Joe Biden discusses running mates, whether he'd veto Medicare-for-all, and coronavirus advice for Trump

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/MSNBC)

last updated 10 March 2020

Former Vice President Joe Biden sat down with MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell on Monday, a day before the pivotal Michigan primary, and O'Donnell asked Biden if he understood the "gut punch" many women feel that a Democratic president field that included at least four strong female contenders is now down to him and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Biden said yes, sexism is "real" and "there was sexism in Hillary's race," too.

Biden suggested he might pick a female running mate, but promised only that if elected, "my administration, from vice president on, is gonna look like the country." He said his most important criteria "in choosing a vice president is whether or not the person is simpatico with me in terms of where I want to take the country," and could competently share the governing load.

O'Donnell also asked Biden if Congress sent him, as president, a version of the Medicare-for-all bill that's at the center of Sanders' campaign, "do you veto it?" Biden said he "would veto anything that delays providing the security and the certainty of health care being available now." He added that getting Medicare-for-all through Congress would be "a miracle," he supports the goal that "health care should be a right in America," and would want to know where the money came from.

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Asked about Trump's handling of the coronavirus outbreak, Biden said Americans, the world, and the financial markets have "no confidence in the president, in anything he says or does. He turns everything into what he thinks is a political benefit for himself, and he's actually imploding in the process, but there's a lot of innocent bystanders that are being badly hurt. I wish he would just be quiet" and "just let the experts speak."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

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