option, this is that time.
If there was ever a moment where we had to effectively analyze the competing political and social forces which define this historical period, this is that time.
If there was ever a moment when we needed to stand up and fight against the forces of oligarchy and authoritarianism, this is that time.
And, if there was ever a moment when we needed a new vision to bring our people together in the fight for justice, decency and human dignity, this is that time.
In the year 2019 the United States and the rest of the world face two very different political paths. On one hand, there is a growing movement towards oligarchy and authoritarianism in which a small number of incredibly wealthy and powerful billionaires own and control a significant part of the economy and exert enormous influence over the political life of our country.
On the other hand, in opposition to oligarchy, there is a movement of working people and young people who, in ever increasing numbers, are fighting for justice. They are the teachers taking to the streets to make certain that schools are adequately funded and that their students get a quality education.
They are workers at Disney, Amazon, Walmart and the fast food industry standing up and fighting for a living wage of at least $15 an hour and the right to have a union.
[14:05:05] SANDERS: They are young people taking on the fossil fuel industry and demanding policies that transform our energy system and protect our planet from the ravages of climate change. They are women who refuse to give control of their bodies to local, state and Federal politicians.
They are people of color and their allies demanding an end to systemic racism and massive racial inequities that exist throughout our society. They are immigrants and their allies fighting to end the demonization of undocumented people and for comprehensive immigration reform.
When we talk about oligarchy, let us be clear about what we mean. Right now, in the United States of America, three families control more wealth than the bottom half of our country, some 160 million Americans. The top one percent own more wealth than the bottom 92 percent and 49 percent of all new income generated today goes to the top one percent. In fact, income and wealth inequality today in the United States is greater than at any time since the 1920s. And when we talk about oligarchy, it is not just that the very rich
are getting much richer. It is that tens of millions of working-class people, in the wealthiest country on earth, are suffering under incredible economic hardship, desperately trying to survive.
Today, nearly 40 million Americans live in poverty and tonight, some 500,000 Americans including many veterans will be sleeping out on the streets. About half of the country lives paycheck to paycheck as tens of millions of our people are an accident, a divorce, a sickness or a layoff away from economic devastation.
While many public schools throughout the country lack the resources to adequately educate our young people, we are the most heavily incarcerated nation on earth.
After decades of policies that have encouraged and subsidized unbridled corporate greed, we now have an economy that is fundamentally broken and grotesquely unfair.
Even while macroeconomic numbers like GDP, the stock market and the unemployment rate are strong, millions of middle class and working people struggle to keep their heads above water, while the billionaire class consumes the lion's share of the wealth that we are collectively creating as a nation.
In the midst of a so-called booming economy real wages for the average worker have barely risen at all. And despite an explosion in technology and worker productivity, the average wage of the American worker in real dollars is no higher than it was 46 years ago and millions of people in our country today are forced to work two or three jobs just to survive.
And here is something quite incredible that tells you all you need to know about the results of unfettered capitalism. All of us want to live long, happy, and productive lives. But in America today, the very rich live on average 15 years longer than the poorest Americans.
[14:10:10] SANDERS: In 2014 for example, in McDowell County, West Virginia, one of the poorest counties in the nation, life expectancy for men was 64 years. In Fairfax County, Virginia, a wealthy county, just 350 miles away, life expectancy for men was nearly 82 years, an 18-year differential. The life expectancy gap for women in the two counties was 12 years.
In other words, the issue of unfettered capitalism is not just an academic debate. Poverty, economic distress, and despair are life- threatening issues for millions of working people in the country.
While the rich get richer they live longer lives. While poor and working families struggle economically and often lack adequate health care, their life expectancy is declining for the first time in modern American history. Taken together, the American Dream of upward mobility is in peril.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: All right. So, Senator Bernie Sanders, listening to him
giving the speech here. He said it a couple of years ago and he was running the last go round and he's doubling down again. He's basically saying, you know, America is ready to elect a Democratic Socialist. So let's analyze all things Bernie Sanders said.
David Chalian, is CNN's political director. M.J. Lee is CNN's local correspondent. And David just first to you, what did you think of the message that we listened to so far and do you think that, you know, at least according to Senator Sanders that that socialism is no longer a dirty word in politics.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, this is Bernie Sanders at his most authentic self, right? I mean, he's been remarkably consistent over the years and in his positions as it relates to these issues, Brooke. And being able to frame what Democratic socialism means to him and how he interprets that in terms of the policy he puts forth is a very important thing for him to do.
Because obviously, it is a word that Donald Trump, even as recently as last night in Iowa, was using against Bernie Sanders and the Democratic Party more broadly. He is going to, as are his surrogates -- the Republicans are going to try to paint the Democrats as too far left and try to make socialist a dirty word so it is incumbent upon Bernie Sanders, the declared Democratic socialist in the race to try and counter that frame.
That's what this speech is about and that's why he's leaning so hard into his beliefs because he believes it's exactly those beliefs that got him to where he is right now in national politics.
BALDWIN: What do you think?
M.J. LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: And he's clearly -- I agree with David absolutely, that he's clearly trying to get ahead early and explain for people what could be one of his biggest political vulnerabilities.
I mean, as David put it so well, this is a label that frankly scares off a lot of people. They see Bernie Sanders and the label Democratic Socialist and they think this is not for me. This is an ideological view and a label that is so far left from where I am and I don't know that I understand that I don't know that this. I don't know that is for me.
And I think it's really interesting that Bernie Sanders is explaining this in part through economic policies, that he's saying this is not a label that is necessarily scary and in fact this is a label that is important for explaining where I stand on the economic policies. Because that is going to be such an important factor for the Democratic candidates making the case in this race in this race.
BALDWIN: So just quickly, Senator Elizabeth Warren, someone who shares some of the same beliefs as Senator Sanders', you have new poll numbers that show she's gaining on him. LEE: Yes, I mean, this is the field shaking out in a really
interesting way. You know, for the longest time we had Joe Biden as the clear front-runner and then we had Bernie Sanders as a clear second-place person and then everybody else sort of packed together below Biden and Bernie Sanders.
Recently, we have seen a couple of polls including a national poll, an Iowa poll, and a Nevada poll just out today that shows Elizabeth Warren standing in that second place spot alongside Bernie Sanders.
Obviously, we don't know the many reasons why she is having this sort of upswing moment right now. Her allies would certainly say this probably is because she bet big on being sort of the policy and the ideas candidate and they feel like it is catching on.
I just do want to emphasize this big caveat but this is one snapshot, a single moment right now in the in the race. This is what the race looks like in June of 2019. Who knows what this could look like ten days from now by the time we get to Iowa.
BALDWIN: Sure. M.J., thank you very much. David Chalian, my thanks to you.
Right now, just a reminder to all of us, we are waiting to hear from President Trump himself. He's going to be taking questions from reporters in the White House Rose Garden. We'll take his news conference President of Poland live.
Plus, Donald Trump Jr. is back before the Senate Intelligence Committee today.
[14:15:06] BALDWIN: Why he says he's not worried about perjury charges after this closed-door meeting?
And he is the first person to be sentenced in that massive college admissions scam that involved those two Hollywood actresses. The former sailing coach at Stanford could actually get more prison -- more time in prison than a year. Is that fair? You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:20:17] BALDWIN: Let's get you back to this rare sight of the skies over the White House. Just moments ago, ahead of President Trump's joint news conference with the President of Poland that is slated to start any moment now.
You see on the right side of your screen there. These are F-35s flying over the White House to mark this deal that President Duda and President Trump just inked. The President spoke about it when they were in the Oval Office just a bit ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're doing that because Poland has ordered 32 or 35 brand-new F-35s at the highest level -- and the latest model. And I congratulate you and that, that means you have good taste.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: A U.S. defense official says that President Trump and President Duda have also signed a joint declaration that will add more U.S. troops to Poland on a rotational basis. The Polish President has even pushed for naming a U.S. base in his country calling it Fort Trump. No doubt the Russians would take notice of that.
Reportedly, Poland, a member of NATO has been intensifying its efforts to improve its armed forces since Russia took over Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Abby Phillip is our White House correspondent. She is in the Rose Garden waiting for President Trump and Barbara Starr is there live at the Pentagon.
Barbara, I just want to go to you first on this deal between the U.S. and Poland regarding these troops. Give me the specifics on the deal.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you say, Poland according the President, wants to buy a good number of this F-35 aircraft, the most advanced aircraft in the world, according to the Pentagon and perhaps the most expensive.
The price tag, topping out, somewhere close to $90 million per plane. It will be up of course to the Polish government to decide if they have the money to spend on buying these aircraft and perhaps equally important to maintain them over the years. Expensive aircraft means expensive maintenance. You know, just like your car, right?
On top of that, now, we do have this -- the Pentagon said it was a thousand additional troops. The President saying 2,000 additional troops to Poland. But the bottom line, all of this is part of this military security effort to boost Poland's defenses.
The U.S. troops there would help be some of the confidence-building measures, if you will, for Poland to be able to have to have a credible deterrence against Russia to the east. All part of what is going on in Eastern Europe is to have that presence so Russia sees that the U.S. is committed to that East European flank.
The question always is -- is Vladimir Putin listening to any of this? Does he even care? There's very little indication he does. He continues -- the Russian military continues in Eastern Europe very much to go it's own way -- Brook.
BALDWIN: All right, Barbara stand by. Abby over to you in the Rose Garden, when we were listening to the Q&A; between, you know, President Trump and the White House press corps, we heard President Trump blasting these reports that he's slipping in internal polls, right, looking at the 2020 race. What are you hearing?
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, the President is coming out right now. So, I'll turn it over to you.
BALDWIN: Let's dip in. TRUMP: Thank you very much, please. Today, Melania and I are honored
to welcome President Duda and Mrs. Kornhauser-Duda of Poland back to the White House. They've become friends. We last hosted them in Washington in September and it's wonderful to see you both again. Thank you, thank you very much.
ANDRZEJ DUDA, POLAND PRESIDENT: Thank you.
TRUMP: Great honor. Since our last meeting the unbreakable bonds between the United States and Poland have grown even closer. This year is our nation's mark 100 years of diplomatic relations. The U.S.-Polish alliance is stronger by far than ever before.
Earlier today, President Duda and I signed a joint declaration affirming the significant defense cooperation between our nations and as the declaration makes very clear, the United States and Poland are not only bound by a strategic partnership but by deep common values, shared goals, and a very strong and abiding friendship.
Our people are united by the enduring ties of civilization, culture, and history.
[14:25:06] TRUMP: We respect the rule of law, revere individual rights, and prized our timeless traditions. We embrace country, faith, family, and freedom.
Over the past century, brave American and Polish Patriots have repeatedly stood together to defend our sovereignty, our liberty, and our noble way of life. When I was last in Poland, I was very proud to stand among veterans of the Warsaw Uprising and recall their incredible courage in the face of Nazi tyranny.
Today we honor the sacrifices of all those who came before by doing our part to see guard our independence and strengthen the incredible U.S.-Polish alliance.
As stated in the joint declaration, the United States and Poland continue to enhance our security cooperation. Poland will still provide basing and infrastructure to support military presence of about 1,000 American troops. The Polish government will build these projects at no cost to the United States. The Polish government will pay for this.
We thank President Duda and the people of Poland for their partnership in advancing our common security. Poland's burden-sharing also extends to the NATO alliance, where it is among eight NATO allies including the United States currently meeting the minimum two percent of GDP that's for defense spending. And Poland is there and you've been there from a very early date. We appreciate that very much and we've been there also. There has been a been a total of eight -- eight out of 28, and the rest are coming along because nations at my urging have paid more than $100 billion more toward the NATO defense.
Last month I was very pleased that Poland announced the intent to purchase 32 American-made F-35 fighter aircraft like you just saw. Moments ago, we witnessed that impressive flyover of this cutting-edge F-35 as it flew over the White House and actually came to a pretty -- close to a halt over the White House.
I always say, what's wrong with that plane? It's not going very fast. But it's an incredible thing when you can do that. That plane can land dead straight and it's one of the few in the world that can do that, it's considered to be the greatest fighter jet in the world.
I applaud President Duda for its efforts to strengthen and modernize Poland's defenses. I also want to congratulate Poland for its progress on meeting U.S. criteria for entry into the Visa Waiver Program.
Today our country signed a preventing and combating serious crimes agreement, a significant and necessary step for Poland's entry into the program. Though we still have some work to do, we hope to welcome Poland into the Visa Waiver Program very soon and that's a very big deal.
Both of our nations understand that immigration security is national security. In our meeting, President Duda and I discussed the vital issue of energy. Reliance on a single foreign supplier of energy leaves nations totally vulnerable to coercion and extortion. For this reason, we support Poland's construction of the Baltic pipeline which will help European countries diversify their energy sources. It's desperately needed and that's the way to go.
During the past year, Poland has also signed approximately $25 billion worth of new contracts with U.S. firms to buy more than six billion cubic meters of U.S. liquefied natural gas. Today our nations just signed another contract for an additional two billion cubic meters worth approximately $ 8 billion.
So between the planes, and the liquefied natural gas, and many other things that Poland is doing, which is doing very well because Poland is doing very, very well. We appreciate it, thank you very much, Mr. President.
Our countries also signed an agreement to expand U.S.-Polish civil nuclear cooperation which will likewise advance Poland's energy and security and deepen our bilateral commercial ties. Economic relations between the U.S. and Poland are thriving. We're committed to further expanding commerce based on fairness and reciprocity -- perhaps my favorite word, across many critical areas from defense and diplomacy to energy and economics, the alliance between.
[14:30:10]
