Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Donald Trump Gives Speech on First 100 Days in Office if Elected; Trumps Speech at Virginia Beach Assessed; Polling Shows Close Presidential Race in Georgia; Chelsea Handler Interviewed About Politics; Cubs One Win Away from Playoff Victory. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired October 22, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:32] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, hello again. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We are awaiting the arrival of Donald Trump at a rally Trump in Virginia Beach. These are live pictures right now as the crowd awaits the Republican presidential candidate. Earlier Donald Trump laid out what was billed as his closing argument to the American people, and that taking place at a speech in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Trump used the earlier part to lash out at his political opponents and the media and women who have accused him of and the media. He also repeated his claims that the system is rigged against him, and vowed to, quote, "drain the swamp in Washington if elected." Trump then transitioned to outlining what his first 100 days would look like if elected. The topics ranging from campaign finance to trade and immigration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: On the same day, I will begin taking and really taking strongly seven actions to protect American workers. First, I will announce my intention to totally renegotiate NAFTA, one of the worst deals our country has ever made, signed by Bill Clinton.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Second, I will announce our withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Third, I will direct my secretary of the treasury to label China a currency manipulator. Fourth, I will direct to the secretary of commerce and U.S. trade representative to identify all foreign trading abuses that unfairly impact American workers and direct them to use every tool under American and international law to end those abuses immediately.

(APPLAUSE)

Fifth, very importantly, I will lift the restrictions on the production of $50 trillion dollars worth of job-producing American energy reserves.

(APPLAUSE) TRUMP: Sixth, I will lift the Obama-Clinton roadblocks that allow for this vital energy infrastructure projects to go forward. We're going to cancel billions in payments to the United Nations climate change programs and use the money to fix America's water and environmental infrastructure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, soon to Virginia Beach there where we find our Jim Acosta. And so Jim, is the expectation that Donald Trump will reiterate much of what was heard there in Gettysburg, or will he simply shift gears and return to more of that rally kind of environment?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We'll, Fredricka, I think we're going to hear more about Donald Trump's contract that he rolled out in that speech in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It was basically laying out, as you said, what he plans to do in his first 100 days in office. He talked about his call to drain the swamp in Washington D.C. That has been a popular theme for him out on the campaign trail. It's one that has energized a lot of his crowds in this late stage of the campaign.

But it is worth repeating what we were saying earlier this afternoon, and that is Donald Trump is very much going after these accusers, these women who were accusing him of sexual assault at that speech in Gettysburg. He said he will sue all of them after the election is over. He also vowed during that legal process to investigate whether or not the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee were also involved.

He also teed off on the news media and vowed if he's elected president to block any potential merger between AT&T and Time Warner. AT&T purchasing and acquiring Time Warner. That is very interesting as well. But it also sort of fits into what we've been hearing from Donald Trump over the last couple weeks, a darker, angrier, more negative tone from the GOP nominee.

We should point out, though, Fredricka, there were a couple of new policy proposals in that speech in Gettysburg. On the subject of illegal immigration he proposed a new mandatory minimum sentencing requirement for undocumented immigrants who are caught in this country after they've already been deported from the U.S. before. That is something we had not seen before. And he also talked about wanting to repeal all of the president's executive actions and so forth if he's elected president.

[14:05:00] So there were some interesting and new policy proposals in that speech. And my guess is, Fredricka, when he comes out here later on this afternoon here at Pat Robertson's university, televangelist Pat Robertson started this university here in the tidewater of Virginia, we're hear more of that from Donald Trump later on this afternoon, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jim Acosta, thank you so much. We'll check back with you. So as Jim was underscoring one of the most noteworthy additions to Trump's policies revealed today, he announced that he would enforce mandatory prison sentences for people who violated Trump's, quote, illegal immigration act.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It establishes a two-year mandatory minimum federal prison sentence for people coming illegally, for illegally reentering the United States after a previous deportation, and a five-year mandatory minimum for illegally reentering for those with felony convictions, multiple misdemeanor convictions, or two or more prior deportations. So when somebody comes in, we send them out. They come back in, they go to prison for quite a while. They come back again, they go five years, because what's happening is their coming back 10 times. And I could go case after case. They come back. Look at what happened in San Francisco. Five times he came back, on the fifth time he killed Kate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, joining me right now are CNN commentator Alice Stewart and Doug Heye, and CNN global economic analyst Rana Foroohar. All right, good to see all of you.

So Alice, let me begin with you, because he spelled out these things that he wants particularly on that immigration police, but he didn't mention anything about Congressional approval. Is it your feeling as he lays out these ideas it's with the intention of using of executive order?

ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Clearly on something as big as that that is so important, I think he understands that he will have to go through Congress and get bipartisan buy-in on something like that. I think some of the key points that he also made that were very strong that needed to be made, what he needs to do more than anything is appeal to a broader electorate as opposed to the base that I think has solidified is when he talked in the beginning about draining the swamp in Washington and really focusing on term limits for members of Congress as well as reducing federal regulations and putting some restrictions on those who go from government to lobbying. And then also when he made the points about security with the government, and that includes cancelling the unconstitutional executive actions that President Obama has imposed and a replacement for Justice Scalia and doing away with federal funding for sanctuary cities. These are all key points that I think a lot of people want to hear. Ideally it would have been done quite some time ago, but I think this was a positive speech.

WHITFIELD: And so Doug, do you believe that Donald Trump, while he talks about repealing or canceling these executive orders, is it his view that he might also use a similar kind of privilege when trying to get some of these things through?

DOUG HEYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think we know that Donald Trump will do that as much as he can to get the agenda that he would like in place. And I agree with Alice. These were good points that Donald Trump made, and I agree with Alice he should have made these a long time ago. We're at the closing phase of the campaign right now. It's too late to be doing these things. Welcome though that they are to Republican base and I think a broader coalition of voters as well.

The problem is, as we see with every speech that Donald Trump makes, whether he makes good points, whether he lays out 10 points of how he'll do in his first 100 days, it's always marred by ugly and unnecessary rhetoric from him. Basically the takeaway from this speech was he has some policy proposals and he's going to sue the lying women. And that's what people are going to remember more, his attack on people who have accused him of sexual assault. That's not what he wants to do.

WHITFIELD: So Rana, perhaps what Donald Trump wants the headline to be is that, what, he'd be creating 25 million jobs in a decade and that the middle would be enjoying a 35 percent tax cut and that the tax brackets would go from seven to three. Are those items going to resonate because they are realistic or are these pipe dreams?

RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMY ANALYST: Pipe dreams. It's completely magical thinking. The idea that he's going to take the economic growth in this country from its current two percent to four percent is really fantastical. His main policy proposals are tax cuts and trickle-down economics, which frankly in the last 20 years there has been no evidence that tax cuts have produced growth for either a Republican or a Democratic administration, so this has been a bipartisan thing. We just know that for the last 20 years this idea of tax cutting your way to growth has not worked. What we really need is investment.

He's focusing a lot of trade as well, but he's talking about slapping tariffs on countries. There are a lot of people that are very worried at this particular point when the global economy is so week that the last thing we need is a trade war.

[14:10:08] What we need is investment at home. And by the way, on the issue of migrants, I think it's important to say that one of the reasons that the U.S. is growing more strongly than a number of other countries including those in Europe is that we have more immigration. Immigration is a good thing for growth. So that also disturbed me from an economic standpoint when he has this rhetoric around migrants.

WHITFIELD: And so, Alice, why Gettysburg? I think everybody understands the symbolism, but when you listened to the verbiage, the speech of Donald Trump, and while he borrowed the government of by the people and for the people, much of his speech was less about unifying but quite the opposite?

STEWART: I think clearly there was the symbolic nature of having it at Gettysburg and reinforcing his commitment to bringing about honesty and accountability in Washington. And I think that was the takeaway that they had hoped to get.

But unfortunately I do happen to agree with Doug with the fact that he stepped on his own message when he brought in the discussion about calling the women liars and saying that he is going to sue them. But I think that the idea, certainly also having it in smaller venue, his tone was a little bit more subdued than normal. The idea was to convey a more presidential look and feel, and I think in terms of that I think they were successful.

WHITFIELD: And Doug, subdued, but tinged with threat especially as it pertains to the women, I'm going to sue them, not now, but later.

HEYE: How we define subdued for Donald Trump is probably not how we define it for other people.

But I'd say to your question about why Gettysburg. I'd ask the question, why Virginia Beach? Virginia is over. Early voting in Northern Virginia, a Democratic stronghold, is up 60 percent. Donald Trump is not going to win Virginia. He needs to be in North Carolina, he needs to be in Pennsylvania, he needs to be in Ohio. If he doesn't win those three states, I'm from North Carolina and I think he is going to lose it. It is over. He needs to be in North Carolina campaigning hard. He needs to be in Ohio and Pennsylvania, as he was today, going to places like Virginia and these other out-of-topic states really seems to be a strategic mistake by the Trump campaign that makes a lot of them.

WHITFIELD: All right, Doug Heye, Rana Foroohar, Alice Stewart, thanks to all of you. I appreciate it.

STEWART: Thanks, Fred.

FOROOHAR: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, still ahead, a multibillion dollar merger between AT&T and Time Warner may be hours away. CNN's Brian Stelter is following these developments for us.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes, indeed, CNN, HBO, Warner Brothers, they could all have a new owner. We'll have the latest reporting right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. It could be one of the biggest deals in media history. AT&T reportedly in talks to buy Time Warner, parent company of CNN. Shares of Time Warner stocks soared nearly eight percent yesterday on word of the possible deal, which would be the latest joining of media and tech giants. But what would it all mean? CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter joins us to talk about this. So what could this potentially mean? What would AT&T want from Time Warner and vice versa?

STELTER: Right now, AT&T, I'm holding up my AT&T phone here, think about what AT&T has. It has millions and millions of homes that it provides wireless customers to. But what it doesn't have is content, programming. What AT&T doesn't own are the things you want on your phone. And that's what could change through this deal. An announcement is hours away from AT&T and Time Warner. The boards of the two companies are currently meeting, voting on this proposed deal according to "The Wall Street Journal's" reporting this afternoon.

This deal would be an $80 billion plus merger bringing Time Warner into the AT&T fold. And what does AT&T get? They get CNN, HBO, the Warner Brothers movie studio, and a number of cable channels owned by Time Warner like TNT, TBS, and the Cartoon Network. They would all be folded into AT&T. But it would take a while to get approval. If this deal is announced then government regulators would take a very close look at it. And it would take over a year before it would actually happen.

WHITFIELD: Are there other challenges?

STELTER: I think the regulatory challenge is number one. And then number two, always think about corporate culture.

But what this is not is a horizontal merger. What a horizontal merger means is I have a news division and you have a news division. We come together, we squeeze them together, then we lay people off and we go on together. What this is instead is a vertical merger, meaning AT&T has distribution and Time Warner has programming. And those two things are coming together much like the Comcast/NBC Universal merger about five years ago.

WHITFIELD: All right, Brian Stelter, keep us posted, thank you so much. And of course you can watch Brian's show, "Reliable Sources" tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. eastern time right here on CNN.

All right, in a state that has been deeply red for two decades, we find a dead heat now between Clinton and Trump. Up next, how Georgia came into play.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:21:43] WHITFIELD: All right, with fewer than 17 days now to go until election day, and voters in Georgia are already casting their ballots. And Hillary Clinton is hoping to pull out a win in a state that has voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1996. An "Atlanta Journal Constitution" poll shows Donald Trump is just two points ahead among likely Georgia voters. CNN correspondent Nick Valencia has details on how the tide may be turning among some conservative voters in this state.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is certainly turning. It is going potentially from a red state to a purple state. A lot of Democratic voters are moving in. That's part of the reason more residents are voting Democratic. But it also has something to do with the current presidential candidate, Donald Trump. Many Republicans that we've spoken to just can't bring themselves to vote for the candidate. The Mosqueda family which you are about to meet is one of them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: It is Friday at the Mosqueda household. The sun hasn't even come up and they are talking about their future. Alberto and his wife, Keisha, moved from Virginia to Georgia about two years ago. This will be their first presidential election as state residents. And it is people like them that are changing the historically red state to purple. Mosqueda is a conservative. He didn't vote for President Barack Obama in 2008 or 2012, nor does he really support Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton. But he says he is voting for her anyway.

ALBERTO MOSQUEDA, HUSBAND: If it wasn't for the candidate running now, I probably would have voted for that other candidate rather than him.

VALENCIA: You would have voted Republican?

ALBERTO MOSQUEDA: More than likely.

VALENCIA: What is it about her it is hard for you to totally accept her?

ALBERTO MOSQUEDA: The e-mails, the Benghazi stuff. Being a military guy, you take all that into account, Benghazi, essentially the e-mails and security, and all that. They are just direct breaches and direct violations of what they teach you even as a lower enlisted guy in the military.

KEISHA MOSQUEDA, WIFE: Try it. It is good.

ALBERTO MOSQUEDA: You smell it.

VALENCIA: The Mosqueda's are a house divided. While husband Alberto usually votes Republican and relies on his Christian values, he says he can't bear to vote for Trump, especially after what he said about Latinos. He wife Keisha has always voted Democrat. Her vote, she says, is guided by what she wants the future to look like for her five-year-old son, Solomon.

KEISHA MOSQUEDA: I am very concerned about him in the future. A minority male, that's something that's just always on my mind.

VALENCIA: Solomon might not yet understand the importance of his parents or the effect their votes could have in Georgia. But he knows this much.

KEISHA MOSQUEDA: Which color are you voting for?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Blue.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: A lot of people may be ear-old Solomon there. They might vote blue this upcoming election. That might change the demographics entirely in the state of Georgia. I talked to the Mosquedas a little bit off camera as well, and they are telling me that immigration reform is a big thing for them, the ongoing tension between the United States and Russia as well as repealing Obamacare. WHITFIELD: Is there a feeling there have been a lot of conflicted

families or at least conversations that have evolved into crossing party lines?

VALENCIA: Trump has made it difficult for a lot of Republicans. In these conversations, especially within the Latino community, I have had a lot of them. I have a lot of Latino friends and a lot of Republican friends. They say it is very difficult for them to get behind a candidate with the semantics that he's used throughout the course of the election.

[14:25:03] A lot of them, though, are choosing not to vote. We found that Alberto Mosqueda, who is going to reluctantly vote for Hillary Clinton, his wife wishes he was a little more passionate about it. But a lot of people, a lot of Republicans, they just can't seem to get behind Trump.

A lot of the analysts say, though, Fred, it might take a miracle for Hillary Clinton to win this state. Right now they are in a statistical dead heat but it has been since the'90s the last time they voted for a presidential candidate that was a Democrat here in this state.

WHITFIELD: All right, that so much, Nick Valencia, appreciate it.

Still ahead, will Donald Trump's 100 day plan be enough to energize voters before November 8th? With a shrinking battleground map, Hillary Clinton is seizing on states which typically do vote Republican.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Live pictures right now there in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where at any moment Donald Trump will be speaking to voters there following his announcement of a list of things he hopes to accomplish in his first 100 days. They did that while in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Next stop now, Virginia Beach. And on that list, Donald Trump said he would cancel Obama's executive actions, and he would also defund all U.N. climate change initiatives. And he would make Mexico reimburse the U.S. for his wall.

Donald Trump also talked about the country being at a critical fork in the road.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We now find ourselves at that very special fork in the road. Do we repeat the mistakes of the past or do we choose to believe that great future yet unwritten still lies ahead for us and for our wonderful, beloved country. I think it does. I know it does.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: According to the latest swing state polls, Hillary Clinton is ahead, putting more distance between herself and Donald Trump.

[14:30:01] And if you look at the new CNN electoral map, several states are now in play that have not been in decades, including Utah, Arizona, Texas, and Georgia.

I want to bring back Alice Stewart and Doug Heye. So, Doug, I know your sentiment. You say, why Donald Trump, Virginia, because it doesn't appear as though he will be able to pull that state off. But then, Alice, one has to wonder. Republicans have been able to count on Georgia, and now it appears as though Hillary Clinton is helping to turn that state more purple than red. What's going on here in your view?

STEWART: Well, Georgia is my home state. And I know the Republican party is very strong and hopefully the Republicans will come out and support Donald Trump. But what I think we are seeing is Hillary's ground game is strong, and that's really working effectively for her to get the folks out.

But what we are seeing in this last final stretch, I think speeches like today, pushing out a message that appeals not just to the base of Donald Trump supporters but to the broader electorate that he needs in the general election, these messages that he gave today will go a long way to helping that.

And while he is down in the polls, the fact that he is doing three and four and five event a day is going to help pick away at some of the poll numbers that he is not doing well in some of these states. So I think their strategy is to blanket the air waves and the ground in many of these states that they think are still within reach. And he is certainly not going to leave anything on the table.

WHITFIELD: And so Doug, Donald Trump is polling extremely well among evangelicals, particularly in North Carolina. You already mentioned moments ago that he ought to be there campaigning in North Carolina to perhaps win additional support. But instead he might be appealing to evangelicals right there at Virginia Beach at that college campus where he will be today.

HEYE: He certainly may be. The challenge for him is that Virginia seems to be a lost cause at this point. Early voting in northern Virginia, which is very heavily Democratic, is up 63 percent so far. And the rest of the state is down 0.4 percent. That's not a good recipe for Republicans. And its' why so many people like myself aren't looking at Donald Trump anymore. We are looking at those Senate races and House races. Richard Burr, my old boss from my home state of North Carolina, Barbara Comstock in Virginia, great members who need support. They need the ground game that we see there's a total lack of absence by any ground came in North Carolina by the Trump team and Virginia as well. That's why so many Republicans are trying to shore those Republican House and Senate candidates up because they believe Donald Trump is going to lose, in part because Donald Trump talks about losing all the time. Any time he says the system is rigged, he means it is rigged against him because he thinks he is going to lose. WHITFIELD: Alice, is that what you hear when he says that, when he

talks about a system being rigged, that he really is setting the stage to accept or he's sending a message that he might be losing?

STEWART: You have to go back in history to the primaries where he was doing well throughout the primary. And then when Ted Cruz beat him in Colorado, that's when he started saying the system is rigged. So yes, he does have a pattern of saying when things aren't going his way that things are rigged or the media is biased, even though throughout the primary, he had quite a bit of media going his way.

But clearly there is not a great feeling amongst those in the Trump world or we wouldn't be hearing about the rigged system and the biased media and the dishonest people in the media. But at the same time I think their strategy moving forward to campaign and work hard and change the message a little bit to appeal to the broader electorate, they are clearly going to work extremely hard to carry across the finish line and do as best as they can. But the poll numbers clearly are not looking that great.

WHITFIELD: Alice Stewart, Doug Heye, good to see both of you. Thanks so much.

HEYE: Thank you.

STEWART: Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Hillary Clinton has garnered the support of many Hollywood heavyweights, but perhaps none as candid as Chelsea Handler. Up next, CNN's Poppy Harlow brings us her sit-down with the comedian.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tim Kaine?

CHELSEA HANDLER: Boring. That's fine. I don't have to be in love with Tim Kaine.

HARLOW: Mike Pence?

HANDLER: Loser. He should be sent to Utah and locked up in a little barn there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:38:00] WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. So this year's election has become the butt of many jokes and given plenty of ammunition for late night talk shows and sketch comedy. Poppy Harlow recently got to experience this humor firsthand and she joins us with more on this. Hey, Poppy.

HARLOW: Hey, Fred. It is nice in the middle of this election season to do something a little fun, right, a little comical. I had a chance this week at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in California to sit down with the one, the only Chelsea Handler, hysterical. She is the host obviously of her own Netflix show "Chelsea."

But what was really interesting to me, Fred, is you will see the lapse in a moment. But she is also very serious about this election. She is a huge Hillary Clinton supporter, and she has interviewed a lot of politicians on her show, like Senator Barbara Boxer and a number of others. And she not only is a big Clinton supporter, she told me that even if Donald Trump would come on her show, she would not have him on, Fred. I thought that was very interesting. I said, why not, you could ask him anything. And she said, no, I find it irresponsible. She called it a ratings play. She said she wouldn't have him on. So you will see more of that on my show tonight at 7:00.

But let's have a little fun. Let's do a little rapid fire with Chelsea Handler.

WHITFIELD: OK.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Word association, rapid fire. Full disclosure, I'm stealing this from "Politico." Saturday Night Live, SNL.

HANDLER: Donald Trump.

HARLOW: President Obama.

HANDLER: Michelle.

HARLOW: Michelle Obama.

HANDLER: Lunches.

HARLOW: What?

HANDLER: Like the healthy food thing.

HARLOW: Do you want to try that again? There could be a better one.

(LAUGHTER)

HANDLER: Arms.

HARLOW: Donald Trump?

HANDLER: Icky.

HARLOW: Hillary Clinton?

HANDLER: Badass.

HARLOW: Bernie Sanders?

HANDLER: Hairy.

HARLOW: Like his hair?

HANDLER: That's what hair is, hairy. Hair, usually a reference.

HARLOW: Like on his head, or his arm hair?

(LAUGHTER)

HANDLER: Everywhere it's coming out.

HARLOW: The pay gap.

HANDLER: Unjust.

HARLOW: Tim Kaine.

HANDLER: Boring.

(LAUGHTER)

HANDLER: I don't have to be in love with Tim Kaine.

HARLOW: Mike Pence?

HANDLER: Loser. He should be sent to Utah and locked up in a little barn there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Oh, my. OK, Well, curt, and she is known to be that. So what else did you talk about in terms of full sentences.

HARLOW: Right, the not rapid fire part of the interview, that's a good point. We talked a lot of about politics. You will see that coming up. I also asked her about some of the controversy over late night, whether Jimmy Fallon deserved to be skewered by critics for playing with Donald Trump's hair and making it a more light hearted interview. She answers that question. And we dove into, frankly, the page gap in Hollywood because it is so horrifying that it still exists across sexes including Hollywood as we saw play out with Jennifer Lawrence. So I asked her, has it happened to her. She weighs in on that first-hand.

WHITFIELD: Not just a problem in Hollywood.

HARLOW: Across the board.

WHITFIELD: Across the board. Thank you so much, Poppy. Look forward to that conversation with Chelsea Handler tonight 7:00 eastern time.

One constant in Trump's speech reversing much of what President Obama has done. More on Trump's plan to walk back Obama's policies next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I will lift the Obama/Clinton roadblocks that allow for this vital energy infrastructure projects to go forward. We have roadblocks like you have never, ever seen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:45:24] WHITFIELD: All right, Donald Trump promises to dismantle much of President Obama's policies if elected. In a speech earlier today in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Trump proposed numerous bills, measures, and actions he would work to pass in his first 100 days in office. Many target Obama's signature policies, such as Obamacare, repealing that, Obama's executive orders, getting rid of most of those, trade and even climate change.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We are going to cancel payments to the United Nations climate change program and use the money to fix America's water and environmental infrastructure.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: We are paying billions and billions and billions of dollars. We are going to fix our own environment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Let's talk about this with our panel of CNN political commentators and Republican strategists back with us, Alice Stewart and Doug Heye, who was also a former communications director for the RNC. All right, so Doug, let me begin with you and get your reaction to Trump's vow to cancel billions of dollars to the United Nations climate change programs and instead using money to fix America's environmental infrastructure. What did that mean to you exactly?

HEYE: Well, to me it meant there are a lot of things he could repeal and change that Barack Obama has done that I would probably applaud and support. But I think it is also a little off topic for Donald Trump. What I mean by that is he is focusing his rhetoric today on Barack Obama, who is not on the ballot, who also happens to be at 54 percent approval rating, which is really high. I think it would be better for Donald Trump to focus on Hillary Clinton, who is not popular throughout the country, who is on the ballot against him, and to hone in on what Hillary Clinton has done and will do and how he would do a better job than that.

I'd also say Donald Trump has lashed out a little bit at Michelle Obama, who is probably the only person in America with an almost universal popularity rating among independent voters. Attacking for Michelle Obama is not a strategy for success.

WHITFIELD: Alice, so what is behind that strategy?

STEWART: Well, clearly he might have been a little more successful if he had tied Hillary Clinton a little more closely with Barack Obama in a lot of this. But certainly one of the key takeaways from some of the Obama/Clinton administration policies that he is looking at, a lot of them had to do with immigration and talking about ending funding to sanctuary cities and also suspending immigration from terror-prone areas as well as also deporting or getting rid of the criminal illegal aliens in this country. And I think that is a key focus of some of the Obama/Clinton policies that he is looking at changing as well as repealing and replacing Obamacare.

WHITFIELD: And on that note of repealing and replacing Obamacare, I think most people understand what he means by repealing it. But then he didn't give in detail what it would be replaced by.

STEWART: Sure. And that's something that's been a sticking point for quite some time.

WHITFIELD: Why wouldn't he do that today? This is supposed to be the big reveal of more detail in his first 100 days.

STEWART: That's a great question. Clearly there were so many was trying to hit on toy that he didn't get into specifics on any of them. Hopefully over the next 16, 17 days, he will flush them out a little bit. But it was so broad-based on so many different areas, I see as a way to appeal, not just to the base, which I think he already has. That cement is dry. That cake is baked. But what he has needed to do for quite some time is appeal to a more broader electorate. And I think in outlining many of these proposals he did today in the 100-day plan, I think it was successful. Ideally, it would have been done several months ago to give it more time for people to absorb it. But I think it was a good start.

WHITFIELD: So Doug, do you think he appealed to a broader electorate today with this rollout?

HEYE: I don't think so because, ultimately, when Donald Trump speaks, he can talk about policy a little bit. He obviously doesn't talk a lot. As we've seen, in a year he hasn't had many policy specifics on anything. But what it always gets marched with, Donald Trump going off topic on something. So a lot of what people will see is Donald Trump threatening to sue, quote-unquote, "those lying women" after the elections. That's what they will see. They are not going to see any policy details from Donald Trump.

WHITFIELD: And so, Alice, by talking about the lawsuits that he would impose but it would come after Election Day, is that another indicator in your view of what he thinks the potential outcome is for Election Day?

[14:50:12] STEWART: Well, he could also take legal action if he were to be president of the United States as well. But to Doug's point --

WHITFIELD: Would he really, though, potentially given the whole discovery phase -- if the discovery phase is what has, I guess, persuaded him against filing such a suit before Election Day, then if you are elected president, would you want that same kind of stuff out there?

STEWART: No, but I don't recommend it as he being a private citizen either. I think he stepped on the entire message of his 100-day plan by, again, calling these women liars and threatening to take legal action, and then also furthering the talk of a rigged system in a dishonest media.

I think the first 10 minutes of his speech stepped on the entire message of what he was trying to go for. And unfortunately I think lot of media coverage tomorrow and the rest of today is going to be focused on the negative parts of the speech as opposed to what I saw as positive.

WHITFIELD: And so, Doug, when you look at the structure of his speech, it was, again, it was scripted. You could tell he was going off the prompter because he always delivers a little differently than if everything was kind of extemporaneous. But he is not likely the one who crafted that speech, do you believe? What was the mission behind having it kind of top-heavy with his sentiments about the conspiracy theories and then going after the women who accused him of sexual misconduct, and then buried behind that would be the big rollout of his 100 days or even the first day if in office?

HEYE: I think it is hard to sometimes delineate what a real strategy from Donald Trump is or that it is a proactively bad strategy. These are things that he doesn't want to be talking about if he really wants to win. It's why a lot of people have questioned whether or not he really wants to win because he continues.

And we are not talking out for weeks now. We are talking about for well over a year. He continues to always talk about these things that are off topic, that are off-putting for women or people of color, and also have the effect of blocking bad news for Hillary Clinton. Whenever there has been a bad news for Hillary Clinton, the Clinton campaign has been able to bank on Donald Trump essentially having her back and blocking that bad coverage.

WHITFIELD: Doug, Alice, good to see both of you. Thank you so much.

HEYE: Thank you.

STEWART: Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, meantime, we are awaiting the word of Donald Trump, again, this time out of Virginia Beach, Virginia. The candidates crisscrossing battleground America today and a final push for undecided voters. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:56:35] WHITFIELD: All right, 71 years is a long time to wait for anything. The Chicago cubs have a chance to get back to the World Series tonight for the first time since 1945. But they have to beat one of the best pitchers in baseball. CNN's Coy Wire is live for us on the campus of Stanford University, his alma matter. I know it feels great to be back, and they are so happy to see you.

COY WIRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I am so happy to see them. I haven't been here for probably over a decade. It's Stanford's homecoming against Colorado. So I'm a little bit excited, almost as excited as the fans in Chicago. Game six tonight of the NLCS between the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Dodgers. My goodness, Chicago just one win away from making it back to the World Series. And they haven't won it since 1908. They lead this series three to two. They are playing on their home field. But the Dodgers, they want the cubbies to stay hibernating. Three time Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw taking the mound. He'll be throwing that heat. In game two of the series he shut the Cubbies out for seven innings. So game six tonight at 8:00 eastern, it is going to be must-see TV.

Also must-see TV, college football, probably the biggest game of the weekend. Number one, Alabama, hosting number six Texas A&M, both teams undefeated, but not for long. Bama, a double digit favorite because this is their third ranked opponent that they have played in a row, but the last two, they have annihilated them. The Aggies have a nice run game but we'll see if it's going to be enough. It is in Tuscaloosa. The tide is rising.

Finally, yes, it is football game day here at my alma mater, Stanford University, but one thing I loved about being an athlete here, Fredricka, was you were motivated by athletes from all sports. For 22 consecutive years, Stanford has won the director's cup given to the nation's top overall sports program. And the cardinals won more medals at this summer's Rio Olympic Games than any other university. One of those medal winners, our difference maker of the day, Maya DiRado. I got go catch up with her after winning two gold medals at just 23 years old. Maya has a major life change happening right now, hanging up those goggles to work as a consultant in the business world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYA DIRADO: I'm going from the top of my field in swimming to the very bottom starting out in my new job. But I think it's all about the challenge and it's all about learning new things and stretching yours. And instead of thinking I'm bad at this, that makes me, you know, may incompetent, it's just an opportunity to get better and develop new skills.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: You can check out the entire interview, "Difference Makers" with Maya DiRado on CNN.com. I also tweeted out a link if you want to check it out. She talks about goal setting and top secrets to success. Fredricka, success for today is get in there and cheer real loud. Nerd nation is ready to rock.

WHITFIELD: That's so cute.

WIRE: I believe you are a bit nerdy at heart. It is going to be a great day here.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: I love it. Just for nostalgia's sake, I have to see your pictures one more time, number 22 as a running back and linebacker, wow, at Stanford. And you too could have your own little link of lessons of success, keys to success, Coy Wire.

WIRE: Thank you so much.

WHITFIELD: Thank you for sharing those memories and those picture, and of course a great view of the world of both baseball and football today. Thanks so much, Coy.

All right, we have so much more straight ahead in the Newsroom. Thanks for being with me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. My colleague Poppy Harlow up next.