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Don Lemon Tonight
Campaigner in Chief's Rousing Speech at the DNC; Multiple Speeches Attacked Donald Trump Tonight; Obama Calls Democrats to Elect Hillary Clinton; Interview with Rep. Brad Sherman. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired July 28, 2016 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:06] DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: The campaigner-in-chief preaches tonight, bringing the faithful to their feet, praising his former rival.
This is a special CNN TONIGHT. I'm Don Lemon. We're so glad you could join us. We're live here at the CNN Grill at the Democratic Convention. Lots of big, rousing speeches tonight.
Look at the Grill. It is packed with people this evening. Probably the rowdiest night that we have seen so far when we have seen a lot of -- take no prisoners attacks on Donald Trump tonight by Joe Biden, Michael Bloomberg, as well, and Vice Presidential candidate Tim Kaine even started doing a rendition of Donald Trump. But the mike drop moment of the night was really President Barack Obama, kudos, really laying out the case for Hillary Clinton with a speech that was vintage Obama. Our first black president passing the baton to the first female nominee. Look at this.
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LEMON: Surprise, not a surprise? He came out on stage the last time with the former president, at least President Barack Obama did and President Clinton. Here to talk about all of this for me is my political dream team, they're here. Mr. Mark Preston is here. Peter Beinart is here, Kayleigh McEnany, Angela Rye and Bakari Sellers.
What a night. I mean, do these people go home?
ANGELA RYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No.
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No.
LEMON: It's all exciting. It's 1:00 a.m., but we don't care often.
RYE: No.
LEMON: And the grill is going to be lit tonight, as they say. I have to say, being in Chicago, I was a resident in Chicago in 2004. In 2008, I was in Grant Park.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
LEMON: And then tonight, I'm here. And for that moment for African- Americans, for women, this is sort of a passing the torch from the first black president to the first woman nominee of a major party. I want to get all of your reactions to this moment. Will you (ph)?
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LEMON: Right about them. And they knew that it was a -- so this is a moment really for, I think, for the country to -- are changing demographics in this country, where we've come, where we're going. There's a woman, (inaudible) of what side of the political are you on from the first black president. I think this is a really important moment for the country even outside of politics. Bakari?
BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I want to look at this moment somewhat in a vacuum. I want to take away -- and we're going to have the narratives about comparing Barack Obama to Donald Trump. We can get to that later. We can talk about his record, the record setting job growth that he's had, the unemployment rate being cut nearly in half. We can talk about the stock market going up. We can talk about all those things.
But I want to talk about Barack Obama the man, Barack Obama the President of the United States and what it means to so many people. When you watch that speech tonight, you saw a level of expectation that not only did he reach, but he just surpassed it.
Barack Obama means so much to so many people and it's encapsulated in one image. I always think back to the image of the little black boy who's in the oval office who asked the president if his hair feels like his.
LEMON: Yeah.
SELLERS: And so, the president leans over and the little boy touches his head. And I -- every time I see that image, I just cry. But tonight was -- it was just amazing because he told us not where we were and not where we are but where we can be.
And if you contrast that just to the doom and gloom image we had of this country and you think about the program tonight, whether or not you -- everybody cried when Gabby Giffords came out and said "Madame President." You know, everybody -- and Mark and I were talking about this earlier, the impact of Joe Biden, Tim Kaine coming out there.
I mean, and then Barack Obama ending the night, keeping America's attention until midnight, for me, I am very, very proud not to be a black man, not to be a black man in this country per se but to be an American and just appreciate our 44th president of the United States.
LEMON: I just want to go -- I mean, as you held the mike, (inaudible) didn't let anybody else talk for a minute ...
SELLERS: And I had to get that out.
LEMON: I hope this is nothing. No, I think that's great. I don't know if that has come across on our air, but just standing there watching it this evening and thinking about, I remember being in 2008 with my baseball cap on and my producer was standing in Grant Park going, "Oh, my gosh, history is being made this evening," right?
I just want to get your quick reactions on that moment, especially that final moment.
RYE: The final moment showed me that not only is forgiveness possible, but change is possible.
[01:05:03] They literally made each other better in his first term. And here he is now offering the second Obama closing of this week for her. It was beautiful.
LEMON: This was his really going away speech.
RYE: Yeah.
LEMON: Go ahead, Kayleigh. What are your thoughts?
MCENANY: Well, you know, it's a historic moment, of course, and I'm very happy for my fellow Democrats on the panel but there are a lot of Americans who are sitting at home tonight in poverty. They have real troubles at home. They can't send their kids to college and they view this night very differently than through the lens of history.
LEMON: Yeah. What do you think?
PETER BEINART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Barack Obama is now the Democrats Ronald Reagan. This is the fundamental difference between the two parties. The only president the Republicans revere is dead. The Democrats now have their own Ronald Reagan.
What John F. Kennedy used to be to the Democratic Party, Barack Obama now will be. He will tower over the Democratic Party for decades to come. And that is -- that's at the core of their strength because the Democrats have this figure they can look to. The Republicans, George W. Bush, George W. Bush's father weren't even there.
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Now, listen, someone being of Irish decent from Massachusetts, let us not say anything bad about JFK.
BEINART: No, no. I was -- I didn't say anything bad.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Let's just see the moment (inaudible) for good.
PRESTON: No, no. I mean, look, I think that the word "hope" has been worn out over the past seven years. As Kayleigh said, a lot of people are still in poverty. They're not feeling the economy on the upswing. However, I do think tonight that we saw that word "hope" recharged, specifically amongst Democrats.
If you were inside the hall, you saw the excitement in the hall. There was a level of excitement that we haven't seen in the Democratic Party in some time. It's been building up over the last couple of days. And, of course, for him to follow all those great speeches tonight, and they were really good speeches, and close it the way he did was pretty amazing.
RYE: Mark, can I encapsulate this point really quick on? I was on the floor. There was a man when Barack Obama walked on the stage holding that anti-TPP sign and five minutes into the president's speech, he had this Bernie cap on -- Bernie cap came off, sign went down and he was sitting there in awe. It was the most amazing thing because we know the protesters have been serious.
LEMON: Yeah.
RYE: That was really amazing.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: For me, it doesn't matter. As I said, when, you know, Hillary Clinton officially became the nominee, it wouldn't matter to me if they're conservatives, if they're independents, if they're Democrats. This is America. This is a changing demographics of America to me. America is not just a country run by powerful white men. America is a country that's run by people of all different colors, all different ethnicities, all different sexualities and all different genders.
You may have a woman who is a president. You just had the first black president. I grew up never thinking there would be a black president or a woman president and here we are on the precipice of the possibility of one and the ending of another. To me, this is an amazing moment. Let's -- I want to hear how the president finished tonight. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Time and again, you've picked me up. And I hope sometimes I've picked you up, too. And tonight, I ask you to do for Hillary Clinton what you did for me.
I ask you to carry her the same way you carried me. Because you're who I was talking about 12 years ago, when I talked about hope. It's been you who've fueled my dogged faith in our future, even when the odds were great, even when the road is long. Hope in the face of difficulty, hope in the face of uncertainty, the audacity of hope.
America, you've vindicated that hope these past eight years. And now I'm ready to pass the baton and do my part as a private citizen. So this year, in this election, I'm asking you to join me, to reject cynicism and reject fear and to summon what is best in us, to elect Hillary Clinton as the next president of the United States and show the world we still believe in the promise of this great nation.
Thank you for this incredible journey. Let's keep it going. (END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: She is going to need the enthusiasm of the voters who went out for him, right, back in 2008 and 2012.
PRESTON: Right.
LEMON: Did he do that for her?
PRESTON: Sure. African-Americans and if we understand he is going to walk an aggressively campaign, we've been told, in the past few hours. Younger voters, as well. And then -- and quite frankly, trying to unify a Democratic Party that is still fractured.
We had protests, as this was going on inside. The people don't know is that outside there were still protests going on, people that are still frustrated that they think that Bernie Sanders should have been the nominee.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
[01:10:00] LEMON: So, before I move on to the next moment, Bernie Sanders, people, I understand but she's gone. She has a new boyfriend. She's engaged to be married. She's not coming back. Just gets go out -- get out of the basement or off your couch and go out to the bar and find another girl. It's over.
SELLERS: But I think that is when Donald Trump comes into play. Because I think Bernie Sanders supporters, Pew Research as we echoed many a couple of nights ago, all these nights are running together.
I don't want to be like, "Good evening, Cleveland." This is Philadelphia. But Pew Research said that 90 percent of all Bernie Sanders supporters are migrating or making their way over to -- you're shaking your head ...
LEMON: I saw a lot of them today.
MCENANY: Well our CNN poll numbers ...
SELLERS: That's fine but -- I mean, I'm just -- I'm telling you the ...
MCENANY: Right, and I'm telling you the CNN poll numbers are very different than the Pew numbers.
SELLERS: That's fine. So -- but my only point is that what Barack Obama has been able to do, Barack Obama is still the most popular figure in the Democratic Party. He's still is the one to bring people together.
And my question to Republicans who are watching this versus last week is why can't we think America is great? Why can't we think that a gay man like Don Lemon can be in your television screen every night? Why can't I be from Denmark South Carolina, when we get suit up like ...
LEMON: With that crazy name, whatever your name is.
SELLERS: I'm a skinny guy with a funny name sitting here with you guys telling my opinion to the world. Why can't America or why can't we believe America is great? And so if you watched tonight versus last week, you can feel the difference.
Not only did we not step on our message in a very, very analytical way, but we actually showed that this country means something. But Joe Biden said it. Joe Biden said we don't lose. We don't come in second place. We own the finish line. That's what I'm stalking about.
MCENANY: No -- I mean, but the problem is that the President's message doesn't comport with the reality of many Americans. There's a reason 70 percent of the country feels that we're heading in the wrong direction.
Let's litigate the President's record. Look at premiums. His health care achievement, his gold standard, it's his baby. You look at premiums, Gallup says health care is among the top -- no, let me finish, please I listened for a minute.
LEMON: Go ahead, go ahead, finish, finish.
MCENANY: The premiums are among the top financial concerns for Americans. You look at wages. Wages says -- the "New York Times" says that Americans are making a substantial amount less in money. You look at poverty 5.8 million more Americans in poverty. You look at food stamps, 11.1 million more Americans on food stamps. We can go metric and biometric.
SELLERS: No, no, no and I get that. But the audacity of someone here who has insurance, right, to talk about all these other abstract things because he put 10 million, 14 million to be exact more Americans now have health insurance.
So you can sit here and you can dib and dab, but there are people now who will not go bankrupt when they have a heart attack. Wait a minute -- and we're -- Sorry, Angela, I reached across you. But we're also talking about the simple fact that people now have jobs.
The unemployment rate has gone down. People's 401ks have gone up. So we can litigate his message ...
RYE: Right.
SELLERS: But this is whole...
LEMON: Let ...
SELLER: ... this whole Obamacare thing it drives me crazy because what it is, is people in glass houses who have insurance want to talk about how bad the plan is.
RYE: Not only that, but premiums are going to go up anyway and they've gone up less and my premium went down and it stayed down. So either several ...
BAINART: The only -- when Republicans want to say that things are worst, what they really mean is they were better in the late 1990s under Bill Clinton. You cannot point to a period under a Republican president in which wages were higher, in which the economy was better and which more people had health care.
So, if you want to say that -- I think what Bill Clinton effectively said was, we are in the -- we are in the process of coming out of a recovery in the same way that we did in the 1990s. The difference is the financial crisis was much deeper than the recession of the 1990s.
It's taking us longer to get out but we are in a much, much better place by any objective measure than on the day that Barack Obama took office.
LEMON: Go ahead Mark.
PRESTON: But the reality is -- what Kayleigh is trying to say her is that people still are hurting, OK. And as we head into November, the reality is, is that Donald Trump still has a good shot of winning the presidency because there are folks in battleground states that we will be focusing on including where we are sitting right now here in Pennsylvania. Although like, bottom line, is Pennsylvania will very likely stay Democrat. But we got Ohio ...
LEMON: Michigan.
PRESTON: ... you know, Michigan. I mean, there are just states although Michigan is likely to stay Democrat. The fact of the matter is people are still hurting and that's why it's not cutting through for everybody.
RYE: But we got to talk about ...
LEMON: But here's a -- I want to find out the reality. Yes, people are hurting. People always hurt in America, right.
PRESTON: Right.
LEMON: No matter which president, no matter if we're in a Republican regime or a Democratic regime. People are always hurting, but is that the reality of it -- hang on -- or do people feel that way? Because you can feel that in a certain way but that may not surely be the reality.
RYE: There is a reality. And here is a very important point. There is only so much that we can lay at the feet of this president. Whether we're talking about the American jobs act that he introduced that included nine recommendations from the congressional black caucus. When I worked there, everything from infrastructure spending to unemployment insurance that was never touched, this Republican congress, both House and the Senate, would not consider it. They have to take responsibility for inaction.
LEMON: I have to get to a break and then we will discuss more on the other side. We're just getting started here at the CNN Grill.
[01:15:02] We haven't even taken a commercial break yet. We're going to eat some pretzels.
SELLERS: We need to get paid.
LEMON: We're going to get a hot dog, some french fries. Can we get a beer at least? I mean, my gosh, we're past the halfway mark here. Live from the CNN Grill which is rocking and ruckus tonight. Some big names here tonight here as well.
RYE: All right.
SELLERS: That's what they say.
LEMON: You can't even get in. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: And we are back at the rocking ruckus lit grill in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the Democratic National Convention. Welcome back, everyone. I hope you're enjoying our coverage.
President Barack Obama is saying, no one is more qualified. No one more qualified to be president than Hillary Clinton.
I want to bring in Congressman Brad Sherman of California, a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and, of course, my dream team is back with me, Political Commentator Peter Bainart, the contributor of "The Atlantic," Kayleigh McEnany, a Donald Trump supporter, Political Commentator Angela Rye and also Bakari Sellers, a Hillary Clinton supporter.
[01:20:06] Thank you, Congressman ...
REP. BRAD SHERMAN (D), CALIFORNIA: Good to be with you.
LEMON: ... for being with us. This was another big moment. I want you to listen and get your response to it. Here it is, watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: And most of all, I see Americans of every party, every background, every faith who believe that we are stronger together -- black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American; young, old; gay, straight, men, women, folks with disabilities, all pledging allegiance, under the same proud flag, to this big, bold country that we love.
That's what I see. That's the America I know. And there is only one candidate in this race who believes in that future, has devoted her life to that future, a mother and grandmother who would do anything to help our children thrive. A leader with real plans to break down barriers, blast through glass ceilings, and widen the circle of opportunity to every single American -- the next President of the United States, Hillary Clinton. (END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So, Congressman, what's your reaction? One of inclusion instead of exclusion.
SHERMAN: I think the president showed that the America of the future is consistent with the values of America of the best, that we can all embrace the America of the future. And I think he said it very well.
LEMON: What was your reaction tonight to the president's speech and then Hillary Clinton coming on stage?
SHERMAN: Well, the president's speech was inspirational. One of his best. The night and the day was just an outstanding one for our candidacy. We had a flawless day at the convention, an inspirational day. And then Donald Trump said something even stupider than he usually does with this request that the Russians get involved in our political process.
LEMON: Yeah. So, Peter, I want to -- you mentioned President Ronald Reagan, and then John Podhoretz, right, was the Reagan speech writer tweeted this tonight. He said, Take about five paragraphs out of that Obama speech and it could have been a Reagan speech. Trust me, I know. What do you think of that?
BEINART: Yeah. What I think Obama did was fascinating, as Congressman Sherman mentioned it. Donald Trump is pedalling nostalgia. He's pedalling nostalgia for people who think that America was -- you know, hit its high point in 1985 or 1935 and has been on the downhill ever since.
And Barack Obama was saying, we can honor the past, the -- my keens and ancestors and their values. But America doesn't -- we don't lose those just because a lot of Mexicans and Muslims come in, and because women and African-Americans get empowered. Those values are universal.
Just because we are the past doesn't mean that we lose it when those -- the demographic face of America changes. And that, I think, was in a way a very powerful response to Donald Trump, and it was a personal response. Because remember, Donald Trump questioned his Americanism. Question whether he was really an American.
He said I am the grandson of Kazan (ph). I have a black father and a Muslim name and I grew up in Indonesia, but I embody those same values.
LEMON: Yeah. Kayleigh, I want to get your reaction to this moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: ... Hillary's he's been in the room. She's been part of those decisions. She's -- she knows what's at stake in the decisions our government makes. What's at stake for the working family, for the senior citizen, for the small business owner, for the soldier, for the veteran? And even in the midst of crisis, she listens to people and she keeps her cool and she treats everybody with respect.
And no matter how daunting the odds, no matter how much people try to knock her down, she never, ever quits.
That is the Hillary I know. That's the Hillary I've come to admire. And that's why I can say with confidence there has never been a man or a woman, not me, not Bill, nobody more qualified than Hillary Clinton to serve as president of the United States of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So, Donald Trump has never been in the room. How does he convince voters that Secretary Clinton's experience isn't valuable?
MCENANY: Well, I wouldn't want Donald Trump to be in the room with people who've orchestrated this foreign policy. I mean, the facts speak for themselves.
This president called ISIS JV. He said Al-Qaeda is on the run and then ISIS grew to 48,000 strong and we have an ISIS terrorist attack every 84 hours.
Hillary Clinton called Bashar al-Assad, a reformer before he preceded to gassed his own people. And this administration over feel (ph) the destruction Syria and the rise of ISIS.
[01:25:02] I don't want Donald Trump in the room with these folks. I want someone with a different vision, with executive capacity and that's what Donald Trump has.
LEMON: And ...
RYE: So, I just think that it's important for us to acknowledge -- and I'll defer to you after this one point. Again, I'm going to continue to go back to Congress and, Congressman, I know you'll appreciate it. When the president requested military authorization to continue military force against ISIL, he was -- but asking forward since 2015, I think is important.
SHERMAN: The president's lawyers have said that the existing authorization, the use of force passed in 2001, gives him the authority to do everything he's doing.
RYE: Absolutely.
SHERMAN: And what we couldn't agree upon was a replacements. As a matter of fact, he did not ask for repeal and replace of that very broad resolution that we passed in 2001.
So, he's got the authorization. And ...
RYE: But can you go back to what you just said? You said, you couldn't agree on.
SHERMAN: Right. RYE: And before you came on set, my only point is that at every turn, he faced opposition and it's made it difficult to -- probably some of the most important ...
SELLERS: But just to kind of go just one step further and look at this from a 50,000 foot view -- I mean, I understand what Kayleigh was saying earlier, but that doesn't actually give credit to the president and the Secretary of State John Kerry and others because with every day we're bombing the hell out of ISIL. And every day ISIL is losing ground. We know that.
So even more importantly ...
SHERMAN: And keep in mind, we're not experiencing thousands of casualties every day.
LEMON: And most of our ...
SHERMAN: The way we did under George Bush.
(CROSSTALK)
SHERMAN: We're managing the problem without thousands of our uniformed men and women dying.
RYE: Yes.
SHERMAN: That matters.
BEINART: And by negotiating the Iran deal, we make -- we allow ourselves to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon without a third Middle East war.
So, Barack Obama, I think, will go down -- I know you were opposed to it but most Democrats support it. Barack Obama I think will go down like Dwight Eisenhower. A man, who at the height of the Cold War. When people were pushing him to get into Vietnam, when people were pushing into reckless intervention avoided doing so and will look back kindly on history.
LEMON: Hold on, Bakari. So I'll get the Congressman ...
SELLER: OK.
LEMON: Go ahead. Final words on this had subject that we've ...
SHERMAN: Final words on what.
LEMON: On this subject that we've been discussing.
SHERMAN: Look, we can't just put Donald in power and he'll just pound the table and ISIS will go away. Radical Islamic extremism is going to be with us for a while. It needs to be managed. It needs to be canned (ph). It needs to be driven down.
Even when you crush it, some of it comes out of your fingers. And in order to avoid putting ground troops in and losing thousands and creating more terrorists, you need a calm hand. That's what Hillary provides.
LEMON: Congressman, thank you very much. We'll going to get Congressman back. Everybody else stay with me. Much more -- Are you going to stay around? They're staying around. Much more to come live from the CNN Grill here in Philadelphia at the Democratic Convention. Don't go anywhere.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:31:25] LEMON: All right, everyone, welcome back to our coverage live from -- there is there's the President, Joint Base Andrews and Maryland arriving back at least close to D.C. tonight, getting off of Air Force One.
One of the last times, by the way, I mean, you know, he still got five more months that will do this but, you know, I remember the first time he got off of the plane when he took it from Chicago to D.C. And I happened to be anchoring and I just stopped and said you know what? There he is on Air Force One.
So one of the last times but any ways it was a very emotional night for many Democrats, a very emotional night for America, the President arriving back in Washington delivering a rousing speech here tonight Philadelphia to Democratic National Convention going on.
Back with me now, Congressman Brad Sherman of California and my political dream team. So a lot of people took on Donald Trump tonight Congressman including Michael Bloomberg, the man, Tim Kaine who is running for president of the United States and on and on.
Let's listen to Mike Bloomberg and I'll get your reaction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, FMR. NYC MAYOR: We must unite around the candidate who can defeat a dangerous demagogue. I believe it's the duty of all American citizens to make our voices heard by voting in this election. And if you're not yet registered to vote, go online and do it now. This is just too important to sit out.
Now, we've heard a lot of talk in this campaign about needing a leader who understands business. I couldn't agree more. I've built a business -- million-dollar check from my ...
Because of my success in the private sector, I had the chance to run America's largest city for 12 years, governing in the wake of its greatest tragedy. Today, as an independent, an entrepreneur, and a former mayor, I believe we need a president who is a problem-solver, not a bomb-thrower; someone who can bring members of Congress together, to get big things done. And I know Hillary can do that, because I saw it firsthand.
(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: So clearly part of the strategy tonight was to paint Donald Trump as someone who couldn't trust he was erratic, he didn't want his hands, you know, on the nuclear codes and on and on and on. What do you think of that?
SHERMAN: Well, I think Donald Trump helped us tremendously on that, I mean, obviously its part of our convention but for him to declare that he wants Putin to hack American e-mails and interfere in the American political system is just mind boggling. I mean, Mike Pence was so desperate. He came out and he said if Putin were to involve himself in our political race, he threatened Putin with consequences.
So you've got Trump inviting him to do something and Pence, the same one, saying, of course, we would take umbrage about a foreign hostile power trying to interfere with our election through burglary in this case cyber burglary.
LEMON: Yeah, I think it was Newt Gingrich of someone that, correct me if I'm wrong, who came out to that and I think Donald Trump is joking about this. And Donald Trump double down and said, you know if you have Hillary Clinton's 30,000 e-mails or whatever hack of them and bring them it to us. That was, in fact it's our -- I've just wonder ...
[01:35:01] SHERMAN: I do want to point out one other thing. When Richard Nixon wanted to rifle through the files of the DNC, he hired good American burglars.
BEINART: He outsoucing at him
SHERMAN: Donald Trump is outsourcing public and burglary jobs.
LEMON: Kayleigh.
SHERMAN: Russian hackers.
MCENANY: Yeah. Well, first of all, I'm not sure how you could engage in espionage of deleted e-mails that a server that's been wiped entirely cleaned by the former secretary of states. What Donald Trump was saying is that if Russia has these e-mails, in fact, they should hand them over to the FBI which I think we could all agree would be a good thing.
And for your saying that he's encouraging espionage, the only person who's enable espionage is the former secretary of state who put American secret and possibly American CIA lie and desperate conditions, she was irresponsible with national security information and it's horrific.
(CROSSTALK)
SELLERS: I mean, I've done this before, too. I've actually sometimes put myself in a pretzel trying to on defend a position. But what Donald Trump just did was look into the camera and invite Russia to hack the top diplomat of the United States of America. I mean, that's treasonous at best but even more importantly, what you saw tonight to relate this to this, but Congressman, I actually thought more concerning than that was saying he -- when he said today we were going to get rid of the Geneva Convention because it was outdated.
I mean, just some of the things he says, you know, just take you aback. But what you saw tonight is what Democrats are making it plain to see for Americans. Look, building Trump tower and determining the intensity of the lights spelled in your name is a lot different from sitting in the command center and saying we're going the take out Osama bin Laden.
So whatever you want to say about Barack Obama's Foreign Policy, Hillary Clinton's Foreign Policy, they've made real decisions. They just haven't bankrupted Atlantic City. Those are vastly different things that they've done in their lifetime record speak.
LEMON: Congressman, thank you so much, for joining us.
SHERMAN: Thanks for having me.
LEMON: Congressman Brad Sherman who is from California, a senior member of the House of Foreign Affairs Committee are giving us some very vital information with us. Thank you very much, everyone.
My dream team is going to stick around. The Congressman is going to step out. Stick with me we're going to have a lot more live from the CNN Grill here in Philadelphia. We're just getting started.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:40:43] LEMON: It is a big night here in Philadelphia at the Democratic National Convention. We're live from the CNN Grill. I want you guys to look at this.
This is Philadelphia is known for soft pretzels. You go to the any Wawa. Do you guys goes to Wawa.
BEINART: We love Wawa.
LEMON: Wawa is like 7-11, whatever.
BEINART: Right.
LEMON: Circle K. This is my favorite. I have eaten so many carbs. So for everybody because I've been running, right, and working out long.
BEINART: Deep in salt.
LEMON: For everybody who says I have lost so much weight, I put it all back on this week.
RYE: You are in so violation of this Michelle Obama's -- let's move on to that.
LEMON: In front row, pass it that way. One bite.
MCENANY: I'll have a bite. LEMON: I don't ...
BEINART: Kayleigh.
MCENANY: This is not ...
LEMON: I'm not double dipping. I'm flipping it over on the other side.
(CROSSTALK)
SELLERS: I have never done this on live T.V. before.
LEMON: You're good?
SELLERS: I'm good.
LEMON: All right. Well. Thank you. Thank you to the energy drink.
RYE: Oh, my god.
LEMON: So can we ...
RYE: So anyway ...
SELLERS: Do you want me to handle this, Don?
LEMON: Yeah. I'm going to work with you. I'm trying. Try, try. Try it. So now we want to take you back to the convention hall. I'm here, we have to work. Watch this. Watch this.
President Barack Obama calling on Americans to elect Hillary Clinton as his successor in the Oval Office, back now with my politic dream team. According to the President, Joe Biden -- that's according to Vice President Joe Biden, Trump simply does not have a clue about what it's like to be a middle class American. Look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Whatever he thinks, whatever he thinks and I mean this in the bottom of my heart. I know I'm called middle class Joe in Washington and that's not meant as a compliment. It means you're not sophisticated. But I know why we're strong. I know why we have held together. I know why we are united. It's because there's always been a growing middle class. This guy doesn't have a clue about the middle class. Not a clue. Because, folks, when the middle class does well, when the middle class does well, the rich do very well and the poor have hope. They have a way up. He has no clue about what makes America great. Actually, he has no clue, period.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So I was discussing this with some conservatives who happen to be here from another network who said they were watching ...
PRESTON: And what network would that be?
LEMON: I'm not saying, but with it's three letters like every other network. They were saying this speech could have been given by a conservative or a Republican.
PRESTON: Right, well look.
LEMON: And that was on purpose.
PRESTON: Look, tonight was very well scripted and very well produced and they were trying to deliver messages. Couple things about Joe bidden, Democratic Conventions were built for Joe Biden. Again, he got everyone off their seats, screaming, chanting, applauding but he was sending a message to the Democratic Party that we need to get behind Hillary Clinton and he was sending a message to white males in Middle America. And that's what Joe Biden probably OK. She's OK. And I'm with her and you need to be with her.
LEMON: Yeah. He said, listen, in Washington, they call me middle class Joe and that's not a compliment. But he takes it as a compliment. How do you think this went over with those that particular demographic up voter?
MCENANY: Well, the problem is, that was just one isolated speech. We saw the reaching out to middle class voters, the blue collar workers to be a recurrent theme throughout the Republican convention. From Donald Trump's son saying he stood there when workers were pouring concrete. All of Donald Trump's speech was entirely devoted to reaching out to these voters.
Biden's speech was a small portion of the electorate. And I think Democrats needs to be very leery here because there this -- this is a changed election. Something is going on in this country. Bernie Sanders started a revolution. Donald trump defied all odds and became the nominee because there is a lot of discontent among middle class and blue collar voters and this should be a consistent theme, not an isolated speech.
LEMON: Peter.
BEINART: You know I think Kayleigh is right. I mean, the difference between Mitt Romney and Donald Trump is Donald Trump is against free trade. He's again NAFTA, right.? That makes him a more formidable candidate among blue collar white voters than Mitt Romney was or the preview (ph) Republicans path.
Now, the Democrats may have more of an advantage with college educated women, let's say. But despite Joe Biden's best effort, the Democratic Party has been in free fall among non-college educated white men and I think it's unlikely that Hillary Clinton is going to be able stand ...
RYE: I just ...
[01:45:14] LEMON: I guess that it makes a difference so when she said it's coming from, you know, Donald Trump's sons that's coming from Mitt Romney. They're not middle class. Joe Biden is a middle class man. Does that make a difference, his appeal to the middle class?
RYE: Joe Biden brand literally as he said is Middle Class Joe. We're talking about when Senator Biden took the train in from Delaware every day.
LEMON: Is that enough?
RYE: It is enough when it is your brand, not when it is your speech. I agree with you for just resting -- just on tonight's speech, perhaps. But this man grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He shout it out every chance he gets. He talks about coal miners he talks about jobs that were ravaged by trade. He knows his space very, very well and is far more compelling than the same children who also talked about someone who was working for them and a housekeeper last week during the convention. So he's very compelling here.
MCENANY: But he's not the nominee and that's the problem. The nominee is someone who said, literally, I was dead broke upon leaving the White House. That's what Hillary Clinton said.
RYE: No but Don's talk about it Joe Biden ...
(CROSSTALK)
SELLERS: The irony in this whole thing is that somehow Donald Trump has fooled millions of Americans to believe that he is this blue collar billionaire. And the oxymoron and that is just, it's remarkable that he's actually been able to pull this thing off. I mean, Donald Trump started with a small, small loan from his father of a million dollars and that Cleveland sellers, I still need help paying my ...
LEMON: We'll be with right back on that note, we'll be right back.
(CROSSTALK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:50:36] LEMON: Back now live at the CNN Grill, look at the grill I'm so proud of the grill. You came in seriously people like can you get me the Grill too? With a hot chick. And how did you get near Erika Alexander?
ERIKA ALEXANDER, ACTRESS, ACTIVIST, COMIC BOOK WRITER: You have no idea.
LEMON: Actress and activist and a comic book writer last we showed you pretzels -- hold my beer.
ALEXANDER: You got it. Probably got it.
LEMON: Your good?
ALEXANDER: No I'm good.
LEMON: This is Bakari's ...
RYE: Take it back.
LEMON: It is. And I see you at the speak right convention. How did it feel being up there?
ALEXANDER: It was amazing actually. Everybody keep asking me if I was nervous and I had to say that I wasn't I think I have my eye on the prize which is November and frankly this is for us or for me nine years to get to this moment.
LEMON: Yeah.
ALEXANDER: I understand how Bernie supports feel because we had to face a certain defeat in 2008. Well, this moment though seems like just a path and I think we're just all pacing ourselves.
LEMON: Where people screaming "Michelle, Michelle" when you were up there?
ALEXANDER: Were they? They thought I was Michelle. Don, I wasn't Michelle. She did her thing though. I can understand it though.
LEMON: Yeah, but you were ...
ALEXANDER: She got better biceps.
LEMON: Were you a Hillary supporter before?
ALEXANDER: Yes in 2007.
LEMON: And it's like you're disappointed.
ALEXANDER: Early on.
LEMON: Yeah, and then you became a Barrack Obama supporter so you get over it. Right?
ALEXANDER: Well, you know what? I think you move on because you have to. I mean ...
LEMON: What would you say to the Bernie supporters?
ALEXANDER: Excuse me?
LEMON: What would you say to the Bernie supporters?
ALEXANDER: I'd say I understand where they're at. I understand that they're passionate and I understand that they view and they know that they have a revolution, but you're on a real revolution, and the White House put a woman there.
LEMON: Yeah.
ALEXANDER: This is part of the revolution. And she understands and she hears them and I hear them, we all hear them, we understand where they're at, they're not going to be forgotten, but we need to make sure that we're together to do the things that they want to do. LEMON: And the president even mentioned Bernie Sanders if you, you know, we all love voters to have the same passion as the Bernie supporters. And then he went on to say -- that he say "Feel the Bern", right?
BEINART: Right.
LEMON: Did he say that?
ALEXANDER: Absolutely.
LEMON: And I thought he was very gracious. So, did you happen to see to Tim Kaine, the guy who wants to be the vice president?
ALEXANDER: I saw him last night.
LEMON: All right. So let's listen to a little bit of him. And I want, you know, as your comedian what do you think?
(OFF-MIC)
LEMON: Of his performance here we go let's see.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TIM KAINE, (D-VA) VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: You know who don't trust? I wonder Donald Trump. Donald Trump. Trump is a guy who promises a lot, but you might have noticed, he's got a way of saying the same two words every time he makes his biggest, hugest promises. Believe me. It's going to be great.
Believe me. We're going to build a wall and make Mexico pay for it, believe me. We're going to destroy ISIS so fast believe me. There's nothing suspicious in my tax returns, believe me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: How did he do?
ALEXANDER: I thought he reminded me of Robert De Niro. It's perfect. Out of the park, he did it out of the park. If you would National Senator Kaine. He gets it all wrong by me. Act with her song with them.
LEMON: It's interesting like in the room it played like in the room he had a crowd. On televise -- look at Angela's face. On television the man (inaudible) and little bit different. I have also heard that women like the speech, found it more relatable than men. What do you guys think?
RYE: I feel like Don is calling me a man right now, because I just said this speech to me had is the data (ph) of the week, I'm sure that -- it is. I'm sure that Senator Kaine so far. I'm sure that Senator Kaine is going to be viable addition to the ticket.
I am anxious to see what that looks like. My former boss has a great relationship with him. He's then supportive as CBC member, he's a great guy. But he is not in order and so I just want to see what's he's other strength might be.
LEMON: Peter?
BEINART: Hillary Clinton didn't choose Tim Kaine because she thinks he's going to win the race for her, right? She chose him because I think she thinks he'll be a good part of his governing team.
The one thing he adds is his patent decency. I think ...
LEMON: Exactly.
BEINART: ... helps the narrative about the decency of Hillary Clinton.
ALEXANDER: Yeah.
BEINART: This is the guy who spent 17 years as an attorney, working on civil rights and people into that reflex well in her but no, in party of great arter (ph) he is not a arter (ph).
ALEXANDER: Yeah.
BEINART: He was kind of funny there for a little bit.
[01:55:00] ALEXANDER: Believe me.
BEINART: Not a great arter (ph).
LEMON: But I think he appeals to sort of, you know, just average Americans who can't get out there on the stage and kind of like, you know, he's a little bit ...
RYE: You know I can fail, let me tell you something ...
(CROSSTALK)
ALEXANDER: This isn't American idol.
BEINART: Right.
ALEXANDER: Into our leaders. So I think we need to put this in the right perspective. You see them as entertainers and they're not. They're out there doing their best and putting themselves forward and then talking about policy and maybe they don't present so well as orders or people that we might see in church and we know that too well in front of crowd. But I think what they are doing is as Peter said trying to make sure that they are part of what Hillary needs him to be. Because I think he is capable and he's smart, and he can do it.
LEMON: Why was it important before we go for people like you for actress, comedian, people need arts to what heard -- to hear your voice?
ALEXANDER: Because we have a voice, were citizens. The common I think that people forget that. I think if their greatest president or one of their greatest president, you know, Republican Ronald Reagan you have to remember that our voice maybe because of maybe they discount it because we are famous or a celebrity but we are just a citizen, we have family.
My family is here Philadelphia my two parents were orphan. I have a story to tell and I want to make sure that I use my platform the thing that you're using your platform to say what I need to say like Stevie Wonder would sing a song about something he wants to bring about. I have to use whatever I can, especially as a black woman to tell my story.
LEMON: And I think that was a very good point we forget Ronald Reagan was in the arts. He was an actor.
ALEXANDER: Absolutely, he's an actor.
LEMON: Or actors, many of them were coming out tonight, actors who are speaking out.
ALEXANDER: Absolutely.
LEMON: They're just celebrities and celebrities don't matter. One of the iconic Republican conservative president started ...
BEINART: And Donald Trump too, right.
LEMON: ... as an actor.
BEINART: Reality T.V. show.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Thank you and here is we're going to go out on this now. The President arriving back at the White House this evening just moments ago after giving a rousing speech at the Democratic National Convention and again our thanks to activist, actress, activist and comic book writer Erica Alexander.
There's the President, arriving on Marine One back at the White House moments ago.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
