Trump vs. Obama on Voting

Brut America

When it comes to voting, the current and former presidents each have a very different set of talking points.

Transcript

00:00There are those in power who are doing their darnedest to discourage people from voting

00:07by closing polling locations and targeting minorities and students, even undermining

00:14the postal service in the run-up to an election that's going to be dependent on mail-in ballots

00:22so people don't get sick.

00:24Mail-in ballots will lead to the greatest fraud.

00:27We've got to fight even harder for the most powerful tool that we have, which is the right

00:32to vote.

00:33You read where postmen are in big trouble now.

00:36You read where city councils are in big trouble now.

00:39Voter fraud all over the ballots.

00:43Too many of our citizens believe their vote won't make a difference, or they buy into

00:49the cynicism that, by the way, is the central strategy of voter suppression, to make you

00:55discouraged, to stop believing in your own power.

01:00All these stories write about the fact that these elections will be fraudulent, they'll

01:06be fixed, they'll be rigged, and everyone's looking at it.

01:09And a lot of people are saying, you know, that probably will happen.

01:12Some state legislators unleashed a flood of laws designed specifically to make voting

01:17harder, especially, by the way, state legislators where there's a lot of minority turnout and

01:26population growth.

01:29That's not necessarily a mystery or an accident.

01:31You're sending out hundreds of millions of universal mail-in ballots.

01:39Hundreds of millions.

01:40Where are they going?

01:41Who are they being sent to?

01:42It's common sense.

01:43We're making sure every American is automatically registered to vote, including former inmates

01:49who've earned their second chance.

01:51So we want to have an election.

01:57I'd love to see voter ID.

01:59But this is the opposite of voter ID.

02:02The Democrats love it.

02:03The Republicans hate it.

02:05We all agree that absentee voting is good.

02:09Mail-in ballots will lead to the greatest fraud.

02:12By adding polling places and expanding early voting and making election day a national

02:19holiday.

02:20So if you are somebody who's working in a factory or you're a single mom who's got to

02:28go to her job and doesn't get time off, you can still cast your ballot.

02:38Absentee is different.

02:39Absentee, you have to work and you have to send in for applications.

02:43You have to go through a whole procedure.

02:45Like for instance, I'm an absentee voter because I can't be in Florida because I'm in Washington.

02:50I'm at the White House.

02:51So I'll be an absentee voter.

02:52We have a lot of absentee voters and it works.

02:55So we're in favor of absentee, but it's much different than millions of people.

03:01We can't treat voting as an errand to run if we have some time.

03:06We have to treat it as the most important action we can take.

03:11I don't want to delay.

03:12I want to have the election, but I also don't want to have to wait for three months and

03:17then find out that the ballots are all missing and the election doesn't mean anything.

03:22That's what's going to happen, Steve.

Category

Transcript

Recommended