Team Biden-Harris and the DNC held a press conference in Milwaukee on Tuesday to discuss Republicans and the RNC.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Good morning.
00:03Thank you all for being here.
00:04Yesterday, Donald Trump, JD Vance, and their extreme
00:09maggot Republican friends kicked off their convention.
00:11What was the theme yesterday?
00:13Make America wealthy again.
00:16But by America, they mean rich people.
00:19Sure, they pretended to mean not just the super wealthy and corporations.
00:23They pretended to mean everyone.
00:25They pretended that they were pro-worker, pro-union party.
00:30But America saw right through their act.
00:33Last night's audience certainly did not show a lot of enthusiasm
00:36during the primetime remarks about standing up for America's workers.
00:40The response could have been described as lukewarm at best.
00:44Some tepid applause here and there, a forced smile from former
00:47President Trump when he would realize that the camera was panned on him.
00:51But that's hardly surprising because Donald Trump's Republican
00:54party will always choose big, greedy, anti-union extremists over
00:59the working men and women of America.
01:01So if they want to talk about the economy, let's do that.
01:05Trump's disastrous job record is just the beginning of his
01:07long list of economic failures.
01:10He offshored tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs, including
01:13jobs that could have stayed or been created right here in the state of Wisconsin.
01:17His tax schemes gave incentive to the companies to ship jobs overseas
01:20rather than keep them here in America.
01:23He promised a manufacturing boom.
01:25He promised an infrastructure week.
01:27He promised the revitalization of an auto industry.
01:30And he delivered on none of it.
01:32And who paid the price for his failures?
01:35Hardworking Americans.
01:37If given the chance, he won't just do this all again.
01:40He'll do much, much worse.
01:42Trump was one of the most anti-union presidents too.
01:45He has openly insulted labor leaders, despairs union workers as
01:50do-sucking people, and said that he wants to get rid of organized labor.
01:55If given the chance now, he's desperately trying to cover for his
01:59record to win those same voters.
02:01But Trump is kidding himself if he thinks hardworking Americans
02:04will be fooled by these lies.
02:06Let's be clear.
02:08Donald Trump will side with Wall Street over Main Street
02:10every single day of the week.
02:13President Biden is the most pro-union, pro-worker president
02:16this nation has ever seen.
02:18He's the first sitting president to ever walk a picket line.
02:21He's had workers back time and time again.
02:24Major unions across this country have endorsed President Biden
02:27because they believe in his vision of building an economy
02:30that works for everyone.
02:32President Biden knows that when an economy is pro-union and pro-labor,
02:36everyone gets ahead.
02:38President Biden is the job president.
02:40He's created nearly 16 million jobs.
02:43We've seen the lowest unemployment rate in over 50 years,
02:46including record low black unemployment.
02:48President Biden didn't just deliver an infrastructure week.
02:51He's ushered in the start of an infrastructure decade.
02:54While Trump promised, broke promise after promise,
02:57President Biden is delivering a great economic comeback
03:00and a historic manufacturing boom.
03:03We haven't just had a bounce back from the economic effects of the pandemic.
03:06We've witnessed the greatest economic recovery that this nation has ever seen.
03:11And that's all thanks to the hard work of President Biden.
03:14Donald Trump called Milwaukee horrible,
03:17but the reality is there's nothing more horrible than his vision for America.
03:22There's only one ticket with the most pro-union,
03:24pro-worker president that this country has ever seen,
03:27and that is the Democratic ticket,
03:29with President Biden and Vice President Harris.
03:32And with the American people's support,
03:34this November, the Biden-Harris administration
03:36will continue to fight for hardworking families for four more years.
03:40And with that, it's my pleasure to turn it over to Chair Blanklin.
03:47Thank you so much, Mr. Faulks.
03:50And thanks, everyone, for being here today.
03:52Welcome to a wonderful city, the city of Milwaukee.
03:57On behalf of the entire Democratic Party of Wisconsin,
04:00I want to welcome everyone to spend a lot of time in this great state,
04:04the state that tipped the Electoral College
04:07for President Biden and Vice President Harris in 2020,
04:10a state that is so excited next month
04:13to travel to our neighboring state of Chicago
04:15and join Democrats from across the country
04:18in lifting up and celebrating our nominee, Joe Biden,
04:21or nominee for Vice President, Kamala Harris.
04:25But at this moment, when the Republican Party can mention,
04:29when the MAGA acolytes have descended on the city of Milwaukee
04:34and on the state of Wisconsin,
04:36we want to be very clear that we know that what Trump and Vance
04:41are promising for this country and for this state
04:44is a continuation of their record of economic failure and betrayal of workers.
04:52During this Republican convention,
04:54even as Democratic activists across the state and across the country
04:58are knocking on doors to support President Biden and Vice President Harris,
05:01it's incumbent on us to call out what we see from the stage
05:05and what we know that Trump and Vance are proposing for America.
05:08It's all written down in Project 2025,
05:11which J.D. Vance proudly said was full of good ideas.
05:16What we know that these ideas aren't just bad, they're dangerous.
05:20They're dangerous for our country.
05:23Donald Trump and J.D. Vance want to ransack the public treasury
05:26to hand out massive tax cuts to billionaires
05:29and stick working Americans with the bill.
05:32We know that they want to strip Americans of their basic freedoms,
05:36like access to reproductive health care,
05:38even threatening access to forms of contraception.
05:41We know that they not only want to leave working families behind,
05:45they want to kick them off the ladder of opportunity
05:47and pull up the ladder behind them.
05:50We know this, not just because of what they and their allies
05:53and their staff have laid out in plain ink in their Project 2025 plans,
05:58but because of what they did last time Donald Trump had power.
06:03Here in Wisconsin, we had a front row seat to an iconic Donald Trump failure.
06:09It was the Foxconn plant.
06:11Donald Trump came to Wisconsin.
06:12He promised the eighth wonder of the world.
06:15He broke ground with a golden shovel.
06:17And for a project that would have been the biggest giveaway in history
06:23to a foreign corporation,
06:25Scott Walker and Donald Trump bulldozed a hundred homes and businesses.
06:31They spent more than $500 million in taxpayer money
06:34to pave the way for a massive facility that never appeared.
06:39Donald Trump famously was the first president since Herbert Hoover
06:43to leave office with fewer American jobs than when he entered.
06:4613,000 of the jobs that never took place were at that Foxconn facility.
06:51What we saw from Donald Trump was broken promises and empty rhetoric
06:56and then leaving us in his dust.
06:59If we get four more years in office of Donald Trump,
07:02now with his friend, mega extremist in chief J.D. Vance,
07:08we can expect much more of the same thing.
07:10And frankly, Wisconsinites cannot afford it.
07:13Wisconsinites can't afford the inflation bomb that President Trump,
07:18former President Trump and J.D. Vance are proposing,
07:20and we can't afford more broken promises to Wisconsin workers.
07:24What we need is the people who actually deliver for our state.
07:29Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
07:31President Biden was here in Wisconsin in Racine County this May.
07:35At the very place where Donald Trump's promise went up in smoke,
07:40President Biden and AFL-CIO President Schuler
07:43and Microsoft President Brad Smith came together
07:47and laid out the plan for a $3.3 billion Microsoft data center.
07:54Thousands of union jobs creating this data center,
07:57the work already underway.
07:59That's what progress looks like.
08:01And you can see it all over Wisconsin.
08:03You can see it with the orange traffic cones, with the cranes.
08:06You can see it with the workers hard at work every day,
08:10building up America in a country and in a state where Joe Biden
08:13and Kamala Harris actually kept their word and more.
08:18President Biden is building the economy from the bottom up and the middle out.
08:21President Biden is taking on corporate greed and fighting to bring down costs.
08:26He faced down the biggest, most arrogant special interest in the country,
08:29the big pharmaceutical companies,
08:31and brought down the price of insulin to $35 a month for people on Medicare.
08:36Now he wants to do the same for every American.
08:39That contrast is clear as day.
08:41We need a president who fights for working people,
08:43not for the ultra billionaires.
08:45A president who's already expanded overtime protections,
08:48who's banned non-compete agreements,
08:50who's consistently fought and advocated for workers' rights.
08:53A president fighting to lower health care costs
08:56and expanding the Affordable Care Act.
08:59The last thing we need is a president who spent four years in office
09:02putting corporations first and the rest of us last,
09:05getting back into office to repeat the process on steroids.
09:10It's simple.
09:11If we want to create,
09:13if we want to keep creating jobs,
09:15if we want to keep expanding opportunities,
09:17if we want to keep strengthening unions
09:20and the working families who believe and know
09:23that unions are a key path to the middle class,
09:25we've got to support Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
09:27And that's exactly what Wisconsinites are doing.
09:30Across the state, Democratic volunteers, activists,
09:34thousands of them are knocking on doors,
09:36are making phone calls, are talking to voters
09:38every day about the stakes.
09:40But what we hear at the doors
09:41is that no one wants the Project 2025 agenda.
09:45No one wants a $5 trillion tax cut for the ultra-wealthy.
09:48What they want is a president and vice president
09:50who will invest in them.
09:52And that's exactly what we're going to do.
09:54That's exactly what we're going to elect and re-elect
09:57when we go to the ballot this November.
09:59With that, I want to introduce my friend, Senator Cory Booker.
10:05Good morning, everybody.
10:07It is really good for me to be in Milwaukee.
10:09I have to say, as a former mayor of a great American city,
10:14that so many people like Donald Trump
10:18like to demean and degrade our urban spaces.
10:21It's incredible to see a city like this
10:23that is doing so much to help people,
10:27to empower its residents,
10:29to do what a lot of cities are doing,
10:31trying to tell their truth,
10:32create jobs and expand opportunity.
10:35It is really a shame when you have leaders
10:38in high positions punching down on people
10:41and saying such awful things like Donald Trump did
10:44about this incredible, diverse community.
10:48I'm a guy from Jersey and entered politics
10:51in nonpartisan races.
10:53When I was mayor of the city of Newark,
10:54it wasn't about right or left.
10:55It was about what was the best thing to move forward.
10:58And I made a reputation for myself
11:00about bringing people together from across the aisle
11:03to do good things, to empower people,
11:06to succeed.
11:07I'm here, obviously, speaking on behalf
11:09of the Democratic Party,
11:10but I am really interested in speaking
11:12about the clear choice that Americans have
11:15before them right now,
11:17and to remind folks that despite the pomp and circumstance
11:20I'm seeing in the RNC convention,
11:22what the truth is using Donald Trump's own words
11:28and what he did in his first term.
11:31People should understand that in the Senate,
11:33I've been there for 10 years,
11:34and Congress, I have worked with Democrats constantly
11:37to fight against Republican attempts
11:41to strip away healthcare from Americans,
11:46to undermine people's reproductive rights,
11:51to try to fight to secure people's retirement securities.
11:55And again, last night, which had me really curious
11:58to be the party that consistently stands up for labor.
12:04Joe Biden is the most pro-labor president in my lifetime,
12:09and four years of Donald Trump,
12:10what he did with the NRLD,
12:13the National Labor Relations Board,
12:15what he did with OSHA,
12:16is he tried to undermine consistently
12:19union rights and workers' rights.
12:22So let me make this clear,
12:24especially when you see frightening documents
12:27like Project 2025,
12:29when you see what this president did when he was in office,
12:32let me make some things clear.
12:34Donald Trump is trying to end the Affordable Care Act,
12:38widely popular amongst Republicans,
12:40Independents, and Democrats.
12:43Americans should understand what that means.
12:45Remember, we stopped Donald Trump in the Senate.
12:48Democrats unified with a few Republicans,
12:51stopped him from doing what he said he would do
12:54time and time again.
12:55What Congress people on the Republican side
12:58voted dozens, if not hundreds of times,
13:01to repeal the Affordable Care Act,
13:03what Donald Trump and J.D. Vance say they want to do.
13:07What would that mean for you as Americans?
13:10It would mean that people with preexisting conditions,
13:13again, would not be able to get healthcare.
13:15It means that healthcare costs would go up remarkably
13:19because millions of Americans rely on the discounts
13:23in the exchanges.
13:25It would mean young people
13:26would be kicked off insurance again,
13:28as opposed to being able to stay on their parents' insurance
13:31until they're 26.
13:32It would mean people with complicated, difficult diseases
13:36would not be able to find the care they need.
13:40Medicaid and Medicare, something that, again,
13:42Republicans in Congress and their policy groups
13:45constantly say they want to privatize.
13:48They want to limit.
13:49Things like 2025, Project 2025, say they want to cap,
13:52infecting millions of Americans.
13:55We, Senate Democrats, we, House Democrats,
13:58President Biden, we want to fight to make sure
14:02that Medicaid and Medicare is not just secure,
14:05but we continue to drive down the cost of health coverage
14:09and prescription drugs.
14:10You saw four years of Donald Trump.
14:14Prescription drug costs were continuing to go up
14:17under that president.
14:18President Biden, however, capped out-of-pocket expenses
14:23for our seniors to $2,000.
14:25President Biden and Senate Democrats and House Democrats
14:27were able to lower the cost of insulin to $35.
14:35And reproductive care, abortion care, is healthcare.
14:42Janie Vance and Donald Trump have said awful things
14:46about criminalizing people who seek abortion care.
14:51They have attacked Planned Parenthood time and time again,
14:55trying to defund it.
14:57They put us in this dystopian world
15:00where we criminalize women or doctors
15:03that try to save women's lives.
15:08If you support Roe v. Wade, this is a clear choice
15:11between a president who brags about ending Roe v. Wade
15:16and the president and vice president
15:19who are some of the most powerful voices
15:21for reestablishing Roe v. Wade as the law of the land.
15:25And social security, God bless America.
15:29When you've worked all your life
15:31and paid into social security,
15:33and you hear what Republicans are trying to do
15:36from their policy groups in Congress,
15:39all the way to what you've heard and read in Project 2025.
15:48Folks that want to live at benefits,
15:51they want to raise the retirement age,
15:54do the kind of things that strip away security
15:57and resources from hardworking Americans
15:59who paid into social security,
16:01understanding the bargain and deal all their lives,
16:03they want to upend that.
16:05I've seen this and heard this and watched this
16:08for 10 years in the Senate,
16:09people trying to shake that fundamental bargain
16:13and end social security as we know it.
16:16We're at a crossroads here and it couldn't be more stark.
16:21We have a pro-union president in office right now.
16:24We have a party that fights and protects unions.
16:26We have a party that protects women's rights to choose.
16:29We have a party that's proven
16:30they could lower healthcare costs,
16:32lower prescription drug costs,
16:33expand health coverage, heck, for black people in America.
16:37We now are at the point where most,
16:38never before in history have we had this many black people
16:41covered by health insurance.
16:43And the party that wants to end all of that.
16:46I want to end by saying that
16:48this is a tough political season.
16:53I serve in the Senate with a lot of folks
16:55and like Tammy Baldwin, who's my friend here in Wisconsin,
17:00who has done so much to create jobs here.
17:04She's a leader by America.
17:05Tammy Baldwin is this incredible woman
17:08who is one of those workhorses in the Senate,
17:11not a show horse at all.
17:14And what I love about Tammy Baldwin
17:16is she's a part of us in the Senate
17:18that really works across the aisle.
17:19And we were talking yesterday about this choice
17:22of one of our colleagues to be Trump's vice president.
17:26We both wish him well, pray for his family.
17:28It's not easy to put yourself out there,
17:31especially on a presidential ticket.
17:32I saw the attacks, the unfair, unjust attacks
17:35on Kamala Harris, one of the, again,
17:37one of our colleagues, good American.
17:41But the choice of J.D. Vance worries me because of this.
17:46It presents a stark contrast in our country,
17:49stark contrast, not between Republicans and Democrats,
17:53but between President Trump's first vice president,
17:59between President Trump's first vice president, Pence,
18:02and his current vice president.
18:04What is the stark difference between the two?
18:08What is the stark difference
18:09between Donald Trump's first vice president
18:11and why he says he chose his second vice president choice?
18:18It's the same thing we see with so many people
18:21from Donald Trump's original circle,
18:23his former chief of staff, his former secretary of defense,
18:25who have all come out and said
18:26they don't support Donald Trump's presidency.
18:30Because when Donald Trump made a move on our democracy
18:34and our elections and spread the worst lie I've ever seen
18:40that caused one of the lowest, most shameful moments
18:44in American history on January 6th,
18:46where people stormed into our Capitol,
18:50where we literally had a trial in the United States Senate,
18:53where both Republicans and Democrats
18:55voted to convict Donald Trump,
19:00Vice President Pence did the right thing for our democracy.
19:05Vice President Pence moved to certify an election
19:09that Donald Trump's chief election officer said was fair.
19:14And now he's chosen a vice president
19:15who said that he would not have done that.
19:18If he was the vice president then,
19:20he would have worshed our country,
19:22perhaps into its worst constitutional crisis
19:27of my lifetime and generations before.
19:32This is a stark choice, folks,
19:36between having healthcare and not,
19:39between having reproductive rights and not,
19:41between having affordable prescription drugs and not,
19:45between having retirement security and not.
19:49When it comes to the sacred American democracy
19:53between our elections, preserving who we are,
19:59we now know that there is a team that believes
20:02the only way we will support the outcome of this election
20:05is if we win, and if we lose,
20:08we will use every bit of resources and power we do
20:11to subvert the ultimate will of the people,
20:15and that is unacceptable.
20:21Ladies and gentlemen, I now bring up an extraordinary person,
20:25a leader of one of our greatest unions there are.
20:29In fact, this is a woman who is the first woman
20:33to lead a union of 12 million Americans.
20:37I want to mention this
20:39because I think it's one of the most special things.
20:44It's a person that leads with love.
20:48She talks about the urgency of kindness.
20:51I think we should have an America that works for everybody.
20:54In many ways, she is not just the leader
20:56in the right place at the right time,
20:58in an America that President Biden
21:01and Vice President Harris are trying to make an economy
21:04that works for everybody,
21:05but she's actually in the trenches
21:07fighting for the rights of so many people,
21:09but understands that how you lead is so important.
21:15The time that there's too much divisiveness and hate,
21:17Ms. Shuler is one of those people who is a light worker,
21:20and someone that I have come to respect a lot,
21:23and I bring her to the microphone now.
21:29Good morning, good morning, everyone.
21:31I heard a smattering of applause.
21:34I think it needs to be louder.
21:40We do represent journalists as well.
21:43Good morning, everyone.
21:44Again, I'm Liz Shuler, AFL-CIO President,
21:47and I'm here on behalf of 12 and a half million workers
21:53in unions all over this country,
21:55including Senator, six and a half million women
21:57in the labor movement.
21:59A lot of people don't see us
22:01as the largest organization
22:02of working women in the country.
22:06Someone can tweet that.
22:09And I'm here actually proudly, proudly supporting
22:14the most pro-union president in history, Joe Biden,
22:19and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,
22:21who have a track record of standing up for workers
22:25and fighting for them every single day.
22:26I'm here to talk about the facts
22:30and the best path for working Americans.
22:33And both parties in this country used to know,
22:36you know, we're talking about bipartisanship here.
22:40The Senator was just referring to it.
22:43It used to be that both parties knew
22:46that when workers did well, the entire country did well.
22:51And in fact, I just uncovered some photos
22:54from our building dedication in 1956
22:56at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, DC.
23:00We are right across from the White House.
23:02Dwight D. Eisenhower was the president.
23:05He walked across the lawn to dedicate our building.
23:08That's where we were.
23:10We were in a bipartisan place.
23:13As I speak today, there are Republicans in Congress
23:16who actually have voted for pro-worker legislation,
23:19not enough of them.
23:22But we know that this can be done,
23:24like the bipartisan infrastructure bill, right?
23:27And that is bringing opportunity
23:30for workers all over this country.
23:34But Trump and J.D. Vance's agenda,
23:37this Project 2025 agenda, does the exact opposite.
23:43It does not make America wealthy again.
23:47It has made the richest people in this country even richer.
23:53We are here in Milwaukee.
23:55During the Republican National Convention.
23:58And as workers all over this country
24:02decide who they will support in November,
24:06there's gonna be a lot of rhetoric.
24:07We saw the start of it last night,
24:10over these next few days.
24:12But if you're a working person out there,
24:15and you're considering this question of who do I vote for,
24:20I think you should ask yourself,
24:23does this Project 2025 agenda make my life better?
24:29If it were to become law, would it make my life better?
24:33Would my life be better
24:35when these Project 2025 extremists eliminate my union?
24:41Will my life be better when they take away my ability
24:43to bargain a fair contract or go on strike?
24:48You've seen workers.
24:49They're rising up all across this country
24:52because they're fed up, right?
24:55Will my life be better when Trump lets my company
25:00force me to work overtime without overtime pay?
25:04People don't think it's possible in the year 2024,
25:08but it is according to Project 2025.
25:12And will my life be better when they gut
25:13the Affordable Care Act and rip away affordable healthcare?
25:18When they end Social Security and Medicare as we know it,
25:22programs that workers have earned
25:25and paid into their entire lives.
25:28Programs that Trump's new running mate, J.D. Vance,
25:32calls the biggest roadblocks to fiscal sanity.
25:39Will my life be better when Trump, J.D. Vance,
25:44and these extremists hand even more power
25:48to billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk,
25:51who are more interested in going to space on rocket ships
25:55than they are helping working people?
25:59Because those are the things that Donald Trump
26:01and J.D. Vance are telling you to believe.
26:03It's right there.
26:05That's what the Republican Party is telling us openly
26:09that they want to do.
26:10People want facts these days.
26:14Those are the facts.
26:16And those are the stakes for working people.
26:18And I believe when working people have the facts
26:23and they see the stark choices
26:25that we've been talking about this morning,
26:27we are going to invest in ourselves.
26:29We are going to invest in our future.
26:33And we are gonna support Joe Biden and Kamala Harris
26:37who have a clear record and stand with working people.
26:43Thank you so much.
26:44I'm gonna turn it back over to Quentin.
26:46All right.
26:48All right, thank you so much.
26:51Thank you, Liz.
26:52Thank you, Senator Booker.
26:54I think we're gonna open it up to some questions.
26:56This is my favorite part.
27:03How has the rhetoric changed?
27:04How has the rhetoric changed?
27:05What's the word I was looking for?
27:07Fox News.
27:10How has the rhetoric changed in light of the assassination
27:13of John Sanders with the DNR, the RNC,
27:15and members of the DNC and Biden-Harris administration?
27:17It hasn't changed.
27:18I would say that we've been focused
27:19on talking about the issues.
27:21Reproductive freedom, workers' rights,
27:23Social Security, Medicare, the economy,
27:26a fairer tax code.
27:27Pro-Act presidents and the vice president
27:29have been very clear on their vision
27:30when it comes to the agenda
27:31that they wanna put forward for Americans.
27:33Our campaign has been talking about that for months
27:36since the re-election was announced.
27:38And we're gonna continue to do so.
27:39As the president said, this is how democracy works.
27:42We're gonna continue to have a candid conversation
27:44about the stark contrast.
27:45I think Senator Booker laid it out very, very well,
27:48that there are two very, very different visions
27:52for this country.
27:53And I think it is absolutely surmised
27:55that the very tip top of that,
27:57with the vice presidential picks of Donald Trump,
27:59we see that.
28:00But underneath that, Americans at home
28:02are worried about their mortgages.
28:03They're worried about their rent.
28:04They're worried about healthcare.
28:05They're worried about childcare.
28:07They're worried about how they're gonna continue
28:10to put gas in their tanks.
28:11President Biden and Vice President Harris
28:13are focused on doubling down
28:14and continue to do the work for the American people.
28:16And we're gonna continue to draw the contrast
28:18of what that work actually means
28:19and what it means for the lives of those American people.
28:22And it's either that,
28:23President Biden and Vice President Harris's agenda,
28:25or as President Shuler said, the vision of Project 2025.
28:29And we know what that will do to workers' rights
28:31and people's rights across this country.
28:34Okay.
28:40I wanted to ask you about the virtual roll call process
28:43for the party.
28:45Do you think that that is necessary now,
28:47just given that Ohio is no longer independent,
28:50that they've thought about it once, twice?
28:53And do you think that the party
28:55should really have the opportunity to talk about this
28:58at the convention in Chicago
29:00and not go through with the virtual process
29:03and make some decisions?
29:05Look, so for anybody that couldn't hear,
29:07I think that the question was about Ohio's virtual roll call
29:10and the DNC moving forward with a virtual roll call.
29:12I think the answer here is very simple.
29:14It's the fact that, you know,
29:17there have been virtual roll calls
29:18in previous presidential elections.
29:20Ohio Republicans decided to play games.
29:24We have an obligation to make sure,
29:26as we have said, to stand by for every free election
29:29and to make sure that the process
29:30runs as smoothly as possible.
29:31They tried to do a rule change.
29:34It is our obligation as a campaign
29:35to make sure that President Biden is on the ballot,
29:38as well as Donald Trump,
29:38for anybody who has tried to play those games
29:41and any candidates who compete the process,
29:43turn in their signatures to get on the ballot
29:45and have ballot access.
29:47But we're not gonna leave it up to Ohio Republicans
29:50to have President Biden not be on the ballot
29:52at every single state.
29:53He has deserved that right.
29:54He's earned that right.
29:56And so we're gonna continue with that path
29:58and not play games about who is on this ballot
30:00to make sure that there is an election
30:01where candidates from both major parties
30:03are on the ballot,
30:04as well as any third-party candidates
30:06who have qualified and met the signature requirements
30:08to be on the ballot.
30:09But wasn't that issue essentially resolved
30:11in Ohio?
30:11Was it really necessary?
30:13And then we stopped the process
30:14and then they unresolved it?
30:17No.
30:18No, I didn't ask the question.
30:20It's the fact that they solved it
30:22with a legislative fix.
30:24We moved forward.
30:25We instituted this before they had a fix
30:26and we're gonna continue on that path
30:28because we're not gonna leave it up to them
30:30to change the rules again.
30:33We'll wait a second off the back.
30:37So there have been a number of billboards
30:38that have gone up around Milwaukee today.
30:41Can you talk a little bit about the messaging behind those?
30:44Which billboards?
30:45From ours or from Donald Trump?
30:47Your guys' that have gone up today.
30:49Look, I think that one, Donald Trump is here
30:51trying to say that he loves Milwaukee.
30:54I think Chair Whitver, if he wants to chime in,
30:55can talk about how Donald Trump actually feels
30:58about Milwaukee, but from us, it's very simple.
31:01The agenda and the vision here are very different.
31:03Project 2025 and what Donald Trump
31:05and Niagara Republicans want to do in this country,
31:08cutting checks and balances,
31:09giving Donald Trump more power to serve as a dictator
31:12on top of the immunity that the Supreme Court
31:14that he largely appointed has given him,
31:16the ability to stop workers from being able
31:18to go on strike, getting paid overtime
31:21for work that they do, getting rid of things
31:23like the Department of Education.
31:25That is one such statement.
31:26So our campaign is highlighting that
31:27to make sure, one, that others know the context
31:29and that, two, everyone's very, very aware
31:32of how Donald Trump feels about Milwaukee,
31:33despite what his billboards are saying,
31:35and also what Project 2025 will do
31:38for average Americans around this country.
31:39So I don't know, Chair, if you want to add anything.
31:44Former President Trump didn't just say Milwaukee
31:47was horrible, he oversaw an administration
31:50that failed Milwaukee.
31:52You can tell whether someone loves a place
31:55by what they do to lift it up.
31:58And Donald Trump's administration
32:00was bad for Milwaukees.
32:02Republican Tom Tiffany, he's a congressman
32:04from Wisconsin, he wrote recently
32:06that Republicans have used Milwaukee
32:08as a punching bag for years.
32:11We've seen a Republican Party that has really
32:13turned its back on cities like Milwaukee
32:15and cities across the country.
32:17And we know that Milwaukee is a wonderful place.
32:19We know that Wisconsin is stronger
32:21because Milwaukee is such a wonderful city
32:23and as a state, in every part of our state,
32:26we all do better when we all do better.
32:28And so we want to make sure that voters know
32:31not just what people say, but whose side
32:34these candidates are on.
32:36President Biden has been a tremendous success
32:38delivering infrastructure investments,
32:40delivering expansions of healthcare,
32:42delivering expansions in jobs
32:44and small business creation,
32:46passing the bipartisan infrastructure law
32:48to replace every lead lateral pipe in Milwaukee.
32:51Donald Trump said he would do all kinds of things like that
32:54and then completely failed to show up
32:56when it mattered most.
32:58So we want to make sure that voters here in Milwaukee
33:00and across Wisconsin are voting based on
33:02what these people will actually do in the next four years.
33:05And we think that Donald Trump, in this case,
33:08would be as good as his word now.
33:14Andrew Feinberg here with The Independent.
33:16You talked a bit about Project 2025
33:20and reproductive healthcare, social security, medical care,
33:24but there are a lot of fringe ideas out there
33:27that aren't necessarily in Project 2025
33:29that both Donald Trump and J.D. Vance subscribe to.
33:33One is devaluing American currency.
33:37A little esoteric, but something that could
33:40really put inflation into hyperdrive.
33:42Is that something that you guys are going to be talking to?
33:46Yeah, well, I think the work on that,
33:48it's a very similar issue that Donald Trump
33:49and J.D. Vance put forth.
33:52They've got to distance themselves from Project 2025,
33:54but at the end of the day, a number of his staff,
33:56cabinet officials, and people close to him
33:58have been involved in that.
33:59It's a plan that is written for him
34:01to be his second term agenda,
34:02and that's what we're going off of.
34:03I think over the next several days,
34:05we're going to continue to see Trump
34:06and the Republicans double down on that.
34:09But it's no surprise to us that Donald Trump has ideas
34:11that are going to drive up inflation.
34:13It's what he did when he left office.
34:14As you heard President Schumer say,
34:16he's the first president to leave office
34:18with fewer jobs than when he came in.
34:20He was disastrous for the American economy.
34:22It was on the brink of collapse when President Biden
34:24and Vice President Harris took office.
34:26We continue to see job reports that inflation is coming down
34:29because of the work of the Biden-Harris administration,
34:31and so we're absolutely going to build that contrast.
34:33I think the economy and inflation
34:35is at the heart and the core of the issue
34:38when we talk about what is facing Americans
34:39across this country.
34:41Inflation in the economy and how they're going to continue
34:43to provide goods and services to their households
34:46has a paramount role in that.
34:48One follow-up on that.
34:49You want to see this drop to a 30-year margin
34:53on inflation, and you're going to continue to do that.
34:56Is it going to be worried that you're going to have
34:59to spend more money on it?
35:02Look, money for me, as an operative,
35:05it's obviously important.
35:06It's an important factor in politics and campaigns today
35:09that it's just the way it is.
35:11But I'm more focused on what we are doing with the money.
35:13Our campaign is using every dollar
35:15that we are raising from grassroots fundraising
35:17and major donor fundraising to invest on the ground
35:19to be able to talk to voters.
35:21We see none of that from Donald Trump.
35:23We are inching towards having 1,500 coordinated staff
35:26on the ground, 300 field offices across the battleground states.
35:29You have to use this money to campaign.
35:31We're in a very fragmented media environment.
35:33All of that money going on TV.
35:35There's obviously also a saturation point.
35:37Our campaign has been making sure
35:39that we are going to have that money invested on the ground
35:42to communicate building a volunteer base,
35:43because we've got to get the message out
35:45about the stark differences and the contrasts.
35:47And so we can't control where Elon Musk or anyone else
35:49wants to put their money.
35:50But what we can focus on is what we
35:52are doing with ours and the infrastructure
35:53that our campaign has been building since day one.
36:01Laura Gersoni here for USA Today.
36:03Some people are reading J.D. Vance's nomination
36:06as a sign that the center of gravity
36:07is shifting in the GOP on economic issues.
36:10He visited a UAW picket line.
36:13He signaled he might support antitrust legislation.
36:17Is the GOP pivoting at all from the record
36:20that you've spent this press conference criticizing?
36:24Well, I think that the GOP is trying
36:26to pull the wool over Americans' eyes about what they actually
36:29stand for.
36:30I do not think that J.D. Vance, by any means,
36:33makes the Republican Party or the Magnate Extremist
36:36Party or Donald Trump any more appropriating of pro-labor
36:38than it was before.
36:39We've seen the records of what they stand for
36:41when it comes to American wages.
36:42We've seen where they stand when it
36:44comes to the cost of prescription drugs
36:45and continuing to be on the side of the big pharma.
36:47We see where they stand on overtime.
36:49We see where they stand on strikes.
36:51So absolutely not.
36:52President Biden's work speaks for itself.
36:54He's interested in the work of saving pensions.
36:56Where was Donald Trump?
36:57He has not done any of that.
36:59Donald Trump went to Michigan, and instead
37:00of going to a labor plant, he went to a non-labor plant
37:04and forced non-union workers to hold pro-labor signs.
37:08They are lying, but the record speaks for itself.
37:10And if he gets anywhere near the White House again,
37:12it's disastrous for American workers.
37:16Yeah.
37:17And I'll just say, it is spin.
37:19It's talking points.
37:21We have seen what this Biden administration has
37:24done for workers, protected, as we've said, our pensions.
37:28That was huge when the American Rescue Plan not only saved
37:32our country from disastrous effects of the pandemic,
37:36but to have investments in retirement security for workers
37:40that we never thought possible.
37:41It's because of Joe Biden and this administration.
37:45Joe Biden, yes, he was the first sitting American president
37:49to walk a union picket line.
37:52J.D. Vance showed up for the first time ever, as you said,
37:57and it was basically in preparation
37:59for his political career.
38:02He doesn't have a history for standing with workers,
38:05and workers will not be fooled.
38:08Joe Biden walks a picket line.
38:10Donald Trump crosses picket lines.
38:14We actually have a photograph of him
38:15crossing an IATSE picket line.
38:23The issue of J.D. Vance was personal to a lot of Wisconsinites,
38:27because Wisconsin is a state where Donald Trump's threat
38:31to democracy has never faded.
38:32We came within one vote of our state Supreme Court
38:35to overturning the presidential election in 2020.
38:38And after Dobbs fell for 451 days,
38:41Wisconsinites could not access abortion care in our state.
38:45J.D. Vance represents a clear signal by Donald Trump
38:48that he's doubling down on his attacks on democracy
38:51and his commitment to ripping away
38:53reproductive freedom from Americans.
38:55J.D. Vance said he would not have certified the election.
38:57He supports an abortion ban
38:59without exceptions for rape and incest.
39:01That's who Donald Trump wants
39:02a heartbeat away from the presidency.
39:08Hi, I'm Oriana with Notice.
39:10So yesterday, Republicans approved the RNC platform
39:14that took out federal bans
39:15and most anti-abortion rhetoric from the text.
39:17And I wanted to get your thoughts on what do you think it says
39:21that the GOP national agenda
39:23seems less restricted on abortion?
39:25It seems that they are condemned to lie.
39:28I just answered the question about them lying on Twitter.
39:30I don't think that's true.
39:32I don't think that's true.
39:33I don't think that's true.
39:34I don't think that's true.
39:36I don't think that's true.
39:37I just answered the question about them lying on workers' rights.
39:39Now they're trying to lie about women's rights.
39:41I don't care about what text they put on paper.
39:43I care about the actions of the people.
39:44Donald Trump has said numerous times
39:46there needs to be punishment for women.
39:48He's talked about monitoring pregnancies,
39:50criminalizing women, criminalizing doctors.
39:53That is what the Republican platform is,
39:54what is coming out of their candidate's mouth
39:56and their nominee's mouth.
39:57And I think we've seen time and again
39:58where Donald Trump stands,
39:59not just on reproductive rights,
40:01but on IVF, on family planning.
40:03He's continuing to double down on that.
40:05So there is no amount of text on paper or websites
40:07that they can approve or plan out
40:09that is going to detract from the fact
40:11that Donald Trump and his opponent, J.D.
40:13Vance, you just heard Ben Whittler
40:14or his nominee for VP, J.D.
40:16Vance, you just heard Chair Whittler
40:19talk about the fact that J.D.
40:20Vance said two wrongs don't make a right
40:22when he's asked about cases of rape and incest
40:24and women getting abortion from that.
40:26That is the Republican Party platform
40:28when it comes to reproductive freedom
40:29and abortion rights in this country.
40:32Can you repeat the question?
40:34Yeah, I mean, it's absolutely a political strategy,
40:36but again, it comes to the fact
40:37that the Republican Party understands
40:39that they are on the wrong side of these issues
40:41and are trying to moderate themselves.
40:43But the American people have seen
40:44where they really stand on these issues.
40:52Okay, Sean O'Brien has said he's not going to be
40:57Okay, Sean O'Brien has said he's not going to endorse
41:03this year, said to be hedging his bets
41:07in case of a Trump victory.
41:10If Trump ends up winning, what do you think,
41:13Ms. Shuler, what do you think of the chances
41:16that the Teamsters and Sean O'Brien
41:18would be able to influence a Trump administration
41:21to move away from the Republican historic opposition
41:25policies that benefit unionization and union workers?
41:31What we're focused on right now
41:33is drawing the contrast between these two candidates.
41:37The track record is clear that in Trump's first term,
41:41we've seen this movie before.
41:43We gave him a chance.
41:44In fact, when he first got elected,
41:46the labor movement said,
41:47we're gonna call balls and strikes.
41:49We're gonna see how this plays out.
41:51And fast forward four years later,
41:53the record is very, very clear.
41:56It speaks for itself.
41:57And you've heard it all today about, you know,
41:58gutting the National Labor Relations Board.
42:00That's the board that actually adjudicates
42:03when workers rise up and take a risk
42:05and try to form a union.
42:07That board decides whether they get to do that
42:10and whether it's stacked with people
42:11who actually can see clearly
42:13and stand on the side of workers
42:15or stand on the side of corporations.
42:17Our labor laws are badly broken in this country.
42:19They're tilted toward corporations.
42:21And so now we're in a position
42:23where we have a Biden NLRB
42:25who is actually giving workers a fighting chance
42:28when they take those risks to form their union
42:30and have their voices heard.
42:32So we've seen the track record of,
42:34we've seen this movie before,
42:36four years of Donald Trump.
42:37And now we see what it's like
42:39to actually have a president
42:41who will stand up and fight for working people.
42:44The fact that these investments alone
42:47have had labor standards attached to them,
42:49that taxpayer dollars are investing
42:51in things like infrastructure
42:53and bringing whole new industries to this country
42:55like semiconductors,
42:57that they have to actually be good,
42:59high-wage, high-row jobs
43:02because that's what we deserve as a country.
43:05We deserve for people to actually make a decent living,
43:07to have healthcare security,
43:08to have retirement security.
43:10And that's what the policies
43:11of this administration have done.
43:14I just, again, and I respect the questions
43:17and I respect the journalists who are here,
43:19but it doesn't take much to see
43:22that you had four years of Donald Trump.
43:26And so whatever they're gonna say right now,
43:28they're belying the facts of what they've done.
43:33Again, I don't, whatever they're writing
43:35in a platform on women's reproductive rights
43:38is so undermined by what Donald Trump did.
43:44He put three Supreme Court justices on the Supreme Court
43:50who, after generations of Roe v. Wade,
43:53ripped it down and cast us into a world
43:55where in states like mine,
43:57we are raising money literally for all of the women
44:00who can afford to come from states
44:02where you can't get an abortion,
44:04where you can't get reproductive rights,
44:06where you are literally in need of care to save your life
44:12because your child can't come to term,
44:15but you can't get the care in your state.
44:19We're raising money for women and women in my state
44:22are terrified because they've heard what Donald Trump
44:27and other congressional Republicans have said
44:29about a national abortion ban.
44:31It doesn't take much to just simply look at the four years
44:36of Donald Trump and see what you got,
44:39an erosion of women's rights,
44:41an erosion of reproductive rights,
44:43an erosion of abortion rights,
44:45a destruction and attack on Planned Parenthoods.
44:49And so I don't care what they say, you have evidence.
44:53This labor confusion should not be there.
44:56He has clarity.
44:57He picked for his Secretary of Labor,
45:01somebody that was avowedly anti-union.
45:06Joe Biden's Department of Labor is doing so much great work
45:11to protect workers, to fight for workers' rights.
45:16We're having the worst heat wave right now in America.
45:21It's stunning what's happening.
45:26Joe Biden is working to do everything he can
45:28to get laws and actions through OSHA to protect workers
45:32and give them things like president, president,
45:35like crazy things like rest breaks.
45:39What a concept.
45:42And what did Trump's OSHA do?
45:44What did Trump's NRLB do, National Labor Relations Board?
45:48I mean, I saw what they did during the pandemic
45:51with meatpacking plants where people were dying
45:54in unsafe work conditions.
45:55They actually supported measures to speed up lines
45:59and get around protections for labor.
46:03This is a clear contrast, America.
46:05We have the president, vice president,
46:07the most pro-union, pro-women's rights,
46:10pro-healthcare president in my lifetime.
46:15And it's not rhetoric, there are receipts for all of this.
46:20And you have a president whose four years
46:22was an attack on unions, an attack on organizing,
46:26attack on labor protections.
46:29And when it comes to actually creating jobs,
46:32this is the stunning thing.
46:34You have two different presidencies to compare.
46:39Let's look at the numbers.
46:41Who created the most jobs on their watch?
46:44Donald Trump, who is with Herbert Hoover
46:47on the least amount of created jobs,
46:49in fact, lost total jobs,
46:51or perhaps one of the greatest job creators
46:57in the modern presidency.
46:59Let's go to manufacturing jobs.
47:02A president whose rhetoric, who ran around this country
47:05saying he was gonna create manufacturing jobs,
47:08but didn't, versus the president that has created
47:13the most, the biggest boom in manufacturing jobs in decades.
47:18Let's talk about union jobs.
47:22We have a president that bragged
47:24that he was gonna do infrastructure for America.
47:27There's an infrastructure month, I think.
47:29There's an infrastructure week, I think.
47:30I think he had infrastructure days,
47:32but never produced an infrastructure bill.
47:35And then we have a president, and Joe Biden,
47:39who along with the congressional Democrats,
47:42was able to bring about a bipartisan infrastructure bill,
47:46which is the biggest investment in infrastructure ever,
47:50and then said, stop, wait,
47:52we're gonna make sure those are union jobs.
47:55There are kids in cities like Milwaukee and Camden
47:59that are getting apprenticeships in unions right now
48:04because of Joe Biden and congressional Democrats.
48:08This isn't complicated.
48:11You don't need a PhD.
48:13You don't need to be Will Ward and Bernstein
48:15and have an investigative crew
48:17to simply lay two presidencies side by side
48:20and see who has the best record on job creation,
48:23union jobs, manufacturing jobs, women's protections,
48:28safety and security at the workplace.
48:30We know what we have.
48:33And so all of our jobs is to simply tell the truth,
48:37to look at the numbers, look at the data.
48:40I'm a man of faith, a God we trust,
48:42but in politics, show me the numbers.
48:46And the last four years, under the worst of circumstances,
48:50a global recession, globally,
48:54I travel around the world
48:56and see other countries struggling.
48:57The number one economy in the world
49:02is the United States of America.
49:05The strongest manufacturing sector in the world
49:09is the United States of America
49:13under this president and Democrats in Congress.
49:18It's not complicated, folks.
49:19And the last thing, I'm sorry,
49:20I'm sitting back there trying to be patient.
49:23Let these experts speak.
49:28I have a simple test when I support a leader or not.
49:33Simple test.
49:35You cannot lead the people if you don't love the people.
49:41Not just the people who vote for you.
49:46Do you love the people?
49:50I think the way people talk about other folks in America
49:53is more of a reflection of who you are
49:56than who the person you're talking about is.
50:03I've listened to Donald Trump.
50:04I've known him for years, way before he was a politician.
50:11And I listen to the demeaning and degrading ways
50:14he talks about people and places.
50:19The way he talks about women who don't support him.
50:23The way he talks about people in his own party.
50:25God, the disgusting things he said
50:27about my former governor, Chris Christie.
50:30The way he attacks people's weaknesses or disabilities.
50:34I've heard how he talks about people.
50:36It does not connote anybody to believe that he loves folk.
50:42And then there's Joe Biden.
50:45I ran against him in the primary.
50:47My mother to this day teases me about
50:51how I just started really loving the guy.
50:56Because I got to see him behind the scenes
51:00when nobody was watching.
51:01I believe another saying, simple truth,
51:03someone who's nice to you, but not nice to the leader,
51:07is not a nice person.
51:10Look at folks when nobody's watching how they act.
51:15America, you have a lot of choices on policy, on facts.
51:18I believe the Democratic Party has done so much
51:21to attack rising costs, to attack rising prescription drugs,
51:25to fight through a globally bad economy
51:28and produce more jobs and more opportunity
51:31and better healthcare and greater coverage.
51:33I believe all of those things
51:34that really matter to households,
51:36but I want America to think about something also.
51:39At a time where people are talking about
51:41tamping down political rhetoric, that is not enough.
51:46We have a problem in this country that we hate each other
51:50just because of how we vote.
51:54Fox News watchers, MSNBC watchers,
51:57they're told by these 24-hour stations to hate each other.
52:00Character charts are being produced
52:02of Democrats and Republicans
52:03that are so far from the truth.
52:05I see it in the Senate.
52:06Nobody wants to talk about our bipartisan bills.
52:08Everybody wants to talk about our disagreement.
52:12This is a vote on policy.
52:13America, choose who's going to be best
52:15for the bottom line of your family, but God,
52:17in this time, look for leaders that lead with love.
52:21Look for people that don't just say tamp down the rhetoric,
52:24rise up the community,
52:26the beloved community that our country has to be.
52:28Support the people that know
52:30that even though you don't vote for me, you're not my enemy.
52:33In this moment in our democracy,
52:35please vote for decency and kindness and empathy and grace.
52:41Those are the best American values
52:44and the best American virtues.
52:47Listen to how candidates talk about the other side,
52:52about Democrats if they're a Republican
52:53or about Republicans if they're a Democrat.
52:56That will show you whether they're a leader
52:58that really can bring us together.
53:00And the last thing I'll say is this world
53:02is in a wretchedly difficult place, from Haiti to Sudan.
53:08We're at a point in human history
53:10with the most food insecure people.
53:13We are called in this country to be a light unto all nations.
53:17Choose who you want in the White House
53:20to be the nation that the world needs.
53:24Are they a president that talks about,
53:25excuse my language, shithole countries?
53:29Or are they a president that sees every nation
53:33with its people having dignity and potential and possibility
53:37and knows that America alone, yeah, America first,
53:41America alone, we are the strongest nation on the planet,
53:43but America with other nations in partnership
53:47for human rights and human dignity, we are invincible.
53:51This is an election about what's best for your family.
53:55I know the Democrats and Joe Biden
53:57are gonna fight for your healthcare,
53:58fight for good paying jobs, fight for your retirement security
54:03but the thing we really need in this country right now
54:07is patriotism.
54:09And patriotism is love of country
54:11and you cannot love your country
54:12unless you truly love your countrymen and women, all of them.
54:17Well, I can't think of a better way to end than that.
54:24So I wanna thank you all for coming.
54:25I think we have some more of these this week
54:27and I look forward to seeing all of those.