Cardi B and Joe Biden Talk the State of Our Nation
As our nation faces two crises, COVID-19 and police brutality toward people of color, Cardi B gets real via Zoom with the man who could be our next president.
Cardi B: Oh, snap. Is this real? Hi, Biden, how are you?
Joe Biden: How are you? The name’s Joe.
CB: Well, hello there, Joe.
Cardi virtually meets Biden’s daughter, Ashley, who is a fan.
JB: You know the nickname she gave me when she was growing up? She called me Joey B. So we may be related.
CB: I feel crazy because I’m a little bit late, but let me tell you something, when you have kids, like my two-year-old, your schedule never goes as planned.
JB: You’re telling me? I’ve got four kids, five grandchildren—c’mon, I’m an expert. I understand about kids—the most important thing—they come first.
CB: Yes, definitely, always. My kid comes first, period. So, Joe, I hear you have some questions for me....
JB: I do have some questions. First of all, I want to congratulate you: The cover of ELLE, that’s pretty big-time. Second, thanks for your generosity in dealing with people suffering from COVID. There are so many people who needlessly have died—they didn’t have to if we had taken the pre-cautions we needed to. So, thank you. You have a generous heart. Tell me, what’s your main interest in this election?
CB: I have a whole list of things that I want our next president to do for us. But first, 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. But I don’t want someone to lie to me and tell me that it’s okay not to wear a mask, that everything is going to be okay. I want a president to tell me what the steps are for us to get better, to tell me, "This is why it is taking so long, this is why other countries are doing better than ours." Tell me the truth, the hard-core truth.
And also what I want is free Medicare. It’s important to have free [healthcare] because look what is happening right now. 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. I just want 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. 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.
JB: There’s no reason why we can’t have all of that. Presidents have to take responsibility. 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. The American public has had the blinders taken off.
CB: 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. [Trump is] really confusing everyone. One day he’s telling them this is nothing, that people need to stop getting tested. Next thing you know, [he has] a mask [on his] face. [He’s] really playing games. And it’s crazy that all of this had to happen so they could open their eyes to the past four years.
JB: Well, it doesn’t have to happen. In 2016, if 18- to 24-year-olds had voted in the same percentage as the rest of the population. We wouldn’t have [Trump]; we would have had Hillary Clinton. The vote matters. That’s why you keep talking to people about the need to vote. Your generation can own what happens in the next election. They can change things dramatically if they show up and vote. Tell me what your fans are most concerned about?
CB: A lot of fans are concerned about free college and Medicare, especially now that people are getting sick left and right. Sometimes people have problems in their community. For example, a lot of after-school programs that I [had] growing up, [are] no more in my hood. Why is that?
JB: That’s why I ask what they want me to do. I’m the guy that put in those after-school programs. I was able to get $20 billion [for] more boys and girls clubs. But what happened? Everything was getting better—this was when crime was going down—so [people said], “We don’t have to pay for this anymore.” Because people didn’t want to pay the taxes for it. And that’s why this [notion that] “government is bad” has been such a downer for things that really matter to you and me.
As a single dad when my wife and daughter got killed—I had two boys who survived the accident—I couldn’t afford child care. I didn’t have the money for someone to take care of my kids. Thank God, I had my sister and my brother and my mother, who helped me. But look at all the people who don’t have that kind of help.
CB: I’m always so focused on Medicare and college education, and I never really thought about how important child care is. Nobody is more motivated than a mom. Nobody wants to go hustle out there and get the money for the kid like a mother. [But] how are you supposed to do that when you probably don’t have a babysitter for your kid? Fortunately for me, I have my mom to help take care of my child, but a lot of people, their mom cannot retire and take care of the kids. The mom has to work, too. I feel like this country is so hurt, to the point that this year, a lot of people couldn’t even celebrate July 4th, because not everybody feels like an American. A lot of people feel like [they’re] not even part of America.
JB: Absolutely. 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. John Lewis, one of the great civil rights leaders, used to say the vote is the most powerful nonviolent tool you have. Look, I’m a lot older than you, to state the obvious. When I was in high school, the civil rights movement was just being started, and along came Bull Connor and his dogs. He thought he was going to drive a wooden stake into the heart of the civil rights movement. But when all those folks saw what was happening in the South—[when] they saw Bull Connor with dogs [attacking] elderly Black women going to church and kids being knocked down with fire hoses—all of a sudden, as Dr. King said, we had the second emancipation. We had the Voting Rights Act and we had the Civil Rights Act. It changed things because people said, “Oh my God, that’s happening.” [Today], the cell phone has changed America. 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 [video] of a Black man [being] brutally murdered. And people around the world were saying, “My God. This really happens?” And now they’re demanding change.
CB: And you know, I feel like Black people, we’re not asking for sympathy, we’re not asking for charity—we are just asking for equality. We are asking for fairness, and we are asking for justice. That is all. I feel like everything people are asking for is getting interpreted in a very different way. No, it’s simple: We just want justice. We want to feel like Americans.
JB: Well, I’ll tell you what. I have a friend in Mississippi, Bennie Thompson, a very well-known congressman, an African American. He called me two weeks ago. He said, “Joe, I just came from a protest. There were as many white kids marching as Black kids. This is Mississippi, Joe. Things are changing.” 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. And by the way, the rest of the world has always looked to us. Why? Not because we’re so powerful. But [because of ] the power of our example. Look what they’re seeing now with this president. He’s promoting hatred, prejudice, racism. Talking about protecting 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. Your generation is changing it.
CB: That’s so powerful. I feel like I learned a lot, and it’s just been 10 minutes. And it’s true—that’s why I want the new generation, my fans, my people to go out and vote. I know we are so eager to make money, to look a certain way, to have style, celebrity gossip. And it’s like, why don’t we make a change for real and vote?
JB: In the primaries, they kept saying, “Well, you know, there aren’t that many people voting, Biden’s not going to excite anybody.” We had [some of] the largest turnout in the primaries ever. People are ready. And let me tell you something: The American people have never, ever, ever let their country down. They’ve been battered by this president and the way he continues to divide [our communities]. He appeals to their prejudice. He spews hate. We’ve gotta stop it.
CB: And you know, this prejudice is dangerous. It could be the start of a civil war. It makes people feel uncomfortable around different people. Nobody wants to feel targeted. Nobody wants animosity. Everybody just wants the best for themselves, their future, their kids’ future. I don’t want to [have] to tell my kid, “You have to be careful going to the store. Don’t wear a hoodie. Please don’t get stopped.” We don’t want that. And I don’t want to feel a certain type of animosity for a different race, because I feel like they get it easier than us. Nobody wants to feel like that. Why can’t we just work with each other?
JB: We can.
CB: Racism has always existed. But I feel like right now, there’s just a lot of tension. And we need somebody to clean that up. I’m just so tired of it.
JB: Also, by the way, if I get elected president, anybody with a family [that makes] less than 125 grand, you’re going to get free education. And everybody gets free community college.
CB: Do you think that’s going to be able to happen?
JB: Absolutely, positively.
CB: Because let me tell you about my college experience. I’m from New York, and when you’re in high school or middle school, they give you a free MetroCard for you to be able to get to your school, and they gave me free lunch. When I was in college, I didn’t get any more [free] transportation. So I had to get a job, because I needed $5 every single day to be able to go from Washington Heights to Chambers Street. And I had to feed myself. Sometimes I had to wait from 1 p.m. all the way to 9 p.m. to get home to 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.
But what a lot of people are concerned about is, if the government gives us [these things], are they going to raise our taxes? Because clearly nobody wants to pay so much in taxes. Sometimes, when my taxes come in, I’m like, “Oh my gosh, I’m depressed, oh Lord, let me see my Birkin collection.” That is a little joke. [But] when you see the taxes coming off your check, you don’t understand, because you feel like you’re putting in so many hours. People want to know, can you provide college education, this [health care] plan, without a big chunk of taxes coming out of our checks?
JB: Yes, we can. And the way we can pay for all of this is doing practical things, like making sure that everybody has to pay their fair share. [For example] no corporation should pay less than 15 percent tax.
A staffer cuts in to say their time is coming to an end.
JB: Thank you for your willingness to help. 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.
CB: I would like to see [that]!
JB: Just check me out; I’ve never broken my word. Never in my life.
Fashion direction by Alex White; Hair by Tokyo Stylez; Makeup by Erika La'Pearl; Manicure by Jenny Bui; Set design by Mary Howard and Kyle Hagemeier at MHS Artists; Produced by Travis Kiewel and Roberto Javier Sosa for That One Production.
This story appears in the September 2020 issue.
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