Cardi B just interviewed Bernie Sanders about coronavirus, criminal justice reform, and manicures
When Cardi B talks politics, she makes it her own. On Tuesday night, she joined former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders for an Instagram live discussion. Though they discussed Sanders’ progressive policies, criminal justice reform, and more, they started with a classic Cardi callout: Sanders’ less-than-impressive manicure.
“I can tell you’ve been in quarantine for a while now with your nails, but you know what? It’s okay, Uncle Bernie,” Cardi B said.
Cardi has been a vocal supporter of Sanders for years. She pushed for the former presidental candidate during the primaries, urging her followers to get out and vote. So, naturally, she expressed her disappointment of Sanders dropping out of the race last week. Now, she said, “we have 45 and Joe Biden,” clearly uninspired by the choices.
She also noted that “a lot of people, like the youth, they don’t really rock with Joe Biden because he’s conservative.”
So Cardi turned the question around on Sanders: “Now I want you to tell my platform like why are you endorsing him, why should we vote for him?”
Sanders responded first with a point about defeating our current president.
“First point is that when I announced that I was running and there were like 18 people running, you know, what I said was if I don’t win—and I tried hard to win—I will endorse the democrat who wins because Donald Trump is, to my mind, the most dangerous president in the modern history of America,” Sanders said.
Sanders also explained that he’s currently working to push Biden to become a more progressive candidate. He listed a number of specific issues he’s been pushing Biden on: raising the minimum wage, canceling student debt, immigration reform, and criminal justice reform—an issue that he knows Cardi B has personally advocated for in the past.
Cardi B responded, noting how prisoners haven’t been protected during the current coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and how frustrated she’s been with the administration’s handling of the pandemic overall.
She argued that instead of taking the pandemic more seriously, Trump claimed that it was all a move by the democrats aimed to make him look bad. “Honey, you don’t need to make the democrats look bad, you make your own self look bad,” she said.
“We are in this point because of him,” she continued, arguing that the administration could have avoided the current situation back in January and that instead, “they put capitalism, money, trading, goods, above our health.”
Sanders explained that our first priority right now needs to be to stop the spread of the disease, and the next is to ensure that people are getting the care they need and that medical staff are getting the protective equipment they need. He also emphasized the strain that the current pandemic is having on workers and their families, asking Cardi B and her followers to take action.
“I hope your viewers work with me and others and stand up for workers because a lot of people are hurting today,” Sanders said. “They’re worried about getting evicted from they’re apartments, they’re worried about not having enough food, they’re worried about going bankrupt because they can’t pay their debts and congress has gotta be bold and stand up for those workers.”
Cardi B wholeheartedly agreed. “Well we gon’ stand up for those workers and you gonna always have my support,” Cardi said.
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