President Joe BIden sat down with Univision reporter Enrique Acevedo in the Oval Office for an wide-ranging interview that ran Tuesday evening. The interview comes after months of well-deserved criticism over an “exclusive” puff-piece interview Acevedo did with Donald Trump last November.
Univision has become an unlikely Trump ally since its merger with the more conservative Televisa.
Biden focused on what he has accomplished so far, as well what he hopes to achieve in a second term.
Here are some highlights.
The biggest threat to democracy
Asked what he thinks is the “primary threat to freedom and democracy at home,” Biden explained, in no uncertain terms, that it is Trump and his disdain of the Constitution.
“He says, ‘I’m going to be a dictator on day one.’ No one doesn’t believe him.”
“You can’t love your country only when you win. … He wants to suspend parts of the Constitution. Who in God’s name is saying that?”
Guns
The president talked about his accomplishments when he was a senator and the need to elect a Democratic Congress with the courage to get some common sense gun safety legislation on the books.
“I think we have to do more, and I am absolutely committed. And I’ve asked the Congress. And if I get a Congress, and get reelected, we’re going to do it again. We’re going to make sure we eliminate these weapons.”
Drug and health care costs
Biden touted the Medicare drug price provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act that Republicans voted against, and its success in lowering costs for Americans. He added that its success was also a campaign promise to expand the program to help all Americans.
“What my very right-wing friends don’t understand is by doing these things, we save the government billions of dollars. Since the passage of the first piece of legislation, over the next ten years, by changing the amount of money that they can charge for insulin, it’s going to save the government $160 billion.”
“Not only will we now affect seniors, I’m determined to see to it, in the second term, that it affects every American. No American should be paying the prices they are paying.”
Education
The president explained that investment in our education and students, whether by forgiving student loans, or by investing in communities of color, is a no-brainer.
“How in God’s name can we lead the world without having the best education in the world?”
“You’ve got roughly 25 students from K through 12, in every single college, 25 out of 100 students are coming from Spanish-speaking homes. How in God’s name do we ignore that it’s our future? It’s our future.”
Housing:
Biden emphasized that his administration’s work, with congressional Democrats, to make housing more affordable, despite Republican opposition.
“We have a major program that up through the legislation—that no Republican voted for, I might add—that provides for rent subsidies. Think of all the people who were able to stay in their homes during the pandemic and after the pandemic because we subsidized their rent. Why isn’t that, why does that not make sense?”
What’s at stake for Latino voters
Acevedo asked Biden what’s at stake for Latino voters in this election, and Biden spoke of the values he shares with many Latino in the U.S.
“First of all, it’s how they’re viewed by the president of the United States. Let’s look at the way Trump talks about Latinos, talks about them as Mexicans, rapists and criminals, murderers.”
“There’s not a fundamental difference in the value set between the Irish Catholic neighbors I grew up on and Latinos. It’s about faith. It’s about families. It’s about togetherness. It’s about having each other’s back then. And he doesn’t share any of those notions.”
Immigration
Biden spoke about the Republican Party’s disarray regarding immigration, as well as the empathy the United States should show people seeking asylum here.
“Look, it’s not like people are sitting around a table, a hand-hewn table somewhere in Guatemala and saying, I’ve got a great idea. Let’s sell everything we have, give it to a criminal gang. They’re going to take us across the border. They’re going to drop us on the other side with language you don’t speak, where they don’t want me. Won’t that be fun?”
Ukraine
Biden didn’t mince words about the need to provide aid to Ukraine to fight against Russia’s invasion, and he called out GOP’s cowardice and failure of leadership on the matter.
“The vast majority of the public is agreed with me. As you know, if we had a vote tomorrow, if the new speaker of the House of Representatives had the guts to call for a vote on Ukraine, it would pass overwhelmingly and the majority of Republicans in both House and Senate would vote for it. So this is a very dangerous thing that’s going on now.
The GOP
Biden called out the Republican Party’s continued loyalty to Trump and his agenda.
“This is not your father’s Republican Party, as the old saying goes, this is a different breed of cat. Trump runs that party. He maintains a sort of a death grip on it. Everybody’s afraid to take him on whether they agree with him or not, and it’s incredibly dangerous.”
Cesar Chavez
Acevedo asked Biden about the bust of the famous labor leader that he keeps in the Oval Office. Biden spoke about supporting Chavez when he was a young politician, and the respect he had for the work he accomplished.
“He had a profound impact on basic justice and fairness.”
Biden’s legacy
The interview ended with Acevedo asking Biden what he hopes people will remember about his nearly 50-year political career.
“I hope the legacy is that, I kept my word that I said that the reason he was running was to help change the life of ordinary people.”