- Let's start with Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts Senator,
and mom who knows all the two letter words in scrabble.
("Dog on Fire")
Elizabeth Warren.
You might think of her as part of the coastal elites.
You know, being a senator from Massachusetts,
and owning her very own eyeglasses, so fancy.
But you may be surprised to find out
she came from very humble roots.
- [Reporter] Warren was born in small town Oklahoma in 1949.
Donald Herring, her father, was a janitor.
Her mother, Pauline, a stay at home mom.
- [Reporter] She taught special needs children in the 1970s
before eventually becoming a law professor
most recently at Harvard Law School.
- [Reporter] Warren, perhaps unsurprisingly,
didn't follow the traditional norms when she decided
Bruce Mann, a professor of law at Harvard, was the one,
she asked him to marry her.
- I still remember the first time I really noticed him,
he had on shorts, great legs.
- Geeze Warren, keep it in your pants!
I mean really?
I have a hard time believing that this guy's legs
were so amazing that she did,
wow oh okay.
Oh damn, I take it back, those are great legs.
You get it, girl.
Also, it was pretty progressive for a woman in the '70s
to be the one to propose to a man, yeah.
In fact, for all those ladies out there who's boyfriends
are taking too long, yeah, you know what to do, yeah.
(audience whoops, cheers) You know what to do.
Go ask Elizabeth Warren's husband to marry you, yeah.
(audience laughs)
We were on the same page, right, yeah.
And Elizabeth Warren wasn't just asking
guys with great legs to marry her.
No, while she taught at Harvard, she became one of
the country's top experts on bankruptcy.
And not in the Donald Trump kind of way.
No, she knew the law so well that she would often
be called to testify in front of Congress.
And one of those hearings from nearly 15 years ago
is pretty wild to watch now.
- [Reporter] Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren
facing off more than a decade ago
over a Biden-backed bill making it more difficult
for people to file for bankruptcy.
- They have squeezed enough out of these families
in interest and fees, and payments that
never take down principal. - Maybe we should talk about
usury rates then, maybe that's what we should be
talking about, not bankruptcy. - Senator, I'll be the first,
invite me.
- [Biden] No, I know you will,
but let's call a spade a spade.
- Senator, if you're not going to fix that problem,
you can't take away the last shred of protection
for these families. - I got it, okay,
you're very good, professor.
(chuckles) (audience groans)
- I want to kill you right now.
That's what that smile was.
But you see that?
That's one of the reasons people
like Elizabeth Warren so much.
Because she's been fighting against the predatory practices
of banks and credit card companies,
and this was long before it was cool, all right.
Unlike Joe Biden, who once upon a time was fighting
for credit card companies, which has never been cool,
like crocks, or taking your cousin to prom.
(audience laughs)
And because of her efforts to take on corporate America,
Warren became such a popular figure on the left,
that when she proposed creating a new federal agency
to protect consumers, President Obama wanted her to lead it.
But the GOP had other ideas.
- [Reporter] The CFPB is the brainchild of former
Harvard Law Professor, Elizabeth Warren.
She first proposed creating the agency in 2007
as a way to better regulate mortgages,
student loans, and other financial products.
She was President Obama's pick to run the CFPB,
but Republican senators on Capital Hill
refused to even consider confirming her.
We're pretty unenthusiastic about
the possibility of Elizabeth Warren.
We're pretty unenthusiastic, frankly, about this new agency.
- So it turns out, back in the day, Elizabeth Warren
was Mitch Mc (sensor beep) blocked, right,
and never got to run the CFPB.
But the move may have backfired,
because a year later, she ran for senate,
and became McConnell's McCoworker.
And from there, her popularity just kept on rising.
- A new senator shaking up the democratic party,
Elizabeth Warren's tough take on Wall Street
has made her a folk hero on the left.
- [Reporter] Wherever she goes in the country,
she brings giant crowds to their feet.
- [Reporter] U.S. Senator for only a year,
she's now making an even bigger splash.
A draft movement is already underway.
- [Reporter] An open letter from more than 300
former Obama campaign staffers urging
Elizabeth Warren to run for president.
Warren was adamant she is not getting in the game.
- There's no way you're gonna run in 2016?
I'm not running for president,
you can ask it lots of different ways.
- So Elizabeth Warren turned down the chance to
run for president in 2016, a year many of you
may have blocked from your memory.
But now, she's making waves in the 2020 race,
and incredibly, she's managed to stand out in this
crowded field, thanks to her unique strategy of,
having a plan.
- 2020 presidential candidate, Elizabeth Warren,
the senator, is making a mark on this race
with these six words, I've got a plan for that.
- I've got a plan.
I have got plans.
I've got a plan.
- [Reporter] Senator Elizabeth Warren roles out
a sweeping plan that would wipe out student debt
for millions of Americans.
- [Reporter] A detailed plan to invest two trillion dollars
over ten years in green manufacturing, research, and trade.
- Breaking up Amazon, Google, and other big tech giants.
- [Reporter] Focusing her first policy plan
as a 2020 candidate on creating a wealth tax.
- If we put that two cent wealth tax in place on
the 75,000 largest fortunes in this country, two cents,
we can do universal child care for every baby zero to five,
universal pre-K, universal college, and knock back
the student loan debt burden for 95% of our students,
and still have nearly a trillion dollars left over.
- Damn.
(audience claps, cheers)
Damn.
Elizabeth Warren has some really detailed,
well-thought-out plans,
which is great if she becomes president.
The only down side is, that's gonna be on giant-ass hat.
Yeah, you can't run with that,
it's gonna (sensor bleep) up people's necks.
Luckily, free healthcare, so it works.
So that's Elizabeth Warren, third place in the race,
lots of detailed ideas, and a long history to back them up.
And look, we still have a long way to go
until the primaries, but for right now,
it seems that much like her husband, this campaign has legs.
Just a few moments ago, they wrapped up the very first
Democratic Debates, an epic showdown between
nine normal-sized people, and Bill de Blasio.
(audience laughs)
And the anticipation for this thing was huge.
The biggest name on the stage was Elizabeth Warren,
polling in the lead.
And she knew that she was the front runner.
She knew that she had it, she was so chill.
She came out, she was chilled out there,
you know, she went hard against corporations,
she pushed free education, she spoke about
how the economy is only working for the very rich.
It was all really very standard Elizabeth Warren.
You know, it's as normal as seeing a man
walking a chicken in Brooklyn.
It's everyday.
- So I think democrats win when we run on real solutions,
not impossible promises.
When we run on things that are workable,
not fairytale economics.
- You know, I don't understand why anybody goes
to all the trouble of running for
President of the United States just to talk about
what we really can't do and shouldn't fight for.
(audience cheers)
- Mm, mm.
Oh, Warren got Delaney there.
And she's got a good point.
Running for president is about shooting for the moon.
Over the past few months, her rally crowds
have been growing steadily.
And last night, she brought her show to New York.
- So overnight, Senator Elizabeth Warren,
drawing one of her biggest crowds of her campaign to date,
thousands filled New York's
Washington Square Park last night to hear her speak.
- Dramatically, the speech was all about anti-corruption,
Warren hitting President Trump
as being corruption in the flesh.
- No one is above the law, not even the United States
President, impeachment is our constitutional duty.
- After that enormous event in New York City,
Warren spent almost four hours
taking selfies with supporters.
- Now one of the reasons Warren is so popular
isn't just that she has plans.
It's that unlike her fellow candidates,
she knows how to present her policies in a simple way.
And last night, her plan for a
wealth tax got the crowd going.
- It's time for a wealth tax.
That is a two cent tax on fortunes over $50,000,000.00.
Your first 50 million, don't worry, you're in the clear.
(audience laughs)
But for your 50 millionth and first dollar,
you gotta pitch in two cents.
And two cents for every dollar after that,
just two cents.
(crowd cheers)
- [Crowds] Two cents, two cents, two cents, two cents
- Two cents, two cents, two.
Yeah, not only is that a great chant,
it also sounds like the name of a
much less successful 50 Cent, you know.
(audience laughs)
Yeah, it's just like two cents, go shorty,
it's your birthday, I couldn't buy you
anything for your birthday.
Here's a coupon for a free hug.
- Elizabeth Warren, who has been surging in the polls.
She's right behind Biden nationally,
she's leading in Iowa, and she's
polling at 100% among registered cardigans.
(audience groans, laughs) But the one big criticism
of Warren is that she hasn't explained how she would
pay for her Medicare For All healthcare plan
without taxing the middle class specifically.
So this weekend, she showed us the money.
- [Reporter] Elizabeth Warren is today putting a
price tag on Medicare for all, 20 and a half
trillion dollars in new spending over 10 years,
paid for by taxing billionaires and big business.
- I have a plan that shows how we can have Medicare for all
without raising taxes one cent on middle class families.
- [Reporter] Warren would eliminate all
private employer-based insurance.
How would she pay for it?
Employers would pay the government almost
nine trillion dollars over 10 years, similar to
what they now spend on employee's healthcare.
She would boost her billionaire's wealth tax,
impose a new tax on stock trades,
higher taxes on investment gains for the top 1%,
and cut military spending.
- Yes, to pay for her plan, Warren plans to raise taxes
on the ultra-wealthy, and cut military spending.
Which, if you think about it,
actually doubles the healthcare benefits.
Because all Americans would get healthcare,
and people in Afghanistan won't get droned.
It'd be like oh, I feel so much healthier
now that I haven't been blown up, yay!
And if you're a billionaire, you're probably not happy
at the prospect of having to pay more taxes, you know.
In fact, what Warren should do is try and sweeten the deal,
and let the super rich get naming rights
over the healthcare that they help pay for, yeah.
So then instead of getting a heart transplant
at the hospital, someone will get Jeff Bezos
presents a heart for Bob Sullivan.
(audience laughs)
Now unless you're an economist, it might be hard
to know whether Warren's plan is achievable or not.
But what's easier to understand is the
affect it would have on the insurance industry.
It's estimated that 385,000 people
could lose their jobs under her plan, right.
But don't worry, Warren says they'll land on their feet.
- Some of the people currently working in
health insurance will work in other parts of insurance.
In life insurance and auto insurance, in car insurance.
Some will work for Medicaid.
- Damn, Warren doesn't mess around.
She's just gonna move people around to another job.
I mean, I don't think it's gonna be that easy.
So someone who works in health insurance now,
is the next day gonna be dealing with cars?
That's gonna get confusing.
Just like hi, I'm calling to let you know
you're fully covered for your recent prostate exam.
You mean my oil change?
Hey, it's your body, whatever you want to call it,
that's your decision.
Now I feel bad for anyone in private insurance
who's scared of losing their job.
But on the other hand, screw private insurance.
I'm sorry, insurance companies are ass-holes, man.
Not the people that work for them, but the companies.
They ask you what's wrong with you so they can charge you
more, then they won't even cover your appendix surgery,
and then you're like uh, why did I even get my
appendix enlarged in the first place, you know.
I mean it makes me feel more confident, but was it worth it?
I don't know.
And you know what, I'll be honest with you.
What I really found interesting over the past few days,
is that Elizabeth Warren's healthcare plan
has been dissected from every angle.
It won't cost 20 trillion,
it could get closer to 30 trillion.
The IRS enforcement can't get that much money,
she's gonna ration your healthcare.
Everyone is dissecting the thing, which is good.
But what's funny, is that Trump ran for president,
and he got into office, and his healthcare plan
was a lot less specific.
- We have to come up, and we can come up with
many different plans, in fact plans
that you don't even know about will be devised.
I am going to take care of everybody.
You will have the best healthcare you've ever ever had.
We're gonna bring down the price of healthcare,
we're gonna bring it down big league, big big league.
- It's a complicated process, but actually it's very simple,
it's called good health care.
- Yep, you can't argue with those numbers.
- [Reporter] Buttigieg's campaign has also been
calling on Elizabeth Warren to release her tax returns
from before 2008 during her time as a corporate lawyer.
Last night she did, revealing that she made nearly
$2,000,000.00 from private legal work since 1986.
- $2,000,000.00?
I knew it!
Elizabeth Warren's out here acting all folksie,
but it turns out this whole time, she had a job?
(audience laughs)
'Cause that's what's funny about this story.
No, if you read it, the headlines
make it sound like Elizabeth Warren was
boiling out of control, but in reality,
she earned two million dollars over 30 years.
Yeah, which averages out to a modest $60,000.00 a year.
That is the complete opposite of boiling.
At $60,000.00 a year, you aren't
popping champaign in the club.
You're carefully removing the cork,
pouring it into a glass, and then saving the rest
for the time you come back to the club.
(audience laughs, claps)
The final debate of 2019, which was hosted
by PBS and Politico, and taped in front of a moving
background that looked like the boring parts of The Matrix.
But the main event was between Buttigieg and Elizabeth
Warren, and this came on the topic of campaign donations.
- I've said to anyone who wants to donate to me,
if you want to donate to me, that's fine.
But don't come around later
expecting to be named Ambassador.
The mayor just recently had a fundraiser
that was held in a wine cave full of crystals,
and served nine hundred dollar a bottle wine.
Um, think about who comes to that.
Billionaires in wine caves should not
pick the next president of the United States.
- [Arbitrator] Mr. Mayor.
- Yeah, you know what, Elizabeth Warren has a great point.
Buttigieg shouldn't be holding fundraisers in wine caves.
He's not even old enough to drink.
(audience laughs)
And also, what the hell is a wine cave?
Like, I don't want a president picked that way,
I want a president picked by someone in a tequila cave,
that sounds like a lot more fun.
A wine cave sounds like where Batman goes to relax.
It was a long day, Alfred.
Open up a bottle of Rosette.
As the democratic field gears up for the first
big votes in Iowa and New Hampshire,
everyone's focus has turned to Elizabeth Warren.
Massachusetts Senator and Aunt who writes I love you
under all your Facebook pictures.
Over the past few weeks, Warren has shot to the top
of the polls, thanks to her support among college graduates,
Hispanic voters, and kids who ate lunch
with their English teachers in middle school.
But there is one demographic who hears Elizabeth Warren,
and immediately shits their Armani suits.
- [Reporter] Newly minted democratic front runner,
Elizabeth Warren, she has got Wall Street on edge,
some would say in a full blown panic.
Headline after headline with ominous warnings
about dropping markets, investors running scared from
the prospect of Elizabeth Warren being our next president.
- [Reporter] Some democratic donors on Wall Street
are reportedly threatening to vote for President Trump,
or sit out of the 2020 election cycle
if the party nominates Elizabeth Warren.
- I think Wall Street, and especially the banks,
have every right to be extremely concerned
about a Warren presidency.
- Look, I've gotta tell you,
when you get off the desk and you talk to executives,
they're more fearful of her winning.
I mean, I've never heard anybody say,
look, she's gotta be stopped.
- Clearly, the 1% is terrified
at the idea of Elizabeth Warren.
She's the billionaire's boogeyman.
In fact, she now even has a starring role
in the new Wall Street horror movie.
- [Jordan] The year I turned 26, I made $49,000,000.00,
which really pissed me off because
it was three shy of a million a week.
(suspenseful music)
- It's time for a wealth tax.
(screams)
Start asking the people who have gained
the most from our country to pay their fair share.
Just two cents.
(screaming)
- I feel like bat shit, I'm going to hell.
(audience claps, cheers)
("Dog on Fire")