Joe Biden kicked off Democratic National Convention week with a sit-down with rapper Cardi B, the ‘WAP’ singer who previously supported Bernie Sanders.
The softball interview, which was part of the rapper’s Elle Magazine cover shoot, featured Cardi B saying she wanted ‘free’ Medicare and college tuition and for ‘Black people to stop getting killed.’
‘There’s no reason why we can’t have all of that,’ Biden insisted, despite opposing Medicare-for-all and some of the more progressive college funding proposals during the Democratic primary.
Cardi B spoke to presidential hopeful Joe Biden about college education, police brutality and the COVID-19 response in her cover story for Elle Magazine
‘Anybody with a family [that makes] less than $125,000, you’re going to get free education,’ Biden said over the course of the interview. ‘And everybody gets free community college.’
The interview took place over Zoom, with Cardi B rocking vibrant red hair with statement earrings and her trademark long manicure.
It comes as President Donald Trump has attacked Biden for not taking questions from reporters as he rolled out his vice presidential pick, Sen. Kamala Harris, last week.
Biden sporadically answered questions from journalists, but did not hold a press conference.
At the beginning of the back-and-forth with Cardi B, Biden’s 39-year-old daughter Ashley popped onscreen, to tell Cardi B she was a fan.
‘You know the nickname she gave me when she was growing up? She called me Joey B,’ the former vice president said of his daughter. ‘So we may be related,’ he told the rapper.
Biden then asked Cardi B what she was most focused on when thinking about the upcoming November presidential election.
‘I just want Trump out. His mouth gets us in trouble so much. I don’t want to be lied to – we’re dealing with a pandemic right now, and I just want answers. I want to know when this will be over. I want to go back to my job,’ she told the ex-vice president.
‘I don’t want someone to lie to me and tell me it’s OK not to wear a mask, that everything is gong to be OK,’ she continued.
She told Biden it was important for the president to tell the ‘hard-core truth.’
‘Also what I want is free Medicare. It’s important to have free [healthcare] because look what is happening right now,’ she said. ‘Of course, I think we need free college. And I want black people to stop getting killed and no justice for it. I’m tired of it. I’m sick of it.’
Talk: The 27-year-old rapper, who rocked vibrant red hair with statement earrings, did a Zoom call with Joe for Elle magazine in Cardi B In Conversation with Joe Biden
Cardi B added that she wanted ‘laws that are fair to black citizens and that are fair for cops too.’
‘If you kill somebody who doesn’t have a weapon on them, you go to jail,’ she said. ‘You know what? If I kill somebody, I’ve got to go to jail. You gotta go to jail too. That’s what I want.’
Biden glossed over any potential policy differences to make a point about presidential leadership.
‘I understand one of your favorite presidents is Franklin Roosevelt. Roosevelt said the American people can take anything if you tell them the truth. Sometimes the truth is hard. But right now, we’re in a position where we have an opportunity to make so much progress,’ Biden answered.
Thoughts: The artist said she ‘wants laws that are far to Black citizens and that are fair for cops, too. If you kill somebody who doesn’t have a weapon on them, you go to jail. You know what? If I kill somebody, I’ve got to go to jail. You gotta go to jail, too. That’s what I want’
The vice president also talked about the evolution of what’s now become the Black Lives Matter movement.
‘The cell phone has changed America,’ Biden said. ‘Because we’re at a point where some brave kid can stand there for a total of 8 minutes and 46 seconds and take a of a black man [being] brutally murdered.’
The presumptive Democratic nominee knocked Trump for trying to stoke racial unrest with comments he made following the murder of George Floyd in support of keeping Confederate monuments and other symbols of segregation.
‘Look what they’re seeing now with this president,’ Biden said. ‘He’s promoting hatred, prejudice, racism. Talking about protectin the Confederate flag when Mississippi takes it off their flag. This is all about the game of making people hate each other. Because that’s how he wins, by dividing us.’
Biden said that the younger generation could have kept Trump from the White House in 2016 had they voted in the same numbers as other age blocs. There would have been 5.2M more votes.
‘We wouldn’t have [Trump], we would have had Hillary Clinton. The vote matters,’ Biden said.
Words: Cardi said: ‘Nobody is more motivated than a mom. Nobody wants to go hustle out there and get the money for the kid like a mother,’ when talking about childcare and after-school programs
While Biden pledged to beef up funding so that Americans can pay less to go to school, Cardi Bi spoke about how she wasn’t able to afford to feed herself when she went to the Borough of Manhattan Community College and spend $5 a day on transportation to school.
In middle school and high school, she said they gave a free MetroCard and a free lunch.
During college, ‘sometimes I had to wait from 1 pm all the way to 9 pm to get home and eat. Because I couldn’t afford McDonald’s or any restaurants on my break. I was starving, and I felt so discouraged. So I just feel like that is so important, to finance students while they’re in college.’
Before signing off, Biden told the rapper, ‘I’ll make mistakes as president, but I’ll admit to the mistakes I make, and you’re never going to have to wonder whether I’ll keep my word.’
‘Just check me out; I’ve never broken my word. Never in my life,’ he added.