Ten Democratic White House hopefuls found broad consensus Wednesday night on a range of issues — guns, immigration, climate change — reserving the full measure of their contempt and their harshest put-downs for President Trump.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee boasted of his executive standing, contrasting it with the many congressional lawmakers on stage, saying he had done more than any other to protect a woman's legal right to abortion — which drew a tart rejoinder from Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar. Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan accused Trump of breaking the promise he made to his Rust Belt constituents to reverse decades of economic decline. Gabbard vowed to be a president"who'll put your interests ahead of the rich and powerful," saying,"that's not what we have now."
But former Maryland Rep. John Delaney sided with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has resisted the call for impeachment. He said most Americans he has spoken with do not care about Trump as much as they worry about healthcare or fixing the nation's infrastructure. When O'Rourke stressed the importance of prosecuting human traffickers and drug smugglers, Castro berated him for not recognizing there are other criminal laws that enable them to be prosecuted."I think you should do your homework on this issue," Castro told O'Rourke.
"Wait, wait, wait," De Blasio cut in."Private insurance is not working for tens of millions of Americans when you talk about co-pays, the deductibles, the premiums, the out-of-pocket expenses.… How can you defend a system that's not working?" Because of the sprawling size of the field, not every candidate was given a chance to respond to every question.
O'Rourke talked up his $5-trillion proposal to slash carbon emissions and Castro said he would issue an executive order for the U.S. to rejoin the Paris climate accord, which set international standards to fight climate change.