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Speculation Runs Rampant Over Trump Running Mate; President Delivers Howard University Graduation Speech; Will GOP Unify Behind Trump?; Using Trump's Twitter Against Him; Fort McMurray Fire Now the Size of Hong Kong; Obama to Deliver Commencement at Howard University. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired May 07, 2016 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[11:00:00] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE We will be watching and waiting. We see the president sitting there right in the middle and about to deliver those remarks in the next few minutes or so. Joe Johns, thanks for joining us. And thank you for being here with us on CNN NEWSROOM today.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Keep it with us. Much more ahead of the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM., we turn it over to our colleague, Fredricka Whitfield.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Right. Thanks you so much. Of course, it's always a big day. Any commencement on any campus in America.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

WHITFIELD: It's a very big deal. And if anyone, you know, lives -- grew up in Washington D.C. area, they know the carpet really does roll out at Howard University and we know the pomp and circumstance, you know, has been heightened to another level because the President is there, but always a big day but we all look forward to what is now a very historic event for the first African-American president to be on that campus today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we will have it live.

WHITFIELD: We will. We'll be carrying it live. All right, thanks so much, (inaudible). Good to see you. Appreciate it. All right, it is the 11:00 Eastern hour. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. NEWSROOM starts right now.

Donald Trump is the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party but there's not sign of the party uniting behind him. Trump is now taking a victory lap and taking shots at anyone who dares to criticize him. At campaign stops in Nebraska, as well as in Oregon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I won't talk about Jeb Bush. I will not say -- I will not say he's low energy. I will not say it. I will not say it! And I won't talk about Lindsey Graham who had like one point -- you ever see this guy on television? He is nasty. He gets out dealt at all levels of the campaign. He lives a disgrace. He can't represent the people of South Carolina well.

This guy, Lindsey Graham, he knows less about the military than my 10- year-old son Barron. Barron plays military soldiers. He knows more about the military. He said, "I've been fighting ISIS for many years. How dare Donald Trump tell me what to do?" If you have him, you'll be fighting ISIS for many more years, believe me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, Trump continuing to hurl insults Graham just one of the high profile GOP leaders who will not support Trump including two former Republican presidents and the last GOP nominee Mitt Romney. In Trump's corner, Dick Cheney, Bob Dole, and seemingly reluctant John McCain and somewhere in the middle still making up his mind is the highest ranking member of the party, House Speaker Paul Ryan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I'm not there right now. And I hope to, though, and I want to but I think what is required is that we unify this party. And I think the bulk of the burden on unifying the party will have to come from our presumptive nominee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, joining us right now, live from Washington CNN Politics reporter Eric Bradner. So Eric, there's a lot of anticipation on the meeting coming up on Thursday between Ryan and Trump. What should the expectations be?

ERIC BRADNER: CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Well, it depends on which Republicans you talk to. Some are hoping that this meeting will lead to a sort of calming of tensions between Paul Ryan and Donald Trump and will lead to a sense of unity or at least these two not going after each other publicly, but other Republicans are still on the anti-Trump bandwagon and are eager to see high ranking party officials like Paul Ryan continue to stand up to Trump.

So, there are a couple of reasons we shouldn't really expect an endorsement from Paul Ryan to come out of this. One is practical. He is protecting members of his own party, people who are facing tougher election battles and who see Donald Trump's high unfavorability ratings especially with women, as potentially dangerous in November.

So, until Donald Trump starts to close that polling gap and improve those numbers, they don't want to get too close to him. The other is Paul Ryan has really talked a lot about Donald Trump's tone and is troubled by his tone. And Trump sent no really signals this week that he was going to change it even after that review from Paul Ryan.

WHITFIELD: And, you know, what a contrast because we're talking about endorsements would trickle for a candidate when they were in the running, when it was 17 and when it was down to 10 and then, you know, there were 4, et cetera. And now we're talking about opening the floodgates of the antithesis of an endorsement. The non-endorsement, you've got, you know, the Bush family saying there's no way there's going to be an endorsement.

You know, flip side of that you've got Bobby Jindal, who, you know, called him disrespectful and, you know, said he was, you know, not a good candidate is now throwing his support behind a Donald Trump. So, help us understand the value of the endorsement or

lack thereof at this stage of the game.

[11:04:58] BRADNER: Right. So, the big question is if these people don't support Donald Trump, where do they go, right? It's not likely that a bunch of committed Republican voters are about to go out and support Hillary Clinton. So the talk is, is there a third party candidate? That's something that a lot of conservatives, people like the blogger Erick Erickson, Bill Crystal, and others have been sort of hoping they could do to recruit another candidate into this race. That would change things.

But other than that, it's a question of what do people like Mitt Romney, the Bush family do to fight against Trump? Do they put any money against him? Do they campaign against him publicly while he's at the convention? What happens? This is a really strange situation. It's almost hard to imagine. In fact 2008 ...

WHITFIELD: It is. No one could have called this.

BRADNER: Yeah. Right, right, right, exactly.

WHITFIELD: And so, Erick, you've got, you know, Donald Trump who's revealing a bit more about his strategy against Hillary Clinton. At the same time, you know, he's also going after Bill Clinton. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: What they're doing is $90 million of ads on Donald Trump and it has to do a lot with the women's issue, right? And I'm saying to myself, but nobody in this country and maybe in the history of the country politically was worse than Bill Clinton with women. He was a disaster. He was a disaster. I mean, there's never been anybody like this. And she was a total enabler. She would go after these women and destroy their lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So for a moment we thought it would be crooked Hillary that would be kind of the centerpiece of his campaign against Hillary Clinton but now, you know, it's going for her husband and saying there is no separation between these two as it pertains to his infidelity. So I'll just go over with voters.

BRADNER: Right. So Donald Trump according to a CNN/ORC poll out earlier this week was viewed unfavorably by 64 percent of American women. This sort of attack, attacking Hillary Clinton for her husband's infidelity, is not likely to improve that number. That's just the reality. But Trump also has this knack for finding the most personal spots to attack every opponent that he runs into, and in the Republican primary ...

WHITFIELD: But it seems to serve him well, doesn't it?

BRADNER: It has. It has so far. Now, what we have to understand is the Republican primary and the voters there versus the general electorate and the voters there, two totally different questions. So, we haven't really seen yet whether this Teflon Trump sort of thing will last in the general election.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, there's more. Let's bring in our senior media correspondent Brian Stelter also host of Reliable Sources right here on CNN, to talk about Trump and this war of words. And now we're talking about it's not just the, you know, unidirectional war of words that Donald Trump would command, you know, the Twitter sphere but now he got into it with Elizabeth Warren here. Just take a listen how it all got started.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I just learned that crooked Hillary along with her friend, you know, she's got this goofy friend named Elizabeth Warren. She's on a Twitter rant. She's a goofus. She is a goofus. So you ever see her? I mean, this woman, she's a basket case. By the way, she's done nothing in the United States Senate. She's done nothing. I'd love to run against her if I came from Massachusetts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: OK. So, that rant, if you want to call it that, a Twitter rant between he and, you know, Senator Warren, in one of her tweets she says Trump is a bully, who has a single play in his play book, offensive lies thrown at anyone who calls him out, then Trump fired back with a twit saying, "Goofy Elizabeth Warren is weak and ineffective, does nothing, all talk, no action." Maybe her Native American name. Warren responding -- I mean getting into it, saying "Goofy, for a guy with the best words? That's a pretty lame nickname, weak." So Brian, this is a whole another level and many people would be very surprised that Elizabeth Warren would be engaged.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Maybe what we're seeing for the first time is a prominent national Democrat trying to use Trump's Twitter tactics against him. Because for a while, we have seen Hillary Clinton on the campaign talking about Trump, criticizing Trump the line from the Democratic national committee this week was dangerous Donald. But we haven't really seen any politician try to use Twitter in exactly the same way Elizabeth Warren is right now.

[11:10:06] You might suggest she's a shield or she's a distraction because whenever Trump is talking about Elizabeth Warren, he is not talking about Hillary Clinton. There might be some of that going on, but I was really struck by the way Warren was replying very quickly to Trump's insult and then insulting him right back. It was sort of a new strategy, perhaps, that we're seeing from her. And, of course, because Elizabeth Warren is so beloved by Democrats, she's a very effective campaigner on behalf of Hillary Clinton.

At one point last night she said, "Trump lied his way through primaries without being held accountable, that's over now." So, you can see that she is setting herself up to kind of play this role for the months to come

WHITFIELD: So Erick, how risky is this for an Elizabeth Warren for Hillary Clinton camp to try to engage in the game of Donald Trump via Twitter? We saw Marco Rubio tried it on for a moment, right, by using the similar kind of insulting language, you know, trying to degrade, you know, Donald Trump. But that backfired for Marco Rubio, so why would another candidate or even a surrogate want to try this?

BRADNER: Right. So you have to understand you are going at someone who is the master of these tactics. For Elizabeth Warren it's certainly less risky for a couple areas. And Brian got to the big one. She's beloved by Liberals. This is an audience that is going to be crazy about her attacks on Donald Trump. It's an audience that already dislikes him and it is eager to see someone give it back to him in the same sort of tone.

In terms of what this means for her future, I mean, she's someone who is buzzed about on sort of the long end of the short list of vice presidential possibilities, that kind of thing. It's useful to see her in this sort of attacking role. And it sort of previews what Democrats might have to deploy against Donald Trump in the general election in terms of Hillary Clinton's surrogates and allies.

WHITFIELD: So Brian ...

STELTER: And there's so much anxiety -- yeah, there's so much anxiety right now amongst some Democrats, amongst some Liberals about how the Democrats are going to respond to Trump about what tactics are going to be used. So the fact that we're seeing more come out so strongly -- and by the way, this started on Tuesday night, right after we saw Ted Cruz jump out of the race, Warren lashed out at Trump, using Trump tactics. This might be a preview that she at least has a strategy.

I'm curious to see how much she's working with or not the Hillary Clinton campaign on this. But let's keep in mind what President Obama said yesterday. I think

echoing what a lot of reporters and long-time political analysts would say, this is not entertainment, it's not a reality show, this might turn off some people and might turn off some voters at the same time it does make for highly entertaining back and forth between the candidates.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, it's a serious job. That's what the president was trying to underscore in that message. And again, you know, today he's at Howard University to deliver a commencement address. And it will be interesting to hear whether he goes in that direction. We know he might talk about social responsibility but will he also make any kind of overarching statement about this political season, we'll see. Brian Stelter, Erick Bradner, thanks so much, gentlemen. Watch Brian's show, "Reliable Sources" Sundays 11:00 a.m. And stay with us. Of course, the president of the United States right there on stage sitting next to long-time president's friend and legal mind Vernon Jordan there who will be presenting him the Honorary Doctorate degree of science. President Obama will be delivering the commencement address there at Howard University in Washington. We'll bring that to you live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:16:44] WHITFIELD: All right, we're waiting an update on wildfires that have been raging through Canada. The country's public safety minister Ralph Goodale, will start a press conference at any moment and the situation is being called "Hell on Earth." And it could get much worse, much worse in a matter of hours. Canadian authorities say the massive wildfire could double in size today because of the dry and windy weather. That's terrible news for nearly 100,000 people who have been forced to leave everything behind.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It looked like the place would be all burned and I'm scared if my house would be burned down, my room, my stuff, my clothes. And I'm scared if my school will Be burnt, too.

WHITFIELD: Right now the fire is already the size of Hong Kong. And it has produced so much smoke that people as far as south as Florida can actually see it. CNN's Paul Vercammen is in Edmonton, and that's where many evacuees are staying. We understand that you were actually at an evacuation center we heard from that little girl who's worried about her school, her house. What other stories are you hearing from people there?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN REPORTER: Just heartbreaking stories, Fred. That guy spoke with that little girl and I talked to her and her mom and it's astounding to hear for them, they describe these flames extremely tall flames because of the very huge pine trees they you have here. They got out with their lives but in a sense it was double-jeopardy for the mom, in this case, because she had been a refugee once before in life. And let's just listen to her story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's heartbreaking because I don't know if I have anything to go back. I really don't know. And that being -- when I was seven years old, I went through the same thing, I left the Congo to come back here. So, it brings back those memories so dad. The last few nights for me, I haven't slept. I'm up all night. I realized that I'm a refugee again in a country that I thought I won't be a refugee, so it's so heartbreaking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: And also sleeping in a foreign shelter, in a cot. You know, they don't have much with them, Fred. In particular, you'll see maybe a passport or driver's license or a bag of clothes, but that's about it. And on the fire front, there are actually 40 fires burning in Alberta, five of them are out of control. So it's spreading resources thin. Much of the fire, though, burning in forest, and in a sense that's news because it's burning away from Fort McMurray, that's a big population center that's right in the middle of Canada's oil sands industry. Fred.

WHITFIELD: And what is the strategy or the tactics of firefighters there?

VERCAMMEN: Their first mode today, people and structure protection. So, everything from digging bulldozer lines to hitting it via the air. Think about the manpower now, 1,200 firefighters spread across Alberta. You've got 22 tankers, hundreds of bulldozers and helicopters, they're throwing everything they can at it but difficult once it gets to the forest, those trees, extremely tall. And that's why on some of the video, you see these huge, huge walls of flames just reaching way into the air. Some of the stories I've heard from people said they drove through that. They felt like that they're almost surrounded by smoke and a big orange monster of a blaze, Fred.

[11:20:10] WHITFIELD: So, Paul Vercammen, thank you so much. In fact, that press conference has now begun. Let's go there live.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Their work is highly valued by the people of Fort McMurray, obviously, but also all the people of Canada. To provide you with the best information that we have at the moment, the weather in the area is still bad, with dry conditions and windy conditions and winds that are shifting in direction.

There is some indication in longer-term forecasts that by the beginning of the week, maybe there'll appear to be some improvement, some drop in temperature, slight possibility of rain in the area. That would improve things but over the weekend, it looks like the weather in and around Fort McMurray will still be, sadly, very conducive to serious burning conditions.

The situation remains unpredictable and dangerous. Obviously, our top priority, the top priority of the province of Alberta and all of the emergency responds to people on the ground in the area, the top priority is human safety, immediately in the danger zone and also, of course, among the evacuees.

One of the earlier stages of the fire saw a number of people move north of Fort McMurray. Some 25,000 to find refuge in the oil industry camps that are located in that area. That was the quickest and best way to move them at the time. Now that the fire has moved more to the east and a little bit to the north, in order to ensure that they are not stranded in an impossible situation at some future date, there is a re-evacuation now under way to move those people south as fast as possible.

Some 7,500 were moved yesterday, partly by air but mostly by ground. That means in convoys moving as rapidly as possible through the city of Fort McMurray and then on to the highway that will take them south to other locations, including Edmonton. Assuming, hopefully with weather conditions making it possible today, that operation will continue today to move more and more people out of the area north of Fort McMurray, south through the city and then on to the highway so that they can be relocated into other facilities further south and in a safer and less vulnerable condition.

With respect to the fire itself, the resources put into this by the province of Alberta, by their forest firefighting apparatus, has been truly magnificent. I'm happy to say that the Canadian interagency firefighting center, which is a federal provincial territorial operation, the federal level that involves Natural Resources Canada and Parks Canada but all of the provinces and territories are involved as well.

The center has been identifying resources across the country, both in terms of equipment and the properly trained and highly skilled professional personnel to provide assistance to Alberta, particularly to give the front line firefighters some relief. They've been on the line doing this now for almost a week and they need some rest, they need some rest.

As I had mentioned earlier, in the last couple of days, a team of about 80 firefighters has been moved in from Ontario. There is now-- In addition to that 44 firefighters on their way from Quebec, 22 from New Brunswick. There are four water bombs provided by Quebec and one water bomber provided by the northwest territories.

The interagency continues to accumulate the inventory, line up the professional firefighters and make them available to Alberta, to take some pressure off of the firefighters there. The ...

WHITFIELD: All right, after a week of devastating fires, it is exhausting, damaging, it is horrific there in Alberta, Canada. You're listening to the minister of the public safety, talk about firefighters are still moving in from various areas of Canada.

[11:25:05] We'll continue to watch the developments there and would be right back in the Newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, minutes from now, President Barack Obama is expected to deliver the commencement address at Howard University in Washington, D.C., an historically black university. You see him there getting ready for his moment. The president, as most commencement speakers, expected to have words of encouragement, perhaps even a challenge to the class of 2016 as they walk towards a new chapter in lives.

Of course, all of this happening as the president tries to cement his legacy during his final months in office. According to a new CNN/ORC poll, 51 percent of Americans say they approve of the president's performance. We'll bring in President Obama's commencement address at Howard University as soon as it happens. Meantime, let's talk a little bit more about what to expect, Joe Johns in Washington standing by for us. So, Joe, do we have any kind of advanced notice of what might kind of sprinkle -- be sprinkled in this message to class of 2016?

JOHNS: Only around the edges quite frankly, Fred. We do know from the White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, the president is likely to talk about the challenges in the future, of course, which is something most commencement speeches tend to talk to about.

[11:30:04] We also understand that the president is going to talk a little bit about the role of historically black colleges and universities in the United States.

And that is expected, too, because he's at Howard University, considered the cap stone of HBC (inaudible) in the United States, by the way, Fred, not a few years ago you were selected as one of the distinguished alumni at that school.

WHITFIELD,: You're nice. Thank you for sneaking that in there, Joe. I am a proud alum of Howard. I bleed blue, correct.

JOHNS: From a political science standpoint here in Washington, we'll be watching to see whether the president talks a little bit about the state of American politics and whether he weighs in any further than he did yesterday on Donald Trump and some of the other individuals in the race.

You know, that poll you just mentioned a couple minutes ago, that's significant because a president's approval ratings now over that critical threshold of 50 percent and the suggestion is if it continues to rise, his position could be seen as a benefit to the Democratic nominee. So we'll be watching to see all that.

WHITFIELD: All right, this is a continuation of a proud legacy for Howard University where many presidents and vice presidents have delivered commencement addresses. So the president, it's a tough act to follow, right?

JOHNS: Absolutely. A very tough act to follow. And the fact of the matter is he is speaking at only two other schools for commencement addresses, including the Air Force Academy, I believe, and one other school, perhaps Rutgers. So he's not giving a lot of commencement addresses this year.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much. The vice president just down road in Delaware also delivering a commencement address today, Joe Biden. All right, thanks so much, Joe Johns. Appreciate that.

More on politics, Marco Rubio, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, speculation is flying this weekend over who might be Donald Trump's running mate. That is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:35:15]

WHITFIELD: All right, now that Donald Trump is the Republican Party's presumptive nominee, the campaign is working to pick a potential running mate. On the short list, Former Texas Governor Rick Perry, Oklahoma Governor Mary Falen, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Senator Marco Rubio and Senator Jeff Sessions, the first senator to endorse Trump.

So let's talk more about all of this with College political science professor, Jason Johnson, and the director of University of Virginia Center for Politics, Larry Sabato. All right, good to see you, Gentlemen.

I can't believe I just learned this week that you all have a very beautiful relationship as Professor Sabato and Student Jason Johnson. Now here you are on the same stage talking stuff.

JASON JOHNSON, PROFESSOR, POLITICS EDITOR, THEROOT.COM: The honor is all mine. Larry taught me my first political science classes back at UVA.

WHITFIELD: I love that, cool.

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, UVA'S CENTER FOR POLITICS: Fred, I just want you to know that Jason got an A and he deserved an A-plus.

JOHNSON: That's true. Thank you. Thank you for saying that.

WHITFIELD: He's always struck me as an A student.

SABATO: He's gone way beyond me, Fred. Think where he'll be at my age. It's incredible to think about, boggles the mind. We're all very proud of him at the University of Virginia.

WHITFIELD: That's cool. I know he gives you lots of credit for much of what he has learned and what he knows. All right, so Larry, you first, Donald Trump known for his element of surprise. Do you think Trump will pick a running mate that I don't know if anyone is making any predictions, but will he surprise people?

He has already hinted that he wants a real politico because he says, well, business that's his thing, he has that down. He needs somebody who really does know Washington or politics and how it works. So what kind of picture does that paint in your view about who he would pick?

SABATO: I think he will make a rational choice simply because he's already indicated, he knows he's needs some political and governmental guidance, and that's what a vice president could bring to him.

You know, Fred, part of the problem is a lot of the people who would do him the most good, say Governor Suzanna Martinez of New Mexico or Governor Brian Sandoval of Nevada, both of them, of course, Hispanic politicians.

They're not going to run with him. So he's got to find somebody who actually will join him on the ticket and be enthusiastic.

WHITFIELD: And that's the unusual or an unusual phenomenon. We were hearing from people who are saying, no, not me.

JOHNSON: Fred, here's the criteria. It's less about the person than criteria. It has to be someone who already thinks that their political career is over. If you think you have 10, 20 years left in the Republican Party, you are not going to connect yourself to this ticket. That's why Rick Perry would do it? WHITFIELD: OK, how about like a John Kasich (inaudible)? I mean, he had a beautiful speech on his departure, what about his, I guess, political future if not to be plot for a position like this?

JOHNSON: I think somebody like Kasich he may turn around and change his mind. Somebody like Rick Perry might want do something like this. I also think that Donald Trump likes to surprise people.

I think, you know, Jeanine Hampton, who is an African-American woman, Republican lieutenant governor of Kentucky, he might do something like that because what Trump thinks make you a good political person may not be what anybody in Washington thinks. This could be up in the air.

WHITFIELD: So Larry, what's the risk that any number of these candidates takes by saying yes to an invitation of Donald Trump?

SABATO: Well, they're buying into the whole Trump package, past, present and future, and they'll have to bear that burden to a great degree to the rest of their careers. Jason is absolutely right.

Being on his ticket, if they don't win, if they win, you know, vice presidency, maybe you run for president. But if you don't win, maybe you get a TV show and high speaking fees, but I'm not sure what else you get out of it. You'd better be toward the end of your career.

WHITFIELD: I mentioned Chris Christie as, you know, one of the other 16 who was running for president and then there's Marco Rubio. Apparently, there is some consideration about Marco Rubio being that potential running mate, this after some very harsh words between the two. But then last night this is what Trump had to say about the Florida senator.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm in Florida and I had a tough race against Marco and I like Marco. I like everybody once it's over. I like people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So Jason, what does that mean to you?

JOHNSON: That means nothing.

WHITFIELD: Really?

JOHNSON: Because Donald Trump -- look, he calls him little Marco.

WHITFIELD: It doesn't infer I'm open, is he open --

JOHNSON: Just because Trump is open. First of all, Marco Rubio has a future, right. He could run for governor one day. He could run for president again in 2020.

[11:35:04]Why would he associate himself with someone who not just insulted him, attempted to emasculate him during debates?

WHITFIELD: And the insults went the other way around when Marco Rubio thought that that would --

JOHNSON: Exactly later on. I don't see how that works. The same thing with Ted Cruz. Ted Cruz has done very well. Ted Cruz would get him somewhere in Washington. But he also accused Ted Cruz's father of killing JFK. I don't think any of these politicians are going to be able to -- they may turn over a new leaf and support Trump at the end, but being on his ticket and supporting him reluctantly are two different things.

WHITFIELD: But isn't it confusing, Larry, because it wouldn't just be Marco Rubio but even Chris Christie and Bobby Jindal, I mean, the list goes on, even Rick Perry. All of them have said none complimentary words about Donald Trump.

And a few of those that I just mentioned are now like Bobby Jindal and Rick Perry are now saying I would throw my support behind him.

So is that just politics as usual or is there something different about this in that there are Republicans who say we've got to do something to unify the party because if we all say we don't like him and he's the presumptive nominee then we've got a bigger problem.

SABATO: Fred, hypocrisy is truly delightful out of politics. There's a lot of hypocrisy to go around in both parties. But politicians just to mix metaphors are ballet dancers. They can turn on a dime and they think nothing of it.

Now it's true all of the record is out there and all of these has been recorded. It will be in TV ads no matter who Donald Trump picks assuming the candidate has said negative things about Trump.

But I don't know that that matters to Trump. How significantly controversial is that compared to all the other controversies surrounding Donald Trump?

The answer is not very, and I think this election is going to be about Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, assuming she's the Democratic nominee and the vice presidential candidates are going to fade into the background faster than ever.

WHITFIELD: Interesting. All right, this could be an interesting week coming up. Jason, we're talking about how Speaker Paul Ryan and Donald Trump set to meet. What might that conversation be like, especially after what Ryan says publicly, and what Donald Trump has said in response to what he said?

JOHNSON: So I've been RNC headquarters. I don't know if they have soundproof doors, but they should have them because that's going to be necessary because there is not a lot of love for Donald Trump there.

It's out there. Reince Priebus isn't happy with him. Paul Ryan isn't happy with him. They're going to have a meeting. They're going to pretend to be nice. Donald Trump is going to come out and say something vaguely complementary. I doubt they're going to come out together and do a speech together because no one wants to be associated with him.

Here's what's key, right, what Paul Ryan has to worry about is down ballot racist and a Trump presidency, a Trump nomination actually at this point in campaign could end up hurting Republicans in the House and the Senate.

Paul Ryan knows that and that's probably what he's going to try to talk to him about.

WHITFIELD: Larry, if voters have been saying and remember it was Donald Trump who underscored this as to helping to define his success through the primary races, if voters have been saying they're tired of the establishment, tired of the same old thing.

And then we have Republicans saying we don't like this guys, there's an anti-Trump movement, but then on the flip side, OK, he's our guy. We are not going to support him. I mean, that kind of double speak is another turn off for voters, is it not?

SABATO: Well, it is and that's why Donald Trump said that Paul Ryan's questioning of whether he wanted to support Donald Trump actually helped Trump politically. I think that's probably true, at least with Trump's base.

Now in general, you do want party unity. It does matter whether a party is unified going into the general election or not. Look, Paul Ryan, what choice does he have? He is essentially the emcee of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

He doesn't have a choice. Either he's going to resign as the chairman of that convention or he's going to have to embrace Trump.

WHITFIELD: OK, yes, it's quite the quandary, isn't it? All right, thank you so much, Jason Johnson, Larry Sabato. Appreciate it.

All right, stay with us. We are, of course, awaiting the president of the United States to deliver the commencement address at Howard University there in Washington, D.C. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:47:32]

WHITFIELD: All right, to Washington, D.C., the president of the United States at the commencement of Howard University. Let's listen.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: -- thank you so much, everybody. Please have a seat. I feel important now. I got a degree from Howard. Sicily Tyson said something nice about me. I love you back.

To President Frederick, Board of Trustees, faculty and staff, fellow recipients of honorary degrees, thank you for the honor of spending this day with you. And congratulations to the class of 2016.

Four years ago back when you were just freshmen, I understand many of you came by my house the night I was reelected. So I decided to return the favor and come by yours.

To the parents, the grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, all the family and friends who stood by this class, cheered them on, and helped them get here today, this is your day as well. Let's give them a big round of applause as well.

I'm not trying to stir up any rivalries here. I just want to see who's in the house. We got Quad, Anex, Drew, Carver, Slow, Towers and Meridian.

Rest in peace, Meridian. Rest in peace and Meridian, rest in peace, Meridian. Rest in peace. I know you're all excited today. You might be a little tired, as well. Some of you were up all night making sure your credits were in order.

[11:50:11]Some of you stayed up too late and ended up at Hochi at 2:00 a.m. got some mambo sauce on your fingers. But you got here! And you've all worked hard to reach this day. You've shown between challenging classes and Greek life, you've led clubs, played an instrument or a sport.

You volunteered, you interned, held down one, two, maybe three jobs. You've made lifelong friends and discovered exactly what you're made of. The Howard hustle has strengthened your sense of purpose and ambition, which means you're part of a long line of Howard graduates.

Some are on this stage today. Some are in the audience. That spirit of achievement and special responsibility has defined this campus ever since the Friedman's Bureau established Howard just four years after the emancipation proclamation.

Just two years after the civil war came to an end. They created this university with a vision. A vision of uplift, a vision for an America where our fates would be determined not by our race, gender, religion, or creed, but where we would be free in every sense to pursue our individual and collective dreams.

It is that spirit that's made Howard a centerpiece of African-American intellectual life and a central part of our larger American story. This institution has been the home of many persons.

First black Nobel Peace Prize winner, the first black Supreme Court justice, but its mission has been to ensure those firsts were not the last. Countless scholars, professions, artists, leaders from every field received their training here.

Generations of men and women who walked through this yard helped reform our government, cure disease, grow a black middle class, advance civil rights, and shape our culture.

The seeds of change for all Americans were sewn here. That's what I want to talk about today. As I was preparing these remarks, I realized that when I was first elected president, most of you, the class of 2016, were just starting high school.

Today you're graduating college. I used to joke about being old. Now I realize I'm old. It's not a joke anymore! But seeing all of you here gives me some perspective.

It makes me reflect on the changes I've seen over my own lifetime. So let me begin with what may sound like a controversial statement, a hot take.

Given the current state of our political rhetoric and debate, let me say something that may be controversial, and that is this. America is a better place today than it was when I graduated from college.

Let me repeat. America is by almost every measure better than it was when I graduated from college. It also happens to be better off than when I took office, but that's a longer story. That's a different discussion for another speech.

But think about it. I graduated in 1983. New York City, America's largest city, where I lived at the time, had endured a decade marked by crime and deterioration and near bankruptcy, and many cities were in similar shape.

[11:55:14]Our nation had gone through years of economic strangulation. The stranglehold of foreign oil. A recession where employment nearly scraped 11 percent. The auto industry was getting its clock cleaned by foreign competition.

And don't even get me started on the clothes and the hairstyles. I've tried to eliminate all photos of me from this period. I thought I looked good.

I was wrong. Since that year, since the year I graduated, the poverty rate is down, Americans with college degrees, that rate is up, crime rates are down, America's cities have undergone a renaissance.

There are more women in the workforce, they're earning more money. We've cut teen pregnancy in half. We've slashed the African-American dropout rate by almost 60 percent. And all of you have a computer in your pocket that gives you the world at the touch of a button.

In 1983, I was part of fewer than 10 percent of African-Americans who graduated with a bachelor's degree. Today, you're part of more than 20 percent who will. More than half of blacks say we're better off than our parents were at our age and that our kids will be better off, too.

So America is better and the world is better too. A wall came down in Berlin. An iron curtain was torn asunder. The obscenity of apartheid came to an end. The young generation of Belfast in London have grown up without ever having to think about IRA bombs.

In just the past 16 years, we've come from a world without marriage equality to one where it's a reality in nearly two dozen countries. Around the world, more people live in democracies. We've lifted more than 1 billion people from extreme poverty. We've cut the child mortality rate worldwide by more than half. America's better. The world is better. And stay with me now, race relations are better since I graduated. That's the truth.

No, my election did not create a post-racial society. I don't know who was propagating that notion. That was not mine, but the election itself, and the subsequent one, because the first one, folks might have made a mistake.

The second one, they knew what they were getting. The election itself was just one indicator of how attitudes have changed. And in my inaugural address, I remarked that just 60 years earlier, my father may not have been served in a D.C. restaurant, at least not certain them.

There were no black CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, very few black judges. Shoot, as Larry Wilmore pointed out last week, a lot of folks didn't even think blacks had the tools to be a quarterback.

Today, former Bull Michael Jordan isn't just the greatest basketball player of all time, he owns the team! When I was graduating, the main black hero on TV was Mr. T. Rap and hip hop were common culture, underground.

Now Shonda Rhimes owns Thursday night and Beyonce runs the world. We're no longer entertainers. We're producers, studio executives. No longer small business owners, we're CEOs. We're mayors, representatives, presidents of the United States.

Now, I am not saying gaps do not persists, obviously, they do. Racism persists. Inequality persists. Don't worry. I'm going to get to that.