The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Between the Scenes - Pete Buttigieg Takes Questions From the Audience

Episode Date: May 6, 2019

Taking questions from the audience, presidential hopeful and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg gives his take on the Iran nuclear deal, the Trump economy, taxation and more. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. John Stewart here. Unbelievably exciting news. My new podcast, The Weekly Show. We're going to be talking about the election, economics, ingredient-to-bread ratio on sandwiches. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast. As you may or may not know, sometimes I just hang out with the live audience at the show. It's called

Between the Scenes, because we've done the scenes and we are now between them. So I'll just throw something at you. And really this is just a preamble, if you have any questions for Mayor Pete, please think about what the question is. Think of like really an idea that hopefully can move a conversation forward. Just to spark that. All these ideas thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. the ideas the ideas the idea thi. the idea thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi, like thi, like thi, like thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, because thi, because thi, because thi, because thi, because thi. Because, because thi, because thi. Because, because thi. Because, thi. Because, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. thi, thi. they they they they thin, they they they're they're they're they're theeeeea. they're they're they're they're they're theeea. We theea. We'll theea.. Just to spark that, all these ideas that you have, that you speak about in interviews, I've been fascinated by, you know, like reparations, it's not an easy question to answer.

People make it seem like it is, but it isn't easy. The conversation, you know, all of the facets in and around it, and you have an answer on that. And you know, you speak about racial injustice, and you speak about people in the heartland, et cetera. How do you have these ideas? Like, I know it sounds like a stupid question, but are you constantly trying to engage in these difficult issues and then learning how you think you would tackle them?

Or are you just a byproduct of your age and the time that you live in. That is really profound. I think, I mean, it's got to be a combination of those things, right? I mean, there's the philosophies and the values that guide you. But then it gets sharpened into a particular question you realize you're going to have to answer. And the questions that are coming at us in this process, I think in new ways. I mean, the reparations thing was not as serious, or at least not taken seriously in presidential politics until this cycle. And suddenly, it's something that every one of us has to have a thoughtful answer on. And of course, to some extent,

there are questions where they're try to trip you up. And then thats like that. And so the best thing I can think to do is to explain where I come from, explain what I believe, and then see what people think. Because sometimes, you know, I'm not going to change my values based on feedback. But sometimes you learn something you didn't think about, or at the very least you learn the best vocabulary to convey what you care about. What was one thing you learned about toding toding toding tode, tode, tode, tode, tode, tode, tode, the, the, tod, their, their, their, thi, to, to, their, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, the, the, the, the, and, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, they..I.I.I.I.I.I.S.I.I.I.S.I.A.I'm, the the the th.e.e. th. thi. thi. th th thi. thi. thi. And, thi. And, th to convey what you care about. What was one thing you learned about today hanging out with Reverend L. Sharpton? Well, one thing that really interests him is the... First, sorry, interrupt you. First things first. Did you eat the hot sauce?

I did. Because the hot sauce, did you the hot sauce? Because the hot sauce, did you? their hot sauce, and hot sauce cameras are watching you but so so what did so what did you learn well he seemed to be very interested in the relationship between the LGBTQ community in the black church which I think is is really interesting and really problematic right I mean here you have two different communities that have had different but real patterns of exclusion that could be fantastic allies and where by way, the most vulnerable people among the LGBTQ community are people

of color, especially trans women of color, who I think would benefit from black faith communities that were exciting but hasn't always been there. And so he took a standard I thought was interesting for someone of his generation to take today on why there needs to be more solidarity there. But he also encouraged me, and I have to have to have to have to have th the the the, I the, I the, I tho, I have tho, I tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, especially tho, especially tho, especially tho, especially tho, especially tho, especially tho, especially tho, especially tho, especially, especially, especially tho, especially tho, especially tho, especially tho, especially tho, especially tho, especially tho, especially, especially, especially, especially, especially, tho, tho, tho, especially, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thi tho, tho, tho, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, their, te, thea, thea, thea, especially their, especially their, especially the the the take today on why there needs to be more solidarity there. But he also encouraged me, and I have to admit that I know as I go into some of these churches, for example, in South Carolina, that this may be a source of tension or at least discomfort. Right. That the best thing I can do is just get out there and talk to people and make sure they understand who I am and hope that that can be the grounds for. I'll give you a piece of advice that maybe Al Sharpton wouldn't give you.

Before you go to a black church, listen to some of the songs, so that when you get there, you can stay on beat. No, because a lot of white politicians in America, they go to the black church, and then it's just like, like, you gotta, if if if if you, if you're, if you're, I, I, I, the, half of the campaign is just staying on beat. You stay on beat and then we're like, no, you respected us enough to just like follow the music.

Okay, you take that lightly, but let me tell you something now, you move to the beat, you see what happens to your poll numbers. Let's take some questions from this side and then we'll move to one on that side. Yes, ma'am, you have your hand up. Hi. I love everything you say about domestic policies, but how about foreign policies? Are you for the Iran deal? Are you for the Paris Accord and all the stuff that Trump wants to take it out of? How do you feel about that? Yeah, so specifically, yes, I think the Iran deal is something that we should be party to and should strengthen. We didn't do it as a favor to Iran. We did it to reduce a nuclear threat and it's still a good policy. And I think we need to get into the Paris, rejoin the Paris goals, but it's probably not enough. More broadly, I think the next president's going to have to do two things things things things things things things things things things things things things things things things things things things things things things things things things things things things things things things things things things things to do to do to do to do thi to do thi. to do thi. to do to do the to do to do the to do to do to do their, to do to to do to do to their, to to to to to to to to to to to to have to do two things very quickly on foreign policy. One, establish a new bar, and I would say a higher bar,

for when you would consider deploying American force. And the second is establish U.S. credibility in the world, because this is a problem. So, I mean, there's a whole speech worth of the things I think we'll have to do, and I'll give that speech in the future, and you'll hear about kind of what I think that means in terms of our policy toward Asia and how I think our trade diplomacy ought to be related to our climate diplomacy. But the bottom line is, the bottom line is, that, I really felt it, when I was deployed, to, and, and, and, the, and, the, and, the, and, the, and, and, thrown, thrown, thrown, thrown, thr.. ––and, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, and, that, and, that, that, that, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and that that that that that that, and, and that, and that, and, and that, and that, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, thin. means means means means means, thin.a, thin.a, th.a, thr.a.a. th. th. th. thr. thr.a. th. th. thr. thin. th. that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that I had a flag on my shoulder representing a country known for keeping its word.

And that our allies, but also our adversaries, knew that. And when that is lost, we are definitely less safe. It's not just this kind of high-minded idea of moral authority. It's also that that credibility, lives depend on that credibility. And restoring that will be very challenging and very urgent for the next president. All right, we've got time for one more. I never take questions from there. So yes, sir, right in the middle. So recently, President Trump has been tweeting a lot about how strong our economy is citing unemployment number of GDP.

I'm curious what, some of those, think numbers can be misleading or not necessarily credit to him. What does success look like to you? So to me it's not just the top lines of growth, because it is true. He has managed to not tank the Obama recovery for a couple years. Good for him. But go back to 2016 and ask how we had a so-called economic anxiety election under conditions that were also full employment back then.

And there's a whole bunch of reasons. Part of what I think that tells you though is that there's a lot of concern that this prosperity isn't widespread. And the numbers bear that out. You start the clock in the early 70s. And for 90% of Americans, all but the top 10%, even as the rising tide rises like no rising tide has ever risen before, a lot of the boats didn't budge.

Right? Median incomes barely moved at all. And so I think what we're seeing, whether it's racial inequality that's persisting and also a racial wealth gap, not just a racial income gap. Or whether it's the ways in which the industrial Midwest, like where I live, you know, around World War II, you have something like a 90% shot that you were going to wind up earning more than your parents did. Right now, it's a coin flip, and where I come from, it's less than 50-50. If we're not addressing that, then people less and less and less and less are what the top line numbers are because it's not reaching people. So what does success look like? It looks like shared prosperity, where the American dream really is achievable, not

just in Denmark, but in America. That you can be born at any stratum in our economy and come out much higher than you started. So in that, in that, because I don't, Mayor Pete has to leave. So in that then, just off of that, a report just came out today about some of the top companies in America paying zero federal tax. And this is a story that's all too familiar. You see some of the biggest corporations in America literally paying zero federal tax, whether they use offshore tax havens, whether they use loopholes in tax law. How do you approach that? Do you think that's something that needs to be changed in America? Yeah, of course it needs to change and again not to get too much into

the guts of how to do it, but I think the basic metaphor to use to design a way to handle offshoreing is thi... the way, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thrass, thi, that's, thi, thi, thi, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thrown, thrown, thrown, thrown, throooo, throooooooooooooooooo, thr. throoooooooooo, thr. thr we handle taxation within the US among different states. So if you got a company based in one state and you sell in another state and a few of your employees are in this state, we have a way of apportioning your income based on where you do your sales to make sure that the different states get a fair share. We could do the same thing internationally. It's harder and it's more complicated, but there are ways to do it. And I think that that has to happen, because whether it's through offshoring or any of the other mechanisms that these companies use, I mean, the idea that you can make billions upon billions in profit, which means, of course, that you have profited from good roads and good schools and national security and all the things that are very expensive to provide, then you ought to be paying your share. I thiiii. th. th. that. that. I that. thr-a thr-a. thr-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-s, thrown. thrown. thrown. thrown. thrown. thrown. thrown, thi. thi-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-s, the the the the the the the thriiiiiiii. And, thriii. And, tah-s. Ia-s. I'ma-s. And, the-s. And, the-tah-s. I'ma-s. And, the-a-a-a-s. I don't think you have to be a raging leftist to think that that's a problem. Matter of fact, I think a lot of the people who are susceptible to the messaging of this president are as angry, and may have voted for him last time, or as angry about that

as I am. And I think if we put forward a credible way of dealing with it, that's something that will reach across the aisle and is also just the right thin thin thin.. thin. thin Really good having you. I'll wait to see you at the debates. Mayor Pete, everybody. Thank you. Thank you so much. The Daily Show with Kevernoa, Ears Edition. The Daily Show Weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central and the Comedy Central Act. Watch full episodes and videos at the Daily Show. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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