ABC News(WASHINGTON) — Sen. Bernie Sanders has enlisted the help of chart-topping rapper Cardi B in a newly released campaign video.
The unlikely pair filmed last month at a black-owned nail salon named TEN Nail Bar in Detroit, Michigan while the Vermont senator was in the city for the second round of Democratic presidential debates.
In a social media post, Cardi said she fielded questions from her more than 49 million Instagram followers to prepare for her meeting with the senator from Vermont.
“You know, what I’m trying to do is I’m trying to advocate the youth and my community because I feel like there’s a serious problem right now in America,” said Cardi B.
In the nearly 12-minute video, Sanders shared his plans to combat police brutality, eliminate student debt and tackle immigration reform with the “Bodak Yellow” rapper.
“We’re not only talking about Mexico, immigrants from all around the world that are facing the same problem,” said Cardi B when discussing DACA recipients.
“What we do is we will reestablish the legal protections that the 1.8 million young people in this country today had under DACA,” said Sanders. “So they once again will have those protections and I think we’re going to expand that program to their parents as well.”
Cardi B. also asked Sanders about the cornerstone of his campaign, Medicare-for-all. Sanders acknowledged, as he has in the past, that his proposal would result in a tax increase, but one that would be offset for the “overwhelming majority” of people due to the elimination of other health care payments.
“So people have to understand that no more premiums, no more copayments, no more deductibles. You can go to any doctor you want,” said Sanders. “And you do pay more in taxes, depending on your income. The overwhelming majority of the people will end up paying less than they’re currently paying in healthcare. Their taxes will go up but their not going to be paying premiums, deductibles, copayments.”
The Bronx rapper hasn’t shied away from talk about the race for the White House. On a red carpet in April, she expressed support for 2020 presidential candidate Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan’s health care platform and last month she posted an altered Rolling Stone magazine cover to social media that replaced House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who is also running for president.
Earlier this year, Cardi B. spoke about Sanders on a red carpet and she tweeted in July that she was “really sad how we let him down in 2016.”
“Imma always be with Bernie,” she said. “Bernie don’t say things to be cool. There’s pictures of him being an activist from a very, very, very long time.”
Her support of Sanders goes back years — in a video from the 2016 presidential election cycle, she tells her viewers to, “Vote for Daddy Bernie.”
In the video released Thursday, the pair additionally discussed their shared affinity for the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, with Cardi B describing her appreciation for the 32nd U.S. president’s ability to rehabilitate the nation’s economy while it was engaged in World War II and additionally the social and public works programs of the New Deal.
“It just amazed me that he came up with all of those things, plus personal problems, that, you know, he had polio and everything. This is like, god damn, I love him. He is my favorite,” she says.
“Well, I want to be your favorite after I’m elected, but we’ll see,” Sanders responds.
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