NBC "Meet the Press" - Transcript Interview with Cedric Richmond
Interview
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And joining me now is the national co-chair of Joe Biden's campaign, it's Congressman Cedric Richmond of Louisiana. Congressman Richmond, welcome back to Meet the Press. I want to start with a column from George Packer, who writes the following and says this. "Ordinarily, it's the incumbent president's job to show up at the scene of a national tragedy and give a unifying speech. But Trump is temperamentally incapable of doing so. And in fact, has a political interest in America's open wounds and burning cities. Biden then should immediately go to Wisconsin." Cedric Richmond, is Joe Biden going to be going to Wisconsin tomorrow?
REP. CEDRIC RICHMOND:
I don't know the answer to that. But also, I think that Vice President Biden has a responsibility to not make things worse. To make sure that the police on the ground can accommodate his visit, that his visit wouldn't be a distraction and his visit wouldn't make things worse. And I think that he is weighing all of those things right now.
CHUCK TODD:
Given what we saw overnight in Portland, given what we've seen take place all week in Kenosha, what are your concerns about where the Biden campaign is right now on this issue in particular?
REP. CEDRIC RICHMOND:
Well, I don't have a concern where we are on this issue. I mean, we have been very clear that police reform in this country is a necessity. And that unarmed Black people being killed by the police should be low hanging fruit. And if we could just get President Trump to acknowledge that and to push for real police reform, then let's address the issue of why NBA players did not play in basketball games. The fact that people are waking up and speaking out on Jacob Blake's death. I mean, that's the issue. And I think that, without a plan from the White House to address it, it's just really sweeping it under the rug. And you hear the rhetorical gymnastics from his chief of staff that was just here. Vice President Biden has been very clear. He put out a plan on police reform. And I think that that should be the subject we're talking about.
CHUCK TODD:
When it comes to the violence in the streets now, who should be held responsible?
REP. CEDRIC RICHMOND:
Those perpetrating the violence. Look, Vice President Biden has been very clear that peaceful protests are a bedrock of our democracy. But what I don't want to do, Chuck, is to ever confuse or compare peaceful protesters with those committing crimes. Those are not peaceful protesters. Peaceful protesters are out there trying to make this country a more perfect union, trying to make sure that their Black and Brown daughters and sons are safe and survive police encounters. Those that are out there committing crimes are not a part of those peaceful protests. And they should not be labeled that way. And I think that law enforcement has to deal with it. But what was very interesting just now, when you talked to the Chief of Staff Meadows, he said that President Trump is on the side of law enforcement. Well, the question becomes, well, who's on the side of justice? Who's on the side of Constitutional policing? It's not about law enforcement or protesters. It's about making sure that police are held accountable when they violate people's Constitutional rights when they shoot unarmed Black people. And if the president could convene that conversation, then I think that we would be in a better space. And so he keeps talking about what Biden's America would look like. Well, this is Trump's America. He has to own this moment. He has to own the incompetence around coronavirus and 180,000 American deaths, almost six million infections. Almost 38 million jobless claims. He has to own that. This is his America. So how do you break this country and then run for reelection saying, "I want to fix everything that I just destroyed"? And so that will be the message of the campaign and we're going to have to make that case. But at the same time, I think America's in a real fragile point. And I think that you will hear Joe Biden speak. You will hear him try to heal this country because the president just doesn't have it in him.
CHUCK TODD:
I'm curious what you made last week of all the testimonials from Black men at the Republican National Convention and how much of an impact do you think it might have? I want to show this chart of the presidential vote among Black men going back to 2008. And there has been a consistent erosion of support for the Democratic party from Black men. A high of 95% in 2008. Just 80% of the vote in 2016. And there clearly was a concerted effort by the Trump campaign to try to appeal to Black men. What do you make of the effort and what should the Biden campaign do to counter it?
REP. CEDRIC RICHMOND:
Well, I'll tell you this. Donald Trump very effectively in 2016 raised the question to Black men, "What do you have to lose?" I think now Black men see clearly what they have to lose. They can get killed and the president won't say a word, won't utter Jacob Blake's name, will not talk about police reform. If you look at unemployment, Black unemployment is twice that of white unemployment. The fact that almost 40% of Black businesses will not survive his COVID-19 incompetent response, Black men see that. And so you will see us as a campaign talk directly to Black men. We will not make assumptions. We will not take them for granted. We're going to talk directly to them. So whether it's about mass incarceration, economic opportunity, home ownership, college affordability, increasing education funding, all of those things. So we're going to go where Black men are and we're going to talk to Black men about their issues. But I think they see clearly what it is they have to lose now.
CHUCK TODD:
I want to move onto the economy a bit. The last time you and I spoke, we talked about -- you told me you thought the Democrats hadn't done a good enough job reminding people where the economy was in 2016. Reminding people of the economy that Donald Trump inherited. At the time, this was before con -- this was before the two big speeches. You saw what the RNC is pushing when it comes to the economy. Do you think Democrats have done any better of a job since we last talked about reframing where the economy was in 2016?
REP. CEDRIC RICHMOND:
Well, I think a little bit of that has happened. I think a lot more has to happen after Labor Day. We have to make it very clear to people that this president has the worst job creation record under any president in United States history. He's lost six million jobs. The Obama-Biden era created 16 million jobs coming out of the Great Recession. This president just does not have an economic plan. And I think Democrats have to home in on that. The one thing Trump does very well is says the same thing over and over again. Most of the time, it's a lie, but he says it over and over again and people start to believe it. We have to continue to say over and over again that this president has destroyed and wrecked this economy, just like everything he has ever touched in his life. And so we need to point out that there are farmers that are filing bankruptcy at all time highs. That the unemployment numbers are where they are. Small businesses are closing their doors every day. And so yeah, it's incumbent upon us to keep reminding people of that.
CHUCK TODD:
Okay. Congressman Cedric Richmond, the national co-chair for the Biden campaign, thank you for coming on and sharing the campaign's perspective. I appreciate it.
REP. CEDRIC RICHMOND:
Thanks for having me.
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