Cory Booker in ABC This Week interviews during 2019
On Principles & Values:
It's not who's racist; it's what are you doing about it
This impotent simplicity of who is and who isn't a racist is really not the question. If we have racism in our country and we believe that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, what are you doing about that?
It's not enough to say "I'm not a racist." If racism exists, you need to be anti-racist. Same with anti-Semitism. I can't sit idly by if my Jewish brothers and sisters are facing that kind of violence and that kind of evil. We are all in this together.
Source: ABC This Week interview for 2019 Democratic primary
Aug 11, 2019
On Foreign Policy:
Not working with allies on Iran makes us weaker
This is a president that does not have a strategy and, unfortunately, has made us weaker. We are the strongest nation on the planet earth, but our strength is magnified and multiplied when we stand in coalition with our allies, with other western
democracies. When there are strikes on tankers, we see our allies very skeptical to believe us. We are in a box, and in a corner, with an Iranian regime now racing back towards a nuclear weapon. This situation is getting more and more tense, not less.
Source: ABC This Week 2019 interview
Jun 23, 2019
On War & Peace:
Would rejoin Iran nuclear deal & work with allies
Q: What would you do that's different if Iran is on a path to get the nuclear weapon?Booker: I would rejoin with our allies. I would work to renegotiate and get us back into a place where we
are standing together with our allies and have like we had before which was a 10 to 20-year runway and transparency and vision into their enrichment processes to make sure that they're abiding by an anti-nuclear deal.
Source: ABC This Week 2019 interview
Jun 23, 2019
On Corporations:
Enforce antitrust; president shouldn't decide targets
I don't care if it's Facebook, the pharma industry, even the agricultural industry. We've had a problem in America with corporate consolidation, that is having really ill effects. I will have a Justice Department that uses antitrust legislation to do
the proper investigations and to hold industries accountable for corporate consolidation. I don't think that a president should be running around, pointing at companies and saying breaking them up without any kind of process here.
Source: ABC This Week 2019 interview of presidential hopefuls
May 12, 2019
On Gun Control:
Gun control works; refuse to believe it's not doable
The first way you get this done is stop having a debate on the corporate gun lobby's terms. They've been forming this debate and telling us what we can't do. American history is a testimony to doing things people said was impossible.
What you're saying is that we can't solve it. I don't accept that at all. When Connecticut did licensing, their shootings dropped, their murders dropped 40%. Suicides dropped 15%. These are things that have been tried and done and that work.
Source: ABC This Week 2019 interview of presidential hopefuls
May 12, 2019
On Health Care:
Health care is a right; public option is step towards goal
In the wealthiest nation on the planet Earth, everyone should have access to health care. I think the best way to get there is Medicare for All and I'm going to work towards that goal. I want to be pushing on a pathway towards getting to
everyone having coverage, and part of that is going to be Medicare for all who want it. I have a clear goal in mind, healthcare as a right. I think the best way to get there is Medicare for All. I'm also a realist.
Source: ABC This Week 2019 interview of presidential hopefuls
May 12, 2019
On Principles & Values:
We succeed by showing the best of who we are
To be strong, you don't have to be mean. To be tough, you don't have to be cruel. You beat demagogues by expanding the moral imagination of the country. A guy put his arm around me and said, "I want you to punch Trump in the face." I just smiled and
said, "hey man that's a felony, and us black guys, we don't get away with that that often." Trump wants us to fight him on his turf. He wants to pull our party down. We will not succeed by showing the worst of who we are, but the best of who we are.
Source: ABC This Week 2019 interview of presidential hopefuls
May 12, 2019
Page last updated: Nov 17, 2021