Last night, the Rhode Island Anti-War Committee, Brown War Watch, East Bay Citizens for Peace and Rhode Island Rights hosted what might be the closest thing to a Democratic Presidential Debate to take place in Rhode Island. Supporters representing four of the many Democratic candidates running for the Presidency presented the views of the candidates on subjects relating to war, policing, climate, immigration and government surveillance. There were also questions from the audience.
Present were Lauren Niedel for Bernie Sanders and Lauren Pothier for Elizabeth Warren. On screen, teleconferencing from home, were Melissa Mayer for Marianne Williamson and Ryan Healy for Tulsi Gabbard. The campaigns of Cory Booker and Andrew Yang had expressed interest, but pulled out at the last minute or were otherwise unable to participate.
Since the organizers were not interested in inviting more war-oriented presidential campaigns, the candidates invited to the forum tended to be on the more progressive side of the political spectrum.
Below is all the video from the debate, starting with the introductory comments:
Introductions/Question 1: War and Peace
The candidate proxies were originally going to do short introductions, before being asked the first question. Because the emcee asked his first question about the candidates' positions on War and Peace, there was some confusion as to where introductory comments ended and answering the question began. So I combined the first two answers/statements from the candidates
Marianne Williamson (Melissa Mayer)
Tulsi Gabbard (Ryan Healy)
Bernie Sanders (Lauren Niedel)
Elizabeth Warren (Lauren Pothier)
Question 2: Immigration
Tulsi Gabbard (Ryan Healy)
Elizabeth Warren (Lauren Pothier)
Marianne Williamson (Melissa Mayer)
Bernie Sanders (Lauren Niedel)
Question 3: Climate
Bernie Sanders (Lauren Niedel)
Marianne Williamson (Melissa Mayer)
Elizabeth Warren (Lauren Pothier)
Tulsi Gabbard (Ryan Healy)
Question 4: Policing
Elizabeth Warren (Lauren Pothier)
Bernie Sanders (Lauren Niedel)
Tulsi Gabbard (Ryan Healy)
Marianne Williamson (Melissa Mayer)
Question 5: Government Surveillance
Tulsi Gabbard (Ryan Healy)
Marianne Williamson (Melissa Mayer)
Elizabeth Warren (Lauren Pothier)
Bernie Sanders (Lauren Niedel)
Questions from the audience
How does your candidate plan to address the gun violence crisis?
A question about American exceptionalism and the United States as a "world leader."
A question about foreign affairs and trade policy, how do the candidates feel about multilateral agreements such as NAFTA and NATO?
A question about nuclear weapons
A question to the Warren campaign about accepting money from corporate and dark money sources.
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