Warren talks Harris’s rise, Gaza policy, money in politics, and criticism from Massachusetts Republicans
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren was in Pittsfield Saturday at the fundraiser for Vice President Kamala Harris. The event was one of the Democrat’s first campaign appearances since President Joe Biden’s announcement that he would halt his re-election bid against former President Donald Trump, elevating her to the top of the ticket. Warren, who ran against Harris in the 2020 primary, is seeking for a third six-year term in this year’s election, and was in Pittsfield a week prior to tout federal funding secured for local nonprofits. Warren, who remained a Biden supporter in the days ahead of the political earthquake, quickly endorsed Harris after Biden’s historic decision on July 21st. On the drive from her home in Cambridge to the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, Warren spoke with WAMC about what Harris’s ascension means for the Democratic Party, the Biden administration’s continued support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, criticisms from Republican rivals in Massachusetts, and more.
WARREN: You know, this is really fun. I was just out last week to celebrate $2 million in new federal investments in the Pittsfield community, and now I'm back again to celebrate the presumptive Democratic nominee for President of the United States. This is fun.
WAMC: Now, I want to dive in right there. With the pivot in the Democratic ticket from Joe Biden to Kamala Harris, it obviously gives the party a chance to reassess what has worked and not worked in the campaign season so far. From your perspective, other than talking points about the ills of the Republican Party from your perspective, what opportunity is this for the Democratic ticket to reset heading into the fall?
I like that question, Josh. You know, we're 101 days out, and I think that Vice President Harris’s very presence on this ticket just shifts everything about it. So, for example, right now, we live in a country where 30% of all women live in states that effectively ban abortion. If Donald Trump and JD Vance get their way, it's not going to be 30%, it's going to be 100% of women, because they want a nationwide abortion ban. And by the way, JD Vance wants no exception for rape or incest. That's where he is. Vice President Harris has been the national leader for the last two years on the demand that women have access to the healthcare they need. And if we can get a majority, even a skinny majority, in the House, and hang on to our majority in the Senate, President Kamala Harris is going to sign Roe v. Wade into law, and that has now moved front and center again. One other thing that has shifted dramatically is when the other side nominates a convicted felon, I think the best person you can have is a prosecutor, and I think that contrast now comes to the fore again. So, it's, sort of the feel of the campaign is different. Kamala Harris is out there to fight and to win, and I think she's going to get this done.
One of the more controversial aspects of the Biden candidacy involves his support and your party's support for the Israeli military campaign in Gaza. I'm interested- Do you have a message to Americans, many of whom are younger, based on polling, who are horrified about the death toll in Gaza that's been supported by your party and the Biden White House?
Look, I have been outspoken on this issue. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has created a humanitarian disaster. We need four things in that area: We need an immediate ceasefire, we need return of the hostages, we need massive humanitarian relief, and most of all, we need to give both parties a big shove to get them to the negotiating table to build a lasting peace, and that's a two-state solution where two peoples can live side by side with dignity, with self-determination, and in long term peace.
Now, you yourself have voted to support unconditional aid to Israel over the last year. Can you square that decision making behind the statement you just made about your concerns about the impact of Israel's military campaign in Gaza?
As you know, the so-called supplemental package that you're talking about here had a lot of different pieces to it. The primary piece was to get aid to Ukraine. This was our one vehicle to be able to get aid to Ukraine. In addition to that, this package also had money for humanitarian relief for Gaza. I understand that this is not a bill where we could take the pieces apart and vote up and down on the ones we liked and the ones we didn't like. But ultimately, I thought it was absolutely critical that we get the aid through to Ukraine while they are on the front lines in the fight for democracy.
Earlier this month, the Lancet published an article estimating that the full death toll in Gaza could be upwards of 186,000 people, based on a set of criteria and past reporting on war zones that Gaza has become over the last few months. Have you read that report? And what do you think that that you know means for this ongoing effort for the Biden White House to support Israel?
I can't say it strongly enough- Prime Minister Netanyahu has created and continues to advance a humanitarian catastrophe. I refused to attend his speech last week, I did not want to be part of a political circus in order to lift him up. I thought it was inappropriate and I didn't want to go. I have repeatedly tried to get people together to advance the idea that the United States needs not just to condition aid Israel, but we need to put muscle behind that, particularly so long as Prime Minister Netanyahu continues to bomb civilian populations.
Do you feel that with Harris on top of the ticket, there will be a change in Democratic policy involving Israel?
I think we already saw a change when she spoke after Prime Minister Netanyahu was here. You know, she did not attend the speech either, and her comments afterwards focused on the alliance with Israel, but also drove home the importance of paying attention to what's happening to Palestinian civilians on the ground. And she talked with real feeling about the death of so many people in Gaza, and I think that's an important indicator of her views and where she will go as president.
Now, turning back to Kamala Harris ascending to the top of the ticket, we've seen a huge outpouring of Wall Street supporters for Harris's candidacy, donations coming in from folks related to some of the largest asset management groups and financial entities on Wall Street. You've made your brand being someone who's hard on the financial industry and is a strict regulator- Can you talk to me about what it means to you to see this candidate in Kamala Harris be so overwhelmingly embraced by Wall Street?
So, you know, I want to make a couple of points here. The first one is these big executives, billionaires, corporations, they're doing this across the board. Republicans, Democrats, they're coming in and saying they want to buy influence in politics. The number one thing we need to do on that front is shut down that flow of money. We need to talk about overturning Citizens United and returning our democracy to the people. The thing that gives me the most encouragement about what's happening in the Harris campaign is the fact that in the first 36 hours, 1.4 million small donors stepped up and said, I want to be part of this campaign. Here's my ten bucks, here's my fifteen bucks. They went to kamalaharris.com and said, here's my money, and over 100,000 people said, and I want to volunteer. Sign me up, I'll show up, I'll hold signs, I'll knock on doors, I'll stand in parking lots, and I will help get you across the finish line. At the end of the day, we've got Donald Trump out there, who, by the way, had a meeting with oil executives and just flatly said, if you will donate a billion dollars to my campaign, I will make sure that you face no regulations. I mean, think about that. Just put it on the auction block. Kamala Harris has got a lot of support, grassroots support, because for all of her career, she has been out there fighting on behalf of working people. I first got to know her when she was attorney general of California in the aftermath of the 2008 crash. She was on the side of people who were losing their homes, and she stayed firmly on the side of working people. Since then, do I want to see campaign finance reform? You bet I do, but I am right now, 100% for Kamala Harris, along with the 1.4 million people who have also donated and volunteered.
CRYPTO CARPETBAGGER JOHN DEATON HAS NO CONNECTION TO MASSACHUSETTS...VOTED 3 TIMES IN 20 YEARS...THAT'S HOW INFORMED HE IS! JUST AN UNINFORMED OPPORTUNIST!
THE CRYPTO CLOWN STOOD AT THE CAPE COD BRIDGE & BLAMED SENATOR WARREN TO THE BRIDGE NOT BEING FUNDED BECAUSE HE'S A LIAR! The bridges are owned by the ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS & the Orange Turd slashed funding!
When President Biden's INFRASTRUCTURE BILL was announced, the Orange Turd told MAGA MORONS to vote against it...THEY GENUFLECTED & OPPOSED IT!
MASS GOP & ADOLESCENT LOGAN TRUPIANO invent
delusions!
The failure of these 2 bridges gridlocks the region!
Turning to your reelection bid, Republican John Deaton, who's competing in his party's primary for the Senate race this year, he shared a quote that I want to read to you. He said, “Warren's great at fighting against the wealthy and the rich. That is not the same as fighting for the poor and for working families.” What are your thoughts on that characterization from John Deaton?
I have spent my entire career fighting for hard working people who are trying to make it by, and that's long before I ever got into politics. And you know, I'm really proud of some of the things that I've been able to do from the Senate. It's the honor of a lifetime to be down in Washington and to use it in a way, for example, like getting hearing aids so that they now can be sold over the counter instead of having a monopoly on hearing aids that made them cost thousands of dollars more, being able to advance $35 insulin and being able to advance the largest climate package in the history of the world, which was paid for by my 15% minimum tax on billionaire corporations like Amazon that were paying little or nothing in taxes. You know, I'm grateful to the people of Massachusetts for sending me to Washington, and I get up every day in the fight for how to have a level playing field and how to make sure that this is a government that works not just for a handful of folks at the top, but really works every day, on prescription drugs, on canceling student loan debt, on buying hearing aids, on access to solar panels that work for working people. That's why I'm there.
Now, you yourself are a millionaire. Does that impact your view on this conversation about class and tax responsibility and economic equity in America?
You know, I grew up, as most people here in Massachusetts know, out in Oklahoma, and my daddy ended up as a janitor. My mom answered the phones at Sears. I wanted to be a public school teacher, and there was no money to send me off to college. I am deeply grateful for the opportunities I had, including a public college that cost $50 a semester, something I could pay for on a part-time waitressing job. I'm grateful for the investments that America made in a kid like me, and I worry about the fact that today we live in an America that doesn't make those investments in our kids, that kids who are born into the kind of family I was born into have to take on mountains of debt, whether they want to get a two-year degree, a four-year degree, some technical training. I think that is fundamentally wrong, and it's what keeps me in this fight every day. I want not just a handful of kids who are born into wealthy families to have a bright future. I want all of our kids to have a bright future, and that's why I fight right alongside our public school teachers, right alongside everyone who is making those investments in our kids and in their future.
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