Cardi B tells Joe Biden in interview getting ‘Trump out’ is election priority
In a wide-ranging interview released on Monday, Cardi B told Joe Biden her priority for the election in November is to get “Trump out”.
At the beginning of the video interview for Elle magazine, the Democratic nominee for president said his daughter Ashley, a fan of the rapper, called him “Joey B” when she was growing up, which meant “we may be related”.
Biden, 77, asked the rapper, 27, what her main interest was regarding the 2020 election. She said: “I have a whole list of things that I want our next president to do for us. But first, I just want Trump out.”
Cardi B also said she wanted more clarity from the country’s leader on how to stop the spread of coronavirus, and more accurate descriptions of the situation regarding the pandemic. Trump has repeatedly lied about the coronavirus response and its spread and has consistently downplayed its severity, even as the death toll in the US has risen towards 170,000.
“It’s so sad that a pandemic had to happen so people could open their eyes and see what type of person they are dealing with,” Cardi B said.
Cardi B, whose single with Megan Thee Stallion, WAP, debuted last week at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, repeatedly mentioned her support for Medicare for All, a policy which would expand government-run healthcare to all Americans.
Biden did not respond to three references to the policy, which he has stopped short of supporting but which has gained prominence in the progressive wing of the Democratic party, particularly through Bernie Sanders’ campaigns for the presidential nomination. Biden’s policy on healthcare is to expand Medicare access and to auto-enroll millions in a government health insurance program at no cost to them.
In response to Cardi B’s multiple mentions of people struggling to pay for healthcare, childcare and college, Biden said: “One of the things that I admire about you is that you keep talking about what I call equity: decency, fairness and treating people with respect.”
Cardi B also asked Biden about racial equity, saying: “I feel like Black people, we’re not asking for sympathy, we’re not asking for charity – we are just asking for equality.”
Biden responded by talking about how much has changed since he was young – he was elected to the US Senate from Delaware in 1972, just before he turned 30 – and said: “Look, I’m a lot older than you, to state the obvious.
“The reason I’m so optimistic is because of your generation. You’re the smartest, the best educated, the least prejudiced and the most engaged generation in history. And you’re going to change things. I really mean it! I’m not trying to be nice.”
Trump, he said, was promoting “hatred, prejudice, racism” – which was not a winning strategy.
“This is all about the game of making people hate each other,” Biden said. “Because that’s how he wins, by dividing us. Your generation is changing it.”