May 15, 2020 - Dennis Prager Show
08:06
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| Time | Text |
|---|---|
| Mr. Vice President, I just want you to know that you living in Washington and dealing with the media as much as you do, please know the vast reservoir of support for the president and you in this country. | |
| I think it's important that you hear that. | |
| Dennis, thank you so much. | |
| And you know how long I've been an admirer of yours, and it's great to hear your voice. | |
| That's very kind. | |
| We had a great dinner at your home, my wife and I, and please say hello to your wife and daughter for us. | |
| Okay, so I know we only have one segment together, and the topic that I raised for the Happiness Hour in light of the fact that I'd be speaking to you is, do religious people handle crises like this better? | |
| As a rule, everything, all generalizations having exceptions. | |
| Do you feel that way? | |
| Do you believe that the religious American is better equipped to deal with this? | |
| Well, I think from early on in this crisis, I've been deeply moved at the way every American has responded. | |
| I mean, since the advent of the coronavirus, the American people have made incredible sacrifices. | |
| Put the health of others first. | |
| We've saved lives. | |
| We've flattened the curve. | |
| Thirty days ago, the president unveiled our plan to open up America again. | |
| But all along the way, the faith and strength of the American people has been an inspiration. | |
| You know, churches, synagogues, other places of worship have not been able to meet during the time of strong mitigation efforts, but they've continued to To reach out to their communities. | |
| They continue to support people. | |
| And there's just not a day goes by that I don't get a stack of mail that almost every letter is punctuated by people that say, you know, my family is praying for the president, praying for you, praying for all of those impacted by the coronavirus. | |
| So I just have no doubt that's been true throughout our history that the faith of the American people is seeing us through this. | |
| And as we see states around the country. | |
| Reopening, 47 states have announced reopening plans, and we see the progress that is not reported enough in the media than is present company accepted. | |
| But the truth is that 34 states today, even as we're increasing testing, 34 states today have a less than 10 percent positive rate over the past week. | |
| We see cases going down. | |
| Most importantly, we see fatalities going down, and it's a tribute to the resilience, the strength, and the faith of the American people. | |
| All right, so I don't know if this puts you on the spot or not. | |
| It's certainly not my intent, but I would love to know, do you have a position— It wouldn't be your first time. | |
| I was—I won't even—I'm amazed you're still talking to me after the way I carried on in your house. | |
| On the issue of churches meeting, for example, do you think there is a religious liberty problem here in telling churches they cannot meet? | |
| Well, there has been, and it's one of the reasons why you saw, at the President's urging, you saw the Department of Justice make it very, very clear that we would step forward. | |
| Look, our liberties, including our religious liberties, are not suspended. | |
| During a national crisis. | |
| And, you know, we saw an instance where a church was literally fined and sanctioned for having, I think, 16 people in their pews socially distanced on a Palm Sunday, Dennis, when the church actually seated more than 250 people. | |
| The DOJ actually weighed in on that case. | |
| And you're millions of listeners who cherish your... | |
| Strong convictions and your voice for religious liberty can be confident that under this president, this administration, we're going to continue to stand as we have from day one for the religious liberty of every American, of every faith. | |
| Well, that's great to hear, because I watch these liberty issues suppressed. | |
| I have to tell you, it's a... | |
| You know I'm an upbeat man, but it sometimes gets me down. | |
| I know you praise the American people, but I don't have the issues that you have to do as vice president of the whole country. | |
| I am disappointed, frankly, that more people are not saying to governors like in my state, I'm sorry, you can't tell me I can't open up my hair salon. | |
| I mean, religion is the obvious one, but I don't know why there isn't an allowance for hair salons to open. | |
| Is this something the president and you deal with as well? | |
| Well, I think the thing that I'd encourage you with is that I think there are only three states left in the country that have not issued formal plans for reopening. | |
| And I think that's a reflection of the fact that governors that I deal with, both political parties, you know, literally every week, they're hearing from their constituents. | |
| They're hearing from The people of this country who have made the sacrifices, you know, when the president made the decision to ask the American people to take dramatic steps, social distancing, avoiding gatherings of more than 10, it was 15 days to slow the spread, and then it would become 45 days to slow the spread. | |
| But, you know, the American people, I think they know that the actions that they have taken have saved lives. | |
| There's no question. | |
| I mean, one of the greatest concerns that we had when the president tapped me to lead the White House Coronavirus Task Force in late February was that our health care system would be overwhelmed in a way that would cost American lives. | |
| But because of the decisive leadership of our president, frankly, because of the leadership of governors around states, and mostly because of the cooperation and care and concern that the American people demonstrated, We did flatten the curve. | |
| I mean, it's amazing to—it's a national accomplishment to say that no one in America who required a ventilator was ever denied a ventilator, that we were able to surge resources at the point of the need, the personal protective equipment. | |
| We created literally an international air bridge to provide resources from all across the country. | |
| And then the testing that has been scaled under the president's leadership. | |
| We just cleared 10 million tests, performed more than 300,000 a day as a result of American ingenuity and our commercial laboratories. | |
| It's really been extraordinary what our nation has accomplished in the midst of this crisis. | |
| We grieve. | |
| We grieve the loss of more than 80,000 Americans, and we have in our hearts those families and our prayers, those that are continuing to struggle as well. | |
| But we stand here today. | |
| I think Americans are letting their voice be heard. | |
| Do you encourage that? | |
| All across the country. | |
| Do you officially encourage that? | |
| Well, look, we were only 30 days into the 45 days to slow the spread when the president directed our team to develop guidelines to open up America again. | |
| We laid those out 30 days ago because we knew that states would need to have time to begin to prepare plans to reopen. |
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