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Anti-Trump Protests for a Second Night; Obama Meets with Trump in the Oval Office; Post-Election Anxiety and Fear; What Trump Supporters Want Him to do First; Second Night of Anti-Trump Protests. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired November 11, 2016 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: Breaking news tonight. Live pictures from Los Angeles -- anti-Trump protests in cities around the nation for a second night; Donald Trump slamming protesters in a tweet saying they're being unfair to him. We'll discuss all of this.
This is CNN TONIGHT. I'm Don Lemon.
The President-Elect visits Washington as he prepares to take control of the U.S. government, meeting with President Obama in the Oval Office today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe that it is important for all of us regardless of party and regardless of political preferences to now come together, work together, to deal with the many challenges that we face.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: And afterwards, Donald Trump on Capitol Hill meeting with Republican leaders.
But let's begin with the anti-Trump protesters voicing their anger at Donald Trump's election. CNN's Dan Simon is in Oakland, California. Dan -- what are you seeing?
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi -- Don.
The temperature has definitely risen on the streets of Oakland. Yes, this is a Donald Trump protest but clearly, there are a group of people who are intent on taunting the police. We've seen police come out here in their full riot gear and there seems to be an anarchist element in the crowd.
You see people wearing bandanas on their faces. Last night, there was some vandalism on the streets of Oakland. So clearly there is a concern that we could see that tonight.
Earlier it was entirely peaceful. You had a group of people essentially up on a podium and they were talking about Donald Trump, people from the Black Lives Matter movement.
And now you have people taking to the streets, marching, holding signs, yelling anti-Donald Trump slogans and right now the police are hoping that things will calm down. They have essentially set up a barricade so that this group of protesters can't get onto the freeway and block traffic.
And right now, these people are just marching through the streets yelling at the police, yelling at things about the media, yelling things about Donald Trump.
So we're going to keep an eye on the situation and hopefully things don't spiral out of control -- Don.
LEMON: Dan -- we'll keep an eye on that as you said. And we'll get back to you if need be. We appreciate that.
President-Elect Donald Trump meeting with President Obama at the White House, then heading to Capitol Hill to meet with GOP congressional leaders.
CNN correspondent Phil Mattingly has the story -- Phil.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, they're two of the most powerful people in Washington, both with very strong ideas about what their particular agendas should be going forward. One problem -- those two agendas don't necessarily match up.
So the big question now after six, seven months of turmoil is, what happens next?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTINGLY: A relationship defined by tepid acceptance at best.
REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), HOUSE SPEAKER: Nothing is a blank check. You never give anybody for any reason a blank check on anything.
MATTINGLY: And downright antagonism at worst.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT: Maybe he doesn't know how to win.
MATTINGLY: House Speaker Paul Ryan and President-Elect Donald Trump for months center stage in a delicate dance of clashing politics, personalities and policies. Meeting face today face in Washington, now reliant on one another for success.
RYAN: Donald Trump had one of the most impressive victories we have ever seen. And we're going to turn that victory into progress for the American people.
TRUMP: So we had a very good meeting, a very detailed meeting. We're going to lower taxes, as you know, we're going to fix health care and make it more affordable and better.
MATTINGLY: For Trump, Ryan represents the man who can bridge the gap to a still skeptical core of the establishment GOP, an explicitly stated goal in Trump's victory speech early Wednesday morning.
TRUMP: Now it's time for America to bind the wounds of division. We have to get together. To all Republicans and Democrats and Independents across this nation I say it is time for us to come together as one united people.
[00:05:09] MATTINGLY: For Ryan, a president that can finally sign policy priorities that have been collecting dust, despite nearly seven years in the House majority.
RYAN: This Congress, this House majority, this Senate majority has already demonstrated and proving we are able to pass that legislation and put it on the President's desk. The problem is President Obama vetoed it. Now we have President Trump coming who is asking us to do this.
MATTINGLY: Advisers tell CNN both men have had positive things to say about the other in the wake of private meetings and post-election phone calls.
But the two have more than just a strained relationship standing in their way. Ryan has faced criticism from conservative House Republicans for not fully supporting Trump as the nominee. And Ryan splits with Trump on crucial issues, like entitlement reform, trade and his hard-line immigration stance. But for now at least, it appears each man is looking to focus on where they have common ground rather than their differences.
RYAN: How do we make sure when his hand comes off the bible when he is sworn in as president we are hitting the ground running? And we are very excited about working with him to maker sure that that is the case.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MATTINGLY: And Don -- I think the bottom line when you talk to Republican officials on Capitol Hill is this. There is no question there are a lot of hurt feelings, a lot of scars and cuts that need to be cleaned up over the next couple of weeks, months maybe, even years.
But there is a cold political calculation that is being made by Republican officials. After years of passing bills that had no chance of going anywhere because President Obama is in the White House, they now have a Republican sitting in the Oval Office. That means there is very real opportunity to get very real policy, policy that they want signed into law.
Because of that fact, right now they are more than willing to give Donald Trump a chance. In fact, when you talk to some Republican officials they are downright excited about what his presidency may bring.
The big question now, does he follow through and be the president that they want him to be -- Don?
LEMON: all right. Phil -- thank you very much. I want to bring in CNN presidential historian Timothy Naftali; the
former director of the Nixon Presidential Library Kate Andersen Brower the author of "First Women: The Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies; and CNN political commentator David Swerdlick, he's an editor at the "Washington Post". Good to have all of you on.
David -- to you first. In many ways the meeting of Donald Trump and Ryan was like the odd couple. They couldn't be more different but they need each other.
DAVID SWERDLICK, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, they need each other. President Obama, look, has to -- excuse me, you said Paul Ryan.
Look, with Paul Ryan, look, he has an agenda that he wants to push forward as the leader of Republicans in the House and arguably the most important Republican in Congress. He has been frustrated under President Obama not being able to get an agenda through. Donald Trump now is that vehicle where he can get bills passed.
I would just say he should be careful what he wishes for, right? You have a situation where Republicans have been able to take a lot of symbolic votes over the last several years knowing that bills would be vetoed by President Obama. Now if they get things through like in the first hundred days pushing through a repeal of Obamacare, the big question is what are they going to replace it with and how are they going to respond if that doesn't do what they've promised -- jumpstarting the economy, getting more people covered, bringing premiums down?
If those things don't happen now they don't have a president there to veto this legislation that they have been pushing about and talking about over the course of many months and many years.
LEMON: But David --- their relationship has been contentious and Trump has a long memory and a reputation for vengeance, at least as a businessman and a private citizen.
Do you think Ryan has a target on his back?
SWERDLICK: You know, I'm watching Trump closely to see how he approaches Ryan. I think Speaker Ryan may have a target on his back from members within his own caucus, right. The House Freedom Caucus sees him as sort of this establishment figure and, you know, it's not clear to me that they have just decided to fall in line behind him as speaker. They may just because the way he got to be speaker is that no one else really wanted the job.
In terms of working with Donald Trump, you know -- or President-Elect Trump, I should say, Don -- I think it's this. Trump right now I think is surveying the landscape. He is doing with Speaker Ryan just what he is doing with President Obama -- saying all the right things, making all the right gestures. But when the rubber hits the road and there are details to be hashed out in terms of policy, I do see them clashing on things like trade, like TPP, on the details of whose health care plan winds up coming behind a potential repeal of Obamacare. Republicans are going to be able to work together in the short term. I think the jury's out on whether they work together in the long term.
LEMON: Did it make you a little uncomfortable when I said does he have a target on his back? Do you think -- when I said he has a history as a private citizen of vengeance and long memory?
[00:09:58] TIMOTHY NAFTALI, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Oh no, that didn't -- well, I think that the history points that out. I was just going to say that Paul Ryan is perfect for Donald Trump because he's compromised. He's vulnerable. I mean Donald Trump --
LEMON: I heard in there, it was like, who is that guy? That sound bite?
NAFTALI: Yes, I mean, you know, you think about how much Paul Ryan owes Donald Trump right now. That's a great position for Donald Trump. I don't think he wants to move -- I think it would be stupid on his part to move Paul Ryan out of the way. Right now Paul Ryan owes Donald Trump which wasn't the case before.
So it seems to me that it would be very strange if he had a target on his back that was from Donald Trump. I think Trump's position, vis-a- vis the Republicans is extraordinarily strong.
LEMON: All right. So listen, all right everyone, panel, Timothy -- you know, people who are at satellite, there are certain things you don't say in polite society. But we are not so polite.
How much of this today is pageantry? I just feel like I'm watching -- I feel like I'm watching Kate, a pageant going on. When you go to the White House this is how you must act, you know, there's a picture on this or whatever. Paul Ryan saying, you know, this is great. This is an incredible win.
How much of this is pageantry? Do you believe all of the things coming out of people's mouths today?
KATE ANDERSEN BROWER, AUTHOR: I don't. I mean it looks incredibly hypocritical I think to a lot of Americans who watched the campaign unfold and now we're seeing it's almost as though it never happened and all of that was just to win votes.
But we see this throughout history, not to this extent but, you know, when the Reagans won, for instance, Rosalynn Carter was very, very unhappy about their victory and, you know, Jimmy Carter worked very hard to free the Iran hostages and then President Reagan came in and the hostages were released when he was sworn in.
And so it was a very frosty ride to the Capitol Hill between Nancy Reagan and Rosalynn Carter. And I can imagine between Michelle Obama and Melania Trump. You know, to be a fly on the wall.
I think there is a lot of pageantry. It's about this peaceful transition of power. And, you know, Melania Trump has never been married to an elected official before. So I think Michelle Obama probably feels like she owes her a little bit of explanation about how this is going to work in the White House because it was hard for Michelle Obama when she moved into the White House, too.
And there is a sense, I think, of maybe not sisterhood but of camaraderie among these first ladies. They are the only people who know what it is like to be in this position. It's definitely more strained in this case though obviously.
LEMON: It is so interesting though because I mean there is always scrutiny put on the people who are in the Oval Office but so much scrutiny was put on Michelle Obama. I mean she wore sleeveless dresses or shirts and she got criticism for it. I mean the things that happen now, it's just really unbelievable.
There is so much raw emotion in the country after this really bruising election. Do these niceties and formalities really make a difference? I'll start with you -- Kate.
BROWER: I think they calm some people but I think, you know, the people who voted for Hillary Clinton and who, you know, she won the popular vote, so obviously millions of Americans, there is nothing that you can really say to them at this point to really make them think that this is the right decision.
But I think the pageantry is important. I mean this is an amazing country and this is what we do. And so I think that that shows for Donald Trump some maturity there for him to meet with President Obama and for President Obama, a miraculous amount of maturity. And this is a very early time for them to meet the day after, usually it's a few days after so I was surprised at the timing of this.
LEMON: Yes. David, soon as Dana bash confirmed today that Donald Trump is considering Steve Bannon for chief of staff. What is the message there?
SWERDLICK: I don't think it's a good message. Don -- let me say one quick thing about pageantry --
LEMON: Yes, sure.
SWERDLICK: They have to do this. I take your point that a lot of this is for show, that a lot of Americans may look at this and say after this hard fought campaign where a lot of nasty charges went back and forth that it's just sort of this thin cover up for two sides that don't really like each other.
But look, in our system you have the head of state and the head of government embodied in one person, the President. There's not a Queen Elizabeth out there to handle the niceties. Everybody has -- the President has to do all of that.
I think what we saw today even if it was very brief, even if and people were faking it, has to be done for that peaceful transfer of power.
LEMON: Hold on David -- hold on for the second part because I want to get your response.
NAFTALI: Well, yes. And I want to reiterate the fact that what is novel about this is that it is happening so soon. It was six days before President-Elect Obama met with George Bush. In past it was even longer than. So the fact that --
LEMON: Why do you think it's happening so quickly?
NAFTALI: Well, I think that President Obama is hitting the ball out of the park. I think he understands the fact of the raw emotions, he probably feels many of them himself, and he wants to basically say to the American people, remember, you -- we take an oath of allegiance to the -- the Americans take -- we all take it to the flag. But when you are in government you take it to the constitution, not to the President.
[00:15:12] And he is reminding everyone that the constitution is the most important thing here and that's why he is doing it fast. He wants to make it clear this is happening. You may be shocked. I'm shocked that it feels that way. But it's happening.
And I think his decision to do it fast -- we'll learn later I suspect in his memoir that it's very deliberate on his part that he's doing it now. So I think the pageantry is extraordinarily important because it sends a signal.
By the way, the signal is, don't -- isn't to say you shouldn't be out protesting. As long as you are not causing violence it's your First Amendment right and it's healthy.
LEMON: And as you said, you said -- I think your words were monumental maturity -- Kate. And I thought that was a great way of putting talking about the President.
I think I got the answer to your question about Steve Bannon. You said that you didn't think it was a good idea. Unfortunately I have to go -- David.
Thank you David. Thank you Kate. And thank you very much Timothy. I appreciate it.
Up next, as we see with the anti-Trump protests happening for a second night in a row many Americans feel anxiety and fear about Donald Trump's upcoming presidency.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Breaking news: Portland, Oregon police are now classifying the anti-Trump protests in that city as a riot. Police cite what they're calling "extensive criminal and dangerous behavior", including items being thrown at police officers and cars being damaged. We will keep you updated.
[00:20:04] I want to bring in now Dean Obeidallah, the host of "The Dean Obeidallah Show" on Sirius XM Radio and columnist for "The Daily Beast"; and Jeff Gardere, the psychologist and professor of behavioral medicine at Turo College. Thank you, gentlemen, for joining me here.
JEFF GARDERE, PSYCHOLOGIST: Pleasure Don -- as always.
LEMON: Dean, how are you doing?
DEAN OBEIDALLAH, RADIO HOST: Fine. You know, it's a difficult time. I'm going to be honest. I mean I think anxiety levels before the election night, having problems sleeping. I wasn't alone. Listeners to my show calling in and sharing the exact same thing.
LEMON: What are they saying?
OBEIDALLAH: Before the election it was a lot of anxiety, real like palpable anxiety -- the fear of a Donald Trump presidency. Now, I'm not kidding you, adults have called my show crying, literally crying not figuratively, with tears, talking about their children, the idea their Muslim children, worried about their Muslim children. White people calling up saying I'm concerned for your community, the Muslims, concern for the African-Americans and Latino, crying with empathy and compassion.
So it's been moving on that level. I'm trying to give them a pep talk saying we'll get through this. I believe we will.
LEMON: I'm sure the Trump folks on television saying this is all anecdotal? There is no evidence of this.
OBEIDALLAH: It's been very real what I've gone through. But people have called in and said -- e-mails, I have never gotten more e-mails from listeners for my show sharing things, saying I'm concerned. I get tons of text messages on election night when it was clear Trump was going to win from so many well-meaning white progressive friends going "Dean we're going to be with you. I'm worried for you. I'm worried for Muslims in this country. I'm worried for Latinos, African-Americans."
LEMON: How is this different though than the election of any other president than a Ronald Reagan or a George Bush when we go from liberal to conservative?
OBEIDALLAH: It's completely different. Donald Trump is not a normal candidate. If Mitt Romney would have beaten President Obama I would have been disappointed. I admire President Obama a great deal. I would not at all have been worried for my community, I would not have been worried for African-Americans or Latinos --
LEMON: Or women.
OBEIDALLAH: -- or women or LGBT, any of these communities that he has targeted. This is a man who has trafficked objectively in sexism, bigotry and racism. Mitt Romney didn't do that. George W. Bush didn't do that. John McCain --
GARDERE: Many of those candidates would have been disqualified if they did something like that. If President Obama had talked about groping women, they've found out about that, that would have been a real problem for President Obama.
So they are seeing what was said by Donald Trump before he became president and even though he may be softening the tone now they are still remembering. And these are very deep psychic wounds that people have.
LEMON: What are you hearing? What are you seeing and hearing? What are people telling you?
GARDERE: Well, there are people who have a lot of fear, a lot of disgust because they don't understand what the country is about, how this could happen.
And then there is something else really strange going on. And I think we sense it too. There is a real excitement in that people don't know what is going to happen from one day to the next. They feel really alive because it is a combination of excitement and fear and it has the adrenaline going. What's going to happen next?
LEMON: Go on -- because you are right on that. You're right on that. You have no idea.
GARDERE: Yes. You know, they want to be scared. It makes them feel more alive because there has been such a malaise in this country. But I think the other part of it is, people are not trusting one another. They are not trusting this country because they feel that we are showing a very ugly side of ourselves because of the way this election had come down.
LEMON: Ok. Stop -- let's get back to that. When you said that they feel very much alive because they don't know can that quickly shift into optimism about a Trump presidency if he does some good things or right things in the beginning?
GARDERE: I think people want to be surprised in that way. They want it to be a fairy tale because Americans believe in fairy tales. This big bad guy all of a sudden has a heart of gold.
Even President Obama says hey listen, if you make it, we make it. That's what people want to see. But at the same time --
LEMON: They need to be reassured.
GARDERE: Exactly.
LEMON: So go on. Let me finish. You were making another point about the ugly campaign that --
GARDERE: So I think a lot of people feel that they are not going to forget the things that were said by Donald Trump. He may pull back on the Muslim ban. He may pull back on the issues having to do with Roe v Wade, perhaps. He wants to now replace Obamacare with something else instead of just tearing it down and not putting anything there.
But people remember and those scars are very, very deep because such strong statements were made by Donald Trump. LEMON: Yes. He's made statements about Muslims and Mexico. We know
what is going on.
OBEIDALLAH: Of course.
LEMON: Go ahead.
OBEIDALLAH: I think if he really wants to reach out. He said some nice words in his speech on Wednesday saying I want to be President of all the people.
[00:25:01] I think he has to come out to the communities demonized and actually apologize to Muslims, Latinos, disabled, to women and do more than that. Then appoint people from our communities, leaders who are respected -- not people who supported him because I can assure you they were not leaders of any of those communities to his administration, in the cabinet, the high-ranking positions.
And that would give me some confidence that he is changing. It has to be actions, not words because his words go from one day to the next, from one tweet to the next. You have no idea what this man -- what he is about.
LEMON: He hasn't apologized. Why would he apologize now?
OBEIDALLAH: He's not going to --
LEMON: For one, he is the leader of the free world.
OBEIDALLAH: He is our president -- right. He's our president, we know that. I respect the office. He will never be our president the way -- these communities demonized, unless he does more than words. I want to be president to everyone and do nothing more? Forget it. It's not going to work.
He will have four years of us more animated and more alive. The fact is he beat us, we're not defeated. The left is not defeated in this country. We are never going to surrender. We're going to continue to fight this man -- every truth and (inaudible) he does in this sexist, bigoted, racist stuff is not going end.
LEMON: Is it him or is it -- let's put up -- there's a tweet. Let's put up this tweet from David Duke, right. David Duke tweeted this after Trump won. He said, "This is one of the most exciting nights of my life. Make no mistake about it. Our people have played a huge role in electing Donald Trump."
And I think the image -- you guys see that. Make America great.
OBEIDALLAH: Make America great.
LEMON: Ok. So then -- is it Donald Trump or is it the people who he has -- whether he wants to admit it or not or his campaign -- they are very smart people. They know. Or is it the people he's energized that people fear? OBEIDALLAH: That frightens people very much. Today -- yesterday, a
high school out of Detroit, white kids cheering at Latino kids, build a wall, Latino kids crying. A Muslim woman in a hajib in California attacked. Another Muslim kid at San Diego State attacked by someone invoking Trump -- is he really a Trump supporter, the person? I'm not sure. Invoking -- yes, it scares us.
Donald Trump has called -- let's be honest, he has called Elizabeth Warren a racist and a fraud, exact words. He's never used those words to describe David Duke. And that says something right there. We all hear it. And David Duke and the (inaudible) the same exact thing -- that's why they're --
(CROSSTALK)
GARDERE: Don -- going back to your earlier point, I believe a lot of what has happened is that he's opened up the Pandora's Box. He had the key and knew what he needed to do in order to get those votes, in order to those voices.
And I agree with you, Dean, when you do that, you have the responsibility to now sift through that box and help people begin to heal. Take those voices of rage and anger from the disenfranchised, from communities who feel that they've been left behind.
And now, help them come to the table in a productive way instead of stepping back and leaving a mess out there and saying, ok, well, everyone for themselves, you guys work it out. Now you have to help heal the divide you helped open up.
LEMON: It appears at least from -- you know, he may be willing do that. So let's leave this on a positive note and say that people who supported Donald Trump because they said their voices were unheard. And that they didn't have an agent who -- to help them, maybe they should listen to the people who are out there protesting and people who are in fear and feel that their voices aren't been heard as well because they have more in common than they do --
GARDERE: I agree with you. This is a great opportunity for President-Elect Donald Trump to step in and say let's bring all of the people together and let's build something positive moving forward. He could do that.
OBEIDALLAH: It's got to be actions, though, not just words.
LEMON: Thank you. Thank you very much.
Coming up, Donald Trump supporters demanding he make good on his campaign promises.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:32:35] DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump doesn't take office until mid-January, but supporters are already calling on him to follow through on the campaign promises that got him elected.
CNN's Martin Savidge has more.
Martin?
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Don. Tonight, we are in Youngstown, Ohio. It's another part of the state that turned out very heavily for Donald Trump, which is pretty interesting given the fact that historically it is very Democrat, but not this go- around.
So we wanted to ask voters what is it they want Donald Trump to take on first?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These illegal moochers from Mexico who come in. We've got to get rid of them. We've got to get rid of all the illegal aliens.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): If President-elect Donald Trump is looking to organize his to-do list once he is in the White House, he might want to get a listen to the callers at 570WKBN in Youngstown.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to get people back to work.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jobs, jobs, jobs.
SAVIDGE: This used to be prime Democrat turf. But as the manufacturing jobs disappear and businesses closed many here, like their factories turned to rusty red, crossing over to Trump.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd like to see him address the health care problem.
SAVIDGE: Caller after caller added on to what they want their president to do.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Social security. We haven't gotten a raise in seven years.
SAVIDGE: Most want the new administration to focus on immigration.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Send Mexico an estimated bill for the wall.
SAVIDGE: Get rid of Obamacare. Bring back jobs. And if possible --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rip up that Iran nuclear deal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go after and indict Hillary Clinton.
SAVIDGE: At the Royal Oaks, Youngstown's oldest watering hole, I talked across the bar with more celebrating Trump backers.
JIM NOVICKY, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I expected this. I was very confident actually in the election.
SAVIDGE: Jim Novicky has been a Democrat all his life until now. (on-camera): What do you want to see Donald Trump do first?
NOVICKY: I would -- first thing I would like to see him do is pick a great cabinet. He's got a big job there.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): Dave Vogel says the same thing. Trump needs to surround himself with the right people.
DAVE VOGEL, REPUBLICAN VOTED FOR CLINTON: I want to see the cabinet. I think he will be a CEO and kind of let the cabinet do all the work. That's what I think. And then I want to see who is he going to pick for the Supreme Court.
SAVIDGE: Filling the Supreme Court is also near the top of many wish lists, but it isn't long before we're back to the wall.
NOVICKY: One of the first priorities I would say is secure our borders.
SAVIDGE (on-camera): Is that build the wall?
[00:35:00] NOVICKY: Build a wall, yes. But that is -- that's -- to me that is a rhetorical term. Building wall doesn't mean brick and mortar, OK.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): You hear that a lot. The wall Trump has spoken so much about to many Trump voters is not really a wall at all.
(on-camera): The wall. What is that? Build it? Don't build it? It's a real wall? It's not a real wall?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I don't know whether an actual physical wall is the thing to do. I think there are probably other ways that he can curb some of it coming in.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): Which brings us back to another favorite fix, Obamacare.
NOVICKY: I would get rid of it and start all over. You have to come up with something. You have to take care of people who can't take care of themselves. Everybody knows that.
SAVIDGE: But you can't talk to Trump voters without talking about something else, those protesters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You haven't even given the guy a chance yet.
SAVIDGE: Most I talked to don't believe the demonstrations are spontaneous anger, but organized.
NOVICKY: This is the government they want. They want chaos. They want anarchy. They will never going to give it to us. This is just the beginning. This is just the beginning.
(END VIDEOTAPE) SAVIDGE: And about those protests, many Trump voters we spoke to said they felt that they were really disrespectful, disrespectful of the office of president and also very disrespectful of the outcome of the vote. After all, they say, in 2008, when Barack Obama won the presidency, did Republicans take to the street?
Don?
LEMON: Martin Savidge, thank you very much.
Coming up, should Donald Trump address the protests of his presidency? We'll talk about that, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:40:30] LEMON: A second night of anti-Trump protests in cities around the nation. In most cities, they have been relatively peaceful, these protests, but in Portland, Oregon, police now say that the protest are riots now. It is a riot due to criminal and dangerous behavior.
I want to bring in Peter Beinart, the contributor to "The Atlantic," Lanhee Chen, the former policy director for Mitt Romney, Angela Rye, the former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus and Trump supporter Gina Loudon, host of "America Trends with Dr. Gina."
It's good to have all of you on.
Lanhee, you first, Donald Trump is tweeting about the protest tonight. "Just had a very open and successful presidential election. Now professional protesters incited by the media are protesting. Very unfair."
So there are a number of things he could have said about the protests. Is this the way to go, do you think?
LANHEE CHEN, FORMER POLICY DIRECTOR FOR MITT ROMNEY: Yes. You know, again, I think this is reverting back maybe to some of the campaign behavior that people found problematic.
Obviously, you know, on the one hand, you've got Donald Trump meeting with President Obama, acting and appearing indeed, you know, quite presidential. On the other hand, you have these sort of Twitter things that happen. So I think at some point, they're going to have to make -- he's going to have to make a decision about how he wants to respond to these things.
I mean, obviously, he is trying to call these people out. But, on the other hand, perhaps the better response would be to say, look, I understand people are upset, but you know, just repeat this line from his speech, I intend to be president for all Americans, and I think that would be helpful.
LEMON: Angela, do you think Donald Trump should address the protests? What do you want him to say? ANGELA RYE, FORMER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS: Well, you know, the first thing I think that he should is understand the fact that this is still very much a divided electorate. 60 million people voted for him and 60 million people and slightly more now and the fact there's an additional almost 500,000 votes in Hillary Clinton's column.
There are people that are upset. They don't feel like he represents them. What they've been chanting at these protests in particular is he's not my president. So if they don't feel like he's their president, to go on Twitter, a platform that they are probably are all on, or many of them are all on, to say that they're -- what they're doing is unfair, that he won the election fair and square, there are folks that have no concept, Don, for the electoral college and all they see is that numerically Hillary Clinton won this election.
So it's hard for them to understand how he is their president, when he spewed hatred and vitriol throughout the campaign, and overnight he is supposed to become someone very different, and by the time night falls, he sounds just like the Donald Trump that they grew to despise during the campaign.
LEMON: What do you think Donald Trump should do, Peter. I'm going to ask you. Do you that it's feasible? People are saying maybe he should apologize. Do you think that he should apologize? He hasn't apologized.
PETER BEINART, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, THE ATLANTIC: When has --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Really? He should.
BEINART: He would have to be a different person. I would defy -- hey, can anyone think from everything we know about Donald Trump of one really generous-hearted, magnanimous thing this man did in the entire campaign or frankly in his entire life? It's not who he is.
The dangerous thing is that he doesn't recognize now that as president what he does has particular ramifications. When you're the president- elect and you tweet out that protesters are professional protesters, which is mostly not true, and that -- you are now in charge of the law enforcement, you are in charge -- you are sending a message to our police forces.
It's not just being a candidate. He has the power of the state behind him. When he starts to demonize people, that's going to have really serious real-world consequences.
LEMON: Gina, do you want to respond?
GINA LOUDON, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Sure, I have to tell you that during this campaign process, I learned a lot about the things that Mr. Trump has done behind-the-scenes that are actually very compassionate. We've heard stories of, you know, somebody helped him alongside the road once and he fought their children's education. I made personal friends with Miss Wisconsin, USA. Her name is Melissa Young and he has helped her. She is terminally ill --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Gina, perhaps I wasn't specific enough in my questioning.
My question was do you think this was the way to respond. I don't mean to be disrespectful. I understand that you said he has done lots of good things, but more specifically --
LOUDON: That's a good thing.
LEMON: To the way he responded to the protesters?
LOUDON: I think that we are in the Twitter generation and I think that, you know, voters know that Mr. Trump is somebody who is not going to be controlled by the way things have been done traditionally by the G.O.P. or by the Democrat establishment.
[00:45:00] And so Mr. Trump is his own man and that's who the voters elected, and I think that's what we are going to get. And I also think that his desire is to communicate with a generation and that's how they communicate.
You know, if you want to communicate with President Obama, you had to get 100,000 signatures to even get a statement on an issue.
RYE: Wow, that's not fair.
LOUDON: Mr. Trump plays on Twitter. And so Mr. Trump is going to go out there and he's going to talk to the American people have a dialogue with him. I'm not sure --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: But what you're saying, though, is Mr. Trump, that Mr. Trump you're talking about is now President-elect Trump and perhaps it's different.
Let me ask you this as well, because speaking about protest and Twitter, this is Twitter in the past. This was after the Mitt Romney loss. And Donald Trump says, "Our country is now in a serious and unprecedented trouble like never before. And he says this election is a total sham and a travesty. We are not a democracy. More votes equals a loss. Revolution."
He's saying there should be a revolution. More votes equals a loss. "Let's fight like hell and stop this great and disgusting injustice. The world is laughing at us. We can't let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided. The phony Electoral College made a laughing stock out of our nation. The loser won. He lost the popular vote by a lot and won the election. We should have a revolution in the country."
Gina, those are Donald Trump's own tweets that he say, he voiced around on Twitter, talking about Mitt Romney winning the popular vote.
LOUDON: Yes, there are a couple of things on this whole election --
LEMON: Which he did at that point, yes.
LOUDON: When you are on the receiving -- when you are on the receiving end of a loss, I completely understand and I feel compassion, because I have been on the receiving end of a loss that frustrated me for those exact same reasons.
But I think that the rationale, anyway, and I'm not necessarily saying it's right or wrong, but it's very hard to change, the rationale behind it, it isn't really an electoral college per se, it's more like an electoral process, but it so that the big cities where all the financial capitals are, such as the big banks and Wall Street don't get to control, right, the rest of us who live in lower populated areas. And that's the purpose behind it that our founders had in mind.
And so I think we're going to have to think long and hard and have this conversation. And I think that's OK. But I also think it's really important for both sides to do a little bit of listening right now and healing rather than just to be fully on the attack at all times.
LEMON: Good point, but again, I just want to make it clear, he did not win the popular vote, that's what he thought at that point. But go ahead, Angela.
RYE: So, you know, I was a little lost in what you were saying. But I just want to offer some clarity to the Electoral College. The electoral college actually provided some security to slave states. So it is an outdated system that is frankly offensive to some of us. So I just want to make sure that we're clear on that.
One thing that I would love to ask you, Gina, is if you think that Donald Trump will rebuke, as he used in the third chance I think he got, David Duke -- rebuke David Duke. If he is going to rebuke also, disavow in some way or condemn this North Carolina KKK parade that's planned for tomorrow -- oh I'm sorry, that's planned for December 3rd.
I'm wondering if he will at least do that, because it doesn't sound like we have any hope of him addressing the concerns of the protesters. So will he at least do that?
LEMON: That's a good question and we'll answer it after the break. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Back now with my panel.
So, Gina, I think the premise of Angela's question was if he is going to denounce the protesters? Is he going to denounce the people who come out like KKK for this planned parade? LOUDON: You know, I think, when -- first of all, I've never heard anything about this except right here, right now. But, secondly, I think that -- I hope that he doesn't and this is why.
I think when we talk about things that are so minuscule, some Facebook group somewhere or something, I think we give it leg and I think we give them power.
RYE: Wow.
BEINART: Wow.
LOUDON: And I think that for so many years, we've been, you know, talking among, talking in terms of race and divisiveness. I think it's time to talk about unity and just focus on the things that we do agree on, that we all want jobs, we all want a better economy. I would like to be talking about those things instead.
LEMON: Peter?
BEINART: With all due respect, I don't think you get it.
RYE: No.
BEINART: Donald Trump has unleashed something in this country that we have not seen for a very, very long time.
I'm going to give you a partial example. I have been on social media for, I don' know, a decade now.
Up until the Trump campaign, I can't remember ever getting anti- Semitic tweet. In the last few days alone, I've probably gotten 100, OK. So something is going on --
(CROSSTALK)
LOUDON: I don't think that that has to do with Mr. Trump.
BEINART: Let me finish. Let me finish.
(CROSSTALK)
I am not saying -- and these are people who support Donald Trump and feel empowered by Donald Trump. That's what they say, themselves. So Donald Trump has an obligation to take that seriously and to repudiate that. And for you to minimize it and suggest to me that you really, you haven't been the victim of that, you don't know what it's like.
Lanhee?
LOUDON: Well, reall, I think that's very unfair. And I --
(CROSSTALK)
CHEN: I think it's unfair. Look, I think it's unfair to say that Donald Trump has an obligation. What I do think is -- BEINART: Why is it unfair? Excuse me, Lanhee --
RYE: He does.
(CROSSTALK)
CHEN: Listen, now that he is --
(CROSSTALK)
BEINART: He is re-tweeting anti-Semitic stuff --
(CROSSTALK)
CHEN: Now he is president-elect.
RYE: May I?
CHEN: Let me just say this, now that he is president-elect, regardless of whether he has an obligation, regardless of whether he should, he ought to as president-elect rise above it and be able to say, look, I denounce all of this hatred.
I don't disagree. He should denounce this hatred.
RYE: Right.
CHEN: But my point is it's not about the obligation he has. The point is he should start behaving like the president-elect as he has the last several days. He ought to extend that behavior into other arenas as well. That's the point I'm trying to make.
RYE: He has to clean up his mess, first. And I think that's Peter's point, right? If we are at a point now, where there are kids chanting at school to build that wall, if we are at a point now where, for example, I was in a car with an Uber driver and he is telling me about his 6-year-old daughter who went to school, asked the secretary of the department of education if she was going to have to leave this country because of a Muslim ban, that's -- those are Donald Trump's words that are poisoning the minds of our children.
[00:55:05] He does have an obligation because now he got what he asked for. He wanted to be the commander-in-chief. There is a great responsibility that comes with that. And it is time not only for him to disavow this rally that is the KKK, December 3rd in North Carolina because Gina it might be small to you, but --
(CROSSTALK)
LOUDON: Why are you giving it legs?
(CROSSTALK)
RYE: Because it already has legs. It's huge. It's a major problem.
LEMON: Angela, let her answer. LOUDON: I want to answer a question that you asked, that you all asked of me. I have a son with Downs Syndrome. I have a Latino- adopted son. These aren't things I take lightly. My son is made fun of every single day. People have done horrible things to my own children on the Internet, usually honestly after I appear on this particular network.
And so I'm not blaming Don Lemon for that. I'm not blaming CNN for that. And I am saying that I think that you can hardly blame some things that took place on the Internet on the President-elect Trump.
Now having said that, let me say, that I do hope and pray that this man that I worked hard to elect will absolutely work toward peace and unity and lack of division.
LEMON: I've got to go, Gina.
LOUDON: I do believe that is on his agenda. And so I agree with you on that part.
LEMON: Let's hope he does that and the conversation will continue.
LOUDON: Thank you.
LEMON: Thank you all of you. I appreciate it. That's it for us tonight. Thanks for watching. I'll see you right back here tomorrow.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
