Pete Takes On Trump, Live on Fox News

Great to have you here in New York.

Thanks for having me.Good to be here.

Some are saying that she appears to be a sympathizer with some of those radical policy calls, eliminating the Senate, defunding the Department of War, ending all deportations.How do you see it?

Yeah, look, I -I think that there are so many issues where about two -thirds of Americans are in agreement, uh, in agreement with each other and in disagreement with the president.And my focus is on those things, right?Two -thirds of Americans disagree with the Trump tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.Two -thirds of this country believe that wages ought to be higher.Even most Republicans think we ought to raise the minimum wage more than we have.Most Americans believe that we ought to have health care for everybody.

There's a version of it I propose.There's obviously lots of different versions of how to do that.But that's something most people agree with each other on.Most people are against President Trump's health care cuts, many of which will go into effect next year.I think kind of cleverly timed to come just after the election.So that to me is where the center of gravity of the country meets the center of gravity in my party.

And that's what my focus is on when I'm traveling around the country.I go to a lot of places, including more conservative places.We were in Nebraska recently.I was in Arkansas campaigning.And those are the things people most want to know about.How is my life going to be different?

depending who's in charge.

So you just pitched to them health care, because that does top the list for a lot of people.They're concerned about the affordability issue when it comes to health care.I'm surprised even to see that.Topping gas food prices, housing prices even.It sounds like you're pitching Medicare for all.

What do you see happening?Well, you remember, we had a whole debate over this back when I was running for president.I favored something we called Medicare for all who want it.The idea is that there is that publicly available plan, but we're not gonna force anybody onto it.I still think that's the right answer.And it's interesting, some of the critics of that plan before have come to embrace it now.

I think it would be a good policy.But, yeah, the cost of health care, the cost of gas, obviously, through the roof, as a direct result of President Trump breaking his promise not to start a war and what's going on in the Iran war.These are the things I'm talking about.about when I'm on the road.

So when it comes to the Iran war, we've had many, you know, military experts on the program just the last 90 minutes telling us that it's time to go big.At this point in the war, I know you've been very critical of how long we have been in it.And you feel that President Trump has broken his promise to the American people.

Well, not I feel.He made a specific promise and then he did something else.

So at this point, based on where we are, what would you like to see happen next if you were advising President Trump?

Well, if I was advising President Trump, I'm trying to try that scenario on for size.I guess I'd advise him to start by telling the truth to the American people, because when he says it's going to be four weeks and then breaks that promise, it reminds people of when he said he wouldn't start this war and broke that promise, when he says he will settle for nothing less than unconditional surrender and regime change, and then changed his mind, backpedaled, and agreed to a framework for a ceasefire that was very different.then that ceasefire has been broken.The outrageous news that we just got, that the Trump administration removed the names of four of our service members who were killed in action, apparently because the fact that they had been killed in action goes against his fiction that -that sometimes, he says, we're actually not in a war, even though everybody knows we are.What I would say to him is, you know, when I was in uniform, when I was deployed, I knew that on some level, my life depended on the credibility of the people running our government.And American lives depend on him telling the truth, even when it's hard.

Do you agree with removing Iran's nuclear capabilities?

Yeah, Iran should never have a nuclear weapon.And each of the last, well, every administration in my lifetime has found a way of achieving that.It's just the other administrations managed to achieve it without getting the United States into a war and without getting American troops killed.

Removing Iran's nuclear capabilities?

Iran should never have a nuclear program.Okay.

so this is Montana Senator Tim Sheehy.He was on Fox & Friends.This is back on June 22nd and he said this, listen.

What's worse than a forever war in the Middle East is a forever war right here on our streets, just down the road, 9 -11.The Iranians want to bring that war here.They want to create a global caliphate of Sharia law and kill all of us.And that's not a theory.That's what they actually tried to do every day.So I think we have to remember that.

And, you know, having our troops fight them there is far better than us fighting them here.

That is almost word for word what they told us when we were sold the war in Iraq.Remember in 2003, they said if we don't go in, invade Iraq, take down Saddam Hussein, if we're not fighting him there, we're going to wind up fighting him here.And that war in Iraq made America weaker.This war on Iran is making America weaker.Folks at home, look, six months ago, least where I live in Michigan, you didn't have to get up in the morning and worry about the Strait of Hormuz.You didn't have to know where it was.

It wasn't affecting your life.Now folks from my neighbors in Michigan to people coast to coast in this country are paying more for gas, more for diesel, mortgage rates are going up, and of course our tax dollars are going into a war where it's pretty clear even the best -case scenario is going to have us worse off than where we were.Because a year ago, the Strait of Hormuz was open.Now we're fighting to try to figure out somehow how to get it open again.So back to that scenario you invited me to think about before, where I'm somehow advising President Trump.I guess the other thing I would say is, like, Listen to the intelligence a little more.

Listen to the same generals and the intelligence that told you, hey, if you do this, they might close the Strait of Hormuz.And he said, oh, that'll never happen.And then he did, and then that's what happened.Maybe he should pay more attention to that.And most of all, pay more attention to the American people who do not want an escalation of the Iran war.

OK. I want to ask you about big change, because I hear you talking about big change.And in our recent Fox News polling,a majority of Democrats want some sort of dramatic or revolutionary change in our nation's government.I mean, you see a lot of it in the DSA playbook.But what would you be looking to do?Are you someone that could lead the country through this sort of revolutionary, dramatic change?

that many voters say they're seeking?

I think we do need dramatic change, and I think not just most Democrats, but most Americans want that.So, uh, look, I'm more moderate on a lot of issues, but I -I also think we need radical change when it comes to our institutions.Like what?Uh, well, for example, uh, right now, we just allow gerrymandering.We allow so much manipulation of congressional districts that nine out of ten House races are decided before the first vote is even cast.And that's in a 50 -50 country.

That needs to change.Money in politics needs to change.The flood of corporate PAC money going into our politics.And I sincerely believe that being against that kind of role of money in politics doesn't have to be a left or right position.I was in Montana.There is a bipartisan initiative there.

It's going to voters on the ballot.It's called the Montana Plan that would do something about money in politics.I personally believe that we ought to have a constitutional amendment about this to clear up that corporations are not the same thing as people and that money, flooding money into campaigns out of corporate treasuries is not the same thing as a person using their right to speech.So, look, that's ambitious.That's definitely a big change, especially talking about a constitutional amendment.We've changed our...

We've amended our Constitution more than 25 times.It's not an easy process.

And you're willing to do so.Um, I want to ask you about the Supreme Court.Rewind the tape.This is June 11.You suggested this.

Watch.We have to deal with a Supreme Court that is now a rogue Supreme Court.Nowhere in the Constitution does it say that there have to be nine Supreme Court justices.That one doesn't even take a constitutional amendment.So where are you going with this?Yeah, what I'm saying is that under the laws of this country, under the Constitution of this country, we could have a Supreme Court that better reflects the expectations of the American people and that is more legitimate.

The legitimacy of the Supreme Court is, I believe, the lowest it's ever been in the eyes of the American people.It's come to feel like a nakedly partisan institution.We could do some things about that.At a minimum, term limits so that you know for each presidential term how many Supreme Court appointments are going to go with it.But I also think we would be better off with a court that has something like 13 justices that would match the number of districts that we have in the federal system.And ideally, appoint them in a way that isn't so partisan.

There are a lot of interesting different ideas and proposals for how to do it.One of them is called a balance bench.So what you do is you have some appointed by Democrats, some appointed by Republicans, and some who can only be seated if there's a consensus among the rest.I'm not wedded to one single vision of reform.I think there are lots of different ways to do it.But my bigger point is this.

If something can't go on forever, it won't.And the -the collapse in trust in the Supreme Court, the bizarre way we won our congressional elections with maps drawn into these weird shapes in order to make one party or another party win, the level of money that is just flooding our political system, it can't go on like that.And when something unsustainable goes and goes and goes, you're either gonna have reform or you're gonna have a catastrophe.I want it to be reform, and I don't think that has to be a partisan issue.

Got it.Uh, Fox News polling also, uh, asks about immigration.and deportation.Our new polling shows that just 7 % of Americans think that illegal migrants should be allowed to remain in the United States.Yet, I just read the DSA playbook, Democrats, Socialists of America, and they want to let us go.in.

Where do you stand on immigration, and should deportations continue to happen, or those just that have committed crimes?Where specifically?Are you standing on this issue?

Yeah, I disagree with the idea that you would just let everybody in, and I think most of us in this country do agree that if somebody's committed a crime, uh, they have to be deported, they have to be held accountable, they have to face justice.Also, uh, there have to be ways for people to have some way to -to get in line and earn citizenship, especially people who were brought here as children.

There's a lot of folks in your party who disagree with that.

There are some, yeah.I don't agree with everybody in my party on everything, but, uh, you know, I think most Democrats, and actually, interestingly, most Americans agree on the broad picture of what to do.thing is, how come that reform hasn't happened?See, I think a lot of voters who voted for Donald Trump believed him when he said that he was going to focus on those who committed crimes, just like voters believed him when he said he was going to keep us out of wars like the war in Iran.And a lot of voters believed him when he said he was going to bring prices down on day one.Instead, if you look at the inflation rate on day one, When Donald Trump took over from Joe Biden, and you look at the inflation rate today, it's higher today.

So you have this set of broken promises that I think is an opening for us as a country.We have a different conversation.

OK, so let's open the door to affordability in the economy.So what are you offering?What are you offering?What is the solution to what so many of you Democrats are saying are failed economic policies in this country?Right now, I look at average hourly earnings.They're up.

Wages are up.The American stock market has been rocking.It's at all -time highs.Growth has been up.What are you pitching?What do you think is the solution to you know, the polling that does show that there is a frustration with the American people specifically when it comes to affordability.

Yeah, the Americans are frustrated because we see some of those top line numbers you're talking about.Economic growth overall up, stock market way up, but wages haven't moved nearly as much as profits have.It tells you that something is off.So, some basicthings we can do.First of all, raise wages.

Again, most Republicans agree with me and disagree with Washington Republicans on having a minimum wage increase.It hasn't increased in years.At least over 12 is what most Republicans can agree on.I think it needs to go north of that.

Small business owners are going to say, you're going to kill me.

They've always said that.But right now, the minimum wage is lower when you account for inflation by something like 30 % than it was the last time we raised it.We should just index it to inflation so we don't have these fights every few years.We should do health care that's available to everybody, like that proposal I was telling you about earlier.Another thing we can do is just stop making it worse.We woke up to news today that Donald Trump is imposing a new 10 % tax, effective at midnight last night, that we've got to pay on all kinds of goods.

Why would you put an extra tax, an extra tariff on things when affordability is so hard?

But I'm asking you, how do you make life more affordable for the average American?

I just told you, we cut the cost of health care, right?And also, if Republicans hadn't gotten rid of that help on health care premiums, right, premiums would be lower.So we should make health care premiums lower instead of higher, the way congressional Republicans raised them.We should make sure wages are higher instead of keeping them stuck where they are.We should be supporting child care.By the way, I'm very interested in maybe a bipartisan consensus where we work on child care that's not just about supporting childcare in an institutional setting where you, like, drop somebody off at a center, that's great for some families.

A lot of families are doing family childcare.Sometimes they're, like me, in a sandwich generation where you're looking after both a parent and children at the same time.We should be supporting family caregivers as well.We could use tax credits to do that.Another thing that would make America more affordable, do more with a child tax credit, which successfully cut the rate of child poverty in half.And then congressional Republicans refused to extend it.

All of these are specific, concrete things that will work, that most Americans agree on, but you can't...through Washington.Why?Because the political system is broken, which is why I keep talking about those reforms on how we elect House members, money in politics, how we elect the president, there's another one I care about, all these things that I think would make a difference.

Real quick, before you go, I mean, has your... this socialist wave...I mean, you're sitting in New York City, we've got a socialist mayor in New York City, Zohreh Mamdani.Is it gone too far, do you believe?

Look, there's always going to be some people in my party who go too far for me, people I disagree with.If you pick the 5 or 10 or 15 furthest left people in our party, they're going to, by definition, disagree with a lot of others.But there's so much that we do, in fact, agree on.And I think one of the reasons why you see people who run on a promise of shaking it up, whether it's a DSA candidate on the left or whether it's someone like Donald Trump, is because people can tell that the system we have is not just showing its age, it's letting us down.That system can change.There's a way to do that that is not destructive.

What kind of Democrat are you?I mean, we've got Blue Maga, we've got...Socialists, what are you?

I don't know, I'm a people, I'm a Democrat.I think I'm a common sense Democrat.But of course, everybody thinks that their ideas are common sense to them.

And you're running for president?

I'm not running for anything.I'm helping people who are, because this is a very important election where people are seeing that their everyday lives, from the price of gas to health care, is on the line.And I think a lot of people who generally prefer a Republican president still want to see some kind of balance, some kind of check, some kind of respect.and are considering, maybe for the first time in a long time, voting for a Democrat for Congress.

Really interesting stuff.Appreciate you coming by today.Thank you so much, Mr. Secretary.Thanks for having me.All right, come back soon.