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Clinton Speaks Live in Pittsburgh; Trump: The Rules Are Rigged in the U.S.; Trump Lays Out Plans For The Economy; George H.W. Bush Letter to Bill Clinton Goes Viral; Is Presidential Campaign Affecting Mental Health?; How Late-Night Comedy is Juggling Presidential Race. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired October 22, 2016 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:00:28] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everyone. Top of the hour. I'm Poppy Harlow.
You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM 5:00 p.m. Eastern and we're talking politics. What else, right? Seventeen days out. And counting until we elect our next president. And the candidates and their camps are sprinting across the major battleground state states right now. This hour, Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine will take the stage in Pittsburgh. The former President Bill Clinton also stumping for Hillary Clinton in Florida. And you will hear from the Democratic nominee live.
Trump also for his part just wrapping up his rally in Virginia. His second event of the day after that address. His major speech this morning in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Republican presidential candidate using the place for Abraham Lincoln once spoke of unity to declare that the election is rigged against him, that the media can't be trusted. And he addressed his accusers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Every woman lied when they came forward to hurt my campaign. Total fabrication. The events never happened. Never. All of these liars will be sued after the election is over.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: After 15 minutes of airing his grievances, Trump went on to outline a list of what he would do, what he would accomplish as president in his first 100 days in office. It covered everything from term limits to trade to immigration reform and jobs.
Our CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta is live in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Trump just wrapped up the second amend of the day. We heard the beginning of it. We took it live here on CNN, Jim, and he sort of drill right into the policies. Did he stay on message more in this address than he did in Gettysburg this morning? JIM ACOSTA, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Actually he did, Poppy.
He hit on the some of the same things that he hit earlier today when he was in Gettysburg delivering that speech, talking about what he would to in his first 100 days in office and basically, you know, what Donald Trump is centering on for his message for these last couple of weeks of this campaign is draining the swamp. He's hitting that message time and again out on the campaign trail.
He'll do that again later on this evening in Ohio. You can probably hear that he has some of this supporters standing here behind me right now. They're letting us know exactly what they think of us, Poppy. It's a common refrain we've heard out on the campaign trail. I won't repeat it in case there are some children listening at home. But during his remarks, Donald Trump talked about how important it is to win the state of Virginia even though the polls show him pretty far behind Hillary Clinton at this point.
Trump thinks that he can win this state. Here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: In 17 days, we are going to win the great commonwealth of Virginia and we are going to win back the White House. Early voting is under way, so make sure you go and send your ballots. We have to win this this November 8th. We have to win it. This is going to be our last chance, folks. I hate to tell you. This is about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: And Poppy, there was no mention at this rally of the accusers who were saying that Donald Trump sexually assaulted them. He talked about that earlier today at that speech in Gettysburg before he got into policy proposals for his first 100 days in office. But as you can see, no matter what Donald Trump is up against out on the campaign trail, he still has his loyal supporters that were out here (audio gap) in Virginia Beach.
One other thing we should point out, though, there was something that we noticed in the crowd that was very disturbing, Poppy. There was a supporter here in the crowd that had a picture of Hillary Clinton with a bull's-eye over it. That is just I guess a sample of some of the disturbing imagery that we occasionally see out on the campaign trail, it is something that we saw here but did not get a chance to really speak to this woman very much. When we tried to talk to her, she said that she didn't want to talk to us -- Poppy.
HARLOW: Yes. I mean, of course that represents the minority of people who support Trump, not a majority, but disturbing nonetheless. Jim, thank you very much.
With less than two weeks to go, what if any impact could Trump's 100 day agenda have on the race for the White House? Is he saying what he needs to say to get the voters on the sidelines? Those undecideds in his camp. Let's get insights from our panel.
With me, Ryan Lizza, CNN political commentator and Washington correspondent for the New Yorker. Also with us. Paris Dennard, a CNN political commentator and a Trump supporter. And A. Scott Bolden, the former chairman of the Washington, DC Democratic Party and a Hillary Clinton supporter.
[17:05:08] Guys, thank you all for being here. And Paris, let me begin with you. As a Trump supporter, he outlined a number of policies in this 100 day speech that he gave this morning. Obviously Gettysburg was chosen for symbolic reasons. Harkening back to President Lincoln. What do you make of the fact that he spent the first 15 minutes talking about off topic issues, talking about suing the women that have accused him of sexual assault instead of jumping right in and saying, here is what will do to make America great again?
PARIS DENNARD, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: Well, you know, the important thing is that Mr. Trump is the type of candidate who always wants to set the record straight and defend himself against and the campaign and his record quite frankly against things that he thinks are false and malicious or just flat out untrue from the media or from the Hillary Clinton campaign. So it's just classic Donald Trump fashion to set the record straight and then do what people like me and dozens if not all of the surrogates that are out there want to hear, which is the policy. I think the American people, some 18 days left, are looking forward to hearing more about his details and it's a good thing that they laid up --
HARLOW: But are they looking forward to him saying -- and then he did go and, you know, layout a lot of policies.
DENNARD: Sure. Yes.
HARLOW: But he also said he would sue the women who made these allegations against him. If he becomes president, I don't know that there is any historical president for a sitting president suing, you know, ten people.
DENNARD: Yes. I don't think there is president suing. But there is president for people suing the President. I think there are couple of administrations ago that happened. But at the end of the day, Mr. Trump is a fighter and I think the American people are those that support him, want a commander-in-chief that they know will go out and fight for them and fight for the issues that he cares about for the American people. So, he's just setting the record straight.
HARLOW: Scott, let me take your take on this because digging into the policies and the substance of Trump's speech this morning, you know, he went after term limits which I think is popular with a lot of folks. You know, a number of people might like to see term limits in Washington. As he puts it, draining the swamp. Those are his words. The Hillary Clinton camp when they were confronted with this on debate day when Trump first floated the idea, you know, they wouldn't address it. They said, she's not focused on term limits.
She's focused on campaign finance reform. I wonder how much you would like to see your candidate perhaps come down on term limits, make her stance clear on that, and also address this trade deals because he once said again, as a president, I will scrap NAFTA which he can do as president, whereas Hillary Clinton has waffled on, you know, the latest trade deal, TPP. She did call it the gold standard and now she's against it.
A. SCOTT BOLDEN, FORMER CHAIRMAN, WASHINGTON DC DEMOCRATIC PARTY: Well, the term limits are his issue, not her issue. And he's going to have a hard time getting that done if he's elected president, don't think he's going to be elected president. Because he's going to try the term limit, the House and the Senate, and he's at war with the GOP. And the House Senate, the House and Senate is going to be very different if he wins. It will be very different if he loses. In regard to NAFTA, he's free do that but he better be pretty careful because NAFTA has reduced the prices of goods and services coming to the U.S. and make goods very affordable.
And while we do need a trade prosecutor as Hillary Clinton has suggested, he has got to be real careful, one. And he's going to learn very quickly if he wins, again, I don't think he is. That if he wins though, the part of Washington, that he has got to work through is where this own party cooperation, elected officials and what have you. But it may not really matter because Poppy, it may not matter because even today, he stepped on his message.
He started off about the system being rigged, he went after the women. At a location that was supposed to be about unity and beneath the country. Lincoln came there because more people died than any other time in that war. And yet he went after, he started fighting right away. He stepped on his own message. He's the most undisciplined politician in the history of this country.
HARLOW: Right. And it has gotten him to where he is. But Ryan, some, you know, and he talks about Lincoln a lot, he says we are the party of Lincoln, the Republican Party is the party of Lincoln. Let's get back to that. But Ryan, it seems like he is running this general election race the exact same way that he ran the primary race. The thing is, they're very different races to run.
RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, very different. You know, it's an old cliche. Most of the things that help you win your party's primary are either things that help you -- can help you lose the general election. Remember Jeb Bush's famous line at the beginning of the primaries, he didn't want do something -- he didn't want to win -- now I'm forgetting it, but he didn't want to win the primary --
HARLOW: Don't you love it when that happens on national television?
BOLDEN: We know what you mean, Ryan. We know what you mean.
(LAUGHTER)
LIZZA: It didn't matter because Trump won.
(INAUDIBLE)
And Trump never paid attention to that advice, right? Look, maybe to his credit his message has been consistent throughout. He didn't try and talk to two different audiences. The same things he's been saying in the Republican primaries are exactly what he has been saying in the general election. In that sense, you have to give him a little bit of credit for not adjusting his rhetoric, adjusting his issues.
[17:10:25] But it is a strategy for, you know, getting 45 percent of the vote, not 51 percent of the vote. And, look, you know, people are voting. Millions of people have already voted. So it's not even that everyone is going to vote in 17 days. This election, things are baked in. Their Gallup just put out the final approval rating for Barack Obama. He's at 57 percent. And common president's approval rating is one of the most important indicators about which party is going to win. So, very uphill climb for Trump.
DENNARD: Well, that's why that plan is so important because people are voting today right now. And so he --
HARLOW: Yes. And he made that clear.
DENNARD: Yes. Absolutely.
LIZZA: We're 17 days out from this election. He should have done that three or four months ago.
HARLOW: All right, guys. I got to get a break in. I got to pay for this programming so we can keep debating but we have to break in.
BOLDEN: That's important. Thanks, Poppy.
HARLOW: Ryan, thank you.
LIZZA: Thanks, Poppy.
HARLOW: Paris, thank you.
DENNARD: Thank you.
HARLOW: Scott Bolden, we appreciate it.
Coming up. Donald Trump vowing to deliver 25 million jobs in a decade if he becomes president. It is possible we will dig in to that.
Also, Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine holding a rally in Pittsburgh right now, we will get a live report as they barnstorm the critical state.
Also, she has seen it all, she has done it all. And Compton, the first woman to cover the White House for network television shares her memories of Hillary Clinton as First Lady and frankly her frank thoughts on this election. Next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:15:13] HARLOW: All right. Donald Trump laying out his 100 days plan this morning in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. A lot of it having to do with the economy and jobs. Let's take a look at the key parts. If he wins the election, he says he will give the middle class a 35 percent tax cut. He will add 25 million jobs over the next ten years. And he will renegotiate NAFTA. Here's what he said a short time ago in Virginia Beach.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Your jobs will come back under a Trump administration. Your incomes will go up under a Trump administration. Your taxes will go way, way down under a Trump administration.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Let's talk about these proposals with Cristina Alesci of "CNN MONEY." Let's begin with the taxes.
CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT, "CNN MONEY": Yes.
HARLOW: Thirty five percent tax break for middle income Americans is huge. Is it realistic and how do you pay for that?
ALESCI: It sounds great. But what he's talking about is a very specific subset of the middle class. He used the example of a two parent household with two children. And in that case, you may see a reduction of 35 percent. But the middle class as you know is a lot more diversified than a four person family.
HARLOW: Right.
ALESCI: You have some families that have single parent, head of household, you have some families with a lot more children than two. And when you look at the greater demographics of that middle class, it's really tough to see how they are going to get 35 percent tax cuts because he eliminates a lot of the deductions for example for more kids. So a family with more kids probably won't see a 35 percent reduction, probably see a lot less of a reduction. In fact the tax policy center came out and said, for the 20 percent of the middle class, they will only see about a 1.5 percent reduction to their tax bills.
HARLOW: He keeps saying when he makes these economic speeches, this is deficit neutral, this is deficit neutral. But I mean, how, how?
ALESCI: I don't know how. I mean, I don't think any other economist reputably could say that this is deficit neutral. He is saying essentially you're not counting all of the economic growths that comes from my plan, from cutting these taxes.
HARLOW: Right. He keeps saying, four to five percent growth which is very hard to get.
ALESCI: And that is what he's using as evidence. But the reality is, you know, you'll going to cut taxes, yes, that is going to generate growth in the short term. Corporate taxes specifically is what he's hanging this idea on. If he reduced the current rate from 35 to 15 percent, then the money that the money companies save they will reinvest in hiring people, buying equipment. But Poppy, the reality is very few U.S. companies actually pay that 35 percent rate. Large companies, right?
HARLOW: Right. Right.
ALESCI: So, they're already not paying that 35 percent rate.
HARLOW: But he says he'll get under repay trade, the money and bring money back and invest it. But at the same time, he's saying he is going to scrap NAFTA. I mean, you know, even Hillary Clinton is saying NAFTA is not perfect, right? And she is now walking away from the TPP but really what would scrapping NAFTA look like and do.
ALESCI: In the short term, it is going to hurt companies, U.S. companies that are selling goods into Mexico. Right? We can't ignore the fact that we do sell --
HARLOW: Right.
ALESCI: -- about $250 billion worth of goods to Mexico every year.
HARLOW: Right.
ALESCI: So in the short term, that's a big hit. Also if you look at the jobs lost, we're talking about five million manufacturing jobs since 2000. How do you get those jobs back? And by the way, most economists would say, it's really hard to say how many of those jobs were eliminated because of NAFTA specifically and not because of technological --
HARLOW: Right.
ALESCI: -- advances and other dynamics that he's not factoring into his analysis.
HARLOW: Right.
ALESCI: So just because you get bad of a trade deal you don't like, that doesn't mean that those millions of jobs come back.
HARLOW: Yes.
ALESCI: And he is right. You know what, we can negotiate better trade deals for example, with China that is, you know, fairly aggressive with its trade. We can get tougher with them. The question is, you want to use that kind of rhetoric that might start a trade war.
HARLOW: Yes. No one wants a trade war. Christina, thank you so much.
Coming up, she was the first woman to cover the White House full-time for a network television station. I'm thrilled to be joined by Ann Compton, a legendary journalist whose career stand 40 years and seven administrations. She joins me live. And frankly, we want to know, has she ever seen an election quite like this?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [17:23:21] HARLOW: A handwritten letter from one president to the next went viral this week and had many people longing for the age of civility in politics. Let me read you part of this letter from former President George H.W. Bush to his successor President Bill Clinton. This is back in 1993 before Clinton moved in to the White House. Here is what Bush wrote.
"You will be our president when you read this note. I wish you well. I wish your family well. Your success is now our country's success. I am rooting hard for you."
Let's talk it over with legendary journalist Ann Compton who spent 40 years covering the White House for ABC News moderated two presidential debates and was one of the few journalists on Air Force One in the hours after the 9/11 attacks traveling with the President.
Ann, thank you for being here.
ANN COMPTON, FORMER ABC NEWS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Poppy.
HARLOW: You are someone that literally lived and is living history. So let's talk about that letter. As we look back, I mean, is this a bygone era of grace in politics?
COMPTON: What really surprises me when you look at the letters that George Herbert Walker Bush wrote and I'm sure each president leaves a letter in the Oval Officer drawer for his predecessor. But look at what we just saw in the last presidential debate where these two candidates clearly loath each other. I've never seen an election where the lack of respect, where each candidate thinks the other quite literally is incapable of leading. That's extraordinary.
HARLOW: I mean, you've compared this to '68, you said with angrier 2000 went all the way to the Supreme Court. You think this tops those.
COMPTON: Well, in 1968, I was not a reporter yet. I wasn't old enough to vote. But the streets of America were in flames over the Vietnam War and over the assassinations like Martin Luther King. In 1980, which I did cover, Ronald Reagan won 44 states, it was a huge landslide that unseated a Democratic President Jimmy Carter. In 2000, the country had become so narrowly divided that it not only went into a Florida recount with the Supreme Court five-four decided the election. The kind of anger and despair and I think its fear that people now are looking ahead and they just don't know what is going to happen and they don't have a lot of confidence in these two candidates.
HARLOW: Let's take a moment and listen to someone not running, First Lady Michelle Obama.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELLE OBAMA, U.S. FIRST LADY: So when you hear folks talking about a global conspiracy and saying this election is rigged, I understand that they are trying to get you to stay home. They are trying to convince you that your vote doesn't matter, that the outcome has already been determined and you shouldn't even bother to make your voice heard. They are trying to take away your hope.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: You know, they have given her the nickname the closer. Talk to me about historically how important first ladies have been and how powerful of a messenger you think Michelle Obama can be in these final weeks.
COMPTON: I think former first ladies who have always been kind of iconic figures in this country, all of them have been amongst the most popular, usually far more popular than their husbands. And I think they bring a voice of experience and a kind of voice of trust and that's the kind of thing that is lacking this year. The idea that this election could be actually rigged, there is always danger of some kind of voter mistakes or voter fraud on a small level. But the idea that a whole election could be swung is just beyond what Americans could understand.
HARLOW: Yes.
COMPTON: And then the idea that these two candidates wouldn't even shake hands at the last two debates is mind blowing.
HARLOW: I want you to stay with me. Because Hillary Clinton just took the stage live in Pittsburgh. Stick around and we're going to listen with her for a minute and come back here on the other side.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Mayor Bill Peduto --
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Mayor John Fetterman.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Pennsylvania Attorney General Bruce Beemer.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE) And all the other elected officials. It means a lot for you to be here with us. If all goes well in 17 days, we are looking forward to working with you on behalf of Pittsburgh.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Some of you know that I have a special place in my heart for Pennsylvania. And I'm excited about helping in any way that we can for Pittsburgh, Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania to keep moving forward with confidence and optimism about what is possible for the future we want to create together. And I'm thrilled to be here with Tim Kaine. You know, I asked him --
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
[17:28:33] To be my running mate because I knew he would be one of the smartest, toughest, most qualified vice presidents we have ever had.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
And I also knew he had never lost an election.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
So I kind of figured that might rub off on me a little bit. And how that I've gotten to spend more time with him and with his wonderful wife Ann and their family, I'm even more confident that he will be such an extraordinary leader for our country. He's not just smart and tough and qualified. Tim Kaine is as good and decent a person as you'll ever meet.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
And I am deeply honored to have him by my side in this campaign. Now, Tim and I are excited by all the energy and enthusiasm that we're seeing across the country and particularly here in Pennsylvania.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
But both of us, both of us, unlike our opponent, do not believe we can do this alone.
[17:30:00] We believe that we're going to do this by working with all of you. And that we're going to come together in the next 17 days and convince everybody you can to get out and vote because whatever issue you care about, it's going to be on the ballot. It may not be listed, but it will be on the ballot.
Whether you care about new good jobs with rise incomes, or you care about better education, or you care about what we do to get the cost of prescription drugs down, whatever it is you care about, it's literally going to be on that ballot.
Now, my name and Tim's name may be the ones on the ballot, but we're going to be representing everything that you we hope we can to together in our country.
(CHEERING)
CLINTON: And we're going to need help that after the election. And that's why I hope you will do everything you can to elect Katie McGinty, your next Senator.
(CHEERING)
CLINTON: You know, Katie is the daughter of a Philadelphia police officer. I think she's one of 10 children.
Right?
One of 10 children. She has devoted her professional life to protecting working families. I've known her for more than 20 years when she was really young. And I've seen that same can-do spirit. She just gets up every day and says what can she do to fight for healthier neighborhoods, to keep our kids healthy, to fight for cleaner air and cleaner water, to really help people make the most of their own lives. And now she's running for the Senate because, like Tim and I, she believes our economy should work for everyone, not just those at the top.
(CHEERING)
CLINTON: Katie is exactly the kind of partner we need in the Senate. But more importantly, she's exactly the kind of Senator that Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania need in the Senate.
(CHEERING)
HARLOW: There you have it, Hillary Clinton speaking live to her supporters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, one of two campaign stops she will make today. It's notable because she has not been on the trail as much in the last few weeks, sending out a lot of her powerful surrogates instead of her.
Let's bring back in Ann Compton, legendary journalist and columnist who covered the White House for 40 years.
Ann, you covered the first lady, and the Clinton administrations, both terms. Obviously, I'm sure you had an inkling that she had political aspirations. Tell me about the Clinton you knew then, versus the woman we're seeing on the trail today.
COMPTON: Well, Hillary Clinton was a different kind of first lady in that from the very beginning, her husband asked her to handle the biggest, hottest issue of the first term, and that was changing the health care system. And she did that and it never came to fruition. Congress never embraced it, it never became law. But she's always been part of the policy mixture more than I think any of the other first ladies.
It's interesting here hearing both of the candidates now today talk about what they will do in those first 100 days as president, obviously talking about income, jobs. What both of them will face is the hard cold reality presidents can't do much about the economy unless they pass taxes and spending through Congress. They have a lot more authority when it comes to foreign affairs, but both are will spend that first 100 days doing two things, one, trying to get their appointees approved and their cabinet confirmed and into position to do something, and then trying to get a Congress that may be skeptical to go their way.
HARLOW: And now as Clinton is leading in the national polls and key swing state polls, it's clear she's looking to the Senate and trying to tip the balance of power in her favor. It would make her job getting some of those things passed a lot easier.
Before I let you go, because you were a part the media, I am part of the media now, Donald Trump does not like the media, I would just like your assessment of the media's role in the 2016 race. COMPTON: Well, the media has never been so poorly treated on the road
in their attempts to cover both candidates. But particularly I think on the Republican side where the press at each rally has been made a target.
But the other thing that has really changed this year unlike any before, Poppy, the digital world has made news so quick, so fast, in some cases so shallow, and the candidates now have the tools to get their own stories out unfiltered, on Facebook, on Twitter, through social media, that the American voters have to go and look a little harder for good impartial news. And they are inundated with messages from the candidates themselves. Not a good trend.
HARLOW: Ann, such a pleasure to have you on. Thank you.
COMPTON: Thank you, Poppy.
[17:35:14] HARLOW: Ann Compton.
We'll take a quick break. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: Welcome back. Could this election season be affecting your mental health? Some folks call it the ugliest presidential race in recent history. An ethics showdown, for sure, between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump that is bringing more than its share of angry insults, negativity and character bashing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: From everything that I see, he has no respect for this person.
CLINTON: That's because he's rather have a puppet as president of the United States.
TRUMP: No puppet. No puppet.
CLINTON: And it's pretty clear --
TRUMP: You're the puppet.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Such a nasty woman.
CLINTON: Donald thinks belittling women makes him bigger.
TRUMP: John Podesta said you have terrible instincts. Bernie Sanders said you have bad judgment. I agree with both.
CLINTON: You should ask Bernie Sanders who he's supporting for president.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HARLOW: And that was only in the last debate.
(LAUGHTER)
There's been a lot more.
Let's talk it over with my panel, Gail Sheehy, a journalist who wrote, "America's Therapist Are Worried about Trump's Affect on Your Mental Health"; and Dr. William Doherty, a University of Minnesota psychologist, who wrote an online manifesto expressing his alarm over the rise of the ideology of Trumpism.
Thank you both for being here.
DR. WILLIAM DOHERTY, PSYCHOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: Great to be with you.
HARLOW: Doctor, 3,000 people signed on to your manifesto, so let's begin with you and the national survey that you commissioned. It took a look at 1,000 voters. What did you ask them and what did you find?
[17:39:58] DOHERTY: We asked them how much emotional distress were they feeling and was it more about Donald Trump and his campaign or about Hillary Clinton and, by far, there was much more emotional distress related to the Trump campaign, which actually followed suit with this manifesto I wrote and that 3,000 therapists have signed, because we're seeing a lot of emotional distress specifically and particularly around the Trump campaign, and messages about women and minorities, and the kind of divisiveness.
HARLOW: Gail, what about the psychologists? Because you wrote a lot about the study and you spoke to others psychologists. What about the psychologists that you spoke with? What did they say?
(CROSSTALK)
GAIL SHEEHY, JOURNALIST & AUTHOR: Many of them picked up early on the bellicose behavior and the kind of shaming and trashing minorities and baiting immigrants and shaming women. And they were stirring up fear and shame and a sense of helplessness in a lot of these patients.
HARLOW: I think it's interesting because you also did speak with some psychologists who disagreed with what Dr. Doherty found. What did they find?
SHEEHY: Actually, they didn't disagree, they just said that they were -- I spoke to one Republican therapist who said she didn't care for Trump and the day after the second debate, told me she car, for him even less, but her own criticism was that he didn't -- will -- he didn't use code words. He failed to be careful with his language. In other words, she understood e was saying but she was saying it too boldly and it was exposing the fact that he was racist and misogynist and against immigrants and others.
HARLOW: That's her opinion. And obviously the Trump supporters and more than 14 million who voted for him in the primary take issue with those words. But when you look at what you write about, Doctor Doherty, you call it Trumpism, and that the Trump candidacy is making it harder for therapists do their job. What do you mean?
DOHERTY: I mean this is the cult of the strong man. The man who can demean opponents, a man we've seen feels free to brags about essentially abusing women. So I decided not to be nice about this. This is a destructive man on our national scene, a destructive ideology. And I started this whole thing after visiting Europe and seeing the rises of neo fascism in Europe during, at which time in the 20th century, therapists were silent. And so I just decided we have to speak out because this is dangerous to the mental health of the country and to our democracy.
HARLOW: Do you ever worry about letting your own political persuasions or beliefs sort of seep in into practice?
DOHERTY: Sure. Well, we have a very careful way -- I'm talking about the public outreach now. Conversations in the privacy of the office are a different thing.
So what I do, for example, I ask my clients are you following this campaign and how is it affecting you. And then I follow their lead from there. So there the public stance in the manifesto, that is me as a citizen therapist, and then there's me as a therapist where I see where people are, and I follow their lead.
HARLOW: Gail, what have we learned? You did extensive report on what he found. But through your reporting on the impact on children, because this is certainly the first election in recent memory when journalists, we've had to put warnings on television, if you have children in the room, you might want to remove them, et cetera.
SHEEHY: Right. And don't let help watch the debate.
HARLOW: Any assessment on the impact on children or feedback from parents?
SHEEHY: The children are listening. The children are listening and they're learning how to use bullying and intimidation and shaming and humiliation and so on to get what they want. And if they grow up that way and behave in the same way, I think that the parents will feel responsible for allowing them to take this in as successful behavior.
HARLOW: Doctor, it's good to see children engaged in the process. But what is your advice to parents who are wondering, do I let my child watch this?
DOHERTY: Well, my advice --
(CROSSTALK)
SHEEHY: I would not let my --
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: Go ahead, Doctor. [17:44:59] DOHERTY: Yeah, I would not let them watch the wrestling
match that goes on. I would not let them watch and listen to abusive behavior. But I would talk to them about what they are hearing, what they are seeing. First, you find out where they are and then you kind of coach them about what is approach behavior, what is not.
HARLOW: I wish we had more time.
Gail, thank you. Your piece is fascinating. I'd point anyone to it to read more.
And, Doctor Doherty, thank you very much.
SHEEHY: My pleasure.
DOHERTY: Thank you.
HARLOW: Coming up, the new politics of late-night. Comics pick a side in this race.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED COMEDIAN: She's running against a like racist buffoon who doubles as Billy Bush's wing man.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: Let me take you back to Pittsburgh. Hillary Clinton is addressing supporters. Let's listen in.
CLINTON: -- that's why we will invest $10 billion in a "Make it in America" partnership that bring together workers and unions and businesses, universities and community colleges.
(CHEERING)
CLINTON: Some country will take the lead with precision machining. Some country is going to take the lead with 3-D printing. We invented both of those technologies. We should take the lead and we should have the jobs.
(CHEERING)
[17:49:58] CLINTON: We're also going to fight climate change with clean renewable energy jobs.
(CHEERING)
CLINTON: And we're going to help small businesses, which will create two-thirds of all the new jobs in America.
(CHEERING)
CLINTON: And we're going to defend your right to organize and bargain collectively for higher wages and benefits.
(CHEERING)
CLINTON: Don't let anybody fool you, my friends. Assaults on worker rights and on unions is an assault on the middle class.
(CHEERING)
CLINTON: And it's time to say loudly and clearly, right to work is wrong for workers and wrong for America.
(CHEERING)
CLINTON: So I've set some big goals. I'm excited about what we're going to do. And it's all going to put people to work right here. And sometimes, folks say to me, well, how are you going to get that done? You go to the Congress. I say, first of all, I hope we elect some more Democrats. That would be number one. Number two --
(CHEERING)
CLINTON: But number two, number two, I think it's going for a very simple question. Are members of Congress, members of the Senate going to be on the side of the rich, the powerful and the wealthy or are they going to be on your side. And they'll have to answer that question because if they stay beholden to the special interests, if they continue to do the bidding of the lobbyists and the lawyers and others who stand there outside their doors -- I've been in the Senate. I've seen it. I know it. If they're going to continue to do the work of those who are already privileged in America, then I want to make sure that they don't come back to Washington after the next election.
(CHEERING)
HARLOW: Hillary Clinton speaking live in Pittsburgh tonight. We will continue to monitor that.
But next, in this election, late-night has certainly had a field day. This week, I sat down with comedian, Chelsea Handler, get her take on how late-night has been juggling this race.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: In the past, late-night hosts like Leno and Letterman, you know, would sort of hippo size, and it seems to me like this year is different, whether it's Stephen Colbert or Seth Meyer, Samantha Bee (ph), you. You're targeting Trump. Is this the year that late-night picked a side?
CHELSEA HANDLER, COMEDIAN: I think that's unavoidable. I think with somebody who is this irresponsible and calling Mexicans rapists and inciting violence and people talking about hanging Hillary Clinton at his rallies, that's not acceptable language. That's really scary.
HARLOW: What is the role and responsibility of late-night hosts? Was it fair and right that Jimmy Fallon got skewered for playing with Donald Trump's hair?
HANDLER: I mean, I don't know. Jimmy Fallon can do whatever he wants. For me personally, I will say I find that to be irresponsible. I'm not going to have Donald Trump on my show. This part of my career and being on Netflix, it's something that I'm proud of and something I want to like do. You can still have fun and send a great message. I want to empower people. I want everybody to come on and have a great story and be inspiring.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: My thanks to Chelsea Handler. Much more of our interview tonight, "Politics with Chelsea Handler." She certainly invested in this race. That is tonight at 7:00 p.m. eastern.
A quick break. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:57:44] HARLOW: Car accidents are the leading cause of death among teens in the United States. And this week's CNN Hero, Jeff Payne (ph), is trying to reduce the problem.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFF PAYNE (ph), CNN HERO: A lot of parents would never toss their kids a loaded gun and tell them to have fun. But many don't think twice about throwing them the car keys. We just throw the kids out on the road and expect them to be prepared to handle every situation. And that's not the case. We're just trying to make a difference out there and make the roads safer for all of us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: For more on what Jeff is doing in his efforts, go to CNNheroes.com. And next Wednesday, on "New Day," Anderson Cooper will reveal the top-10 "CNN Heroes" of 2016.
Meantime, there's a brand new episode of "CNN "PARTS UNKNOWN" tomorrow night. Anthony Bourdain hopes across the pond, heads to London to see how city is dealing with Brexit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY BOURDAIN, CNN HOST, "PARTS UNKNOWN": Here we are in London, again, but this time is different. England has just voted rather unexpectedly to leave the European Union. And the effect here in London, anyway, has been tectonic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It really shines a light on how divided the country is.
BOURDAIN (voice-over): This is a city where, even in the best of times, the drinking can take on an edge of desperation, but never so much as now.
(on camera): Is it the end of the world?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It feels pretty bad. When the going gets tough, we want to get on and just look after ourselves. It's so selfish.
BOURDAIN: It's like the city had a nervous breakdown. In times of uncertainty, I like to turn to my old friends.
Will it all work out in the end?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have no idea.
BOURDAIN: Wow.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing is certain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Bourdain on Brexit. He takes us to London. "PARTS UNKNOWN," tomorrow, 9:00 p.n. eastern, right here on CNN.
Coming up live for us here on the CNN NEWSROOM, Donald Trump set to take the stage in battleground Ohio. Tonight, three stops, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio today alone. We're standing by.
Also, Clinton addressing voters in the Keystone State right now. We are monitoring all of it.
I'm Poppy Harlow. I will see you back here in one hour.
Before that, "SMERCONISH" begins next. Stay with us.
