Return to Transcripts main page
Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Trump Holds Rally in Ohio. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired December 01, 2016 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[20:00:01] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT: You will see changes; very quick you will see it.
A shrinking work force -- you will say it. A shrinking work force and flat wages are not the new normal. And when' not even talking about flat. We're talking about wages where some of you in this audience, hardworking incredible Americans, were making more money 20 years ago than you're making today. And today, you're older and you're working harder and in many cases you have two jobs. Some of that's because of Obamacare and, by the way, we are repealing and replacing Obamacare.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
We can reverse the stagnation and usher in a period of true opportunity and growth, endless gridlock is not a way of life any longer. We don't have to accept that. Government can be responsive and we can be proud again of how Washington works.
And I've spoken to Democrats and I said to them, look, we can't go on with this gridlock, it's gone on if so many years, that I can't get together. We'll get together and I believe they want to get together, you know why? Because it's time and people are angry, they're angry and they're going to get together.
We're going to make joint decisions. We are -- and the nice part, our victory was so great we have the House, we have the Senate and we have the presidency.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
But we want to get them on board also.
People are constantly telling me and telling you to reduce our expectations. Those people are fools. They're fools. But this campaign proved the old rules no longer apply. That anything we want for our country is now possible. Anything we want, right?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Now is not the time to downsize our dreams, but to set our sights higher than ever before for our country.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Now is the time to push for real profound change that restores the full promise of America for all of its people and those people are great people, I got to know them, believe me, over the last 18 months.
And what we've created is a movement and it's a beautiful thing. You take a look here, the roads are all gridlocked, all gridlocked, all locked down, all secured up and people pour in. It's an amazing thing.
Now is the time to unlock the potential of millions of Americans left on the sidelines, their talents unused, their dreams unrealized and their aspirations totally forgotten, and these are people of great talent.
This is the moment. This is our chance. This is our window for action. This is the hour when the great deeds can be done and our highest hopes can come true. We're going to do it, folks. We're going to do it.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
We're going to do it.
(CROWD CHANTING "USA, USA, USA")
Thank you. I love you, too.
Some guy, look at this guy. And I do love him. He's a rough looking cookie, though, I'll tell you.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
We love -- we have a lot of love, believe me. Going to be a lot of love in our country.
Driven by these goals, I'm working to assemble a detailed action plan for America. My plan begins with a bold structural reform to create millions of new jobs and rapidly expand our economic growth. And you see what's happening with taxes. You see what's happening with regulations which are totally out of control.
Right now, we punish companies for doing business in America. They're actually punished. That's why they're leaving.
And, by the way, I have to say this -- we are going to reduce taxes to a point that our incredible. For the middle-class in particular, but for our companies, and we're going to reduce the regulations.
But if a company wants to still leave the state of Ohio or Pennsylvania or how about North Carolina?
[20:05:10] How well did we do in North Carolina, right?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Remember when they said, "He can not win North Carolina." So we just won Ohio, Iowa and we had just won Florida. Breaking news, Donald Trump has won Florida. They say whoa.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
And we won it big.
But then the people back there, the extremely dishonest press said --
(BOOS)
Right?
(BOOS)
Very dishonest people.
(BOOS)
How about -- how about -- I mean, how dishonest. How about when a major anchor who hosted a debate started crying when she realized that we won? How about that?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Tears. Tell me this isn't true.
And you know what she doesn't understand? Things are going to be much better now. She doesn't understand.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
I mean think of it. We won in a landslide. That was a landslide. And -- we didn't have the press, the press was brutal.
You know what?
(BOOS)
Hey, in the great state of Ohio we didn't have the upper echelon of politician, either, did we?
(BOOS)
But I will say this. I will say this and it was very nice, your Governor John Kasich called me after the election.
(BOOS)
And was very nice.
He said, congratulations, that was amazing. He couldn't believe how much we won Ohio by or the election by.
Remember, you cannot get to 270, the dishonest press. There is no road.
Folks, how many times did we hear this? "There is no path to 270."
(LAUGHTER) There is no path. There is no path.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
There is no path for Donald Trump. Texas is in play. Do you remember that one?
Now, as a Republican I'm supposed to win Texas. As a Republican, I'm supposed to win Georgia. As a Republican, I'm supposed to win the great state of Utah. I love Utah. Love those states.
Remember when they said, Donald Trump is going to lose to some guy I never even heard of. Who is that guy?
He is going to lose to this guy.
But the people of Utah were amazing and we trounced them. We trounced them.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
And, by the way, Hillary came in second and that guy came in third, I was still trying to figure out -- I'm still trying to figure out what was he going to prove.
I wanted to find out what the hell was he trying to prove? I guess he wanted us to lose the Supreme Court. That's about the only thing he was going to get.
But think of it, they said, "I'll tell you what --" two or three weeks before the election. My friends were telling me just the opposite that live in Texas and Georgia.
They said Georgia is in play. Texas is in play. That means like we're even. And then we won in a landslide both states. I said, what happened, right?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
They go for weeks Texas is in play, then you turn on the television like two minutes later, Donald Trump has won Texas.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
These are very, very dishonest people. OK.
(BOOS)
[20:10:05] I love this stuff. Should I go on with this just a little bit longer?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
I love it.
How about it's like 12:00 in the evening and Pennsylvania -- I'm leading by a lot and we couldn't get off 98 percent. They didn't want to call it, we're leading by so much that it's impossible, if I lost every other vote and they refused to call.
Then at 3:00, I'll never forget I watched a particular person and we won Wisconsin. And we won Michigan, and we won Pennsylvania, right?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
And that person is doing the map and that person was saying for months that there's no way that Donald Trump can break the blue wall, right?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
We didn't break it, we shattered that sucker. We shattered it.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
We shattered it. Man, that poor wall is busted up. So, I'll never forget it, though because it felt so good.
You know, more so because they kept saying there's no path and all this nonsense. So -- and I go out and see the people like this and I'd say, how are we going to lose? I mean, how are we going to lose? But what happened, so they'd say we win Wisconsin, Donald Trump 38 years or so. Donald Trump has won Michigan.
And then they're looking at the map, they're saying oh, wow. There's no way for Hillary Clinton to become president. Donald Trump is president of the United States.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Amazing. It was amazing. Really amazing.
And one of the announcers, one of the announcers, I have to tell you, from ESPN, now they cover football and boxing and everything, right? And he went out and he said, "I've got to tell you, that event last night -- meaning the election results -- was better than any fight, any baseball game, any football game.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
He said that was the most exciting event I've ever seen and it was politics. And then you look at the NFL. Well, now, they should start recovering. But their ratings were so far down and you know what the reason was? This -- because this business is tougher than the NFL. It's crazy.
The people liked it. Their ratings were down 20 percent or 21 percent and it was because of us. So, we had a lot of fun.
The bottom line is we won.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
We won. We won big. Whether it's producing steel, building cars or curing disease, we want
the next generation of innovation and production to happen right here in America and right here in Ohio, right?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
First on taxes. We're going to massively lower taxes and make America the best place in the world to hire, to invest, to grow, to create and to expand. We'll do that.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
On regulation, we're going to eliminate every single wasteful regulation that undermines the ability of our workers and our companies to compete with companies from foreign lands. We're going to do it.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
We have the greatest competitors on earth. And by the way, I've put on some of the greatest business people in the world. One of the networks said, "Why he put on a billionaire at Commerce." Well, that's because this guy knows how to make money, folks.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
He knows how to make money. I'd like to put on a guy that failed all his life, but we don't want that, do we? No, I mean, I put on a killer. I've been honest, I said I am going to be putting on the greatest killers you've ever seen.
We need that, it's time. It's time. It's time.
[20:15:02] We have a great, great cabinet I'll tell you. It's coming and wait until you see what we have next week. Are we doing a good job with our cabinet and our people?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
And I don't want to tell you, I don't want to tell you this because I want to save the suspense for next week. So I will not tell you, I refuse to tell you -- and don't let it outside of this room, do you promise? Raise your hand? Promise.
So, I will not tell you that one of our great, great generals --
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Don't let it outside, right? And, of course, the press is very honest, they'll never let this go. Even though it's all live, they've got about seven stations live. We are going to appoint Mad Dog Mattis as our secretary of defense.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
But we're not announcing it until Monday, so don't tell anybody. Mad Dog, he's great. He is great.
I asked one of the generals, I love the generals and I won't use his name but he probably would come forward. But I said to him, "You're a good general, aren't you? "Yes, sir, I am." I said, "So, how do you compare to General Mattis? How do you compare to Mad Dog?" "Sir, he's better than I am."
I loved it, I said, "I love you to say that." they love him.
So, we're going to be announcing him on Monday of next week. Keep it inside the room. But that's what we have and he's our best.
They say he's the closest thing to General George Patton that we have and it's about time. It's about time.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
OK. I gave up a little secret.
My people over there are probably saying, "You weren't supposed to do that, Mr. Trump."
On energy, we will pursue energy independence and cancel the job- killing restrictions on the production of shale energy, oil, natural gas and clean coal, and we're going put the miners of Ohio back to work.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
On infrastructure, we will build new roads, tunnels, bridges, railways, airports, schools and hospitals, including major projects in the inner cities. It's such potential in the inner city.
We're not using our potential.
Remember when I would make the speeches, I'd say what the hell do you have to lose. The African-American community was so great to me in this election. They were so great to me. Amazing.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
I couldn't believe it. I started off at a low number and every week, boom, boom, boom, and I got it up to a number that's higher than all of the Republican candidates for years and it was great.
The Hispanic community, I did great with the Hispanic community. Great, higher than people that were supposed to have done well. I felt it.
And is this really a big surprise? We did great with women. Can you believe it? Great with women.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
A couple of polls came in -- (BOOS)
A couple of polls came in in the early states and they said, "We don't believe it. He's doing well with women." But every time I went out, I saw those beautiful pink signs, right, "Women for Trump", and I knew we were going to do well so we did great with women. We did great with everybody.
We will deepen our harbors and new lanes of commerce across the nation. We have harbors that ships can't even go into.
[20:20:02] We will have two simple rules when it comes --
(INAUDIBLE)
They don't know that Hillary lost a couple of weeks ago. They forgot.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
I don't know. Where do these people come from? Oh, well.
They're taking her back home to mom.
No, it's true. It's true. They don't realize. They don't know.
You know, a lot of the people that protested, we said did you vote? No, I didn't vote. They don't vote. They never vote.
And do you agree with my stance that if people burn the American flag there should be consequence, right?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
I think so. I think so.
(CROWD CHANTING "USA, USA, USA")
We will have two simple rules when it comes to this massive rebuilding effort -- buy America and hire American. We're going to do it ourselves. We're going to do it ourselves. And that will be our new mantra.
On trade, the history of nations teaches us that this strength of a country and its trade and manufacturing sector is vital to both its economic prosperity and national security because we don't do that. Our borders are weak, our trade is terrible, you are going to see a turn that is so big and is going to happen so fast.
And we started today in Indiana, believe me, that's just the beginning. That's just the beginning.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Our trade deficit now is nearly $800 billion a year, it's a chronic drag on growth and a destroyer, it destroys the wealth of our country and jobs, and jobs. Ohio has lost one-third of its manufacturing jobs since NAFTA. And you know the nice part? Now I don't have to say "signed by Bill Clinton and approved by Hillary." Who cares?
All I can tell you is that NAFTA is a disaster. What difference does it make? We will fix NAFTA or we'll terminate it and start all over again.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
America has lost 70,000 factories, hard to believe. I always say that's a typo -- 70,000 factories since China joined the World Trade Organization. Think of it.
In the year 2000, America had nearly 20 million manufacturing jobs in the Rust Belt, OK? Today, we have only 12.3 million manufacturing jobs left in the Rust Belt. We're going to bring them back. We're going to bring them back.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
We're going to bring them back. The Rust Belt has been hammered and one of the reasons I won, it's one of the reasons I won.
Ohio, as an example, is down from 1.2 million manufacturing jobs in the year 2000 to only 690,000 jobs today. Not going to happen anymore, folks.
Or take Michigan, they're down from 900,000 manufacturing jobs in the year 2000 to only 600,000 manufacturing jobs today.
I see these numbers and it's sad. But what isn't sad, because this is all about hope, but it's real hope because we'll turn that around so fast. And we don't want Ford leaving and going to Mexico to build its small cars. We don't want it. We're going to turn it all around.
We're living through the greatest jobs theft in the history of the world. I've been saying it for months.
[20:25:00] It used to be the cars were made in Flint, right? And you couldn't drink the water in Mexico. Today, the cars are made in Mexico and you can't drink the water in Flint, Michigan. You know that, right? What a difference.
But we're turning that around. What a terrible thing that was, too. Gross incompetence on so many levels.
The era of economic surrender is over. We're going to fight for every last American job. It's time to remove the rust from the Rust Belt and usher in a new industrial revolution. We're going to do it.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
On health care reform, we will repeal and replace Obamacare. We have no choice. We have no choice.
And we will finally fix health care for America's incredible veterans. Veterans. We love our veterans.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Where are the veterans? Raise your hand. Who's a veteran? We have a lot of veterans. Our veterans have not been treated properly.
And I want to thank our veterans and I want to thank our military. And I want to thank our police force forces because the number of votes I got was staggering, staggering.
For whatever reason, people in uniforms like Trump. I don't know, tough to figure that out. These are great people. We're going to take care of our veterans and we're working right now on somebody to run the Veterans Administration who will be terrific. Believe me, terrific and I'll be watching, too. I'll be watching.
On child care, I'm asking Congress to pass legislation to support the American family and make safe and affordable child care accessible to all. It's so important.
Our agenda will fight to increase pay and opportunities for women in the workforce. Support women entrepreneur. Who's a woman entrepreneur here? Who are the women? A lot of them.
I hate to tell you, men. Generally speaking, they're better than you are.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Now, if I said it the other way around, I'd be in big trouble, don't you agree?
We're going to make sure that no one is penalized for the decision to have a family. Right now, they're penalized.
On crime, the murder rate has experienced its largest increase in 45 years in our country. Think of that.
We're going to support the incredible men and women of law enforcement. They are incredible people.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
My administration will marshal federal resources to bring this crime wave to an end, most in 45 years. We believe all Americans have the right to live in safety and peace, and we will never back down in fighting to deliver that security to every community in our land and to our inner cities that have been forsaken.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
We're going to take care of our inner cities and the people in our inner cities.
On defense, we will begin a major national effort to rebuild our badly depleted military. We have no choice.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE) We have no choice. You look at this world, it's a tinderbox, we have no choice.
And we want a strong military and we don't want to have to use it. Ideally, we don't to use it. Although we will destroy ISIS.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
At the same time, we will pursue a new foreign policy that finally learns from the mistakes of the past. We will stop looking to topple regimes and overthrow governments, folks. Remember, $6 trillion, $6 trillion in the Middle East, $6 trillion.
Our goal is stability not chaos, because we want to rebuild our country. It's time. It's time.
We will partner with any nation that is willing to join us in the effort to defeat ISIS and radical Islamic terrorism. OK? We have to say the term. Have to say the term.
[20:30:02] DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF UNITED STATES: ... Islamic terrorism. OK, we have to say the term. Have to say the term.
In our dealings with other countries, we will seek shared interests wherever possible and pursue a new era of peace, understanding and goodwill. On immigration we will restore the sovereignty of the United States. We will restore the sovereignty. We will finally end illegal immigration, have to.
We will construct a great wall at the border. Dismantle the criminal cartels and liberate our communities from the epidemic of gang violence and drugs pouring into our nation. We will ask Congress to reform our visa and immigration programs to protect jobs and wages for American workers. I love American workers. I love these people. You know what I call the American workers? The forgotten men and women of our nation. And those men and women came out to vote, nobody ever thought that was going to happen. They came out by the millions. These are great, great people.
To keep our nation secure from terrorism and extremism, we will suspend immigration from regions where it cannot be safely processed. We have regions of the world, people are pouring in. I don't have to say who's letting them in anymore. I just have to say they are pouring into our country. We don't need San Bernardino. We don't need another Orlando. We don't need another World Trade Center. We don't need Paris. You look at Paris. You look at Nice. You look all over the world, look what's happening to Germany. We don't need that folks. We have enough problems, believe me.
Your state has just experienced a violent atrocity at the great Ohio State University and that is a great place. That further demonstrates the security threats are created and these are just threats that are stupidly created by our very, very stupid politicians, refugee programs. We offer our thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathies to the victims, and our hearts go out to the entire community of Ohio State. What a great place. Great place. We're with you and we will stand with you every single step of the way.
The job of the president is to keep America safe. And that will always be my highest priority. We will do everything in our power to keep this scourge of terrorism out of our country. We're going to keep it out of our country. Just so you understand, people are pouring in from regions of the Middle East. We have no idea who they are, where they come from, what they are thinking, and we're going stop that dead, cold, flat.
And you just take a look at what just happened in your state. Just take a good look and really think about it. Ethics reform will be a crucial part of our 100 day plan as well. We're going to drain the swamp of corruption in Washington D.C. Drain the swamp.
Thank you. I will impose a five year ban on executive branch officials becoming lobbyists and a lifetime ban on officials becoming lobbyist for foreign government. Change is not going to be easy. I am going to need you to fight as hard for these proposals as you fought for this great campaign of ours.
[20:35:03] We are going to need our government and this movement to be more engaged and more vigilant than ever before to help us accomplish the reforms and overcome decades of stalemate and gridlock. We're going to get it done, folks. Now that you put m, in this position, even if you don't help me one bit I'm going to get it done, believe me, don't worry about it. It would be easier if you helped but that's all right. Don't worry I'll get it done.
Importantly, we are all going to have open arms and we're going to invite everyone from all political persuasions to join our movement to help us achieve our goals for this country. Great schools, safe neighborhoods, a thriving economy and a government that answers only to the people, our people. We are going to have to a dig deep and I know you and I and all of the people working with us are up to the task. There are a lot of people working with us. Every single day you will be the agents of change. Change for our country, but good change. Great change.
Americans must ignore the pessimists and embrace the optimism that has always been the central ingredient of the American character. We are the nation that won two world wars that dug out the Panama Canal. That put a man on the moon, and satellites all over space. But somewhere along the way we started thinking small. I'm asking you do dream big again, and bold and daring things for your country will happen once again. I'm asking you to join me in this next chapter of this unbelievable and unprecedented movement as we work towards prosperity at home, peace a broad, a new frontiers in science, technology and space.
I am asking you to -- is that right? Yeah. I am asking -- I am -- I love this stuff. He's a believer. You are a believer, right? He's a believer. I'm asking you to believe in America once again. We have many challenges but this is truly an exciting time to be alive. There's been no time like it. The script is not yet written. We do not know what the next page will read. But I'll tell you, it's going to be a great page. But for the first time in a long time what we do know is that the pages will be authored by each one of you. Each one of you. Americans will be the captains of their own destiny once again.
You know I talk about our great movement and you are the movement. I'm the messenger. I'm just really the messenger. Although I've been a very good messenger, let's face it, right? I've been a pretty good messenger.
So once again I want to thank Ohio. I want to thank the great people of Ohio. It's an incredible place, and incredible state. There's been nothing like it. And remember this, it was when they called the landslide that we had in Ohio that these extremely dishonest people started saying something's happening very big tonight. Something's happening very big. And I've been saying it to you for many months. But I'll say it one last time tonight. We are going to come together and make America great again.
Thank you very much. Thank you, Ohio. Thank you.
[20:40:04] ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And there you have it. President-elect Donald Trump just wrapping up a speech in Cincinnati, the first stop in what's being called the "Thank You Tour".
Let's get right to our panel with their first impressions with me tonight. CNN political commentator, former Obama administration official, Van Jones, co-founder and president of Rebuild the Dream. CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist, Paul Begala. Former Georgia Congressman Jack Kingston. Republican, CNN political commentator and former Reagan White House political director Jeffrey Lord. CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash. CNN senior political analyst, David Gergen, former adviser to the four presidents, and CNN political analyst and "USA Today" columnist, Kirsten Powers, and "Washington Post" reporter Philip Bump.
Philip we'll start off with you. Some of the same things we heard certainly from Donald Trump on the campaign trail, the criticisms of the media, a lot of kind of looking back at the -- at his victory during the election?
PHILIP BUMP, WASHINGTON POST REPORTER: Yeah, and I think that the lesson from tonight, is if you thought he's going to moderate from general election, he didn't. He thought he's going to moderate once he won the election, he didn't. And this is -- that -- those are campaign, he should be there I mean, he's already won the campaign but he gave his campaign speech and went after the media. He went after Clinton and Obama and the people at Washington. I mean, he went after everyone who he's been going after for six months. And it was sort of amazing right?
And, you know, and I think that the other thing is that in reinforces his idea to be see, he's held consistently and actually brought a forum. Which is that he doesn't need to reach out to other folks to unite and that he expects people to come with him, this was -- that was exactly the ...
COOPER: I'm still fascinated by the choice but you can't always get what you want which is what we used on the campaign after the first song after every speech. He's still using, I'm not sure what the message is there but ...
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I don't think there is one. I've believe because I've been trying to read into that and (inaudible). And he's not exactly your typical first and to sing at rallies. But I agree, this is just a reminder that this is like nothing we've ever seen before. I mean, we knew that by the end of the campaign. But the question is what kind of president would Donald Trump be? And wow! I mean, it's almost hard to wrap your mind around.
I really knew that there were lots of, you know, divisive comments especially and I'm fortunately about the press which is I wish he would just stop doing and not only because we are members of the press, but because as leader of the free world, you do set an example for free press in countries around the world. And so, that was -- I just -- you know, he can't help himself there and I just wish he would figure out a way to stop doing that.
But there was a line and I'm just point it up here, that he made that people have been asking him to make about unity and coming together. He said, we denounce all of the hatred and we forcefully reject the language of exclusion and separation and we come together. Now, I've been asking his people, you know, look there a lot of voters who didn't support Donald Trump, who are really fearful. Why not give a unity speech. Well that wasn't a unity speech but that little portion of that campaign speech is more than he's ever done.
COOPER: We have that this portion, just listen in.
BASH: OK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We condemn bigotry, and prejudice in all of its forms. We denounce all of the hatred and we forcefully reject the language of exclusion and separation. We'll going to come together. We have no choice. We have to and it is better, it's better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: It is interesting David Gergen, I mean, the conversation, you know, that his on -- he joins the teleprompter, he uses it as a touch stone reach for a while and then has the sort of conversational style which has always been incredibly effective certainly for his supporters on that on the campaign trail.
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: The alpha male reappeared tonight.
COOPER: I mean, I'm talking about announcing who his defense secretary pick is, you know, is in a, you know, it sort of charming way.
GERGEN: It was show time and then he couldn't resist. You know, that's the headline, but that wasn't the message. You know, I think there was any doubt that we're putting an end to one chapter of American history and moving on to a new one, he dispelled that doubt out to life. This is goodbye to American leadership in the world. It's goodbye to globalization. He's bringing America home. He's going to lead a nativist, nationalistic, populist movement and if you want to join up with him fine, but if you don't, forget it.
COOPER: But I going to say a lot of presidents have started out saying you know what, I'm not talk about nation-building. I'm focusing here at home and world events had led them elsewhere.
GERGEN: I got the very clear impression tonight. And I think it's been reinforced in the last few days. What he was looking for is a national security team to whom he's going to entrust most of the stewardship of American foreign policy abroad and what he's going do is focus here at home. He's going to the most domestic president we've have, I started to think at the last 40 or 50 years and he is going to do it in his pugilistic, narcissistic way, he's not going to change. Here is his agenda, he's not moving away from it.
And you can -- if you don't like it that's tough, you know, because he's in charge and he has a lot of support in the Congress. And that kind of speech will fire up his base and it is going to leave a lot of other people. I knew I didn't like the son of a bitch.
COOPER: Kirsten?
KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN PLOTICAL ANALYST: Yeah, I actually think he is actually sending a message with this song. About you can't always get what you want but you get what you need. I think he is saying like America you're what I need, you don't know that you need me, but I'm here basically, and I'm going to be, you know, what you need whether you realize it or not.
[20:45:10] And I think the other thing about him is that he gets the stage craft right, in a way, and history Reaganesque is going to way, even though it's different from Reagan obviously. But, you know, he gets the announcing General Mattis there. He does things that are little different even the attack in the meda a little bit. This is become kind of standard now and remember Barack Obama going after Fox News. But, you know, that the ...
COOPER: Just last week.
POWERS: The supporters -- yes the supporters might right if something that resonates with supporters the feeling the media is out to get you. And so I actually -- I mean I criticized Obama for that and would criticize Trump for this. But I think he understands that and with the Carrier deal, I think he see the same thing it's a stage craft, right. It's even though it's not a solution to the problem, he understands picking up that phone what that does the message sort it sends.
COOPER: Jeffrey Lord?
JEFFREY LORD, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Presidents of the United States in the past, in our lifetime, if you will, with television have taken to the Oval Office address, to rally the troops, to rally the base. Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan was great at it, et cetera. This is going to be Donald Trump's version of this. He's going to be out there as legislation gets in front of Congress, he's going to be going out and doing these rallies to rally his base and to turn on the pressure and say go to your congressman and write your congressman. When Reagan did that as David knows from the Oval Office that really worked.
COOPER: But he also -- I mean, do you believe he needs this in a way? I mean, he gets something from this ...
LORD: Sure.
COOPER: ... as well as give some -- get, you know, give something.
LORD: Sure, I mean, I think it helps him focus. It helps him keep in touch with people. I mean, his jokes about the guy that we couldn't see the guy in the front of the audience there. I mean I think these impressions register with him as he goes back to do the job.
COOPER: Van?
VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know, it's interesting, I just spent the past several days in the Trump country. I got chance to be in Pennsylvania, Ohio talking to Trump voters. And I got to tell you, that speech sounded differently to his voters. He said now is not the time to downsize our dreams. He said I'm asking you to dream big again.
There are people out there who hurting economically and they have felt that the elite's just want them to settle. Just to kind of swallow the technology. Swallow the globalization and settle. And he's pushing back on that. So I think that he's -- there is a reason that, you know, people underestimated him is because they underestimate the pain that he's speaking too.
Now I think he's misleading a lot of people. And he's saying he's going to have, you know, more, fracking and bring coal jobs back. Well that is just not possible. If you frack everywhere natural gas will be cheap and you put coal miners out of work.
So a promise to one is a lie to another and he does that throughout the speech. But I'd want to make sure that we don't miss that he's giving some medicine out there to people who are hurting.
COOPER: Paul?
PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: He is. I have written out of 100 of presidential speeches this is unique and I -- like you we struck by how he weaves in and out of the teleprompter. Look at it Bill Clinton used to do that but he still sort of stayed between guardrails, right between the bleaches. This reminds me, this is famous story, maybe a pack for David you might know. But when President Eisenhower gave a speeches, into this speech writers work out, they wrote in all at, we went after the Rose Garden he read the speech, he put it his pocket and said, now I'd like to share a few words of my own. And that's what Trump was doing.
COOPER: Well, there was a moment tonight early on where he went off and I think he was kind of reliving the campaign talking about it. And then he was almost going to go back to the teleprompter and then he was like ...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Right, right.
BEGALA: Exactly.
JACK KINGSTON, FORMER GEORGIA CONGRESSMAN: I think it was a unifying speech. So I got to tell you when he says ...
GERGEN: Unifying speech.
KINGSTON: Yeah, and David I'm going to say, I like the son of a gun from the beginning. They saw are still like the son of a gun.
GERGEN: Thank you for the correct.
KINGSTON: But, you know, when he says I want to take the rust out of the rust belt. It's exactly what you guys are talking about. Its we want to build it in America, we want to buy in America and then Ohio. Where they were hurt at by NAFTA and Sherrod Brown very liberal Democrats senator, they're as one of the champions to be in anti- NAFTA. I think he was singing the words they wanted to hear. I agree with you on that, Van.
JONES: You got -- he's doing some interesting stuff. First of all you have two Trumps. There's teleprompter Trump and then there is terrible Trump is going to say a bunch of mean stuff to basically elite's who are then going to predictably take offense and then, you know, that's going to -- because he does that. But he's also producing two different reality television shows at the same time. One reality TV show is for his base firing them up. But the other is for a very concerned business class that wants to see a little bit more maturity. What's amazing, is he does them both on the set at the same time. He does -- he literally just changes he does one show for this crowd, he changes, he does another show for that crowd. And the fact that we -- that our heads haven't fallen off it does that to our good ...
[20:49:59] COOPER: The difference between the prompter and the not prompter. I mean is that, to you where the ...
JONES: Yes, look, look. There's somebody writing speeches trying to clam people down, talk about unity that throwaway line about, you know, please don't, you know, be mean to each other. There's somebody ...
BASH: A throwaway line, but it's one that he has never give.
JONES: And I'm happy to hear it. I hope ...
BEGALA: And he read it as if it were a hostage message. Yes, he's not comfortable.
(CROSSTALK)
KINGSTON: There was a quote in the newspaper today on Marcy Kaptur. Marcy Kaptur, as you know, is a senior veteran congresswoman from Toledo, and she said Hillary Clinton came to my district and stood on the corner of the busiest Amtrak rail exchange in Toledo and talked about Warren Buffett. Did not talk about jobs, did not talk about infrastructure. And she was frustrated in speaking in the context of the Democrats did not speak to the heartland of the issues that were most concerned to them. And that's what Donald Trump was doing tonight, you know, talking about NAFTA, talking about trade, talking about taxes, talking about repealing and replacing Obamacare.
BEGALA: I know.
KINGSTON: Jobs, jobs ...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: ... say about that though.
LORD: I spoke today with the leader of a small business association in Pennsylvania. And he said his members are ecstatic at the turn of events because they see taxes coming down, they see regulations starting to be taken off the books here, to give them the ability for economic growth. So they are extremely happy about it.
BUMP: At least the issues that working class voters and the business community are not the people that Trump needs to unite with, right? I mean to Mr. Gergen's point, he needs to reach out to the rest of America. He needs to reach out to frankly the America that voted more heavily for Hillary Clinton and voted for him. He needs to reach out to people of color. He needs to reach out to people who were concerned about what his presidency might bring.
COOPER: Why does he need to do that?
LORD: Why?
BUMP: Because he's the president of the United States. And if he wants to talk about unity, it's up to him to some extent ...
LORD: He did talk about the African-American community tonight.
(CROSSTALK)
BUMP: Well, he did, but he did it in the context of look how good my poll numbers were according to the exit poll.
GERGEN: Let me follow-up to that. I think Van is right that he speaks very effectively to Middle America, to the working class America, much more effectively and probably most of us here at this table. And I give him a lot of credit for that. I do not think he spoke well to the rest of America. I do not think he spoke well to the Hillary-type people tonight. I don't see what there is out there that they can grab on to.
COOPER: Let's just see put when he was off the cuff and -- or at least not on Trump as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Although, we did have a lot of fun fighting Hillary, didn't we? Right?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Obviously, the crowd is chanting, "Lock her up." It's interesting. Not responding to that kind of walking away and allowing it to happen, but sort of moving down, because obviously he has said that's not on his ...
BASH: Right. And, you know, who knows what would have happened if he would said, you know what, like he said to "The New York Times," "The Red Board", you know what, I'm not going to do that and they're good people. I mean they probably would have gone bananas on him. And it pro -- It was not -- It would not have gone well. And he is enough of a stage man and a showman that he understands that.
But I actually don't necessarily think that he has to reach out to the people that didn't vote for him. It would be nice if he did. It would be, you know, part of the tradition of presidents-elect and new presidents to do that. But he's not that person. And he's never going to be that person. And he's the guy who America elected.
COOPER: And he has the House and the Senate.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Well, you're saying Mitt Romney is representative ...
LORD: Well, I think I'm just saying ...
(CROSSTALK)
LORD: ... particularly out of shape there, so.
(CROSSTALK)
KINGSTON: Politically speaking, as a Trump supporter and a campaigner, I can tell you, there were some dark and dreary times, September, October, and if you were for Trump, you had to be 100 percent committed. And so I think he was entitled tonight particularly speaking as a supporter to have some rhetorical high fives. I think it was very important to say to the base, you know what, we won, and everybody says it was impossible, but we did it, we broke down that blue wall. I was thinking about tear down that wall, Mr. Gorbachev. I was thinking about, rip it apart, Mr. Trump.
I just think that it was a great moment for those of us who went this journey with him. But I do believe that, you know, there is governing and you're going to see more and more of that. There were calls for unity tonight and he did announce the language of extremism and hate. So ...
(CROSSTALK)
BEGALA: In a Gallup Poll, President-elect Trump is at 42 percent. It's the lowest in history for any incoming president.
In history, George W. Bush, who many -- half the country believes stole the election, was at 59 at this point, 59. He came in under much more divisive terms than President-elect Trump did and he did work to unite the country and got the 59 by the stage. Barack Obama of course was at 68 before he entered.
[20:55:01] And this is the honeymoon, Mr. President-elect, and you're at 42. If he wants to succeed, he has got to move that number above 50 and keep it above 50 for the entire first year or he won't -- the Democrats can block his legislation.
LORD: Well, Mr. Kerry will help him a lot.
BEGALA: Kerry will help a lot.
GERGEN: Kerry will help on the speech then.
BEGALA: I think yes.
GERGEN: Kerry was a home run for him.
BEGALA: Yes.
GERGEN: He's on a roll, generally. But I think together with Paul's point, it does matter whether he amasses a larger, you know, following that he now has, just wait until he gets into a fight about Obamacare, but especially about to get a new fight about Medicare or Medicaid. Those are very, very tough ...
JONES: Part of his problem is, I think it was you, Dana that talked about not this conservative populist alliance that he's trying to govern through, where, again, you know, Paul Ryan is in love with the TPP, may elope with the TPP, but meanwhile Trump hates the TPP. So how does that work? He's going to have to reach out. He's on the one hand. He says he's a war hockey. He's going to smash ISIS. On the other hand, he says he's not going to do anything.
So whichever way he goes, if he's going to be an isolationist, he has to reach out. If he's going to be a war leader, he has to reach out. He does have to reach out at some point.
And I think right now, he feels, you guys told me to reach out the entire campaign and I didn't reach out the entire campaign and I'm President of the United States and you guys are on TV talking about.
COOPER: We're talking about reaching out. We had always Elizabeth Warren, Senator Warren, on last night and I kept trying to ask her, "Well, what is your strategy on TPP? I mean you seem aggrieve basically Donald Trump." You both oppose it. Is that something you would work with him on infrastructure?" And she's not willing to say. She's willing to work. I mean it doesn't seem like ...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Paul, what do you want to see the Democrats do? Do you want them to do what Mitch McConnell state early on in the Obama administration?
BEGALA: I've talk to several of them d they keep coming back to infrastructure and Medicare on the two polls. If he really wants an infrastructure bill, the democrats have wanted one for years. Guess what, there was a bill that Debbie Stabenow had, the senator from Michigan, a Democrat, in 2014 that was called "The Bring Jobs Home Act" and it taxed corporations who shipped jobs overseas and rewarded corporations who brought jobs home. That's exactly the Carrier deal today. The Republicans killed it. Democrats 100 percent Democrats ...
(CROSSTALK)
BEGALA: When do we should go and nationalize this? That some say he should reach out to Debbie Stabenow right now and say, Senator, what didn't you join with me and we'll pet and take the Carrier and take it nationally?
(CROSSTALK)
JONES: Why is it that when Democrats propose that stuff, it's called socialism? And when you guys propose it, it's called patriotism?
KINGSTON: It's the same thing. On medical savings accounts, so which is part of the Tom Price Plan. Dick Gephardt at one time was a co- sponsor and a supporter of it, but when Obama got into power, oh, MSA, Medical Savings Account, horrible thing, and all he Democrats are started against it.
I actually think the American people are fed up with the politics. Elijah Cummings said today he wanted to work -- very liberal Democrat, as you know, he wanted to work with Trump. And I think that's a good sign.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: But, you know, we have bring (inaudible) on last night from -- he move under. She was saying, no Democrats should be the resistance.
JONES: That's a split.
COOPER: There should be -- you know what? Republicans did it to then President Obama when he first came in. Democrats should - it's pay back, essentially.
JONES: Every meeting right now, and I've been in most of them or called in, look, among the progressives is, should it be obstruction, war to the knife, stop this guy everywhere, or should there be a more constructive opposition try to help the country. (CROSSTALK)
GERGEN: Which way does he come out?
JONES: I don't know yet.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: There's one thing -- you know, that's a -- there's a political discussion on that, but then there's also a governance issue and what's good, you know, what's good for politics and what's good for the country are not the same things.
BEGALA: Here's what Trump is going to resolve it for the Democrats. He's going to come with an infrastructure bill that's larded with corporate special interests and the Democrats won't be able to support it. They really want to. They honest did want to put working people back to work. But their fear, at least, on The Hill, and I've talked to a lot of them, is that they're going to load this up with lobbyists and special interests voice and they'll have to oppose it.
KINGSTON: I'll disagree and I'll tell you why.
BEGALA: I'm not wrong.
KINGSTON: Because when President Obama came out with his stimulus bill, without Republican support, then Obama came without the Republican support. It was a mistake. And I think most Democrats would admit that you've got to do these things on a bipartisan fashion. And I believe that what he's going to do is he's going to figure out which Democrats will work with me and how can we get some things done.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: And there may be more Democrats -- I mean, in some of these states, you know, some of these sort of borderline states that are willing to work with him ...
(CROSSTALK)
GERGEN: But you know, but he never told us how he's going to pay for anything tonight.
COOPER: He won't.
GERGEN: There was nothing about how do you pay for the taxes, how do you pay for the infrastructure, how do you pay about all of these things.
KINGSTON: He's talked about the penny plan, which is a step, and he's talked about repatriation of money. And you cannot do infrastructure or healthcare reform, as we all know, without tax reform. And part of tax reform has always been repatriating that money back home. So that's ...
GERGEN: That was not in that speech.
(CROSSTALK)
KINGSTON: It was not in the speech, but he's been talking about that for weeks now. And the treasury and commerce folks have been talking about it, too.
[21:00:05] COOPER: I just want to give a heads up to our viewers. It's the top of the hour. I want to -- appreciate you just joining us.
