No one was leveling with the American People about where we are and what confronts us as a country. People were talking a lot about the different policies and different policy differences between health care policy, medicare for all versus a public option. It is different versions of the Green New Deal, different educational policies, policies about gun violence. What people were not saying to the American People, which to me is the overwhelming truth, is we have a broken government in washington, d. C. Until we take back that government from the corporations who have bought it, we are not going to get any of those policies. Step one has got to be to restore government of, by, and for the people, because until we do, we are not going to pass any of the things people are talking about, all of which are important to the American People. Secondly, i know after 10 years of working on it that we are in a climate crisis. So i appreciate the Green New Deal for being a broad reaction to an important, critical crisis, but we have to face the fact that this is an emergency. People are talking about proposals and plans that might get past some time in the years to come. No one was saying it is priority one, i will get on it on day one, i will make it happen. I felt like somebody has to start leveling with the American People. I thought if no one else is going to do it, i am going to get into this race. Lets talk about both these issues, first, government. Based on your comments that government is broken, what does President Trump represent on that issue . Mr. Steyer it is funny, steve, because donald trump ran on the idea of drain the swamp. 80 of americans, the overwhelming bulk of republicans, democrats, and , understand that corporations have bought the government. The problem with mr. Trump is that when you see what he has done across the board, he is the biggest swamp rat there is. His tax plan was the biggest giveaway in American History to corporations and the richest americans. War isdemark trade hurting american workers, american businesses, and killing american farmers. He ran claiming he was going to do one thing and has done the exact opposite, but that does not mean that the government was not broken in the first place or that he has done anything good about it. It is broken, but it is time for the American People to take back the power to themselves. Steve you have made a lot of money in the private sector. When you talk to your friends, your peers, your colleagues, especially in the hedge fund market, what do they tell you about this president and the tax cuts you are critical of . Mr. Steyer for the last seven years, fulltime, i have been traveling around the country as a grassroots activist and for 10 years, i have been putting together coalitions of ordinary american citizens to take on unchecked corporate power. When you assume i am hobnobbing with a bunch of rich people, it isnt true. It is true that when i proposed a year ago, i think i was the first person to propose an asset based tax, i got emails from people i knew saying basically, this is the worst idea, what are you thinking . Those texts and emails convinced me i was on the right track, because if that upset people, i knew i was touching a nerve and standing up for what was right. Steve lets talk about the tom steyer story. Born in San Francisco. Mr. Steyer lenox bill hospital in new york city. Steve how did you end up in San Francisco . Mr. Steyer i went to school on the east coast up until grad school, and my brother had gone to college in california. He is a year older than i am and we grew up in a bunk bed together for 21 years. He said when i was applying to grad school, you are coming to california, i think you are going to love it. If you dont, go home, i dont care. I listened and i went to california. Steve your first job, Morgan Stanley in the late 1970s. What did you do and what did you learn . Mr. Steyer i was a financial analyst, so what it meant was i was tearing apart the Financial Statements of public corporations and examining them. I was learning what drives success in the private sector, trying to understand how corporate from extrapolation, how countries win. That is what i did for two years. It was a great way to get into the nittygritty of how an economy succeeds, the kind of question we are going to be faced with starting next year, but certainly in 2021 and beyond. We are watching a weakening economy that mr. Trump has been damaging. The question is going to be, who is going to be able to think this through intelligently, so america can be prosperous, but also share the prosperity . Steve one of your jobs was to take risks. What is a good financial risk and a bad one . As you look at investments, companies, ways to make money, what do you look for . Mr. Steyer what i look for is growth. I have always believed that the way to think about making money, creating value, longterm prosperity, you want to be in a situation which gets better every year. I have never been one of those people who has ever thought you can shrink your way to profitability. The way to do well is take a longterm view and make sure you have something really good and gets better every year. That is the reason Warren Buffett has done so well. That is the way to think about it is not a series of shortterm, quick fixes the way mr. Trump seems to think. You take a view of what creates value, what creates capability, what makes americans successful and prosperous, and you build it over time, and it compounds. Thats how you make a good investment, thats how you build a good company, and thats the way you create a dynamic economy , you invest in things for the longterm that create capability and are fair. Thats how you run an economy. Steve let me take this one step further. As you look at brick and mortar companies, sears, jcpenney, kmart, forever 21, and you see what amazon has been able to do, give us a sense of where we are in our economy. How transformational is this period right now, based on your expertise . Mr. Steyer its funny. I have always felt as if every company and you are talking about the Retail Sector the traditional, bigbox retailers like sears and kmart, and you are talking about an online retailer like amazon coming out of nowhere, originally just selling books. My thesis has always been that whatever industry it is, the company thats going to succeed in the long run, the company that is over time going to gain market share and be profitable, is the one that has more Information Technology. Basically Information Technology is like corporate smarts. So you are able to get information faster, react to it faster, and make better decisions. When you look at a mallbased retailer competing with amazon, amazon had better Information Technology. They could disrupt based on their ability to process and use information. If you think we are just talking about retail, if you think about walmart, walmart for decades had better Information Technology than their competitors. They were getting realtime information about what was selling on their shelves so they could replace it realtime, as opposed to much less dynamic, less realtime information from competitors. And they chewed them up. Steve is there a way you can apply that to the government . Mr. Steyer i think absolutely. We arethink about how dealing with problems, the idea that we are not using Information Technology to its limit, we are the company that has pioneered on this. This is the country that invented the internet, the country that led on silicon chips forever. If you look at the global i. T. Companies, they are overwhelmingly here. If you think about the United States government, it is way behind in terms of i. T. We all know that. Lets talk about cybersecurity. Here is something realtime where we know our election in 2016 was hacked. We have a president who is refusing to use the money allocated to protect our electoral system. That is just a symbol of where we are as a country. We have to understand, in the 21st century, dominating and i. T. At every level is critical. Steve you talk about 2016. What other mistakes did Hillary Clinton in her campaign make . How would you apply that to your campaign, or whoever is the democratic nominee in 2020 . Mr. Steyer for the last 10 years, i have been putting together a coalition of ordinary american citizens to take on unchecked power. I started one of the biggest grassroots organizations, next in america. America next general got young people to vote in american institute. If you ask me how i think about works, i, what i think believe what i just said to you about Information Technology being important. The second thing we have gotten away from his grassroots. Im a believer in direct contact with voters. General itnext means other people were not trying to do that. There was a huge hole in terms of american democracy. Young people were voting at less than half the rate of other americans. Less than one in five voted in 2014. That is not a representative democracy. When i look at the election in 2020, the question to me is not, to do you get that swing 2 go democratic . How about the 50 of americans who dont vote . Who believe the system is broken . And talk to them about how we can take back the democracy and what that will mean for them and their families and their communities. Thats what i believe in. I believe in turnout, reinvigorating democracy, putting the power back to the people of the United States. That is what i think will win in 2020. Steve how do you do that . How do you get that 50 of the electorate . What do you do to encourage them . Mr. Steyer its a series of things. I will tell you this. We have asked hundreds of thousands of young people why they dont vote. They always say the same thing. They say, no one tells the truth. No one deals with my issues. Theres no difference between the parties. Why would i participate in a failing system . Opening for us to have a conversation about how their participation can change all that. How do you get people to vote . Part of it is by telling the truth. Im running because i didnt think anyone was leveling with the American People about what is really going on in our country. Part of this is, tell the truth. Need to Impeach Movement two years ago because i felt there was no important truth that people were willing to say. You are going to invigorate republican voters. I said, how about telling the truth and see if it invigorates democratic voters . That is what happened. You tell the truth. With sevensomething National Labor unions, starting in 2015. We knocked on 15 million to have a direct facetoface conversation with voters who dont frequently vote. In 2018, we knocked on 10 million doors. A lot about a lot of this is about direct personal contact. Register, engage, participate. Its also engaging people in social media. Wherever you can have a contact. How do you make sure they are registered . Engage with them on the issues that they care about and try to make it easy for them to show up at the polls. That is grassroots organizing. Steve lets talk about impeachment. It appears the house is headed down that path. What do you think will happen . One republican leader said he would stop it in the senate. Mr. Steyer listen. Years,en saying for two what i want is televised hearings that the American People can get the facts. The court that i care about is the court of public opinion. The decision that i believe will win the day is the decision of the American People. If this president is impeached and tried in the senate, i think every republican senator is going to have to ask themselves the question, what do my constituents want from me on this critical issue . What we have seen when we show the evidence our research over two years, when we show americans the truth about this ,orrupt president , they all say i didnt know that. Hes a liar and a cheat. If i did that, i would be in jail. My attitude on this is simple. Let the American People see the evidence, let us judge for ourselves. We are the people who actually want this. Say, look, let us see the truth. Idea you to support a criminal when hes hurting the American People. Steve when you hear his when you hear them support and defend where this president is, your reaction is what . Haveteyer can we please televised hearings the American People can see . Can we allow the American People to get the direct evidence and let us judge for ourselves . Ive been saying, im a grassroots prison. I believe in the wisdom of the American People combined. I believe in their courage and compassion. I say, leave it up to us. I dont care what the people on fox news say. I dont care what Mitch Mcconnell says. Let the americans see for ourselves and let us make the decision. Lets see if you can stand up to that decision. Thats what im rooting for. Steve you were not on the debate stage in september. You will be on the stage in midoctober and columbus, ohio. What can viewers expect from tom steyer on that stage . Is steyer my goal in this to present a positive vision for the future for americans. I believe it has been missing. I believe we are still working off the failed reagan vision of the United States. I believe we need a vision for the 21st century of what the rights are of american citizens. I believe they have been being trampled on. I believe its time for us to reexamine what it means to be an american, what american itself means. Thats what im interested in. I think thats what the American People are interested in. I should point out, ive qualified for the november debate. I get a chance in october in november to put forward the positive vision. Steve what was your first entry into politics . I read you were involved with the Walter Mondale campaign in 1984. A summerr i did work for the mondale campaign. Me, i also tried to support john kerry in his attempt to get elected president in 2004. The first time as a principle that i was involved politically was in 2010 when i cochaired a proposition in california to beat to Oil Companies who were trying to roll back our Progressive Energy line. That was the first time i felt i was making a lead political stance in contrast to people, the end unchecked power of been talking about. I got the chance because no one thought we could beat the Oil Companies. They were too rich, to wellconnected. Four years before, there had been another time when Oil Companies had taken on what they called environmentalists. They had won handsdown. In 2010, we won. We got 70 of the vote. The Oil Companies left. Steve i mentioned your past campaigns. You transformed from being behind the scenes, working for candidates, and now your name is on the ballot. What has it been like for you . Is,steyer the funny thing ive been doing this work fulltime for seven years. Itof all, organizing means i go to the campuses. I register kids. I talked to them. On election day to make sure that they get to the polls. Halls anddoing town meetings with activists for seven years fulltime. We did over 50 town halls on the need to impeach campaign, all over the United States. What im doing now, running for president , is a more intense version of what ive been doing for the last seven years. The only differences, i have to talk about myself instead of talking about a specific policy or kids about whats on their mind. My job is still at least 50 to listen. When im talking, im talking more about myself. Steve you are a father of four. Whats your kids think about what you are doing right now what do your kids think about what you are doing right now . Mr. Steyer my kids all believe that what im doing is necessary. I dont want to put you guys in a terrible spot. If i do this, is this going to hurt you . They said, you have to do this. My daughter called me. It was 17 days ago. She said, it was the day of the Global Climate strike. My daughter is 27 years old. She said, im worried this is an going to work. Im worried we are going to lose and we know we will not be able to lose this, crisis. I said, we will win it. We will take these people down. We are air out there to do it. Thats my attitude. Steve one of the criticisms of the election of donald trump was that we elected a president who had no military experience and no government experiments experience. You would be in that same category. Why should voters consider you what experience do you bring to the white house . Mr. Steyer ive been doing this fulltime for seven years. Coalitionsoing these and beating corporations for 10 years. If you look over the last 10 years in american politics about who has been taking on the corporations and winning, take a look. Ive taken on the Oil Companies and beat them. Ive taken on the Tobacco Companies and beat them. Ive taken on the Drug Companies, the monopoly utilities. Ive put together one of the biggest grassroots organizations in the United States. Its not like ive decided i would stop business. I stopped business long ago. Ive been doing this work. If you really think that if my thesis is true, we have a broken government, its not effective at any level. The question you ask is, who will take back the power for the people . Is it someone who has been doing that as an outsider for 10 years successfully . Will it be somebody from inside the beltway who will reformat as an insider as part of the establishment . Thats a question for the American People. Steve lets turn to Climate Change. How did we reach this point . How serious is it, from your standpoint . Pointeyer we reach this because the fossil fuel companies on the government. The way that the Drug Companies on the government. This is the biggest industry in history of the world. We reached this point because they would rather make tens of billions of dollars and risk the health and safety of every american then not make tens of billions of dollars. That is why we are here. How much of a threat is it . Look. If you listen to the u. N. , they would say that we have until 2030 to get on top of this crisis. The u. N. Project since projections have never been right. Theyve always been too conservative. All the things i have worried about have happened sooner and worse. When i look at this crisis, i know two things for sure. Its an emergency. We need to deal with it right now. I would declare a state of emergency on the first day of my presidency for climate. We can deal with it successfully. Ive not just been studying the problem. Ive been studying solutions to this problem for over 10 years. I know that we can solve this problem and the richer be richer, create millions of jobs that would be good paying union jobs, clean up our air and water at the same time, and lead the world. I know that we can do that. If we dont try, if we dont start, we will ourselves in a whole hole. State of emergency on day one. Emergency powers of the presidency could deal with the crisis that threatens the health and safety of every american. Steve it comes at a huge price tag. How do you convince congress and the American People that its worth the investment into the billions . Mr. Steyer let me say this. If you look at my plan, a lot of this has to do with simple regulation. St is putting in roles rule over what american businesses allowed to do. That is something that is absolutely the job of the government of the United States. To make the laws and regulations that business works within. The problem we are having is the businesses are writing the laws that are supposed to control and contain them. Ok, we need to generate electricity in a different way. In a clean way. By the way, the cheapest forms of Electricity Generation at this point in the United States are wind and solar. Cheaper than any fossil fuel. We need to have buildings efficiency rules. Ok . Those are rules we have been working on for 50 years. We know that they actually produce savings earned a good investment and are a good investment. We have to do our transportation and differently. Weve been working on it for years. This is not a question of, we dont have the technology. We have to do it differently. In fact, people keep saying its a question of jobs or the environment. Thats not true. Ago. A study five years like bloomberg made sure that was a democrat, a republic, and an independent to say, we know that dealing with this crisis, we will grow faster. Its not that we will solve all the problems that Climate Change is going to cause. Thats true, too. Just moving to clean energy will make us grow faster as well and create millions of jobs. There is in a tradeoff here. Isnt it tradeoff. It will make america better in every way unless you are a big stockholder of exxon mobil. Then, maybe it will be that good. Wont be that good. Steve was there an individual who really shaped who you are today . If so, who . Mr. Steyer i had the incredible , not just of being born in the United States, but also of having two parents that were amazing people and amazing to me. Im the youngest of three boys. The first generation in his family to go to college. He was a lawyer who left the law to become a naval officer in world war ii. He prosecuted the nazis outnumbered. He had an absolute sense of doing the right thing. Theres a Straight Line between his prosecuting the nazis and push me pushing to impeach. It every day. Pose thats what i was trying to do in getting that petition. Minnesota, was from came out of college, worked in tv news, and she taught in the new York Public Schools and in the brooklyn house of detention. She was one of the most inspirational, honest, tough people ive ever met. Extremely loving and warm and extremely tough about doing the right thing and standing up for people who are in trouble. Thats why she was teaching in the brooklyn house. That is why she was teaching the new York Public Schools. She had a really big part and heart and was tough as nails. My parents are huge inspirations to me. Y are the depression era they really believed that you give as much to america as you get from america. They were determined to do it. Their lives are a testimony to that. Ive always felt that i got an undeserved piece of good fortune to have parents who took such good care of me and were such a great example of what it means to be a good person in american and american. Steve are you more like your mother, your father, or a combination of the two . Mr. Steyer [laughter] loved to talk. Suchme ways, they were contrasting people. My mom was the person, a very petite woman, she wasnt tall. She started clinging she was 54. She was someone who would take on the biggest person if she thought she was doings they were doing something unfair or greedy. My mother would have hated donald trump. He stands for every single thing that my mother believed was wrong. Me,would have been, believe absolutely wild about that. Putting yourself ahead of the American People. That wouldve made her absolutely upset. No question in my mind. Steve would they be surprised by your bid for the white house . Mr. Steyer i think they would think that i was doing this for the reason im doing it. Because i was worried that nobody would level with the American People. No one else was doing this. Its a piece of fighting these Oil Companies when everybody else thought they were unbeatable. Im doing this because i think there is something really wrong here. Its not about me correcting it. My whole goal is for the American People to take back the power for themselves, for ourselves. Thats whos going to make this happen. Not tom steyer. The American People, broadly. Insisting on our rights. We are going to get health care as a right for every american. We will get the kind of Education System markets deserve. We will get a living wage. The American People are going to understand, this is the challenge and we will not let these corporations beat us anymore. It has been too long and its not right. Steve a quick follow up on your dad. Did you talk to him about that experience in numbered nuremberg . Mr. Steyer its funny. Nazi cameot see out of prison in 1970. I was a young teenager. I was 13 years old. I said, did you interview him . He said, i interviewed all the top nazis. Dont know if you are member who he was. He ran the not too war machine. Nazi war machine. He had 12 million slaves working for him. He got pretty good press when he got out in 1970. People described him as more sophisticated, not a thug. Theid, is hes a good good nazi . He said, theres no such thing. It is humanity at its most base. It took over an entire country and comment. When you see stuff like that, dont fall for the good nazi. Oppose people like that as hard as you can. Steve let me turn to the past path of the nomination. Impracticality, how does tom steyer breakthrough . Have you get to the democratic nomination how do you get to the democratic nomination . Mr. Steyer ive been in the month race for three months. My goal is to have a message. I think thats why im qualified for november. Although not everybody has heard my message, the people who do realize that what im saying is fundamental and fundamentally true. My goal is to tell the truth. People need to know im the most aggressive person on climate. Person who is the most economic experienced. After 30 years in the private sector, understanding what makes economies work around the world. If we are going into a weakening economy, i am somebody who understands how to play that, what to do, how to make sure we dont lose our prosperity. But also to make sure we share it much more broadly. Trumpd love to expose mr. As the fraud and failure he was as a businessman and as a fraud and failure as the steward of the american economy. He doesnt have a clue what hes doing. What hes doing is hurting america in multiple important ways. Asis incompetent in his job steward of our economy. We are seeing those results happen real time right now. Steve if you move up in the polls, you are ready getting criticism that you are prepared for what is ahead for you. I think what im doing is trying to tell a straightforward message to democratic primary voters and see if they respond. Ive spent 10 years basically trying to appeal this onion. Why is our government so broken . I spent 10 years trying to figure it out. I believe im telling the truth. I will tell the truth regardless of what people say. Steve a president always has to make decision. What is the decisionmaking process . How would you go about it . Mr. Steyer ive obviously built organizations, ive started numerous organizations. A president ial administration is a new organization, putting together all these people into thousands of slots. The way i believe you make the best decisions is to listen to everybody, to wait the evidence, and to make a decision. As evidence changes come you have to adapt. Listen to everybody but ultimately when you make a decision, people have to start stop harping. Thats what we are going to do, weve heard all the evidence, now we are going to figure out how to implement that decision and we will go with that. Thats high you run organizations efficiently. Openly, consistently, but decisively. Steve if there is a second trump term, what would that mean for the country . Mr. Steyer [laughter] that would be, i would have to he is someone who is deeply corrupt. Workse who actively against the interests of the vast majority of americans. You see someone who is incompetent in his job, not just in terms of decisionmaking power but actually putting together an organization and administration that functions. On every level, this man is a failure. To see that continue for another four years would be disastrous. When you include the climate problem where theres an absolute need to move expeditiously, quickly, decisively, this takes it to a new level in terms of danger for the people of the United States. Steve the debates coming up october in november. How are you preparing for the debates . Mr. Steyer just trying to make sure that i go over all the different policy areas. You have very little time. Thats the job in terms of debate preparation. Steve i read that you drove or may still be driving an outdated hybrid honda civic. Is that true . Mr. Steyer i drove that for 17 years. For the past two or three, ive been driving a chevy volt. I bought the honda years ago because i thought it was the best from the environmental standpoint. I have another inexpensive car that ive been driving around california with great pleasure. Steve what has surprised you the most about the process yucca for you personally. This is mr. Steyer the most reassuring and valuable experience ive ever had. It was true for the seven years before it and its true in spades now. People are wise, compassionate, and brave. Going around and talking to them toenormously reassuring, understand how strongly they are and how ready they are for change. It is really the best thing of ever had a chance to do. People always describe it and say, is this terrible for you . I say, no, the exact opposite. This is the best experience i can imagine. Thats the truth. Every day when i get a chance to meet people oneonone, to listen to them, and understand where they are coming from, thats the most valuable thing i can imagine doing. Its the most stimulating thing i can imagine doing. The best. Steve tom steyer, joining us from new york. Thank you for joining us here on cspan. Mr. Steyer thank campaign 20. Make up your own mind. Cspans campaign 2020, your unproved review of politics