SAN FRANCISCO — In case you missed it, Tom Steyer was interviewed by Vox’s Zack Beauchamp on his plans to aggressively hold President Trump accountable.

Key excerpts are below and the full Q&A can be read here. 

…At a moment where the federal government is sabotaging American democracy from within, the question of how the leader of the union’s wealthiest and most populous state responds — and the ways they use their powers to challenge federal authority — has major implications for the country.

… Tom Steyer has emerged as a favorite… [and] is trying to solidify himself as the

most progressive candidate in the race; he’s won an endorsement from

Bernie Sanders’s Our Revolution group for his efforts and has promised to

take on the administration, including by investigating ICE agents and

even White House leaders for potential crimes.

On the state of American politics right now: 

“I think that we are under absolutely authoritarian threat. It is absolutely a crisis. There is a deliberate attempt by the Trump administration to take away Americans’ democratic rights, including free and fair elections.”

“If you believe in democracy, which I fervently do, then it is a crisis and it requires people to stand up and oppose it. And I’ve been very disappointed in the establishment of the United States — however you want to define that — in its unwillingness to take those principled stands.”

On talking about the democratic emergency:

“Clearly Americans see this as a crisis on both sides and there is a vilification on both sides…. The whole point of democracy is that we make decisions together and if you don’t like it, you get to go back and sort of lobby your fellow citizens to make a different decision and that’s the way we avoid political violence.”

On governing during the Trump administration: 

“We have policy platforms that are much more specific, much more detailed than anybody else who’s running for governor. But it’ s also about explaining the world to people so we have a shared sense of what we’re trying to do and who we are. That is called leadership, and it is going to be really necessary for the next governor of California. Not just to say that the Trump administration is doing bad things, [but to ask] what are you doing? What do we stand for?”

“I always say to people, ‘When we fight back, we should be looking at the people who’ve done it well,’ — and the people who I look to are the civil rights movement. It’s not just that [our opponents] are terrible; it’s that we’re good. That we stand for democracy and nonviolence and the rule of law and productive citizenship and success.”

On plans to hold ICE accountable: 

“I’m in favor of abolishing ICE. I consider it a criminal organization. That it is, there’s no point in reforming it. We need immigration services, but you can’t reform an organization like that. You should abolish it and put in a new one.”

“And I have a policy about ICE where we will prosecute people for racial profiling, because it’ s illegal. We will prosecute people for violence against Californians and the people who send them to do the violence, their supervisors, because it’s illegal. We will have a legal defense fund for people who have been kidnapped or who are under threat of deportation so that the system can be fair. We will insist on inspecting detention centers because they’re within our borders. We have a right to do that. No one can hide that. And lastly, we will have a PR campaign about ‘know your rights’ so that, in effect, everybody understands that the state of California is standing between the threat of ICE, the terror of ICE, and the people of California.”

On holding Trump and his administration accountable: 

“I think that if you set up an organization that racially profiles Americans and uses violence indiscriminately to control them and involves actually killing innocent people for no reason other than your desire to control them, that sounds like the definition of illegal to me…”

“But right now, there’ s somebody who is trying to break the rules, who is

trying to cheat, and we need to stand up for a good outcome…And we are trying to stand up against somebody who is trying to deliberately, intentionally powerfully attack democracy, who has in fact tried to steal an election overtly.”

On changing the system and taking on corporate interests: 

“Am I for complete change of the system? Yes. Am I absolutely in favor of getting corporate money out of it? Am I in favor of changing the whole system? I certainly am, but Zack, I’m dealing with the real world right now. I’m the only person running for governor who’s taking them on. I’m the only person they’re worried about. I’m the only person they’re spending a nickel against and they’re spending tens of millions of dollars to stop because they think they run the state.”

“And if we’re going to stand up and get to the place we need to get to and that working people are going to be represented, and we’re going to take away the privilege of these corporate special interests, someone has to do it — not just talk about it, do it.”

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