#Progressive Caucus co-chair: Joe Biden ‘is movable’ on issues

Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chair Pramila Jayapal says left-wing voters need to support Joe Biden because he “is movable” on issues.

Jayapal (D-Wash.) told Comedy Central host Trevor Noah on Monday night that the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is willing to change his positions in response to pressure.

“As soon as we get him in the White House, and even before with these task forces that we had, we were able to significantly push Joe Biden to do things that he hadn’t signed on to before. So he is movable, he is listening and he does understand that we need turnout from young people, from folks of color,” Jayapal said.

Jayapal’s remark is likely to play into President Trump’s frequent contention that Biden has become a “puppet of the Left.”

The Seattle congresswoman was answering a suggestion from Noah, who is South African, that Biden is someone who “people aren’t enthusiastically wanting to vote for.”

Jayapal said that in addition to being “movable,” it’s important to recall that Trump is the alternative.

“There is zero progress that is possible on anything that we care about with Donald Trump in the White House. He is a fascist xenophobe who is destroying our Constitution. And so we have to get him out,” Jayapal said.

Jayapal also said that she and fellow Democrats are laying plans in case Trump “tries to retain power” after an election defeat, vowing large protests and court challenges.

If Trump won’t leave voluntarily, she said, “it’s going to be about whether Republicans are going to stand up for this president, even as he takes the country into fascism and dictatorship.”

Trump says he will hand over the White House if he does lose. “Certainly, if I don’t win, I don’t win,” Trump told Fox News in June.