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Trump Signals Possible Compromise On Obamacare; Pence Takes Over Transition Team From Christie; Anti-Trump Protests Continue In U.S. Cities; One Person Shot During Anti-Trump Protest; Trump Calls Protests "Unfair" Then Praises Them; Minorities Express Panic, Fear Of Trump Presidency; Trump To Turn Over Business Empire To His Children; Trump To Turn Over Business Empire To His Children; Ryan Faces Re- election As Speaker; Trump & Ryan Mend Fences, Vow To Work Together; More Anti-Trump Protests Held Across U.S; This is Life With Lisa Ling Sunday At 10 ET; Behind the Scenes With Officers On the Streets. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired November 12, 2016 - 12:00   ET

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


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, hello again and thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Washington.

Anti-Trump protests erupt across the country, once again, some of them with violent results.

(VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Police and protesters clashing in Portland, Oregon overnight. Officers had to use flash bangs to break up crowds after protesters began throwing objects at police.

Meanwhile, the hunt continues for a gunman who shot and killed one person during that protest and then fled the scene. Protests were seen across the country, demonstrators taking to the streets blocking interstates and burning flags and chanting, not my president.

This, as President-elect Trump signals that he may be open to compromising on some of the campaign promises that propelled him to victory. Most notably, his pledge to repeal and replace the Affordable Health Care Act.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let me ask you about Obamacare, which you say you're going to repeal and replace. When you replace it, are you going to make sure that people with preconditions are still covered?

TRUMP: Yes, because it happens to be one of the strongest assets.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're going to keep that.

TRUMP: Also with children living with their parents for an extended period we're going to very much try and keep that. Adds cost but it's very much something we're going to try and keep.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And there's going to be a period if you repeal it and before you replace when millions of people could lose --

TRUMP: We're going to do it simultaneously. It will be just fine. It's what I do. I do this stuff. We'll repeal it and replace it. We're not going to have like a two-day period or a two-year period where there's nothing. It will be repealed and replaced, and we'll know, and it will be great health care for much less money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So this change in tone comes as President-elect Trump shakes up his transition team. Vice President-elect Mike Pence is stepping up to head the team taking over the role previously held by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

CNN's Chris Frates is following that story for us joining us live from outside Trump Tower in New York. So Chris, what's with this shake up and new direction?

CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred, well, Mike Pence, the vice-president elect taking over this transition effort and replacing Chris Christie, who's really led this thing since May. Christie becoming a vice chair of the transition effort and joining a number of campaign confidants.

Guys like Steve Bannon who ran Trump's presidential campaign and Reince Priebus the chairman of the Republican National Committee, both those guys in the running to become White House chief of staff.

Now, look, the Christie camp saying that this is not a demotion from chairman to vice chairman. They pointed out that the vice president- elect often takes over the transition.

They point that Dick Cheney did something similar for the George W. Bush administration. But look, Cheney didn't have the kind of cloud hanging over his head that Chris Christie does with Bridgegate.

If you remember just recently, two of his top allies were convicted of orchestrating lane closures in a town at the foot of the George Washington Bridge to cause huge traffic problems as political payback against that Democratic mayor who didn't endorse Chris Christie.

Now Christie, of course, has said he didn't know anything about those lane closures. He didn't know anything about that political payback. But certainly, that's hanging over his head.

In fact, our colleague, Michael Smerconish asked RNC spokesman, Sean Spicer, why Christie was moved. Here is what he had to say just this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk transition. What happened to Governor Christie?

SEAN SPICER, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: I don't know. I know that, obviously, you know, Mr. Trump has a ton of faith in Governor Pence and his connections and his stature in Washington. He's been a very successful governor and he's been a very successful member of the House of Representatives. And I think, now that we're in that phase, he obviously wanted to look at some of the people that would lead that transition more carefully and more thoroughly and he made a decision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: So Sean Spicer dodging the question there about what happened to Chris Christie and Donald Trump also not really talking about the shakeup in his transition team.

He tweeted out this morning talking about bringing the country together, unity, and of course, since he's Donald Trump talking about winning, Fred.

So we'll see how things shake out. This is a favorite Washington parlor game, who is in charge of the transition and who is going to be in this Trump government in waiting -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, all very fascinating. Chris Frates, thank you so much in New York.

So it has been now four days since Donald Trump was elected to be the next president of the United States and in nearly as many days, overnight, thousands continued to gather in massive anti-Trump protests across the country from Portland, Oregon to Chicago and in Michigan to Trump's hometown of New York City.

Brynn Gingras joins us live now from Union Square in New York where those protests are planning to unfold again today. So, Brynn, what's happening?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred, I can tell you, yesterday, about a thousand people marched from downtown Manhattan, Washington Square Park all the way up to Trump Tower. I walked with them for about four hours in their protest.

Today, since it is a Saturday, we are expecting a large number of protesters. Again, they have already started gathering before we came on the air, they yelled out, we are going to march that way, which is the direction of Trump Tower, in about 5 minutes.

This group does think they are going to move throughout the streets as we have seen all across the country for the last four days. After they pointed in that direction, they yelled, we are not going to be tolerating any sexism or homophobia or racism. That is really the message.

All of these protesters coming together, frustrated, angry and directed at the president-elect. You can see all these signs people are carrying. Again, many different messages. A girl with her parents here. Girls are important. One of the many signs we are seeing.

You can see the crowd now, they are starting to move. That five- minute warning has expired. This is the direction we will be going, usually. This leads up Fifth Avenue to Trump Tower. We'll see how it goes.

Yesterday, again a thousand people walked for about four hours. We know in New York City alone, there were 11 arrests, disorderly conduct. Mostly the reasons for the arrest, according to the police department.

But I will say yesterday was pretty peaceful and they have been somewhat peaceful here in New York unlike we've seen in other cities across the country. So we are going to keep walking with them, Fred, and we'll let you know how it goes.

WHITFIELD: Thank you so much, Brynn Gingras there in New York. Let's look at some of those other cities because we have been talking about these anti-Trump protests breaking out from New York, Chicago and in Portland, Oregon where things really got heated there.

Tensions remaining very high. In fact, one person was shot and police are still looking for that gunman. Let's go now to CNN's Polo Sandoval, who has been tracking all of the protests that have been kind of dotting the map across the country. Polo, you're joining us from Atlanta. What's going on?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred, as you mentioned and we saw, day four of these demonstrations now getting under way across the country. But meanwhile, if you look back, you'll see that some of those, very few of those demonstration did turn violent, one in particular in the city of Portland, Oregon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL (voice-over): A third night of nationwide protests as thousands march down streets and interstates to vent their anger about the election of Donald Trump, most were peaceful, but there was some violence.

In Portland, police used flash bang grenades to disburse the crowds after they say burning objects were thrown at officers and this morning, Portland police are investigating a shooting on a bridge where protesters have gathered.

The shooting happened after an apparent confrontation. The unidentified man was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The suspect fled the area.

Los Angeles Police arrested protesters in the downtown area but have not provided details on numbers or charges. In Atlanta, an American flag was burned near the Georgia state capital building. Police reported no arrests.

And in Miami, protesters walked along Interstate 95, forcing four lanes of traffic to come to a standstill. And angry crowds gathered once again outside the 58-story Trump Tower, president-elect's home in New York. There have been nightly protests since Trump's election, and more demonstrations are expected through the weekend. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: You speak to the peaceful protesters in the last few days, they say their main message is that they hope to protest against some of the policies that Donald Trump proposed during the campaign.

Of course, now they are very well aware that there's nothing they can do or necessarily say to be able to change the outcome of the election. The other message, that's what they want to get across as we see more demonstrations.

We saw a few moments in New York, one we should be looking out for, Fred, is McArthur Park in Los Angeles. It's where the Latino population is quite large so is yet another demonstration that we'll be keeping a very close eye on throughout the day today -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Polo, keep us posted from Atlanta. Thank you so much.

All right, so as those protests erupt from coast-to-coast, how will the president-elect unite a fiercely divided country? We'll discuss that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:12:55]

WHITFIELD: As anti-Trump protests enter their fourth day now, one of Donald Trump's first obligations will be to help unify a country that feels more divided since he was named president-elect.

So, here is a sampling of today's headlines at major newspapers across the country, words like GOP victories don't guarantee unified government, unease, vitriol, different Americas.

So, does this underscore the divide, the great divide in this country now, during the campaign trail and now post-election? Let's talk more about this. How can President-elect Donald Trump, help bring the country together, help narrow some of these divides.

CNN political commentator, David Swerdlick. He is also an assistant editor for "The Washington Post" with us here in Washington. Also joining me CNN senior political analyst, Ron Brownstein joining from Los Angeles. He is a senior editor for "The Atlantic." Good to see both of you, Gentlemen.

Let me begin with you, David. Last hour, the president-elect tweeted out, still an important form of communication for him saying, quote, "This will prove to be a great time in the lives of all Americans. We will unite and we will win, win, win."

In previous tweets, he acknowledged that the protests were disruptive, that the media helped navigate that, helped fuel them. So how does President-elect Donald Trump, begin healing or begin narrowing a divide, which is clear and apparent? You saw the headlines there. Is it his responsibility as the president-elect to do that? DAVID SWERDLICK, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's absolutely his responsibility. That last tweet that you just put up I think is the right tone. He has sounded mostly the right tone for the last few days since he was elected other than that one tweet blaming the media for protests that were coming out on the streets.

Not only -- he owns this for two reasons, I think, Fred, one is because during the campaign, he was one of the main sources of some of this division through some of the statements he made about Judge Curiel.

[12:15:08]Being the public face of the birther movement, talking about Muslims and talking about women in ways that were divisive and frankly ugly at many times. So it's his responsibility to clean that up.

It's also his responsibility because now, he has become the president- elect, soon president of the United States and he has to show, it's on him, that he can lead all of Americans, not just the Americans that elected him.

WHITFIELD: So this is one tweet that you said might be a starting point. But, does he need to, Ron, address this in some other fashion and does it happen before inauguration?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I'm not sure how much unification or bridging there really can be. I think that, you know, we have two central dynamics here, I think. One is that the divides, as you say, were almost unprecedented. It really was two Americas kind of meeting on the battlefield of this election.

If you look, for example, at the 100 largest counties in America, Hillary Clinton won them by about 12.5 million votes at current count, which is about what President Obama did, a little better than what he did.

The rest of the country, the other 3,000 counties in America, she lost by just about 12 million votes, maybe a little under 12 million. There is an enormous divide between urban and non-urban America, kind of diverse cosmopolitan urban America and you know, more culturally traditional and more racially homogenous non-urban America.

It was very different Americas that elected each of these candidates. The second thing that's reflected is far more than in the past, the voters for each candidate had an overwhelmingly negative view of the other.

I mean, started covering politics in the '80s and '90s. And certainly many people who voted for Bill Clinton respected George H. W. Bush or Bob Dole. That was not the case in this election, 90 percent of Clinton voters had a deeply unfavorable view of Trump and vice versa.

So that is a real kind of constraining factor I think in the ability of either side to bridge this divide. I think the final point is, the real question isn't the tone, it's the agenda.

If Donald Trump implements the agenda that he ran on, which most presidential winners try to do, the academic research is very clear about that.

If he tries to implement that agenda, we are guaranteed intense division because in the parts of America that rejected him, that agenda and not only his words are (inaudible).

WHITFIELD: So the agenda and with whom you are surrounding yourself and right now, while the transition team is getting together, trying to block who gets what job, et cetera, the names and faces that have been floated around are mostly white men and many of whom have their own baggage or are considered polarizing to some degree.

So, when you talk about the responsibility that the president-elect has to help be a unifier, the unifier-in-chief, the mantra that you know, President Obama was given, particularly when he was compelled to address racial issues. One can't help but have visions of that.

Do you see that Donald Trump will have to do that? Will have to, in some way, address beyond agenda, beyond who he names in the transition team, but find a way in which to say I want to be a healer?

SWERDLICK: Yes, I think so. I agree with Ron that a lot of this will come down to what agenda, what legislative agenda, what issues President Trump pushes with a Republican Congress. If he pushes a lot of issues that are unfavorable toward Clinton voters, toward people more in the urban and close in suburbs of America, the more diverse Obama or Clinton coalition that Ron has talked about quite a bit and educated us all about over the course of this election.

Then it is going to be -- there are going to be some head winds for President Trump. But in terms of the message that he puts out from the bully pulpit of the White House, I think that there's potential for him to change tone and turn around.

WHITFIELD: Does that happen while you are president-elect or does that need to happen after inauguration?

SWERDLICK: It has to happen in stages, Fredricka. Because here's the thing, Trump again has made enough ugly, divisive comments over the course of time that it won't be just one speech. He should give let's say a race speech.

WHITFIELD: Should there be something now? I mean, right now, you have protests. Right now you have the headlines that we just showed you across the nation.

SWERDLICK: I think he should say something now. He will continue to say things throughout the course of his -- the early days of his presidency. As you mentioned, Fredricka, he will have to think carefully about the people he surrounds himself with.

There's talk right now about appointing Steve Bannon, we don't for sure -- about appointing Steve Bannon as his chief of staff from Breitbart.

Now Steve Bannon is a smart, capable guy, but he's also a divisive guy. If you put him in as White House chief of staff, that changes the tone of things.

WHITFIELD: Real quick, Ron, on that, punctuate.

BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think every president in their formal remarks are going to talk about being the president of the whole country. There is no alternative, but this is an election that has divided us I think in almost unprecedented ways along the lines of a cultural civil war between the America that is comfortable with the changes going on in the country and those that are most uneasy about the economic and cultural changes.

[12:20:07]Donald Trump spoke to that very powerfully. He won in the Electoral College. He's going to lose the popular vote possibly by more than any winner ever. You are talking about a deep divide and I do not believe words alone are going to cross it.

Ultimately if he tries to implement the agenda that he ran on, we are going to see significant levels of conflict politically. Look, he won. That is his right, but that will be the price.

WHITFIELD: All right, Ron, David, thank you so much. We are going to talk with you again. Take a short pause for now. We'll have much more later on in the hour.

Meantime, Hillary Clinton, she acknowledged that these tough days that she has been enduring since her huge defeat, she wants to bestow a sense of calm, particularly to her campaign volunteers. Take a listen to a conference call that took place last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), FORMER 2016 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (via telephone): Look, I'm not going to sugar coat it. These have been very, very tough days for all of us. I hope that you will all take some time to regroup. It's important that you understand that, you know, there's still a lot to be done in our country by people like you who are so, so important to us.

And I hope that, you know, you will take some time with friends and family or do what I have been doing, take your dogs for a walk if you have dogs, whatever else gives you some real pleasure. This is a tough time for our country.

I think we have seen how people have been reacting to the events of this election and I know that we've got to be reaching out to each other to keep it clear in our own minds that what we did was so important.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, that was Hillary Clinton talking to her staff. She says that the thoughts of her aides is what is keeping her lifted and, of course, you recall seeing that photograph.

She went out on -- she's been taking walks and suggesting everybody else do the same. Someone just happened to run into her, while Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton were walking in White Plains.

She was carrying her baby on her back and had a chance to talk with her and express what it was like to go into the voting booth with her daughter and vote for Hillary Clinton. Then, of course, this photograph was taken and posted. All right, we'll have much more right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:26:24]

WHITFIELD: All right, from business mogul to president of the United States, Donald Trump is about to get a job promotion unlike any other. But when Trump enters the oval office, he could face more potential business conflicts than anyone ever elected president.

Trump has stakes in more than 500 companies and now he's preparing to seek control of the sprawling business network to his children. What's unclear is how much actual distance this will put between a President Trump, his policy agenda, and his global empire.

Let's bring in CNN money correspondent, Cristina Alesci. All right, so first, Cristina, good to see you. Explain for us what Trump is doing in terms of handing over the reins to his children.

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, as you laid out, it's a fairly complicated thing. It's a big problem for Donald Trump to resolve, right? How do you deal with this kind of thing?

This announcement tries to do that, tries to resolve questions about whether he can make decisions in the best interest of the country, without the cloud of his businesses hanging over him.

The reality is, the arrangement of handing over the business to his children does almost nothing to meet the standards most ethics experts and lawyers recommend.

Here's what happened. Trump wants to avoid criticism for backing policies that could directly boost his bottom line, for example, supporting tax breaks for developers.

Look, a spokesman for the Trump Organization says the new structure will, quote/unquote, "comply with all the applicable rules and regulations." Guess what, Fredricka? There are almost no rules that dictate how a president or vice president handle these conflicts.

In contrast, other officials in the executive branch have to comply with what's called the U.S. financial conflict of interest statute and get rid of businesses that clash with their duties. However, in the U.S., there's a long standing tradition that presidents and vice presidents eliminate conflicts.

The only way Trump can do that, according to the experts I spoke to, is sell his assets, put the proceeds in what's called a blind trust, run by someone with no connection to the family and any other arrangement, any other structure falls short from an ethical standpoint, again, according to the people I spoke with.

Look, for many people at home, the question is, is the president really subject to any regulation or oversight on this front? One thing is clear. He cannot accept a bribe.

But if he wants to change the terms of a deal he negotiated with the federal government, let's say, for example, like the lease for his hotel in Washington, D.C., there's nothing standing in his way.

The lawyers are pointing to a clause in the Constitution, they say could trip Trump up. It pertains to foreign government. It's called the emoluments clause. It says that no government official can accept money from a foreign government.

But experts don't know whether this clause actually applies to Trump's businesses. After all, we are talking about deals, not gifts in these situations. Remember he has golf courses in Scotland. His name is on buildings in India, Turkey and the Philippines.

We don't know whether or not the governments of these countries were involved in these transactions. But experts say it's easy to see how a violation would play out.

WHITFIELD: One wants to know about the potential penalty if indeed there are violations and people want to know, what about his children? If his children are going to be running the business and they are also part of the transition team, whether they are going to be on government payroll or not, is there a conflict there?

[12:30:12] ALESCI: Look, that certainly does not help matters the fact that his children, on the same day that he announced the transition of the assets and his personal holdings to his children, he announces that his -- those very same children are going to be part of his transition team. That does not help optically. It ties the two further together as opposed to pulling them apart.

And also, critics are going to seize on this. They're going to say, look, Trump said the entire campaign cycle that Hillary Clinton should shut down her nonprofit to avoid entanglements or conflicts. Now, critics are going to turn around and say hey, what applied to her should apply to you, too. And that's the issue for him and most ethics expert say the current arrangement does not really protect him from that kind of criticism.

WHITFIELD: OK. So from criticism, but is there potential enforcement and are there a potential penalties?

ALESCI: The only way that there is a potential penalty or violation is in that monuments clause that I mentioned, right? That's the constitutional clause that says that no government official can accept gifts from a foreign government. And that is very strictly enforced and ethics lawyers take that very seriously.

So when you talk about possible violations, what critics are going to be digging into and what the media is going to be paying attention to for the most part, is his dealings overseas and whether or not there are any deal sweeteners in these, you know, these transactions that he's done overseas and anything that could constitute a gift if it involves a government office, you know, that can come under scrutiny and potentially and likely towards that clause.

WHITFIELD: Right. But or what? I mean, he's not going to lose his job, right?

ALESCI: Well, if you violate the constitution, you may be subject to, you know, worse case scenario, impeachment. So, it's not without consequence. We're talking about very serious things. I'm not saying that he is doing any of this right now. That's not what I'm saying at all. What I'm saying if you play out, you know, the what if, you know, that's potentially one of them.

WHITFIELD: Wow. All right, that's a lot. All right, Cristina Alesci, thank you so much for breaking it all down for us. Appreciate it.

All right, up next, Paul Ryan's future on Capitol Hill. How exactly will he fare under a Trump administration? It's been a tenuous relationship. What now? We'll discuss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:35:40] WHITFIELD: Hello, welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Washington, D.C. So just days after the presidential election, Paul Ryan is facing another big vote and it will determine whether he gets to stay on as Speaker of the House. The vote, among House Republicans happens on Tuesday.

Joining me right now to discuss Ryan's next steps in the future of the GOP agenda. CNN Political Analyst, Ron Brownstein and CNN Political Commentator, David Swelick, who will hopefully be back here at the table. But for now, it's you and me, Ron. OK.

So this is interesting, because we were last talking about how Donald Trump would have to become a healer, not just because of the divides across the country, but let's also talk about the divisions within the GOP, starting with, you know the relationship between he and Paul Ryan. So how is Donald Trump going to go about doing this?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think Paul Ryan's re-election as speaker would've been a lot more fraught if Donald Trump lost than if he won. I think there would've been a tremendous amount of recrimination in the Republican Party about whether and in fact Mr. Trump had lost, the cause was a stab in the back from so many leaders in the party who had failed to wholeheartedly endorse him.

Now there's going to be a very interesting kind of menuet (ph) because Donald Trump in some ways was an independent candidate who happened to ran under the banner of the Republican Party. About half of his agenda overlaps very much of what Paul Ryan wants to do, that's cutting taxes, cutting regulation, undoing the climate change plan of President Obama, repealing the major elements of Obamacare and so forth. To the other half of his agenda, we're walking away from NAFTA, walking away from the TPP, building a wall, accelerating deportation, rejecting any cuts in social security and medicare or/and a major infrastructure spending.

I mean I did a session with Paul Ryan a few weeks ago. I asked about all of these. None of those were things that he has embraced. So, you know, there are definitely going to be areas where they can work together. They will move forward, they will use what is called the reconciliation mechanism which allows you to avoid a filibuster and the Senate to try to do many of these fiscal things.

But that the aspects, Fred, of Donald Trump's agenda that made him unique and in many ways were the core of his connection to the working class -- white working class voters in the Midwest that elected him. Those are the precisely the same points of the agenda that are most objectionable to Paul Ryan and many congressional Republicans. And I'll be interesting to see how that plays out.

WHITFIELD: Right. So this differences between a Paul Ryan and Donald Trump, does that mean that potentially jeopardizes whether Paul Ryan gets to keep his job after Tuesday's vote?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, no, I think like I said, I think with Donald Trump winning, he has every reason to kind of ally with Paul Ryan. I think if Trump had lost, I think there would've been much more contention in the Republican Party because there would've been this kind of after the fact finger pointing and this argument there was a stab in the back.

Like I said I mean I think on the first elements out of the box, they're probably going to focus on the things they agree on most, which are big tax cuts, repealing the major on as Obamacare rolling back many of President Obama's regulatory initiatives and so forth.

I think an interesting test is going to be the infrastructure plan now, because Donald Trump has said he wants to spend twice as much at least as Hillary Clinton did on infrastructure which should be a $500 billion infrastructure plan which I think is an idea that makes Paul Ryan's head explode frankly.

WHITFIELD: All right. So you do not think that Paul Ryan's position as House Speaker is in jeopardy as a result of the history between the two, the differences that you just laid out?

BROWNSTEIN: No, you know, I don't. I think like I said, I think it's useful for Donald Trump to have Ryan there who is really is a different face of the party than Trump represents, but I do think that there are going to be. The question is can they find a way? Do you move forward the things on they agree on without having kind of debilitating conflict over the aspect, really the unique aspects of Trump.

The things that differentiate him from typical Republicans, the intensity of his views on immigration, on banning immigration from large parts of the world, building a wall, walking away from free- trade agreements, rejecting any cuts of insight on programs, massive infrastructure spending, you know, those are all things that are very much not on Paul Ryan's kind of priority list. And all of them, except the last, I would note, are really not on the priority list of the business groups at the core of the Republican kind of institutional coalition.

[12:39:54] So does the chamber of commerce kind of accept -- if Donald Trump really does try to walk away from the North American free trade agreement, what happens in the Republican Party? Other Republican senators say to me this summer five Republican senators might support him on that.

Certainly the business round table on the chamber which are, you know, critical to the kind of the coalition with fighting to tooth and nail, so it'll be fascinating to watch, yes, they were all agreement propelling Obamacare, they were all agreement bis tax cuts, but the unique elements s of the Trump agenda, that could be a very different story.

WHITFIELD: All right. Lots of possible tremors. Ron Brownstein, thank you so much. And Paul Ryan, hear from him directly. He's a guest with Jake Tapper tomorrow on State of the Union watch at 9:00 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN. And we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAM LIEBMAN, FOUNDER, SQUAD: What inspire Squad was actually a fun trip that I was taking with my friends, we all went to Montreal and we wanted to meet cool people. And so I have the idea to take down all of all my photos and put up just pictures of the group of guys that is with. We match this on people and all of us got together that night and have a blast. My name is Adam Liebman, I'm CEO and founder of Squad.

Squad is a theme now, that's what people are using it for. There are a lot of apps that are focused on one-to-one connection, there are a lot of apps that are focused on, you know, an explicit romantic date. And that's a lot of pressure.

When we are with friends, we are more comfortable, we're more confident we can judge other people by the company that he actually pitch the idea to hundreds of people, telling them, hey, if this was a thing, would you be interested in it?

[12:45:08] And I got a lot of positive feedback. We went from an idea to live in the app store in under six months. If one of the people in your Squad likes one of the people in my squad, then one of the people on my Squad likes one of the people in your Squad then all of us go into a group chat. And from there, it gets fun, really silly.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We got three matches.

LIEBMAN: There's a turtle in the Squad logo. And that's our mascot. His name is Sheldon (ph). And we actually came up with that idea of Sheldon (ph) because squad is all about coming out of your shell.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm Reiko (ph), nice to meet you.

LIEBMAN: We built this and we connected people. How cool is that? DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT: Now it's time for America to bind the wounds of division. 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: A call for unity by the president-elect during his acceptance speech earlier this week. But deep divisions in the country remain. Take a look at your screen right now. Protest in several major cities across the country, virtually every night, since the election. And more continue taking place right now in Chicago.

This is the fourth day of anti-Trump protests across the country in various places, tensions also flaring up at a middle school in Michigan after some students started chanting in support of Trump's planned wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

All right, Latino children in the mix, including the little girl who video taped this incident said they were hurt and they were scared by that chanting.

Joining us right now Christy McDonald, T.V. Anchor for PBS Detroit and Nolan Finley, Editorial Page Editor for the Detroit News joining us right now.

All right good to see you both. So Christy, let me begin with you because it's disturbing, the imagery, knowing that there are children who are talking about building the wall and you've got children in the mix who are taking offense to it, who are hurt by all of this, so clearly a direct correlation between what children have been seeing and hearing on the campaign trail and now acting it out as though this is normal, this is the way everyone should behave. So what now with this kind of imagery?

CHRISTY MCDONALD, T.V. ANCHOR, PBS DETROIT: I think it was very eye- opening for a lot of people to see this video. But, you know, the campaign, which has been swirling around for the last 18 months. Children see a lot of things and they hear a lot of things and sometimes they hear a lot more and see a lot more than their parents actually think they do.

So with all the conversation that's been happening in our country for so long, for this to be happening and taking place in some of the schools is very eye-opening for people to see. You know, I was at an event about two weeks before the election, a voter event with public radio and some people were talking to us about how they were feeling about the election.

And there were two teachers in that group who stood up and said we have been hearing from children about this election. They've been coming to us. And this is elementary, with questions, with fears, with concerns, or bringing in slogans and wanting to know what it all means.

I know now in the last couple of days since this event happened at Royal Oak Middle School, school districts around the state have been sending notes home saying parents, hey, you've got to talk to your children. You have to talk about how some language about words might be offensive to people. And that they may have consequences.

And also just another side note that the Michigan civil rights division had also put a note out saying look, we take it very seriously, what happened at Royal Oak Middle School and we will be watching to see what happens. But this is a call to talk to our kids about what is happening in our country and that words do have consequence.

WHITFIELD: So Nolan, what do you see in the responsibility of a Donald Trump who started this jargon and now to see children using this language, now to see protest across the country in direct response to some of the language that the president-elect used and direct response to the outcome of the election? How do you see Donald Trump conveying a message, being a healer in all of this and in what format does he do that?

[12:49:37] NOLAN FINDEY, EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR, THE DERTROIT NEWS: Well, I think you saw him Tuesday night and since the election trying to be conciliatory, trying to assure people he's going to be a president of all the people.

I don't think you can't simply blame the candidate. You look at what's been going on in our homes in our society. People have been very strident, very emotional and passionate about this election. Families have broken up over it. You have Facebook defriending old friends and what have you.

[12:50:07] I had a middle school student in my office yesterday, he was working on a school project and she said there have been fights breaking out in her school, but she also said that teachers came in Wednesday morning and several off of them were crying.

I don't think you can relieve anyone of responsibility for this. We have been just way too hostile and emotional with each other during the course of this campaign. I got a letter this morning from a university of Michigan student where someone painted a rock, some anti-Trump protesters painted a rock that said kill them all. And she said on the campuses, if you are a Trump supporter, if you backed him in this campaign, you can't even mention it. They're fearful.

WHITFIELD: So wait a minute, though. OK, but if we're talking -- but if we are talking about setting the tone, if the tone that we are seeing being played out with young people or even, you know, protests or result of a tone that was heard or witnessed on the campaign trail, and if that tone is directly linked to a Donald Trump as president- elect, why would he not be the one, in your view, Nolan, to help set a tone of better understanding or clarity or -- I mean a tweet is one thing and that statements on election night. But do you see that he bears a responsibility to do more to -- that there has to be a continuum?

FINLEY: Yeah, he does and I hope he recognizes it, but you know, obviously, I don't think his tone on the election -- during the election campaign on the campaign trail is defensible. It's not, but he wasn't out there alone. I didn't hear much in the way of a positive tone from either candidate ...

WHITFIELD: But that was his vernacular, build a wall. That was his vernacular and if you hear children now reiterating that ...

FINLEY: Of course.

WHITFIELD: ... there was a direct correlation.

FINLEY: Of course, it's despicable, but I think in the last few days, you see him out yesterday saying, well, all that stuff I said about locking up Hillary Clinton, let's not go there. We are going to back off that. I think he's trying to be a little more conciliatory, recognizing he has a big job to do.

I don't think these riots out on the West Coast help matters any. I don't think they are warranted and I don't think, in any way they are linked to things he said on the campaign trail. I think people are bitter about this election. And they are playing it out and I think they need to stop and give this process a chance.

MCDONALD: I think they are acting -- Fredricka, I think they're also acting on the fear of the unknown. They don't know what is going to happen next. And for people, who have felt victimized by the statements Donald Trump said on the campaign trail, they're frozen and waiting to see what does happen next.

Now, as Nolan said that Donald Trump started to walk back a little of the harder stances that he's taking in, in terms of abolishing Obamacare and building the wall that maybe he's starting to soften the stances.

But I think for a lot of people who are watching, they're waiting to see OK, exactly what is a Trump presidency going to bring? What policies is he going to enact? So that's what I think that you're seeing with people who are taking to the street in Detroit and in Grand Rapids in the State of Michigan, also and in Royal Oak last night, where Royal Oak Middle School is.

And so, I think that they're waiting to see and if they do hear more messages from Donald Trump saying, look, we are going to unite the country. We are going to try to, you know, bring things forward. That would be good, but I think that the first tweet that he did was a little inflammatory in terms of blaming the media for in sighting the protest and also saying they're professional protester. He has walked back from that, but again, you look at the fear of the unknown and that's what I think is also inflaming some of this.

WHITFIELD: All right Christy McDonald - real quick, Nolan.

FINLEY: Yeah, the irony her was this is what we worried about if Trump lost, whether his supporters would accept the election, would they go out in the streets and it's exactly what's happening now that he's won. And I think that's ironic.

[12:54:05] WHITFIELD: All right. Christy McDonald, Nolan Finley, thanks both of you, I appreciate it. We'll be right back.

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WHITFIELD: All right. Tomorrow, on an all new episode of "THIS IS LIFE" you're going to get a behind-the-scenes look of what it's like to be a police officer on American streets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LISA LING, CNN "THIS IS LIFE": The reality is many cops don't know what kind of situation they are responding to when they answer a call. Gun violence is a major problem in Philly and it hits close to home for the 22nd district. Last year, one of their own, Officer Robert Wilson was killed in a gunfire exchange while buying a present for his son. It's a sobering reminder for the force to always be alert and on guard.

When you go into these neighborhoods that are known for violence, you have to be cautious and what's it like to live that way

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean I'm always cautious, But I'm more cautious. It's just that little extra bit I have to have.

LING: How was all this scrutiny on police officers? How does it make you feel as career police officers yourselves?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You represent all police officers, whether you want it or not. That's how the public looks at it. If they are bad, then you are bad. I'm not as excited to tell people what I do for a living.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anytime you see little kids out here, they usually say hi to us, but now you don't. Their parents teaches the kids how basically not to like us, because were the bad guys now. But we're still the helpers. We're still the ones that they call when it hits the fan. If they like it or not, we are coming, you know, and we're coming to help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Watch "THIS IS LIFE" with Lisa Ling Sunday night 10:00 Eastern time. We'll be right back

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