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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Trump Accepts Party's Nomination; Examining Trump Acceptance Speech. Aired 3-3:30a ET

Aired July 22, 2016 - 03:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:00:00] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am the law and order candidate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BERMAN, EARLY START SHOW HOST: America in crisis, a crisis that Donald Trump says that only he himself can fix. The final crucial night at the Republican National Convention.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Early Start. I'm John Berman at the remnants of the Republican National Convention.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, EARLY START SHOW HOST: I know, they're breaking it down right behind us, folks. I'm Christine Romans. It is Friday, July 22, it is 3 a.m. in the East. We are here in Cleveland at the cue where it all happened last night.

All right. Breaking overnight, Donald Trump accepting the republican nomination for president, painting a dire picture of America in crisis. Citizens in danger, the economy a disaster, lawlessness in the streets, immigrants flooding the borders, all threatening American peace and prosperity. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Our convention occurs at a moment of crisis for our nation. The attacks on our police and the terrorism of our cities threaten our very way of life. Any politician who does not grasp this danger is not fit to lead our country.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: All right. CNN's Manu Raju joins us now with more on Trump's big night. Good morning or good night, Manu.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Good morning, Christine. Now this was Donald Trump that was tapping into the economic anxieties of this country, planning a rather -- painting a rather bleak picture of the United States right now and promoting what he believes would be a strong United States if he were to become the commander-in-chief.

He was railing on trade deals, and he was taking a very hard line as he's done all primary season on immigration. Listen to the hard line he took by saying that the country's immigrants, the problem with immigration, is leading to the economic problems that are happening here in this country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Americans want relief from uncontrolled immigration, which is what we have now. Communities want relief, yet Hillary Clinton is proposing mass amnesty, mass immigration, and mass lawlessness.

(CROWD BOOING)

Her plan will overwhelm your schools and hospitals, further reduce your jobs and wages. We are going to build a great border wall to stop illegal immigration.

(APPLAUSE)

To stop the gangs and the violence and to stop the drugs from pouring into our communities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now, the question out of this four-day event, Christine and John, is how much has Donald Trump reached out to swing voters, to independent voters because we know those kind of remarks that he made really riled up this crowd, riled up the conservative base, but what does it mean for his candidacy heading into a general election? We won't know for a few days and we won't know until the democrats have their convention next week in Philadelphia.

BERMAN: Will they swing, always the question for swing voters. All right. Manu Raju, thanks so much.

Let's discuss the big event tonight. We are joined by our three political commentators. Democratic strategist, Maria Cardona, KABC talk show host, John Phillips, a Donald Trump supporter, and Ben Ferguson, host of the Ben Ferguson show. Good morning to you all.

MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Good morning.

BERMAN: Ben Ferguson, we have heard this speech called bleak.

BEN FERGUSON, THE BEN FERGUSON SHOW HOST: Yes.

BERMAN: We have heard it called midnight in America. Donald Trump painting a picture of a country in crisis, a crisis that only he can fix, you know, we heard it called lawless, that crime is going up, he is the law and order candidate.

Internationally, he says that the world is a disaster and it's Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton's fault. Listen to what he said there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: After 15 years of wars in the Middle East, after trillions of dollars spent and thousands of lives lost, the situation is worst, the situation is worse than it has ever been before. This is the legacy of Hillary Clinton. Death, destruction, terrorism and weakness.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, there's that, there's what's happening domestically. Talk about the overall tone here as we hear them cleaning up.

FERGUSON: I'll be honest with you, I thought this was probably Donald Trump's best speech that he's given thus far in the campaign.

[03:05:01] I think he was Donald Trump with a clear message and a clear vision that things need to get better and he's the guy to make things get better quickly.

He was having that blunt conversation that a lot of people wanted about this is where we really are. Whether it be the law and order candidate, whether be the jobs issue, whether it be foreign policy issue, he laid it out in a way that people said, wow, he is definitely going to do something significant if I vote for him.

And I think there's a lot of people that are more likely that are conservative voters, those that might have been on the never Trump movement or those that said I just can't see myself pushing the button or being excited for him that say if Donald Trump says it like this and keeps it this clear and concise moving forward in a way that I can agree with him, they're going to vote for him.

I think tonight was above average from what I thought he was going to give. I thought we were going to be concerned that, hey, coming out of here, do we even know really what Donald Trump is going to do?

I think most people say he's going to give the power back to the people that need it and the police and our important policy and the way that we do it other people around the world. And I think it was a smart by him.

ROMANS: He went straight to the heart of what have been sort of the anise (Ph) among the middle class too about the jobs that he mentioned.

FERGUSON: Absolutely.

ROMANS: He made some promises. I want to listen to some of those promises. He's talking about bringing jobs back in states they're going to be really crucial in November.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I am going to bring back our jobs to Ohio and Pennsylvania and New York, and Michigan and all of America. And I am not going to let companies move to other countries, firing their employees along the way firing without consequence. Not going to happen anymore.

(APPLAUSE)

ROMANS: This goes right to what we've been seeing in poll after poll in the primary season. And people have this feeling that there aren't as many good jobs and they want to bring those jobs back. He's hitting the -- he has hit that consistently through this campaign.

JOHN PHILLIPS, KABC TALK RADIO HOST: Right. Well, first I have to say that I was slightly disappointed that he stuck to the teleprompter on this speech because I was hoping for a triumph the insult comic dog speech that we've been used to Donald Trump.

But yes, this was tailored to the rust belt, this was tailored to Ohio, it was tailored to Michigan, it's tailored to Pennsylvania. All of those states will decide who is going to win this election. And they, right now have a serious problem with jobs, they have a problem with losing manufacturing to other countries.

Trade is a serious issue, not just in the republican primary but in the democratic primary. Let's not forget that Bernie Standers came from behind and by double digit from some polls in Michigan to beat Hillary Clinton primarily on the trade issue. And he made an avert plea to Bernie Sanders supporters during that speech as well on that issue of trade.

BERMAN: Maria, come here. I want to get Maria in on this because I know that democrats have a different view of this. They saw this...

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: Very much.

BERMAN: And, again, this was not a morning in America's speech. This was not a speech that some people look at and say it was optimistic.

CARDONA: It was a mourning in America, m-o-u-r-n-i-n-g.

BERMAN: Someone came prepared.

PHILLIPS: And bought a vowel.

CARDONA: And that is exactly everything -- every reaction that I got from people that I knew through Twitter, Facebook, text, e-mails, everything. Not just Latinos but -- and not just democrats, by the way. It was the feeling that we were living in this dystopian mad max gruesome, you know, crime ridden you can't leave your house or someone is going to kill you and by the way, that someone has brown skin.

It left so many people, I think, rocking back and forth in a fetal position. And so, in that sense, I don't think Donald Trump did himself any favors. If, in fact, what he was looking for was to appeal beyond the base of the people who were in this arena and his supporters outside of Cleveland. I believe, especially after last night, that he has made a calculated

decision to write off Latino voters, to write off African-American voters, and frankly, to write off some women voters, as well, and focus on these rust belt white working class voters. And he thinks that he can enough of those to come out and support him to win. Because with the kind of message he...

(CROSSTALK)

FERGUSON: I hear what you're saying, but...

CARDONA: Hang on a second. With the kind of messages that he have last night, he is not going to broaden the appeal in the way that growth and opportunity project that the RNC wrote in 2012 said that the Republican party had to do.

FERGUSON: There is a difference in the mentality of this election. Some people want a hug and they want to feel good and some people realize that the hope and change hug of eight years didn't do anything for them on jobs.

One of the issues I think Donald Trump has not done enough on, was being with the original -- when he ran, he was the businessman, right? We haven't heard a lot about the business side of things.

We've heard a lot about foreign policy. We've heard a lot about, you know, about the military, we have a lot of this back and forth and fighting and arguing, you know, with the other side and the other kinds (Ph). It was a nasty primary.

What I saw from him last night was, one thing he got back really focused on was on the job creation side. And he's saying, hey, I'm not going to hug you, I'm going to tell you it's not good. But guess what? I'm going to fix, I'm going to fix it fast.

[03:10:03] I'm not going to hug and lie to you.

ROMANS: But how is he going to fix it?

FERGUSON: Yes.

ROMANS: So, you've got Mike Pence who is for to TPP that trade agreement. Has been for trade agreements before his vice president, and you've got Donald Trump who has consistently talked about, you know, potentially having major trade issues with China and Mexico that could hurt the economy and hurt job creation.

FERGUSON: Well, but I think his point is I'm going to go in and I'm not going to keep doing the status quo because it's obviously not playing to our advantage.

Most people agree with that when they look at what they may now compared to eight ago and how many jobs have left this country. So, in that simple point of him saying, hey, I may take some risks, but the way we're going now is not working for you, the American worker. It's not working statistically over the last eight years. I am going to shake it up and it may...

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: You must consider about...

BERMAN: Let me say, I was actually -- I did a focus group tonight. It was fascinating because they actually did see it as dark and dystopian as a lot of people including media mostly saw. And they liked some of the clips he made. They did not like the law and order. They did not law and order.

They didn't respond to that at all. They said that sounded kind of fishy. And they also thought that the how you're going to fix things, then you said, you know, you were impressed by the business stuff, they said that wasn't there. he identified the problems they said, but they want to say see solutions, John. What is his solution other than I'm Donald Trump?

PHILLIPS: Well, I think reading the temperature in the room is first and foremost what he needs to do. And he did that last night. Sixty nine percent of the people believe in this country that the country is going in the wrong direction.

People are terrified. They're terrified of terrorism, they're terrified of police officers getting shot, they're terrified of crime. And they want someone who is going to go in and change the course. And maybe it's not something that's positive. Maybe it's not something that used to be friendly. Maybe it's not something that makes you warm and fuzzy, but it's the truth.

People don't want more San Bernardino's, they don't want more Orlando's. And right now, Hillary Clinton is running as part of the government that's been in charge when all that has happened.

BERMAN: Ben Ferguson has come out as empty hug, though. I think that...

FERGUSON: Yes, it's not a warm hug.

CARDONA: So, here is I think the issue. It's not that -- it's not the people that I'm talking about are looking for a hug. Because they also live in this reality. But their reality is a bit different than what Donald Trump described yesterday.

If you look at the numbers, and we've been talking about this, Christine, Hispanics and African-Americans look at this country in a much more optimistic way. Even though a lot of the crime that Donald Trump has been talking about is in their neighborhoods.

FERGUSON: Sure.

CARDONA: They have a move optimistic view of their future. In fact, more than half believe that they have better off economically and 81 percent of Hispanics believe that they -- their children will be better off economically than they -- than they are. And so, when they hear somebody like Donald Trump who never offered

anything, so, for example, last night, when he talked about immigration, the only thing that he could talk about was criminal immigrants killing...

(CROSSTALK)

FERGUSON: And here is what I'm saying.

CARDONA: ... people.

BERMAN: Hang on. Hang on, Ben.

CARDONA: Killing people's, you know, sons and daughters. And that's fine. That is awful. That is horrible. He couldn't talk about a positive story about a legal immigrant in this country...

(CROSSTALK)

FERGUSON: That's a warm hug.

CARDONA: No, it's not.

ROMANS: All right. Hang on, hang on.

CARDONA: But isn't that also the reality of this country?

ROMANS: So, let's -- there is a bunch of stuff to get through tonight -- last night. It's now last night.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: Last night.

ROMANS: Now there is morning, I'm sure. Everyone, keep it there for a second, because we want to talk about Donald Trump giving perhaps the most inclusive, inclusive acceptance speech in GOP history. Who, in particular, he reached out to and the crowd's response. We've got that next.

[03:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: All right. Donald Trump's acceptance speech, perhaps the most inclusive in Republican Party history. The nominee reaching out to women, African-Americans, Latinos, even the LGBTQ community.

I want to reach out to our panel. Maria Cardona, John Phillips, Ben Ferguson, and Josh Rogin joins us this morning. Listen, let's talk a little bit here about who Donald Trump was reaching out to and sort of the LGBT community in particular. Listen to his -- listen to exactly what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: As your president, I will do everything in my part to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology. Believe me.

And I have to say, as a republican, it is so nice to hear you cheering for what I just said. Thank you. Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: And there was cheering. There was a lot of enthusiasm in the room behind us that is now empty. And then there was this other moment. Peter Thiel, he is a billionaire. He is one of the co-founders of PayPal. He is someone who proudly stood on that stage and talked about -- listen for yourself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER THIEL, PAYPAL CO-FOUNDER: Of course, every American has a unique identity. I am proud to be gay. I am proud to be a republican. But most of all, I am proud to be an American.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: It's something, Josh Rogin, now, that was quite a moment on the republican stage.

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It was. You wouldn't have seen this eight years ago at the republican convention. Even four years ago. It shows a watershed moment in the Republican Party, but also in the evolution of this issue in our country.

I think it's a natural progression. But at the same time, I don't think any of -- Donald Trump is going to get any of the LGBTQ vote, right?

CARDONA: No.

ROGIN: There's still -- he's only protecting them from foreign ideologies now. What about all of the threats that they face inside in America, they don't come from ISIS. OK.

BERMAN: Is it an evolution? Is it an evolution or is Donald Trump an outlier? Because I don't think that Ted Cruz would have given that speech, Ben.

FERGUSON: I don't -- I don't know if he would have or not to be honest with you because I've had a lot of conversations around his camp and I think there's a lot of young republicans, younger conservatives that this is very normal for them. It's not a progression.

I was one of those that did take heat four years ago, eight years ago for being an advocate on this issue, having friends that are gay and lesbian. It was -- it was very normal for us -- it was not -- this was not something that we were, you know, even shocked about. It was something that we weren't.

And I think what he did was he put out there and, look, let's be clear. He was talking about foreign, but he's also talking about domestic, as well. He is somebody...

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: He didn't say that.

FERGUSON: No, no, no. Because he did. Hold on. Wait, let's remember. He came out and called the law in one state totally incorrect the bathroom law.

[03:05:06] He also came out and said Caitlyn Jenner coming to the Trump Tower. That was something that was quote, unquote "not republican." So, he's been pretty progressive domestically.

ROGIN: So, relative on this issue.

CARDONA: So, here is the problem. The GOP platform.

FERGUSON: I can't believe you have a problem here.

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: I know. The GOP platform is the most anti-LGBT platform in history. I mean, when you have a platform that goes against what actually is now law and focuses on traditional marriage, when you have a platform...

(CROSSTALK)

FERGUSON: Here is what I want to say.

CARDONA: ... hang on a second. When you have a platform that calls for conversion therapy, for goodness sake, you're not going to get the LGBT community to look at that line in Donald Trump's speech and say he speaks for me.

FERGUSON: I will say this, the majority of the people don't look at the platform. I don't think that was a main issue of the platform. I don't think -- I you're doing a little bit of fear mongering here. The room hear when Donald Trump talk about it.

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: It's the GOP platform for -- Ben, you can't run away from the GOP platform. Well, then why is he been there?

FERGUSON: What I'm saying is the majority of the people in the room don't care about the platform. I personally on that, again, I don't care -- I never heard anything about conversion therapy this week at all. This is the first time.

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: So, you're saying the GOP platform doesn't stick to the stick to the party?

FERGUSON: No, no. What I'm saying is that this is the first time I've heard about this at all. That's how little bit of an issue this is among the majority of the American republicans.

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: I can send it to you if you want to read the GOP platform.

PHILLIPS: Look, I think what happened with last night was necessary. Because the language in the platform is horrific.

CARDONA: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: And yet, another reminder why the platform should not be written until the open bar start because if you do that, then these serpent handlers are going to destroy the platform.

And Donald Trump is a blue state republican. And there is a different between blue state republicans and red state republicans. This is what Ted Cruz was going at when he said he had New York values.

Donald Trump is comfortable around gay people. As you mentioned before, we have seen an evolution on this country on the issue of gay rights, not just in the Republican Party, but in the Democratic Party.

CARDONA: Sure.

PHILLIPS: Hillary Clinton gave a speech on the floor of the Senate saying that she opposed gay marriage because of moral and religious grounds. She's evolved. The president has evolved And I predict that Donald Trump will involve.

ROMANS: I got to say it was really great to see Peter Thiel up there and also talking about that a lot...

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: That was a great moment.

ROMANS: ... and encouraging people and young people to be inclusive and not fallen to divisiveness about gender identity. I mean, that was a moment I think that was, that was pretty interesting.

BERMAN: I think to be honest they have to go to commercial.

ROMANS: I think they are, too.

All right. The head of Fox News is officially, officially out. What led to the departure of Roger Ailes. We have that next.

[03:25:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right. Seismic tremors in the media industry. Roger Ailes, 76-year-old executive had been head of Fox News since its inception more than 20 years ago. Resigned effective immediately. That in the wake of the sexual harassment allegations that comes after

former anchor Gretchen Carlson filed a lawsuit accusing Ailes of sexual harassment and of firing her for spurning his advances.

Now there is a settlement. Ailes isn't going with nothing. He is going away the reported $40 million. Eighty-five-year-old Rupert Murdoch who chairs Fox's parent company, he's going to take over as chief executive until a replacement is named.

Man. I got to ask Brian Stelter about that. I want to find out what that means.

ROMANS: I know. So fascinating. Also fascinating, it comes this week with the Republican Convention under way. This is somebody who is a republican power broker for many, many years.

All right. Let's get in Early Start and you money this morning. The winning stock for streaks is over. But, buy, what a winning streak that was. The Dow down about a half percent yesterday. Ending a nine- session winning run.

The NASDAQ and the S&P 500 falling a little bit too. But here is the big payoff if you have a 401k. Look at this, the Dow is now up 6.2 percent for the year. The NASDAQ is now positive for the year. Remember it had been down about 10percent earlier, so a big recovery there for tech stocks there.

BERMAN: Quit your complaining.

ROMANS: The S&P 500 rising 5.9 percent on the year. Dow futures plus this morning, global markets are mostly lower. But you're talking about Blue Chip stocks near record highs here this week. Really fascinating, especially with all the talk about how bad the economy is. I mean, that's what everyone is talking about here. But, you know, anybody is 401k so don't worry...

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: All right. Can you hear that? It's happening right behind us. They're cleaning up from the Republican Convention right behind us.

Donald Trump he accepted the nomination late last night. What he said is wrong with America and how he will fix it, that's next.

[03:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)