NARRATOR 1: Make the choice to begin anywhere in your life and the journey has started.

And along the way, be inspired.

Listen to the stories by joining the president of Howard University, Dr. Wayne A.I.

Frederick on The Journey.

Hello, I'm Dr. Wayne Frederick.

Today, my guest on The Journey is Political Strategist and former Chair for the Democratic National Committee.

Lately we've been getting constant updates on the presidency and the upcoming election process.

As a result, many Americans are more motivated to head to the polls and make their voices heard.

And Ms. Brazile is someone who will highlight the latest news and politics, but also has a lot of interesting career paths that she's taken to this point that would have given her a very broad view of the state of our politics.

So welcome Ms. Brazile, how are you today?

I'm great, I'm here in the wonderful state of Utah having watched the amazing performance last night by Howard University own Kamala Harris.

I thought she was terrific.

She gave a strong performance.

She was on message, not only in addressing the most important issue in this election cycle, and that is the president handling of the pandemic, but more importantly I thought she was very strong on the economy infrastructure and why we need to make a change this fall on election day.

And that's where I was going to start.

You've written a book for colored girls who have considered politics.

And clearly the epitome of that, or the embodiment of that is Sydney Senator Harris.

What about the items that were highlighted in your book, you think relate to what you saw in the debate of the vice president candidates that really resonated with you?

Well, I thought the last question was perhaps the most important question.

This was a question from a student at the university of Utah, and they wanted to talk about civility in American politics.

And I really believed that Senator Harris captured the spirit that most Americans would like our political leaders to now embrace.

And that is, we need to be able to talk to one another.

We need to have a conversation about these most important issues facing our country.

She highlighted the role that government leaders, political leaders who often hear to call a pull of public service.

And I thought her performance last night again, was strong because she articulated what most Americans now believe in very important consequential issues.

The healthcare of our nation, people who have been infected by this virus and that Dr. Fedrick, you know more than anyone else, they now have a preexisting condition.

And what Senator Harris last night said was that we need to make sure that no American lose their health care.

But back to that student question she encouraged us students to get involved.

She encouraged that student to continue to engage and to work with people from the opposite opposing party because after all we're Americans so we share the same values.

Let's talk about the anatomy of it.

Obviously you've been involved in debate prep before, you've managed presidential campaign for Senator Gore, Vice President Gore.

Let's talk a little bit about the anatomy of the debate.

There was several opportunities where I felt as an observer Senator Harris had the opportunity to make the point that the rules and guidelines for the debate were not being followed.

And she could actually extrapolate that to flouting of the rules and regulations of public health advice or of law enforcement, et cetera, by the administration.

But she didn't seem to go there.

And she allowed the vice president to take more than his time and on a few occasions interrupt her, albeit with her pushing back slightly saying, "I'm seeking."

But it seemed from a debate and anatomy of the debate point of view, she had a window there to draw an analogy about that floating of rules and regulations.

What are your thoughts about that from a performance point of view, not so much content?

We all know that the rules of the debate are often put out way ahead of time by the Presidential Commission on Debates.

The parameters are very simple.

Each candidate get two minutes to respond to a question and one minute for rebuttal.

Secretary, I'm sorry, Vice President Pence understood the rules but he decided to go ahead and extend his time by trying to respond to Senator Harris, a very pointed rebuttal.

I still believe that she got the best of the debate by being able to talk directly into the camera, addressed the concern of the American people.

But I must admit that Vice President Biden did one thing that President Trump wasn't able to do last week.

He was able to at least explain to the American people how they've tried to handle the pandemic.

Unlike the president who I thought missed an opportunity to try to set the record straight the vice president did attempt to do that.

And with that in mind, should we even be having these debates in person?

Based on the CDC guidelines and based on Vice President Pence's recent activity, It would speak to me in person, I would say that he should have been in quarantine for 14 days.

Is the democratic ticket participating in flouting of the CDC guidelines by having these debates in person?

No we're following the Presidential Commission on Debates.

We're also following the Cleveland Clinic guidelines.

The Cleveland Clinic as you well know, testing us before we go in if you're a participant, even as a member of the media, I'm part of the Fox News team, I've been tested on multiple occasions before and after the debate.

In fact, on the day of the debate, we had to have another test.

This morning, following the debate before I returned back to Washington, D.C I had another test.

So I'm pleased to report that so far all of my tests have been negative.

The president has just announced that he is not going to participate in the debate next week because it will be virtual.

Given the lead that the democratic ticket has, double digit lead on the average of the polls, given the fact that President Trump and his running mate, Vice President Pence, are now in a position where they're defending what should be safe states for the Republican Party, why debate the president at this point?

Well, I agree that the debate in Miami should be suspended for obvious reasons the president is still under quarantine.

There is no reason for him to travel to Florida.

I think it's appropriate to hold a virtual debate.

After all we're holding our classes, our conferences, our seminars, and so much more online.

I think it would be a real healthy thing to maintain a proper social distancing and to not hold these debates if one of the candidates have been tested positive for the coronavirus.

That remains I believe this race is very, very competitive while the Vice President Biden is currently leading in the national polls along with many of the battleground states.

We know this election will be won in a margin.

So it's important that everyone out there make a plan to vote, go to iwillvote.com.

Kamala Harris last night gave you that address as well, iwillvote.com.

Check your status or your registration, check all of the proper guidelines, make sure that if you've received your ballot you fill it out properly and turn it in on time.

Don't wait till the last minute.

And yes, there are still many opportunities to volunteer, participate, contribute and to make your voices heard in this election season.

Now you and former Republican National Committee Chair, Michael Steele, have both been appointed by the Bipartisan Policy Center on the election legitimacy initiative.

What exactly is that about and what are you both hoping to achieve with your participation?

As you know former Chairman Michael Steele of the Republican Party, the first African American to hold that position in his party.

I'm the African American woman to hold my former position in the Democratic Party.

Michael Steele, and I are working together to ensure that we have a safe, secure election.

We believe that this election is vital to the health of our democracy.

We wanna protect the integrity of our elections.

And so we're reaching out to Democratic Secretary of State Republican Secretaries of States, because as you understand, elections are won on the margins and elections aren't won on the ground, they're won at the state and local level.

So Michael and I are working very closely together to ensure the integrity and security of all our upcoming election.

With that in mind, one of the important questions that was posed at the vice presidential debate is transition of power.

Will there be a peaceful transition of power?

Vice President Pence still dodged that question strongly.

What is your, and I have to admit Senator Harris's response went to the speaking point about voting, but did not address what would happen in the event that the president decided not to participate in the expected transition of power.

What's your perspective about that issue?

Well as you well know, I was Al Gore's campaign manager in 2000.

It took 37 days for that contest to be decided.

Ultimately, the Supreme court ruled that the completion of that count was unconstitutional.

In the state of Florida they used statues dating back to the civil war to stop the count.

While we were all disappointed, we understood that that was the highest court of the land.

And I'll never forget that evening when Al Gore called me, then vice president and said, "Shut it down."

He meant to shut down the campaign.

And as you know there was a transition from the Clinton/Gore administration to the Bush/Cheney administration.

I am optimistic that we will have a peaceful transfer of power.

We've had a peaceful transfer of power during some of the most tumultuous period in American life.

There's bipartisan support for that.

There's a strong contingent of former members of Congress who are also working.

The most important thing is that we need voters to also help us with this process.

That's why it's important again, to make a plan to vote.

If you know that you're gonna wait until the last minute, make a plan.

Again, you don't wanna stay in line, but if you must stay in line, remember what former first lady Michelle Obama said, "Pack a lunch, bring some water, have comfortable shoes and please make sure that your cell phone is charged up so that we can continue to provide you with information."

But I do believe there will be a peaceful transfer of power.

I hope the media do not call it.

I hope there's no rush to judgment before all of the votes are counted across the United States of America.

The election process on the surface seems like it should be simple.

But it often isn't.

My wife and I for health reasons decided that we would request a mailing ballot, then we live in Maryland.

And I received that and one of my middle names was spelled incorrectly.

And I've been on the phone for the past three days trying to negotiate that issue so far unsuccessfully.

The average voter in America faces significant hurdles to voting.

Why for all of the other things that we have progressed in this country using technology in particular, why can't we move our electoral process along in the same direction?

Well, as you well know that the Federal, we need a 21st century Voting Rights Act.

It is time we provide state and localities the resources to update the voter registration list to ensure that citizens like you have every opportunity to make any corrections before your ballot is submitted.

So this is the reason why Speaker Pelosi, working with very, very limited amount of support from the Republicans and Mitch McConnell, She has put forward a $400 billion to ensure that state and localities have the resources.

And most cases it's general administrative problems that glitches, that hamper the ability for us to make sure that every citizen get the correct information.

That's why during this week, this is National Board of Education week, we're going to work very vigilantly to ensure that every citizen has the right to information the right tools at their disposal before casting his or her ballot.

So this is switching gears a little bit, the top three topics right now appear to be the COVID-19 pandemic, the economy and you could argue anywhere between healthcare and the Supreme court.

So let's start first with the Supreme court and we'll tie healthcare and the pandemic together.

Do you think it is inappropriate for the Republican party to move ahead with the Supreme court justice nominee, given the fact that they do have control of the White House and the Senate?

Well, as you well know, in 2016 President Obama put forward, after the sudden death of Justice Scalia, he put forward after the 30 days the nomination of Judge Merrick Garland.

And the Republicans decided that time not to hold hearings, not to give him an opportunity because they said it was too close to election day.

Well, back in 2016, there were over 260 days remaining in the election season.

We have less than 26 days remaining in this election season, and you can go all the way back to President Abraham Lincoln who said it is not right to hold a hearing and a vote on a Supreme court nominee.

This is a lifetime appointment until after the election.

I think the Republicans would be wise and they will be prudent.

And of course they would embrace the principle that they set out in 2016, if they would withhold having the vote before the election.

Let the American people decide.

And all of the polls agree with Democrats that we should wait until this election before the nominee that has been put forward is voted upon in the United States Senate.

I guess I wanna continue with this a little bit because there's a counter argument to be made that elections do have consequences.

And in 2016, when the electorate had an opportunity to pick a president and a Senate, subsequently they decided to go with the Republican party, regardless of what one's opinion may be about their performance.

So in some ways they had a mandate.

We now are getting into another election cycle.

What is your message to young people about the fact that elections do have consequences.

And sometimes those consequences may not be consequences that are palatable to them, but that decision has to be made at the ballot box.

There is no question that, although president Obama put forth more than 100 judges the Republicans decided not to give them hearings and no votes.

So by the time Donald Trump was inaugurated in January of 2017, he had over 125 judicial vacancies.

Today they have really feel the federal judiciary were conservative and in some cases, non-experienced judges.

It's important that young people understand that they have a role to play.

They are the majority of the electorate.

I'm a baby boomer.

I'm no longer part of the majority of the electorate.

They're the majority of the electorate.

They have enormous political power that they risk losing if they do not participate in a political process.

In a democracy, your voice matters.

And the best way to speak about the important issues facing this country of course, is to go and vote.

I also believe it's important to encourage young people to run for office, to participate in the political process.

I got involved at the age of nine and here I am 10 presidential cycles later, I'm still trying to make a difference by working within the framework of our democracy, to ensure that every eligible citizen get an opportunity to cast his or her vote.

And for that, we all remain thankful.

The economy.

There was a rigorous debate both last week and recently with the vice presidential debate about the tax cuts.

What I was surprised not to hear about is the deficit that that tax cut has caused.

Why all of a sudden the deficit has left our political lexicon in terms of it being an issue around the economy?

Because we're facing one of the greatest economic recession since the Great Depression.

A recession that will likely be much larger and much graver than the last Great Recession that President Barack Obama and Vice President Biden inherited.

And so it's very important that we understand the consequences.

When the Fed Chairman Jerome Powell went before the Congress and said, "We need an additional stimulus."

400,000 businesses have closed.

22 million Americans have lost their healthcare.

And for 28 straight weeks, millions of Americans have filed for unemployment.

Some of those jobs will not come back.

It's very important that we continue to address the critical needs that the American people are enduring, but also look longterm at how do we rebuild our economy?

How do we strengthen it post pandemic?

And how do we build an economy that works for every American?

That's why the vice president has put forward the bill back better plan to address some of the deficiencies to ensure that we have a workforce that is up to the 21st century standards.

And we know that for a long time, at least for the foreseeable future, we are going to rely on this kind of connectivity.

And it's important that we have a broadband plan that can help us in rural communities and urban centers so that every American have access to the kind of technical logical tools that will enable them to get a decent education and as well as healthcare and so much more.

So clearly the stimulus is gonna help broaden the tax base which ultimately can help lower the deficit.

However, you have a corporate tax rate down to 21%.

The current democratic ticket is planning to raise that to 28%.

Do you think that that could result in slowing the economy around business investment?

Remember most of those jobs that have been created are jobs created off shore.

So we gotta make sure that when we build back better and stronger we build an economy that can sustain the American workforce and that can bring in new people as well as help retrain those who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own.

And so it's important that we raised at corporate rate back to a level that cannot just bring in additional revenues but also we gotta focus on the 21st century jobs that will help to bring the American economy back.

While we've been dealing with this pandemic, and because we've been dealing with it for such a long period of time, we've lost a significant amount of ground.

And so it's important that our trade deficit has widened with China and other nations.

We know that the Federal deficit is out of control but most importantly our manufacturing sector has slowed down.

So there's a lot of work that the next administration will have to do.

And that's why I'm hoping that we have an administration that is committed to change, committed to ensuring that we pay our fair share of taxes but most importantly that the rich and corporations who have not been paying their fair share will help to rebuild this economy by paying not just their taxes but contributing to the greater good of our society.

So on that note, let's speak about that very point, the pandemic.

The handling of the pandemic has been abysmal at best.

And now you have a White House that is a hot spot.

You have an event where you could consider it a super spreader event.

Where, and what is going to be significantly different post election in the event that we have a change in administration in terms of the approach to the pandemic?

From day one, we understood that we needed a national approach to the pandemic, not a 50 state strategy in the district of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin islands acting on their own we needed a 50 state strategy.

A 50 state strategy on testing and on tracing and then now we're gonna need a 50 state plus strategy on ensuring that once the third or fourth trial or the, and I'm not a doctor, you're the doctor in the family.

Once we have the appropriate vaccinations are ready that every American will have access including our essential workers and others.

So I think the democratic plan is gonna help strengthen our economy to make sure that we have one plan and to really deal with some of the, I call the serious impact of this virus.

This virus has taken a toll on communities of color, is taking a toll on women, essential workers.

And so we're gonna have a lot of work to do and it's important that we get to it right away.

And as we wrap up, I know there is a lot of focus on Senator Harris and who obviously glass ceiling breaking opportunity.

But the reality is that you paved the way for Symone Sanders.

And who I think the world of, and I think it's probably not getting as much attention and credit as she should get.

Given where the Biden campaign was and what she navigated during the spring to get to this point.

Yes, Congressman Clyburn and his impact was important, but she has held on to the reins of that campaign and directed it to a 10 point lead with 20 something days left.

She has cited you in past interviews as someone who she regards as a mentor and someone who also provided advice and gave her opportunities when others probably wouldn't.

How do you feel as you look at what she has done in the job that she is currently partaking in right now?

I think it's fair to say today now that the debate is over that Kamala had within her debate team not only Symone Sanders, but my good friend, my dear friend a 30 plus year Minyon Moore.

So I wasn't in the room.

I knew I was represented by two remarkable women.

Two women that not only understood the issues, but understood how a black woman would have to present those issues.

I'm proud of the work that Symone has done not only on behalf of the Biden campaign but in representing the new generation of political leaders that will take the reins of power, that will ensure that women of color and other will continue to have a seat at the table.

I have to tell you on a personal note, that Frederick I've had an opportunity to work very closely with the Howard University Student Association, Rachel Howell, her deputy, Michael Franklin, and so many others.

May We have so many dynamic young people in our midst today.

People who are just ready, ready to be a part of this political process.

I'm proud to be associated with Howard University and to bring up this new generation of leaders.

So I'm constantly looking for new talent.

I'm constantly trying to train and recruit the next generation.

And finally, I can tell you, my work is paying off.

So I'm excited.

Well, we're proud to be associated with you as well and we're glad that you decided to stay with us for another year as the holder of the Gwendolyn and Colbert King Endowed Chair here at Howard.

So I appreciate it very much.

Thanks very much.

Thank you so much.

And I look forward to talking with you later and Stacey Abrams and others will be joining us to talk about voter suppression and how we can navigate some of the challenges at the ballot box.

Absolutely.

Thanks for being here.

My guest today was Donna Brazile, political strategists and former chair of the Democratic National Committee.

She's also the current holder of the Gwendolyn and Colbert King Endowed Chair Public Policy here at Howard university.

I'm Dr. Wayne Frederick, please join me next time on The Journey.

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Thank you.