🔰Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Talks Coronavirus, the 2020 Election and the Youth Vote

Thank you for being here on such a busy week. I know they're all sort of busy at this point. But, you know, we were talking backstage. All of us have to be careful about our hygiene right now. You are obviously a politician who enjoys interacting with your constituents. There's a lot of handshakes, a lot of hugging. How is it overwhelming for you? It can be overwhelming. I'm trying to, you know, make sure that I'm practicing great hygiene. Everyone, learn how to wash your hands. I retweeted a hand-washing tutorial, and I was shocked by how many people were like, oh, wait, what? We were supposed to be doing this? 20 seconds? I will say, when I heard 20 seconds, I thought, I'm just going to do normal and see where I get to. And it was – I definitely didn't break double digits. I know that. You know, you guys, the House voted to approve $8 billion in coronavirus aid, which is great. Matt Gaetz, we mentioned him in the monologue. He's one of your colleagues. He's a Republican, and he wore a gas mask. Yes, he did. With matching shoes. With the matching shoes. Yeah, I feel like nobody who's ever worn that mask has worn those shoes. No, no. That's a real first. I will say, I have days in Congress where I feel like wearing a mask like that. Yeah. Just not for, like, corona or anything. No, no, just the debate. The toxicity. Is it helpful when somebody goes to an important vote like that wearing a gas mask? No, of course not. We're not here to incite panic. I will say, he doesn't look panicked. He's just fully texting. Yeah, he doesn't. I do want to ask Representative Gaetz how often he washes his hands. Yeah, that would be a good question, because then you don't need the gas mask if you just do that basic stuff. One of the things that, you know, a lot of people are discussing is, who the president has chosen to put in charge of this task force. He chose Vice President Pence. Is it safe to assume that you do not think that's the best of his options? I think that we should have a person who believes in science. Sure, that sounds good. In charge of, ideally, what we have is a person who believes in universal health care and paid sick leave and an agenda that actually can help prevent the transmission of disease. Well, it's interesting you mentioned, you know, paid sick leave, because one of the things that's been pointed out by a lot of people is, especially in the food service industry, these are people with jobs that are very important to them. You know, they're just making ends meet as it is. And, you know, they are the ones that are most likely to pass on whatever illness they have to other people, and yet they don't have that opportunity. Exactly, and the other issue, too, to compound on that, especially in food service, you know, a lot of people know that I used to work in a restaurant, and that just a couple weeks ago, Stephen Miller and the Trump administration rolled out a public charge rule against undocumented people, and many of whom we know work in the food service industry. And basically what it says is that if you are seeking medical care, that could be used against you in deportation proceedings. And so the people who feed us are now scared to seek medical care. This is not a situation that befits us as a country, and it's one that, frankly, I think shows that we are as strong as the most vulnerable, who we allow to be vulnerable, and most vulnerable in our society. You mentioned universal health care. You mentioned paid sick leave. I think these are probably some of the reasons that you have chosen to endorse Senator Bernie Sanders. Yeah. And also, I do, I do, while I have you, though, want to get your take on the fact that Elizabeth Warren, you know, suspended her campaign today. Absolutely, well, first and foremost, I think that we should all take a moment to acknowledge the historic candidacy that Elizabeth Warren represented in this fight today. She's a champion, and I think that she ran an absolutely stunning, incredible race. I support, and I'm looking forward to continuing this fight for Bernie as well. Tomorrow, or rather next week, we have contests in Michigan and many other states, and we need, right now, I think what we are seeing in the primary contest is that this is a generational battle, and that we need young people to turn out to vote. It is young people that will champion student loan debt, Medicare for all, paid sick leave, a living wage, and as well as our elders that have been in this fight for generations as well, fighting for a progressive future for the United States of America, which, by the way, is a winning future for the United States of America. I do, you mentioned young, so you mentioned the youth vote, and obviously, you know, when you look at the demographics of how people are voting, young people are flocking to Bernie Sanders, and yet, it does seem like what happened on Super Tuesday, and maybe how we didn't meet his expectations were that young people were voting less than they need to for Bernie's path. Why do you think young people are not coming out in the way that you would hope? I think we're seeing kind of a wax and wane. In Iowa, we saw about, I believe, a 30% increase in youth turnout, and as we saw in Iowa, Bernie Sanders came in either, depending on who you're asking, he came in first or quite nearly first. Similar phenomena in New Hampshire with very high turnout. I think with Super Tuesday, with so many states voting at once, we have to reiterate that message because it is going to be now and in November, I believe, turnout of young people that will have a huge determination in our future as a country, and this is an enormous responsibility, and we gotta really, really turn up, or else, you know, you get what you fight for, and you get what you vote for, and I think it's so incredibly important that we fight for a future that will work for us, that we fight for a Green New Deal, that we fight for action on climate, that we fight for ending our system of mass incarceration.