Yahoo Finance’s Alexis Christoforous and Brian Sozzi preview tonight’s first Biden-Trump Presidential debate with former Massachusetts Governor, Deval Patrick.

Video Transcript

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: In less than 12 hours, President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden will be meeting face-to-face in their first debate, and it promises to be fiery, with Trump demanding Biden take a drug test and reportedly set to focus on the former vice president's family. Biden, for his part, is expected to hammer away at the president's handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the economic downturn.

With us now is a Biden supporter and former Democratic Governor from Massachusetts Deval Patrick.

DEVAL PATRICK: Good morning.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: He's also a Co-Chair of American Bridge 21st Century, which is a Democratic super PAC. Governor, good to have you on the show again. Thanks for being with you us.

DEVAL PATRICK: Good to be with you, Alexis. Thank you.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: I'm curious if you've actually spoken with Biden leading up to this debate. And what are you looking for during tonight's debate?

DEVAL PATRICK: I have not spoken directly with him. I've spoken with some of his-- of his team, and he's got more than enough advice, so he doesn't need-- he doesn't need me piling on. But I will say that debating President Trump has got to be a formidable undertaking because, you know, he has no agenda.

He has interest only in himself. And he has a very loose grasp of truth and fact. So the temptation to sort of fact check or correct the misrepresentations, exaggerations, or outright lies during the debate is one, I think, that Joe Biden is going to have to resist, and instead focus on the two or three points that he wants to get across to the American people, not so much about what's wrong with Trump, but what's right with the Biden-Harris agenda.

BRIAN SOZZI: Governor, how would you debate President Trump?

DEVAL PATRICK: As much as possible, I'd ignore him, because you know he's going to come in with his usual insults and-- and exaggerations or outside-- outright lies. I wouldn't-- I wouldn't be disrespectful. But I think it's more important to talk about how we want to grow the economy out to the middle and the marginalized in a sustained way and not just up to the well-connected.

It's about how connected to that agenda getting control of COVID-19 is and how that's done by bringing in and listening to experts, by being uniform in our approach and rigorous in trying to beat this virus. And we know we can do it. And I think it's also about addressing some-- some of our, you know, our unfinished business, the racial reconciliation that so many people in so many places have-- have raised following on the George Floyd videotape, but extending beyond-- beyond excessive use of police force.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: You know, Governor, we saw a record number of Black voters come out and support Barack Obama in 2012. That was not the case in 2016 for Hillary Clinton. Is Joe Biden doing enough to appeal to the Black voter, to excite them enough to come out not-- not necessarily to even vote Biden, but just to come out and vote at all, because voter apathy has been an issue amongst Black voters?

DEVAL PATRICK: You know, it's-- it's an issue actually, Alexis, all across the country, and it has been a chronic issue. And it's deeply concerning, because in a functioning democracy, we get the government we deserve. And if we want better government, then we all have to take-- we all have to take part.

And I will say that Joe Biden is about serving all of America, not just the folks who vote for him, not just the folks who call themselves Democrats. It's one of the reasons that I'm involved with American Bridge, which is making a point of focusing on so-called Obama-Trump voters in 80 counties in three states, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, rather than shaming people for their 2016 vote for Trump, really creating a, if you will, a permission structure where neighbors to neighbors engage each other about a better direction for America and American democracy and that being Joe Biden.

So I think we have to talk to everybody. I think it's very, very important to pay attention to our base, which includes African Americans and other people of color, but it also means talking to people who don't already agree with us. Because frankly, we have to model the politics that says you don't have to agree on everything before we work together on anything.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: You know, we've had these protests pop up in all parts of the country, the Black Lives Matter protests. We've seen many of them turn violent. President Trump has painted himself as the law and order president. You think that's going to resonate, especially with small businesses, Governor, who frankly have seen their livelihoods shattered because of some of the violence surrounding these protests?

DEVAL PATRICK: Well, I think, you know, that the-- the fragility of small businesses, in particular on account of the mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic, is particularly acute. Violence is never right. I think it is not correct, due respect, Alexis, to say that many of the protests have turned violent. There was an analysis out by "Huffington Post" just the other day of incident reports all over the country, and it showed that 93% of protests and protesters have been peaceful, and that's important.

It's important that we separate the hooliganism or the, you know, sort of provocateurs from outside the protests who cause inexcusable damage and harm from the fundamental question of excessive police force and the variety of ways in which our systems have functioned to exclude people or to marginalize them. And that is a surmountable challenge, as big as it is, because it's a challenge, a problem that we have, all of us, created and, you know, let go for such a long, long time.

BRIAN SOZZI: Governor, you have had an extensive career with Bain, with Coca-Cola, with a lot of private-- or a lot of public companies that we know full and well here at Yahoo Finance. How is raising taxes, as Joe Biden has proposed, how is that good for American business?

DEVAL PATRICK: Well, first of all, I think if you look historically, we've had greater economic expansion and more sustained economic expansion under Democrats and higher tax rates than we have today and-- than we have historically under-- under Republicans. This notion, you know, the question about growth has to do with whether we want, you know, a sugar high or sustained expansion.

And sustained expansion means you have to invest in the things that enable people to have the economic mobility for which this country is-- is rightly famous, and frankly, which has made a difference in my own life, so education, from pre-K right up through public higher ed, innovation, the kinds of high-margin industries that-- where a knowledge-based workforce has an edge, and then infrastructure, the kinds of things the public invests in that enables private investment and public-- and-- and personal ambition. Excuse me.

So that doesn't mean any tax is good at any time. I'm one of the few Democrats who would probably tell you that the reduction in the business tax rate was directionally correct. I think the work is incomplete because we reduced the rates, but we kept all of the loopholes. So closing those loopholes is a big step-- a big step forward, just as one example on how we make the tax code simpler and more purposeful in trying to build a growing economy that works for everybody.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Governor, do you think we're maybe a little too fixated on the White House race, because I know your TogetherFund is helping to fund candidates in both Senate and House races? We have those races at play, too, in a few weeks.

DEVAL PATRICK: We do. And thank you for that, Alexis. I really think it's important that we focus on-- on flipping the Senate. And I say that not-- I say that as a Democrat who doesn't think-- who thinks you don't have to hate Republicans to be a good Democrat. I just think we've had a kind of a lockstep behavior by-- by Republicans in the Senate so that good ideas, or ideas they thought were good when they derived from Republicans, suddenly become bad when they derive from-- from Democrats.

We've got to get back to working together and serving the American people because there's so many unmet needs. And so at TogetherFund, we are supporting Democrats who are running in places where Democrats have not always been competitive, again, to this point about the importance of talking to everyone, candidates who are running for the Senate and the House, and there's some terrific ones who'd make anybody proud.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: If Biden were to take the White House, Governor, would you be interested in joining the administration? Might we see you as attorney general, perhaps?

DEVAL PATRICK: Oh, I see our time is up. Thank you so much for having me. So first things-- first things first. I mean, everyone keeps saying don't say no. I want to be helpful. But the first thing is to enable an election victory to-- to rally the American people behind the work we have to do together to rebuild our nation and to understand that what's at stake in this election is more than the character of the candidates. It's the character of the country, and that ought to matter to everybody.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: All right, Deval Patrick, former Governor of Massachusetts. Thanks so much for being with us.

DEVAL PATRICK: Thank you for having me.