Amy Sedaris/Pete Buttigieg/Toro y Moi
- Episode aired Apr 18, 2019
- TV-14
- 57m
Actress Amy Sedaris ("At Home with Amy Sedaris" and "The Lion King"); 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg; Toro y Moi performs;Actress Amy Sedaris ("At Home with Amy Sedaris" and "The Lion King"); 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg; Toro y Moi performs;Actress Amy Sedaris ("At Home with Amy Sedaris" and "The Lion King"); 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg; Toro y Moi performs;
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Self - Host: you were here in June 2017, and I remember spending the whole day making sure I can say your last name right and now you're so well known it just "rolls off" my tongue. Is it a "surprise" the reaction you've gotten in these early days after announcing your candidacy?
Self - Democratic Presidential Candidate: yeah, just the speed of it. I mean obviously, we were "hoping" for a "reaction", we were "hoping" for a "good response", but the way this "thing" has taken off is past our most optimistic scenario. So, now we've got a lot of work to do to make sure we have the "organizing", the "substance" behind it to take us "all the way" but it's a fantastic beginning
Self - Host: in the early days before you had a name and face recognition, were there humbling moments when you were out there around on the campaign trail?
Self - Democratic Presidential Candidate: oh, yeah, I mean not that long ago I was boarding a flight to New Hampshire, a few people recognized me, came up and said "Hello", and this lady standing right next to me said "You must be Pete?" I said "Yeah," she's clearly seen these interactions and we had a nice little chat, she said "Why are you going to New Hampshire?" I said "Well, the campaign of course", she said "Oh, right, right, but I asked "What station are you a reporter for?" And it's one of those moments that "caught me off the side"
Self - Host: [laughs] yeah
Self - Democratic Presidential Candidate: and I forgot everybody knows who I am but you know, that's the "thing" you gotta remember is you feel like you're getting into this "bubble", like everybody's heard your "message" when actually a lot of people still haven't dialed in for the process yet. They're not following the "blow by blow" and my job is to find as many different ways as possible to get them to get the "message" out to more people
Self - Host: I wanna ask really quick before I get back to your campaign and your candidacy, what was your "initial reaction" to what we saw today from Barr and the release of the Mueller Report?
Self - Democratic Presidential Candidate: I mean I guess it "confirmed" a lot of "things" that we were worried about? We have a President who acts in a self-serving way that there was a lot of behavior that "at best" was unethical, and legally "problematic" to put it "charitably" and the way the Attorney General conducted himself as though he was the personal attorney of the President was incredibly troubling too. At the same time too, politically, I'm not sure it will change much and it's one more "reminder" if we really want to send Trumpism into the history books, the best thing we can do is defeat it decisively at the ballot box in 2020
Self - Host: [after the audience applauses, sarcastically, jokingly] I'm very good at judging how the audience feels about something: their split right down the middle right now. You have a military background, one of the other "things" that's been true I think for the last two years, but especially for upholding the focus today is that Donald trump almost always seems want to dismiss military intelligence while at the same time, boasting about what a great supporter of the military he is. Is that a hypocrisy that more acutely felt by you because of your military background?
Self - Democratic Presidential Candidate: yeah, I mean what's upsetting is especially when you're in military intelligence, when your deployed like when I was in Afghanistan you do believe the highest honor really that can happen to you as a member of the intelligence community, is that your work goes to a policy maker that can help them make a decision. You believe that they read these things carefully, when people are putting their lives on the line in order to support US security through good intelligence. You know that whole system rests on the "belief" that the Presidents, the Generals are using that information or at least reading it, right? That their using it wisely but to see the way intelligence is being "politicized" to see the way that the military families are being treated as "props" by this President is demoralizing and it's one more reason why it might not be a bad idea to have somebody in the White House that "actually" served
Self - Host: [while the audience applauds] I think there is this question in order you have to be a successful Democratic candidate, you have to bring together many people from diverse backgrounds, it's obviously more diverse voting "base" than I think of what you think of is historically a more Republican voting "base" yet, when you make a decision like do you just commit to the Democratic "base" or when you make an "approach" to Trump voters, how do you speak to them? What "message" is that you or any of your colleagues that are trying to get this Democratic nomination "approach" Trump voters? What's the "message" your "trying" to give them?
Self - Democratic Presidential Candidate: well, look, there's some voters we're never get through but there are many others I think we can. If somebody repeatedly voted Democratic and then voted for this President out of any number of reasons but basically voted to "burn the house down", I want that voter back voting Democratic again and...
Self - Host: [interrupts him, jokingly, sarcastically] because their sitting in the house and their like "Oh, no, this is a terrible idea"
Self - Democratic Presidential Candidate: well, you know, to some extent, it came from a level of frustration around the system...
Self - Host: sure
Self - Democratic Presidential Candidate: and that's not to excuse the racism and the other "things" went into that campaign but I think people are more susceptible to those "messages" of racism, xenophobia, if they also feel a certain level of insecurity and uncertainty in their economic and social lives, and so what I think what we've gotta do is we've got to reach out to those voters reminding them we're trying to get you a raise: we're the ones trying to get you paid family leave. We're the ones trying to stop the Republican Congress from taking away your healthcare and while we do that and this is the important thing alongside that, we never "budge" on our bedrock commitment to racial and social justice because that's where our moral authority as a party comes from in the first place
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